Railfanning in the Rain

Good afternoon from cold, gray, San Francisco, CA, USA, where the time is currently 4:50 PM PT on Wednesday, August 8.  As I wrote in my last post from the Vancouver airport, I am not going to be seeing any history made when I go to the ballpark tonight.  I’ll have to just try staying warm instead.  According to weather.com, it is currently 59 degrees here, and going down to 54 tonight (For those of you in the sweltering heat back home, I put WTOP on for the first time in a week and a half while downloading my email, and I send my deepest regrets about your weather).

Speaking of the weather, yesterday was “typical” Vancouver weather as I understand it.  However, the plan had long been that I would use yesterday as a day to explore the city in whatever way I wished since Janet had work, and I did so.  I started out pretty early, and actually rode out with her to Simon Fraser University, where she is currently working, on these vehicles:

• D60HF 3008 (Route 99) to Broadway/Commercial Drive
• Skytrain 2XX (I don’t have the number on this unit) to Production Way
• D40LF 7478 (I’m not sure if this is the exact number of this bus) to the SFU bus loop

Once at SFU, she left me at a point so that I could explore the university, which like UBC, has very utilitarian architecture.  However, the school lacks a campus feel, for most buildings are connected so that one does not walk outdoors from one to the next, or takes plazas over the roads.  The campus is located on a hill east of downtown, but due to the weather, there were no views to be had from the campus on this morning.  While there, I had some breakfast, having bought juice from a vending machine and bringing some food along the way.

I doubled back to the bus loop, and continued my travels:

• C40LF 3397 on the bus from SFU back to Production Way
• Skytrain 251 Production Way to Columbia (this train was operated manually for part of the trip)
• Skytrain 087 Columbia to King George
• Skytrain 005 King George to Surrey Town Centre
• Skytrain 151 Surrey Town Centre to New Westminster
• Skytrain 029 New Westminster to Metrotown
• Skytrain 239 Metrotown to Main Street
  • At Main Street, I walked over to the nearby bus and train station to use the restroom, and to see what equipment was being used on the Amtrak Cascades from Seattle, that was due to arrive shortly before I got there.   I was quite lucky, in that my Cascades train on August 2 was the last trip to operate before the Talgo equipment was pulled due to maintenance issues until further notice (the last southbound train that evening was already canceled when I was leaving Portland).  I was able to see the train from Seattle by walking out to the bus platforms; it consisted of two Superliner coaches and one Superliner lounge, as well as engine 467.  There was a long line of people waiting to clear Canadian customs on the platform.
• Skytrain 238 Main Street to Waterfront
  • I walked to a nearby food court to get lunch, and purchased a USAToday to read while doing so.  After lunch, I took the Seabus from Waterfront out to Lonsdale.  While this ride is supposedly a good one, due to the aforementioned weather, there was little to see.   At Lonsdale, I wandered around the bus loop, but since photo opportunities were poor, I boarded the next ferry back to downtown and Waterfront (they operate every 15 minutes). 
• Skytrain 156 Waterfront to Broadway
• Skytrain 204 Commercial Drive to VCC/Clark
  • If you have the map memorized or were following along with one, you will now realize that this short segment was the only part of the system I had not traveled on before lunch.  Skytrain is now one of the transit systems I have ridden in its entirety, and one of the systems I have ridden in its entirety in a single day.
• Skytrain 204 VCC/Clark to Commercial Drive
• Skytrain 124 Broadway to 29th Avenue
• Skytrain 084 29th Avenue to Metrotown
• Skytrain 250 Metrotown to Edmonds
• Skytrain 146 Edmonds to 22nd Street
• Skytrain 150 22nd Street to New Westminster
• Skytrain 026 New Westminster to Braid
• Skytrain 204 Braid to Lougheed Town Centre
• Skytrain 211 Lougheed Town Centre to Commercial Drive
• E40LFR 2108 (Route 9) to Broadway and Balaclava Street
  • Here, I quickly stepped into a store called Kidsbooks, which is owned by a non-blood relative of mine.  The store is North America’s largest kids bookstore.
• E40LFR (Route 17, I didn’t record the number) from Broadway and Balaclava back to Janet’s

Just as an item of clarification, when I got off at any station above, it was usually to go find the bus loop or wherever the buses serving that station stopped.  I would then photograph them, as the weather permitted, before continuing my travels on the Skytrain.

