JUNK BOAT TRAVELS: Day 17 - Vancouver BC to Kamloops BC

Sunday, September 24, 2017

Day 17 - Vancouver BC to Kamloops BC

September 2017
On an impulse we decide to visit Stanley Park since we had done it previously.

The sun is shining again.
Stanley Park is a 405-hectare (1,001-acre) public park that borders the downtown of Vancouver and is almost entirely surrounded by waters of Vancouver Harbour and English Bay.

The park has a long history and was one of the first areas to be explored in the city. The land was originally used by indigenous peoples for thousands of years before British Columbia was colonized by the British during the 1858 Fraser Canyon Gold Rush. For many years after colonization, the future park with its abundant resources would also be home to nonaboriginal settlers. The land was later turned into Vancouver's first park when the city incorporated in 1886. It was named after Lord Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby, a British politician who had recently been appointed governor general.

We really wanted to revisit the totem poles as they were our strongest memory of our last visit.

The nine totem poles at Brockton Point are BC's most visited tourist attraction.

The collection started at Lumberman's Arch in the 1920s, when the Park Board bought four totems from Vancouver Island's Alert Bay. More purchased totems came from Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands) and the BC central coast Rivers Inlet, to celebrate the 1936 Golden Jubilee. In the mid 1960s, the totem poles were moved to the attractive and accessible Brockton Point.

The Skedans Mortuary Pole is a replica as the original was returned home to Haida Gwaii. In the late 1980s, the remaining totem poles were sent to various museums for preservation and the Park Board commissioned and loaned replacement totems.

The ninth and most recent totem pole, carved by Robert Yelton of the Squamish Nation, was added to Brockton Point in 2009.

Once again we come across an iconic Hudson Bay store as we did Victoria.

The cream terra cotta building with Corinthian columns was built in 1927. The current store was built on the site of another HBC store from 1893. The last additions were made in 1949.

Reminder these are kilometers not miles!

Kamloops takes its name from the Shuswap word "Tk'emlups,"meaning "meeting place." Situated at the confluence of the North and South Thompson rivers, the site was a meeting place for trade between First Nations people, and the location of the city of Kamloops.