VANCOUVER and beautiful British Columbia (ongoing)

[Klazu]

Beautiful Brentwood.

[Klazu]

Christmas lights at VanDusen Botanical Gardens is one of the December highlights in Vancouver.







Inside gardens there is altogether 15 acres of beautiful Christmas lights to see in an area around the beautiful pond.







There are altogether 1 million Christmas lights in all possible sizes and colors.







For kids there is also a nice little carousel to ride.



Every 30 minutes there is a changing lights show around the pond.









While there are no leaves in the trees in December, there is still a lot of green to see.

















All things considered, we found it a beautiful event to experience and worth the fairly steep entrance price.

[Klazu]

It was a beautiful night last night, so I took few shots of the surrounding metropolitan area. Downtown Vancouver is always looking beautiful at sunset.





Lougheed tower cluster in the background as seen from Metrotown.









Brentwood's ever-expanding skyline during blue hour.













Both Brentwood and Downtown Vancouver can be fit in one wide shot. All three local ski resorts are also visible here.

[Klazu]

While Canada is heading for lockdown like rest of the world, it has been difficult to stay indoors with the magnificent weather outside.

Great weather started more than a week ago and last Saturday was very windy making Crescent Beach in White Rock was almost empty.







Also Pitt Lake in Pitt Meadows has seen loads of people suffering from cabin fever and looking to get out.













Also this year's ski season ended abruptly due to the situation. Our last evening in the slopes was few weeks ago at Cypress Mountain.





Sunsets on top of Mount Stratchan can be something else.





Fortunately weather is now turning to more rain which should help people to keep their social distance and stay isolated at their homes.

[Klazu]

Brentwood project update has Amazing Brentwood development looking tall. I can't wait for the full cluster of 10 towers to be completed in the next ten years.









Concord Brentwood project will add 4 tall towers to the eastern skyline.







What a difference 7 years of construction boom can make!

[Klazu]

Project update around Metrotown area in Burnaby.



First up, the Station Square cluster is transforming the entire neighborhood and has its last two tall towers going up right now.















Gold House is turning out nice and will have a huge screen. What it will play, remains to be seen.



Sun Tower is a two-tower development next door.





The entire Beresford Street stretch has seen a lot of development in last 6 years.



Also the nearby Nelson Street cluster keeps rising. Two latest towers are called Polaris and Vittorio.











Finally, Sussex is another two-tower development on a very small lot.

[Klazu]

it has been a while since updating this thread, but here we go again. With COVID-19 having closed all the borders this summer, we chose to head up north on our summer vacation.

Weather wasn't the greatest on the first morning as we drove through Pemberton.





Highway 99 between Pemberton and Lillooet has some nice remote stretches with curvy roads.





One cannot see it here, but our car was full of camping gear and stuff preparing us for the trip to come.



The closer one gets to Lillooet, the drier the landscape and weather always get.



Fraser Canyon next to Lillooet is a sight to behold.











Our lunch spot was in 100 Mile House exactly... 100 miles from Lillooet.



These must be undoubtedly the world's largest cross-country skis!







Passing through Williams Lake there are several log home factories along the highway which many are featured on HGTV's Timber Kings, a reality television show filmed in Williams Lake.







Many television series are filmed in BC and Jade Fever on Discovery Channel is another one. It was a bit strange to see a roadside ad around 700 kilometers before the town itself, but hey, better sooner than later, eh?



Quesnel used to be an important town during the gold boom of the 1800s and there is still some heritage to be seen in the town. Billy Parker Casino & Hotel seen here was our place to stay for the night.











This is just a beginning and there are many more photos to come from our trip to the north.

[Klazu]

From Quesnel the next stop along our long route Prince George, which is the capital of Northern BC. We have been there before, so we just did few rounds in downtown before pushing onward on our trip.





Prince George is not the most beautiful or exciting city out there, as there is lots of industry in the area. Here we are crossing mighty Fraser River once again.





Heading west the next locale from Prince George is the town of Vanderhoof, which is famous for being the geographical centre of BC. It is here that one realized that even after driving almost 900 kilometres from Vancouver, one ain't further than only halfway up BC.



Highway 16 is the only road heading west and it has some really long stretches of remote landscapes. Most of it is flat and boring but after driving for several hours, majestic peaks start once again appearing in the horizon.





Beautiful stop just before Smithers.



Smithers is a small town of some 5,300 inhabitants. This old railway town has a nice little town centre which has had some European influence. The majestic peaks behind the town is the 2,589-metres tall Hudson Bay Mountain.





