Our day started at Stanley Park, a 1,000-acre public space that covers the northwestern half of Vancouver's downtown peninsula.  This area became the city's first park after Vancouver incorporated in 1886 and was named for Lord Stanley, Canada's Governor General.  This was the same Lord Stanley who donated a trophy to be used as the prize for Canada's ice hockey championship—known hence as the Stanley Cup.

We strolled along the seawall (pictured above), Vancouver's 17-mile uninterrupted waterfront path, locating a couple of letterboxes and stamping in.  Our visit also included Brockton Point to check out the First Nations totem poles in the park, which is located in the traditional lands of the Coast Salish people.  

These monumental carvings were unique to the native peoples of western Canada and northwest United States, including southern Alaska.  Traditionally constructed from western red cedar, each carving tells the story of a real or mythical event.  Some of the poles in the park date back to the 1880s and were added to the park in the 1920s when officials wanted to create an artificial native village in the park. 

A newer installation is a sculpture called Shore to Shore.  Originally carved in cedar by a native artist and then cast in bronze, the work is a tribute to the ancestral connection between the area's aboriginal and Portuguese communities.  The sculpture depicts an early Portuguese pioneer, who moved to the area around 1860 and his two native-born wives.  The three figures are standing beneath a 14-ft cod lure topped with a raptor head.  The intricate mosaic tile base was designed and installed by a Portuguese artisan in a style popular in Portugal.

We hiked on Lovers Trail through an old-growth cedar forest, searching for letterboxes.  Though this is just a connector trail, its lush woods offer towering trees, fascinating little habitats on nurse logs, and a haven of quiet in the city.

From the park, we drove to the main branch of the Vancouver Public Library, where we gained a new appreciation for the power of clever photography.  From images we had seen before the trip, we had the impression that the architecture of this main branch was truly spectacular.  In person, we found something a bit different.  Though the wrap-around concourse with its elliptical glass wall was photogenic and interesting, the building proper was quite mundane.

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Outside the library was a free standing illuminated marquee installed in 2010 as part of the public art initiative in connection with hosting the winter Olympics.  Artist Ron Terada explained it thusly:  "Taken within the context of a public library, the work touches upon—in a very poetic way—the use of words and language as boundless and imaginative, as a catalyst for a multiplicity of meanings."    Hey, he's an artist; he never claimed to be a writer. Or did he?

Still digesting that bit of self-promotion, we headed in search of lunch at the iconic public market on Granville Island, named for England's secretary for the colonies, Lord Granville.  A century ago, the city port commissioned a reclamation project to convert a sandbar in the harbor to an island for industrial use.  The so-called island is actually a peninsula, located ironically on False Creek.  But it was available land and was soon occupied by a host of corrugated tin factories where products for the mining and forestry industries were assembled.  

After World War II, manufacturers began to move elsewhere and the government invested large sums to rehabilitate Granville, including the conversion of a 50,000-square-foot building to a public market.  Established as a place for farmers and other food vendors to sell to consumers, the enclosed public market operates year round, selling wares such as fresh produce, meat, seafood, and a variety of locally sourced products.  With retail food vendors offering prepared foods, the market is a favorite place of both residents and tourists at meal time.

On the north side of the island is Sea Village, one of two floating home communities in Vancouver.  This miniature neighborhood has 13 floating homes, and they are not selling cheap.  A two-bedroom, one-bath home with 1400 square feet sells for $1 million.  If you catch a break, you might get a rental for $7,000 a month.  About half of the 30 residents are survivors of the 1980s eviction from Coal Harbor when houseboats had to give way to waterfront development.  Docks and walkways float because when the tide comes in, the village rises 16 feet.

En route to Surrey, where we'll overnight before crossing the border tomorrow, we stopped at New Brighton Park to check out its views of the Vancouver Port. Nearby, crowds were lined up for the Vancouver Craft Beer Festival at the Pacific National Exhibition fairgrounds.  No doubt there were some tasty brews there, but we just weren't that into it.  So we moved on to Surrey and checked in at the Hampton Inn to make plans for crossing into Washington tomorrow.