Sugar Beach

On August 9, 2010, a new Beach magically appeared in Toronto's East Bayfront neighbourhood.

In 2002, Waterfrontoronto held a competition to design a park in a 2 acre space just west of the new Corus Entertainment building.Where there was once an industrial parking lot with crumbling pavement, there now sits a pure white sandy beach, complete with pink umbrellas and white wooden chairs...
.....add to that a few candy-striped rock outcroppings, and Voila! you have a place for residents and visitors alike to enjoy the sun, the sailboats, and the view.

According to their web site, the park/beach will also have a multi-use pathway cutting through it, that will connect to the Waterfront Trail.


There are 57 trees, 150 chairs and 36 umbrellas in this 8500 metre space that sits alongside the Redpath Sugar Refinery at the foot of Lower Jarvis.

BC Wildlife Watch Area

On our way to Langley, we stopped at a little place called Kilby Park.

It is located near the junction of the Harrison and Fraser Rivers, and is a popular fishing spot for Coho and Spring Salmon.

There is a small sandy beach with a single boat ramp for launching most fishing vessels, as well as a 22 site campground.



It is designated a British Columbia Wildlife Watch Area due to the large number of Bald Eagles, as well as Trumpeter Swans that inhabit the area.



There is a Bald Eagle Festival each year in BC, and last year it was held in the Fraser Valley. These magnificent birds of prey are drawn to the Salmon runs and the milder climate in the region.


The logs you see in the pictures are the remnants of an old Rat Portage Mill that once occupied a piece of the shore along the Harrison River.

The above picture was uploaded from the Wikipedia page about Harrison Mills.

University Theatre

This is the University Theatre, that once sat on Bloor Street West.


The 1300-seat cinema opened in 1949; and the first film to be shown was Joan of Arc with Ingrid Bergman. (The above picture is courtesy of The Archives of Ontario).

I remember lining up in '76 to see the premier of the new George Lucas film "Star Wars - Episode IV - A New Hope".

We were all suitably impressed with the opening scene depicting the Imperial-class Star Destroyer chasing Princess Leia.

It closed in 1986, just after the Toronto Film Festival wrapped up it's tenth year; despite efforts to keep it intact by film buffs, heritage groups and Mayor Art Eggleton.

The building was demolished completely, except for the facade.

The owners were unable to sell the property to any developers because the market was experiencing a bust.

Later, in the nineties, the deteriorating wall needed to be torn down, and with downtown property now at a premium, the owners were able to capitalize on their empty lot.

Originally, the plan was to built a nine screen theatre complex with condos on top, but it ended up being a retail store.

The facade was replicated and the fake facade is now the entranceway for the Pottery Barn.


The above image is from Wikipedia and is used with permission.

Fraser Valley

We took the scenic route through the Fraser Valley and did a walkabout at the Westminster Abbey, near Mission.
We trekked through a wooded area, and came upon a lookout that afforded us a breath-taking view of the valley.

I neglected to take my camera, so this is an uploaded picture from Wikipedia Common files.

We the drove to the winery in Langley; and only had to wait a few minutes for the next tour.

The winery is small but we felt that the tour was a little more personal, as a result.
The tour guide talked about the choice of location for the vineyard.



Apparently, after studying the climate in the area, the owners decided to plant their grapes on the south-facing slope of the valley, in order to take advantage of the "micro climate".
The cool temperatures are ideal for growing white wine grapes, and they bring in their red grapes from the Okanagan Valley.



We then toured the winery's bottling and storage facility.


After the tour we were able to taste four of their wines that they bottled last season.

We each purchased two bottles of wine, and returned to the car for the drive back to Vancouver.


There was also a restaurant/bistro on the premises, but the prices looked a little steep.

It might have been nice to sit with a glass of wine, because the place overlooked the vineyard, and it was a very nice sunny day.