Stanley Park - June.26.2006

My tag speaks it all!

This is my job, what I love to do, and what I was born to do. So on Monday, June.26.2006, mom took me to **Stanley Park to fulfill my inner beast.

Mom says I wouldn't be a successful hunter in the wild because I seem to just want to "watch" my prey and "stalk" it until it has already taken off, then I start my chase which has ended in 100% failure everytime. Sometimes I would just stand there completely still, in my stalking position and watch my prey for ten minutes or more depending on when it decides to move. Here are two examples:

OOPS...excuse me, this is MY rock!

We walked along the grassy area next to the Vancouver Aquarium where the Seal/Sea Lion and Beluga Whale enclosures could be viewed from the outside perimeter. I was like a little person amongst all the other two legged people watching from outside the enclosures. Mom didn't have me on leash because I was very well behaved and just watched the seals quietly with my orange ball in my mouth. I wanted to see the lone Sea Lion that was in the enclosure, but he was too BIG and FAT that he just laid there on land the entire time.

Watching the seal with my orange ball in my mouth

Where are you Mr. Sea Lion???

Hey there you are........

Mom told me I should go check out the Belugas, so off I went to say hello to "Qila", the youngest, most curious and playful Beluga at the Vancouver Aquarium.

Watching the Belugas, still with my orange ball in my mouth

"Hi Qila, I'm Sunshade!"

After my visit with the seals and the adorable Qila, mom and I walked the Seawall for while. However, I got very warm from the walk so mom thought it would be a good idea to take me down to the little stretch of beach by the Children's water park. The sea water was so refreshing to swim in. Mom threw my orange ball for me and she found a huge log for me to retrieve. I'm an excellent retriever (it was noted in my puppy testing done at 7 weeks of age), and the bigger the log/stick is, the more excited I am to go after it.

Hurry mom!!!

This thing is HUGE

I got it! I got it!

By the time I was finally satisfied with swimming and fetching my huge log, the sun was already setting, and the ocean in turn got a little cold. Mom decided it was time to leave the beach and walked me up to the Children's water park area where I just "sat" there with my orange ball still in my mouth. I have this habit of "sitting" very still when I get cold, and I was a little cold from all that swimming. This is what I look like when I'm cold.....

We then made our way back to the parking lot where I did more squirrel patrolling on the way.

**A little info about Stanley Park

Stanley Park is considered by many to be the jewel of not only the City of Vancouver but also of the Lower Mainland. It is Vancouver's "first" park, an oasis of 400 hectares (1,000 acres) close to the heart of Vancouver's downtown core. Its natural west coast atmosphere offering a back drop of majestic cedar, hemlock and fir trees embraces visitors and transports them to an environment rich in tranquility.

A myriad of recreational facilities are available in Stanley Park including a pitch and putt golf course bordered by the spring-blooming Ted and Mary Greig Rhododendron Garden. At the Park's heart is the formal Rose Garden surrounded by mass perennial plantings looking their very best from April through September. The Children's Farmyard, Miniature Railway, tennis courts, bathing beaches, a children's water park, a heated ocean-side swimming pool, Theatre Under the Stars, the Vancouver Aquarium and the 5.5 mile (8.85 km) perimeter seawall round out the menu of what a great public park offers.