Front Street Parkade Redevelopment

A section of the Front Street parkade is gone from Begbie to East Columbia to make room for a new development known as the Front Street Mews.
The idea was put into place to reconnect the people of New Westminster with the Fraser River by improving access to the waterfront, esplanade and Westminster Pier Park. The mews when completed will have street parking, wider sidewalks for pedestrians and 'beautification' landscaping.
Front street is usually teeming with huge lumbering commercial vehicles 24/7 but ever since the street has been shut down for the redevelopment project, it is like a ghost town down there. We drove off the paved part of Front street onto the stripped section that will eventually be resurfaced and wandered around under the amazing girders and trusses and all the amazing concrete and steel above our heads.
The one sad thing of all this was seeing the shape our not-long-for-this-world Pattullo bridge proudly spanning the Fraser in such neglect. She's a pretty little bridge that doesn't deserve the end she's facing. But that's another rant for another day I suppose. 
For now, pictures along and above Front Street - absent of belching semis on a sunny serene Sunday.

Not related but fun - went through the car wash.

Front street heading out of New West.

Last standing business right on the waterfront.

Front street with mountains in the background. 

Facing into New West under one of the train bridges.

Possibly the only remaining part of the old New Westminster Cannery.

Feats of engineering that holds the weight of endless trains.

Strong!

If  you can get to it, you can tag it.

Part of what keeps the bridge up there.

A chaos of metal and rivets.

Lush hillside vegetation watching over the river.

One of many shots from under the train bridge

The old and the new.

Rosie the Riveter would be impressed.

Our beautiful Pattullo bridge.

Train bridge. Pattullo bridge. Skytrain bridge.

CN rumbling along the train bridge right over our heads.

She's still a beauty despite the neglect!

And they're tearing this beautiful piece of history down. Fools!!!

Looking forward to see the transformation of that area down there. They say there'll be easier access to the waterfront once they're done with everything, but how do you ignore the rolling industry roaring out to the highway just a sidewalk's depth away from you. We shall see. 

A little bit of this a little bit of that

Just a small post of random things shot here and there.

I love the crows that perch on the roof outside my 'studio' window. 

Such character. "What are you looking at?"

Hovering motionless.

I love this ladder to the roof right over my apartment door.
Like it is waiting for a fairy tale to bring it to life!

One of the resident swan couple on the Fraser River.

Moon over Richmond wood chipper. 

Morning moonlight.

Watching the earth from far away.

Like a giant industrial jungle gym.

A Mash-Up of a few scattered Sundays

Some days I download and edit my Sunday shoots as soon as I get home. Some Sundays I download them to be 'edited later'. Well, sometimes, those 'to be edited laters' begin to pile up. Resulting in a Mash-Up post of a few stragglers that I've been putting off editing.
I'm often told I'm probably too hard on my own stuff but, trust me, I don't think anyone would want to sift through all my duds and 'experimental' shots.So, to avoid the agony on the viewer's part and the embarrassment on mine, I think I've compiled a decent set of recent Sunday excursions in one post. 

And as usual all this pretty is less than thirty minutes from our front door. 

We really do live in a gorgeous corner of the province - and that's not even hitting the "great outdoors" - outings like those get their own fanfare and blog posts. 

So, here are a handful of random images from around New Westminster, Delta, Richmond, Vancouver and environs.  

a potted something or other on our front steps

a quick peak at the mighty Fraser river

blackberries in the making

suspicious spillage floating in the slough?

does anyone have a clue what these are called? and are they edible?

we dubbed this the Fortis Fortress. it was HUGE!

a second silo(?) was being erected - even bigger than the other one

a beautifully clean slough behind a business complex

happy undulating river grass

they made such a pretty sound in the breeze. a beautiful parking lot border!

I called this popcorn sky. from the office parking lot

another view from the parking lot

crows hanging out on a wire

westjet coming in for a landing at the airport in Richmond

flammable!

Iona Point looking the other way

There are acres and acres still out there we haven't covered. We may never leave our own backyard at this rate. :)

Never thought I'd spend the night in a 186 year old fort.

Old Fort Langley in British Columbia was once a trading post for the Hudson's Bay Company. Construction of the fort began in 1827 and is about 50kms (31 miles) from the mouth of the Fraser River. It is considered the birthplace of British Columbia and actually established the 49th parallel.

Three major factors contributed to the fort's demise by 1886. Paddle wheelers on the Fraser meant one could travel further up the river to do business, the relocation of the 'colony's' 'capital to New Westminster, and then to Victoria and fierce trade competition and under cuts from US companies.

In 1923 the federal government designated it a national historic site.

There are five main buildings on the grounds of the fort. The Storehouse is the oldest standing structure in British Columbia, having been rebuilt in 1840 after a fire destroyed some of it a year earlier.

The Servants' Quarters, The Big House and the Bastions were all rebuilt in 1958.
The Black Smith was reconstructed in 1973, the Cooperage in 1992 and The Depot was reconstructed in 1997.

Fast forward to 2016...

Time for another quick little over night road trip for the travelling trio.
We headed out at a leisurely pace, first stopping in Surrey to visit the Honeybee Centre. Where we had a delicious lunch and learned that there's something delicious called "Goat Tea".  We made obligatory honey purchases and got back on the road. We were heading out to Fort Langley.

To spend the night alone in the fort.

oTENTik is a program the fort runs between May and October.
There are 5 (beautifully constructed) "theme" tents set up around the grounds that can be rented for over night or multiple-night stays.

You can choose from:
The First Nations tent.
The North American Gold Prospectors tent.
The Hawaiian tent.
The French Canadian Voyageur tent.
The Scottish Boat Builder's tent.

The three of us spent the night in the Scottish Boat Builder's tent.

It . Was . A . Blast !

We had a fire roaring in the fire pit and we ate yummy toasted marshmallows as the fort sat quietly around us. The sun set behind the wall and darkness slowly settled in to spend the night with us.

The fort is beautiful by moonlight.

We were the ONLY people in there all night. The only other living creatures we encountered inside the walls -other than the few 'petting zoo' ones- were the cutest little cotton tail bunnies that hopped away if we got too close.

I took pictures. The photos go from our arrival mid-afternoon until first light when there was still dew glistening in the grass.

WARNING: image heavy.

First a sweet visit to the Honeybee Centre in Surrey.

Goat Tea. We were ready to buy some but didn't find any.

Our accommodations for the evening.

The Hawaiian themed tent.

The First Nations tent.

The French Canadian Voyageur tent.

The North American Gold Prospector's tent.

The Scottish Boat Builder's tent. All ours for the night.

Beautiful clouds over the fort.

A Sundial.
All you needed before all the silly fall-back or spring-forward nonsense.

This picture captured Orbs in the middle of the day.
(floating in the doorway).

Same door of the Big House - no orbs ..... curious. 

They projected a vignette depicting a social gathering of the time.

Looking out at the fort from the Big House.

A Scottish replica.

Our accommodations on the inside.

Roasted marshmallowy goodness!

Our tent at dusk.

A nasty smelling stuff kept oozing out of the logs.
We referred to it as 'ectoplasm'!

And dark has come to spend the night.

Steep steps up to the parapet.

The Travelling Trio.

Dancing demon.

Morning dew sparkles in the grass.

Panning for gold.

As the crow flies.

Breakfast before heading home.

Port Mann Bridge.

Where to next?