Whew. Fun can be so tiring.
I started this morning out with a three mile run along the False Creek walkway. Just a week ago I was running along the Tanque Verde wash in Tucson. There are many striking differences. Most obvious was the water. Tucson rivers flow only a fraction of the year and was certainly dry when I last visited it. Tucson also lacks vegetation. Many hard core Tucsonans will argue this point saying ‘The desert has a green beauty all its own.’ Visiting verdant Vancouver invalidates their vociferous polemic (yeah, yeah, I couldn’t think of an v-word for argument. Suggestions?) . And while both have sun, I tend to be found running from shade to shade avoiding the Tucson sunlight whenever possible. This is all in stark contrast to running along the False Creek park. The sunlight visiting me like a long absent acquaintance, the dense green foliage reminding me that I truly live in a desert, and when I close my eyes the salt sea air reminds me that it will all still be there when I open them once again.
The kids, my wife, auntie Eeay and I went for a long walk at Locarno beach. The tide had gone out and the ocean floor lay exposed in all its naked muddiness. The shoes came off and our toes wriggled in delight. We dodged our way amongst the boogie-boarders and out to the transient coast.
My daughter found baby clams which she stored in a larger clam shell filled with salt water. Occasionally the baby clams would stick out their tongues and wave to her. At last she placed them in a warm tide pool amongst dense seaweed and away from the eyes and beaks of the ever-overhead seagulls.
Our path took us to several geocaches, through the green forest of the Endowment Lands, and then back to Granville Island for lunch. Ironic that I had the clam chowder for lunch.
That afternoon we went swimming at the Stanley Park pool. Though a coastal breeze kept the experience from being ideal, we salvaged the afternoon by yet again geocaching and hiking through Stanley Park. We ended the day eating gourmet Japadogs at yet another beach drinking smuggled beers from 7-eleven thirstbuster cups watching the sun slide from the afternoon sky.