Howe Sound / Pacific Coast Sights

Our last blog highlighted scenes and activities related to Mother's Day.  Now, this blog will feature the other places we went to and photographed while on our journey to and from the Howe Sound town of Squamish, BC - only 30 minutes south of the famed Whistler, BC ski resort that saw great prominence during the 2010 winter Olympics.

Highway 99 north - along Howe Sound.

Wonderful highway.....but it cost a fortune to build and redevelop for the 2010 Olympics.

It is a scenic drive anywhere along the Trans Canada Highway 1 heading west towards Horseshoe Bay, and one of the two primary ferries terminals to Vancouver Island and the Sunshine Coast. BC Ferries services passengers, automobiles and truck transport.  

Our journey continued north on Highway 99 along Howe Sound.

Imagine the cost to blow up mountain granite to build a level road.

The town of Squamish was a serious forestry resource town that is more tourism oriented today.

Modern - resort style - condos dot the town's rejuvenated streets and avenues.

Beautiful tourist information centre - just off Highway 99.

Beautiful mountain surroundings in the lush springtime greening.

Pedestrian overpass.

On the drive back towards Vancouver, we stopped in at one of my favourite places.  Jeanette had never been there but I have been there - a time or two - with my golfing foursome.  Yes, we stopped at the famous and testy Furry Creek Golf Course.

The big rock says it all.

Just a beautiful mountain and ocean-side golf course.

Nice club house with restaurant and pro shop.

The 18th hole - requiring a 200 yard 2nd shot up to the green.  Not an easy shot.

Jeanette is checking the golf course clock....and suggested we should move on.  We were joining friends for dinner.

But, she first had to take a hike in the woods to find out what the water sound was all about.

Is this Furry Creek?  Conventional wisdom would likely agree with that.

We weren't able to get to hole No. 1 but I've played this course and when standing at the tee, you are facing Howe Sound and the ocean, and the golf shot is a huge drop to several hundred feet below.  Quite a view.  I'll take photos the next time we play the course.

From here, we headed south towards Vancouver.

More shots along Howe Sound.

Britannia Mines.  A refurbished mine site that is now a museum on mining in British Columbia.

A final Howe Sound shot before we made our way through Horseshoe Bay and on to Marine Drive.

A marina in West Vancouver City.

One of the many ships waiting for permission to enter Coal Harbour in the city of Vancouver.

Lions Gate bridge - under which is the entrance to Vancouver Harbour.

Now on the Lions Gate Bridge...heading into Vancouver city.

Downtown Vancouver.

....on Georgia Street in downtown Vancouver.

It's springtime and the trams are out and ready for the summer tourist season.

The museum....

And that pretty well sums up our return trip from Squamish, this past Sunday.  Yesterdays blog would have been quite lengthy so I saved some shots and thoughts for this one.  Not a lot of interesting stuff happening in our lives of late. I have been busy writing, these past few days, and it's kind of tough to blog and have photographs of that activity.

Thanks for dropping by.  Hoping for the sun to shine and the temperatures to return to normal.  Most unusual spring here on the Pacific Northwest Coast.