Skytrain is a very unique system.  It calls itself the largest automated train system in the world, and I believe it.  Despite being automated, it felt quite safe, and there is plenty of staff and CCTV around to monitor things.  The honor system is in place for fare collection, as it is on many part’s of Vancouver’s transit system.  The railfan window on every train is popular, and it was frequently taken, especially on the newer Mark II cars.  The runs are fast, the stations are artistically interesting on the newer Millennium Line, and the system seems to run well.  Right now, Skytrain only serves some parts of the city, while not serving others.  However, once the Canada Line out to the Vancouver Airport is finished, my guess is more visitors will experience it.

Since the end of my railfan excursion essentially marked the end of my touring in Vancouver, I think this is an appropriate time for me to comment on what I think about the city.  I’ve been to a fair number of places over the years, and this trip has taken me to some of the cities that I consider to be among my favorites.  However, I really liked Vancouver.  I can’t think of any other city that has an urban feel to it, yet is so close to so many natural experiences, and has so many urban escapes within or so close by to the city.  People commute from Bowen Island to downtown daily, for example.  It doesn’t take all that long to get to skiing or mountain biking from the central core.  And if one doesn’t want to go away for the weekend to enjoy the outdoors, there are plenty of bike paths, beaches, parks, and forest walks within the city limits.  Additionally, Vancouver is very pedestrian and bike friendly; it is quite easy to get by there without a car, meaning that one can combine chances to enjoy the outdoors with the necessities of life.  I certainly liked Vancouver very much, and hope that I have the opportunity to return there again sometime in the future.

In the evening, we visited a relative of hers and the aforementioned relatives of mine, before returning home so that I could pack and we could sleep.

And now, it is off to the Giants-Nationals game.  For the first time on this trip, I will be rooting for a team, instead of just watching.  Check back soon for my reactions to AT&T Park, and to see if it lives up to what everyone says about it. 

Add Another Type of Transit Used to the List

Greetings again from Janet’s house in Vancouver, this time from the basement, where it is 9:38 PM PT on Monday, August 6.  Today was British Columbia Day, and other Canadian provinces also had a holiday today in different names depending upon the locale.  The main point, however, is that it was a three day weekend, today was a day off for many people in Canada, and Janet was able to show me around the city despite it being a Monday.

We set out in the morning, after buying a one day pass for my use tomorrow, and eventually got on one of the new New Flyer trolley buses, which we took to near the Granville Street Bridge, which we then walked over.  It seems that most of the buses being used today were these newer ones, but I attributed that to the holiday.  I did see some older models out on the road for the diesel routes, though.

Anyway, after crossing the Granville Street Bridge, we walked along the seawall, occasionally admiring and more frequently critiquing the modern art along the way.  Our walk took us past the site of the 2010 opening Olympic ceremonies.  We then headed past the Central Library, which is modeled after the Coliseum in Rome, before heading towards the Gastown neighborhood.  We walked along Water Street, which is a street that has been redone with brick to appeal to tourists.  We also passed by a steam clock, but it didn’t seem to be functioning correctly (it is set to do the Westminster Chimes, but was blowing off steam at 10:50 as if it were 11, and did nothing at 10:45).

We then walked to the Canada Place, which is the cruise ship terminal, where one boat was in port.  We walked to the harbor observation area, where we had an excellent view of the harbor looking out towards North Vancouver.  We then walked back on the other side of the terminal building, and after a short break, picked up the seawall and followed it past the floatplane “airport” to Stanley Park, Vancouver’s large urban park.  We ultimately found a secluded area with some benches in the shade overlooking some water for lunch, before retracing our steps to catch a bus to West Vancouver.

A bus came sooner than expected, and we boarded.  While driving along, the driver asked if there were any atheists aboard, and when no one replied, proceeded to tell the joke about the atheist who is about to be eaten by a bear (I’m sure if you Google the right terms, you can find it).  This is something that I would never expect to hear on a bus in the United States.  The driver also posed his bus for me to photograph once we reached Horseshoe Bay, which was the end of the line.  Horseshoe Bay is centered around a ferry terminal, from which ferries leave to go to a variety of destinations.  After exploring the town (which essentially consists of a harbor and some shops, in addition to the terminal), we boarded a ferry to Bowen Island, which is about a 20 minute ride on the ferry.  The views from the ferry were spectacular, and we stood at the front of the ferry to take advantage of them and the cool, sea breeze. 