Just outside the town one can find beautiful twin waterfalls rushing down the mountain.







Smithers was our place for the night before continuing our journey in the morning. Not far from Smithers,Witset Canyon is a nice brief stop and a popular fishing spot for the local First Nation. As it was Monday morning, there was nobody fishing.







Further west, one should make the effort check out the small town of Hazelton. The Hagwilget Bridge built in 1931 is a thrilling drive across a deep canyon with Bulkley River flowing some 80 meters below you.











The surrounding landscape is unreal even on a cloudy day.



The town itself is also worth checking out for its First Nations heritage but unfortunately everything was closed due to COVID-19.







Our ultimate destination of the day and our entire trip was Terrace, which is a small city servicing much of the surrounding area. The city itself has little to offer but there are several interesting places around it.





For the next four nights the nearby provincial campground of Lakelse Lake would be our base with its first class campground amenities. BC being still in the last days of Phase 2 of reopening, the campground was really quiet and there was problem of finding a great spot.





New few days would have us explore the nearby towns before the long drive back home at the end of the week. More on that later.

[giallo]

Great tour. Northern BC is really underrated, but it's just so far away, and sparsely populated that most people don't get to see it.

Did you make it to Stewart, BC/Hyder, AK? Easily, one of the most beautiful places I've ever laid eyes on.

[Evo5Boise]

I've been to Vancouver a few times but I've never been north of there, and well, your thread really makes me want to take a trip up there and explore. Some of the most gorgeous country I've seen in your pics. Thanks for sharing!

[Klazu]

Awful air quality in Vancouver this week due to fires in Oregon.

[zoomer]

I haven't been to Terrace in years.. nice to see pics from up north, and of course all your amazing Vancouver pictures. You're truly one of the best photographers on SSP - amazing quality and narratives to boot. I've appreciated your photos for years, so about time I say - Thanks Klazu!

[davee930]

Timelapse of the most scenic drive ever to Vancouver the other day.

• Video Link

[Klazu]

The highly anticipated Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 has now been out for a month and I have been really enjoying flying above our beautiful city.

Taking off from YVR is always a treat.



Heading toward Downtown.





Downtown looks always awesome from the air.





Beautiful Stanley Park.



North Shore Mountains looks fantastic and backmountains are exciting to explore.



I guess the Coal Harbour airport cannot facilitate A320 landing.



Downtown looks great in the game but the map data used is around 5 years old, meaning there are many buildings missing.





Unfortunately only the Vancouver proper is modeled using photogrammetry data. Areas more to the east such as Burnaby and Metrotown are created by the AI algorithm which doesn't yield quite as good or correct results. It still looks fine from high above.





The game engine doesn't even support DX12 or ray tracing, yet, but dusk and dawn look absolutely amazing.











Game's weather engine can generate some really realistic clouds and real-world weather makes flying exciting.





Above nighttime Shaughnessy.

[Klazu]

Originally Posted by giallo

Northern BC is really underrated, but it's just so far away, and sparsely populated that most people don't get to see it.

Yeah, Northern BC is where the true wilderness begins and it is absolutely beautiful. If only it wouldn't take 2 days of driving to reach, more people would make the trip but it is bloody far.

Originally Posted by giallo

Did you make it to Stewart, BC/Hyder, AK? Easily, one of the most beautiful places I've ever laid eyes on.

We would have liked to visit both, but chose not to since the border is closed and it was also a rainy day. Next time when we are up here!

Originally Posted by Evo5Boise

I've been to Vancouver a few times but I've never been north of there, and well, your thread really makes me want to take a trip up there and explore. Some of the most gorgeous country I've seen in your pics. Thanks for sharing!

Once the border is open again, you are most welcome to visit our beautiful province! Thank you for your comment.

Originally Posted by zoomer

You're truly one of the best photographers on SSP - amazing quality and narratives to boot. I've appreciated your photos for years, so about time I say - Thanks Klazu!

Comments like this are why I take the effort to post so much in here. Thank you for your kind words!

[Klazu]

Continuing on our trip up north, Kitimat is a small yet rather famous town some 60 kilometres south of Terrace.



The Kitimat Valley is an usually flat stretch of land on the Canadian west coast. It's connection with the ocean has made it the perfect location for several billion-dollar construction projects.



The town was founded in 1951 when aluminium giant Alcan made a decision to build a huge smelter in there. The smelter is still operational and provides hundreds of well-paying jobs.



