Zero Avenue

Today was another glorious summer day.

I decided to go south of the Fraser River, similar to my ride to Glen Valley, but this time continued south towards the US.


My first stop was Bradner. Bradner is one of those little communities that have been around forever but are now part of a larger town or district (in this case, Abbotsford). I took a photo of the general store - and there isn’t much else. There’s a school a couple of other rural looking stores, a police station, and a bunch of houses.

I discovered that the village of Bradner was founded in 1910 and was named after one of the first settlers. Apparently, it is known as the daffodil centre of the Fraser Valley and has hosted a flower show since 1928.


I continued south, taking a detour at the Lotusland Winery. Lotusland is one of the nicknames for the Vancouver area and describes the relaxed, laid back, attitude of many people here as well as the temperate climate. Some say the name also has to do with our fairly liberal drug policies.

Anyway, I liked the name a lot - so I tried a couple of the wines. The rosé was a bit harsh - it definitely had a raw tinge to it. After nibbling frantically on a cracker, I tried the pinot noir. It was a lot better (although I think that, in comparison to the rosé, anything would have tasted better) and I bought a bottle. That night, the bottle was OK, just nothing to write home about. Still, the wine is organic and I am pleased that the wine industry is responding to public demand for organic and eco-friendly wines.


I then continued south until I reached Zero Avenue. This road runs parallel to the US border - literally inches from the border. On one side of the border is Canadian road, Zero Avenue. On the other side of the border is the US road (West or East Boundary Road) that runs parallel to the border. In the middle is a ditch about six inches / 15 cm deep with some bushes in it. In the above photo, Canada is on the right and the US is on the left. There’s no red line, no lasers, no barbed wire, just some bushes in a ditch. Lots of houses have the border as the end of their back yard!

I took a quick photo of one of several metal markers. I was careful when I took my photos that I didn't stray across where I thought the line was. I was tempted to creep around the marker to take a photos of the words “United States” on the other side, but something stopped me from taking a chance. With my luck, a rookie border guard with something to prove would spot me and chase me down, even on my Vespa!

It’s been said that Canada and the US have the world’s longest undefended border. Post 9/11, it’s nice to see that this part of the border hasn’t changed a lot. There are few steel towers on the US side that apparently have high powered cameras and I’m sure there are some other measures that people aren’t aware of. Still, it is heartening to see that, as two countries, we can still trust each other, at least along Zero Avenue.

Saturna Island

As promised, I’ve included a whole raft of photos from our recent trip to Saturna Island.



Saturna Island is one of the Gulf Islands that are between the Lower Mainland (where Vancouver is) and Vancouver Island (a large island with several cities including a favourite tourist destination, Victoria). The islands continue into the US but are called the San Juan Islands in the States.



I have been to several of the other Gulf Islands, but not to Saturna before. Our company from Scotland invited us to stay with them as they had booked a house for a week.



The house we stayed at (the water-colour was done by our friend Cindy) was very nice - and lots of room for eight people. It is called Pacific Paradise and was only a few minutes walk to the beach.



One of the wonderful things about Saturna was the wildlife. There was a flock of wild turkeys on the road on the few occasions that we used the car.



The sundeck out the back of the house was a great place to relax, have a drink, read, and look at wildlife. There were deer coming through regularly - sometimes up to five at a time, nibbling on the grass. They were not nearly as skittish as most of the deer I have seen.



I spent the early mornings walking down to the cliffs near the house and casting my line.



There were some holes in the rocks that caught several of my lures but I did manage to catch a couple of red snappers and hooked into a couple of monsters that I wasn’t able to land. The snappers were a bit small so I chucked them back into the sea to grow a little more.



I have no photos of this but the best part of fishing was when I had reeled in on the last day. As I was collecting my tackle, a pod of orcas swam by, not 10 metres from the cliff I was standing on. Amazing!



On one of the days, we hiked up Brown Ridge which is right on the top of the island. The views were breathtaking.



The trail was actually a mountain goat path so it was definitely single file!



After our hike, we went to the Saturna Winery. They had some nice wines with their pinot noir being the one that is available in liquor stores.



We also discovered a great rosé and a super light red that are both perfect for sipping while the barbecue is on.



There was some nice views from the outdoor patio where we were eating. While we were leaving, the kids managed to find a big flat rock to launch themselves onto.



During the last day we were on the island, we spent a few hours at the beach.



The water was, well, bracing, but there were only fifteen or so other people there. We also went over to where the cliffs were to find some more orcas. While we didn’t see any, there were some otters and seals that were very entertaining.



Alas, our trip was over that afternoon as we headed out and caught the ferry back to the mainland. As the island receded from view, I thought, this would be a great place to take my Vespa!