Once on Bowen Island. we went in search of a beach, which we soon found.  But we decided it was too cold for swimming, so we walked on further, and found blackberries to pick and eat instead.  After some time, we began to retrace our steps, although we took a slightly different path through the woods, to return to near the ferry dock, and purchased ice cream to eat while waiting.  The sun had moved along its daily course over this time, and was now at our backs for most of this ferry ride, as it had been for the first trip.  Therefore, the photo opportunities on this trip were good, as well.  Once back at Horseshoe Bay, we boarded a bus back to Downtown Vancouver and changed for another downtown to get back to Janet’s.  After dinner, Janet’s friend Cassie came over, we baked cookies, and chatted.  I will now make an attempt at an early night, for yet another exciting day tomorrow.

Seattle Center & Beautiful British Columbia

Greetings from beautiful British Columbia, where I am writing from the kitchen table in my friend Janet’s house on Sunday, August 5 at about 6:30 PM PT.  It has been a busy past three days, and I’ll get into all of it in a few moments.

My cousin Aviva and I decided to make Friday morning a lazy morning, so I slept in, had a leisurely breakfast, and downloaded my email for the first time in days (no Amtrak train has Internet capabilities, and I doubt the Empire Builder will anytime soon).  Shortly before noon, we walked out to a nearby bus stop, and took a King County Metro bus to near the Westlake Center in downtown Seattle.  The last time I was in Seattle was in the summer of 2004, at which time the Seattle Center Monorail was not in service due to some sort of mishap.  Therefore, I was unable to ride it then.  (Luckily, the bus tunnel was open then.  It is now closed for work pertaining to the new light rail that is under construction).  We rode the monorail to the Seattle Center, and then walked over to the International Fountain.  There are some very creative benches in the circular walkway around the fountain, and I got some more photos of the fountain with the Space Needle as a backdrop.  I also got some photos of the benches in the area.  After some time, we walked around the Seattle Center some, and then went to the new sculpture garden located along the waterfront.  I found the sculptures to be quite interesting, and we then found a bench whose back was designed to look like an eyeball (there were other similar benches nearby, appropriately positioned to create pairs), and made some phone calls to family back on the East Coast.  The bench was also within earshot of a grade crossing for a BNSF freight line, so I was able to get a few photos of passing trains.

After this, we walked along the waterfront in the direction of the aquarium, in search of some food.  Since we were going to the Seattle Mariners baseball game that night, we didn’t want to eat too large a lunch and not have an appetite for ballpark food.  At about this time, Aviva’s husband Jonah called to say he was off work, and we agreed to meet him for falafel at a place near 4th and Main.  We took our falafel to a courtyard with waterfalls that was the birthplace of UPS.  After finishing this, it was nearing time to head over towards the ballpark. and I made another phone call back to the East Coast while doing so.

I think that Seattle is a very interesting city, and I like it a lot.  I find places such as the Seattle Center to be wonderful urban paradises in the middle of bustling cities, similar to Central Park in New York City or Millennium Park in Chicago.  Additionally, I enjoy the waterfront (and will be interested to see what is done with the elevated highway running along the Alaskan Way) and find that Seattle is a very easy city to get around, despite its steep hills.  So far, I have been able to enjoy excellent weather when I’ve been in Seattle, and seeing what are supposedly more “normal” conditions might change my opinion of the city, but I think it is an exciting and fun place, and hope to be able to go back again soon.

Before the baseball game, which seems to be my Friday night Seattle tradition, Aviva, Jonah, and I went to Pyramid Brewery, people watched, and chatted.  Then at about 6:20 or so, we went to buy food from a vendor outside the stadium, and then went in to Safeco Field from the main entrance.  For that night’s game, in which the Seattle Mariners hosted the Boston Red Sox, we had sections in the upper level looking straight out along the third base line towards left field.  The Red Sox lost for the first time at a game that I have personally attended (that I can recall), mainly because they were unable to produce runs in the first two innings when they got 6 of their 11 hits.