Building a smelter in middle of nowhere was one of the biggest construction project of the 50s that required reversing a major river, building massive waterpipes through mountains and transferring electricity through fierce mountains.





The town itself is small yet very livable as it was designed to be a garden city. It was odd to see brand new hotels in a small remote town.





The natural deep-sea harbour offers great conditions for ships to dock.



Kitimat is the destination of several oil and natural gas pipeline projects which are worth billions of dollars and hence controversial with everyone wanting a cut.





The Alcan smelter is nowadays owned by the Australian mining giant Rio Tinto.





I have never seen such modular housing villages with few thousand residents!



In 2014 they even sailed an old cruise liner all the way from the Baltic Sea to house some of the workers.





Kitimat is not just industry and nature is actually very close to the town. This small park is just a kilometre from the massive smelter.







We quite enjoyed our warm summer day in Kitimat. It was amazing to see such a remote yet livable town with so much buzz. There is so much mega contruction happening all around you that it is amazing to see.

[Klazu]

After a three-month wait, our brand new 2021 BMW X3M Competion arrived few weeks ago and what a beast of a car it is!



For exterior color we chose Donnigton Gray which is a classic M color.







I just love the styling of the 21" wheels that come with the Competition package. It's a somewhat harsh ride with these, but what can you expect from a M car?



We ordered our car with the top of the line Competition package which produces 510 PS. Sound of the engine and the sports exhaust is just divine and performance is just ridiculous.



I am really happy with the beautiful two-tone interior that is both comfortable and looks really sharp!





Naturally, we wanted to have all the latest technology that the iDrive 7 in the model year 2021 provides.







The space-age key is mostly a showpiece but the remote functions are also rather practical.

[Klazu]

Our next day trip took us to Prince Rupert which is known to be Canada's wettest city.

Fortunately for us, the day was anything but rainy and the morning view over the calm Lakelse Lake was amazing.



We would be driving the remaining 144-kilometre stretch of Highway 16 to Prince Rupert on the coast through some rugged coast mountains.





In late June there was still snow on the mountains which made for some superb scenery all along the route.





Highway also has busy train tracks running parallel to it which are used by long cargo trains.









Skeena River gets wider and wider the closer to the ocean it gets.











Many crystal-clear rivers feed into Skeena River.



Waterfalls are plentiful along Highway 16.



Just before Prince Rupert we made a stop in small town of Port Edward. Unfortunately for us, the national historic site of an old cannery was closed due to COVID-19.







Finally, after few hours of driving, we reached Prince Rupert on the pacific coast.









Most Alaskan cruises call port in Prince Rupert which brings hundreds of thousands of tourist into town. This year has been really tough for the city's tourist industry after the cruise season was cancelled.















Prince Rupert has several ferry connections in all directions. There is a ferry to the south to Port Hardy (Vancouver Island), west to Haida Gwaii and north to Alaska. The Alaskan border is only 40 kilometres north of the city.



The revival of Port of Prince Rupert has been a lifesaver for the city and it is the 3rd deepest natural harbour in the world. It is also the closest North American port to Asia, which offers a two-day advantage over Port of Vancouver and several days over American ports. For this reason the port's capacity rivals the Port of Vancouver as the only other entry point into Canada and east coast.



It's a long way back to Vancouver from here. Taking the ferry to Port Hardy would save one 1000 kilometres of driving.



Just outside of the city there is a short hiking trail to Butze Rapids.









The rapids are caused by the strong ocean tides and can grow pretty impressive.





With a scenery like this, we didn't mind at all having to traverse the same road back to Terrace.







And there you have it. Next set of photos will have us make our way back home in Vancouver.

[Klazu]

We haven't been to White Rock since the pier was rebuilt following its destruction in a storm in December 2018, but did make the trip to check it out few weeks ago.







Vancouver - Seattle railway still runs through White Rock's waterfront with lots of cargo train traffic on the line.







With the pier rebuild also rest of the waterfront has been upgraded.





The white rock that gives city its name.





White Rock Pier was built in 1914 and is Canada's longest pier with 470 metres in length.











A 30-meter section of the pier had to be rebuilt following the storm.

[Murphy de la Sucre]

Super, man you living in Trump Tower? That's not the place that someone could just make a simple decision and then leisurely move in, it requires real fund, not some cash bills in wallet but real fund. I guess, let me guess for 3000 CAD per month at least.

I visited Vancouver in 2017 and stayed at Trump Hotel. you know Vancouver is well-known (infamous) for its over-priced everything. And Trump Tower (hotel, residence) is the typical case among them all.