Overall, I like Safeco Field.  Last time I was there, my seats were in right field, and I didn’t enter the park through its majestic foyer, which I liked a lot (the new stadium for the Mets, CitiField, is supposed to have a similar foyer, which was a feature of the old Ebbets Field that was home to the Brooklyn Dodgers).  Safeco Field is very similar to Citizens Bank Park, where the Philadelphia Phillies play.  The concessions on the lower level are set up so that one can see from the concourse to the playing fields, there are views of the city skyline from the stadium, and the scoreboards are large and easy to see from many vantage points.  I especially like that they show how to score most plays on the scoreboard, since I keep score at the games I attend and occasionally miss something (such as the 9-4-2-5 play that resulted from Manny Ramirez’s poor baserunning.  However, I found the frequent promotions and sound effects, especially between each pitch made by Seattle closer J.J. Putz, to be overkill.

After the game, we drove back to Aviva’s and Jonah’s, and went to sleep.  The next morning (Saturday), after a quicker breakfast than the day before, I was driven to the King Street Station to take Amtrak Thruway Bus 8948 to Vancouver, BC.  Yes, that last statement was a bit of an oxymoron, since this was a bus where my ticket was purchased through Amtrak and was timed to meet the Empire Builder from Chicago, but the bus was operated by some Canadian company whose name I forget, and was most definitely not a train.  (Janet, the power behind the scenes as she calls herself, thinks the best description would be a “bus that is pretending to be a train”, among other ideas, but I’ve gone with the wordy description above).  Since Amtrak can only operate one Cascades round trip a day between Seattle and Vancouver, it operates additional bus service for the times the train does not run.  The bus ran non stop to the border, where we arrived at about 1:10 PM PT.  For buses crossing the border, every bus must unload its passengers, after which they claim their luggage and proceed to a customs inspection.  Meanwhile, the bus is inspected (we were warned not to leave anything on board or else it would be confiscated).  After every passenger went through customs, the luggage was reloaded onto the bus, and we set off again at about 2:10.  This wasn’t too bad of a border experience, since only one bus can be processed at a time, and we only had to wait 10 minutes for the bus in front of us to finish once we arrived, and no other buses were in front of us.  After a stop in the Vancouver suburbs in Richmond to let a few people off, we arrived at Vancouver Central Station, which is served both by buses and trains, at 3:07 PM PT. 

I only had a few minutes to wait for Janet to come and pick me up, after which we went back to her house, before setting out to see the University of British Columbia campus.  The campus looks like that of a school in the United States in many ways, with lots of utilitarian buildings that seem to have been constructed in the 1950s, 60s, or 70s, based on the exterior designs.  However, there are a number of vistas that overlook the Pacific Ocean which are quite pretty.  We returned to the house to eat, then set out on a long walk through the UBC campus down to the beach, then walked about 7 kilometers (5 miles) along the beach to Vanier Park.  Each summer, there are four fireworks displays as part of a competition.  The three countries each have one night where they make their own display, set to music, that goes off over English Bay.  Then, the fourth display is a finale, in which all participants each do about one third of the entire display.  That fourth display took place Saturday night, and we watched it from this park.  Being from the Washington, DC area, I get to see fireworks each July 4th on the National Mall.  However, I found that the Vancouver display was interesting since the people who made it had more leeway in the music they used since they were not limited to patriotic songs.  They also used a number of effects I had never seen before.  After the display ended, it was back to the house to sleep.

This morning, we drove out to Whistler, an alpine village about 110 kilometers from Vancouver where a number of 2010 Olympic events are scheduled to take place.  The drive from Vancouver to Whistler is quite scenic, and it goes along the ocean for much of the first half.  This road is being widened to accommodate Olympic traffic, and it is quite interesting to see how they are widening the road that runs between a cliff leading down to the water and a steep rock face.  While on our way out there, we stopped at Shannon Falls.  Once in Whistler, which is a village that seems to be trying to be European and isn’t exactly succeeding, we had lunch, and then went for a walk out to what is called Lost Lake, but Janet and I decided that the lake is no longer lost since we found it.  The scenery on this walk and at the lake itself was simply breathtaking, as we walked along a blue-gray stream that probably originated at a glacier, and then reached Lost Lake with its blue-green waters set among a variety of trees, including evergreens, and tall mountains still capped with snow.  We walked around the lake after sitting on its shore for awhile.  We didn’t have bathing suits so we were unable to go in, although it would have been quite refreshing to do so.  Then, in the interest of time, we took the less scenic but most direct route back to Whistler Village and headed home, where I write this post from.  Today was quite tiring, so I think it might be an early night to bed after some reading, before yet another packed day tomorrow.