Rowena's/Sandpiper Resort - one of the Lower Mainland's Best Kept Secrets

On Labour Day weekend, Sally and I decided to enjoy a last-minute weekend getaway. Since it's difficult to get ferry reservations a trip to Vancouver Island or the Gulf Islands was out of the question. Also, it did not seem a suitable time to go into the Interior. So, I checked whether there was any accommodation at Rowena's in Harrison Mills. Surprisingly, Pete's Room was available for Saturday night and I quickly booked it, along with a golf tee time reservation at the resort's Sandpiper Golf Course.

If you are not aware of Rowena's, you are missing one of BC's best kept secrets. An approximate one-and-a-half-hour drive from Vancouver, it's in Harrison Mills, just 20 km west of Harrison Hot Springs.  It is most delightful. 

Photos of the Pretty Family can be found on the wallpapered walls of the Inn

The resort includes a historic 1920's inn that was once the home of the Pretty Family. It offers five fully renovated rooms, some with balconies and terraces. Each is now ensuite, although there are no televisions in the rooms, which is a plus, or negative, depending on your perspective. 

Pete's room has a large balcony overlooking the grounds and lake

In addition, there are eighteen one-, two- and three-bedroom cabins set in the grounds overlooking the lake and golf course. More details and photos can be found here https://rowenasinnontheriver.com/.

A few years ago, the resort and golf course were purchased by Keltic, a Vancouver development company which has undertaken significant and thoughtful improvements. These include new well designed and equipped two and three-bedroom luxury cabins, and enclosure of the restaurant patio with a sophisticated retractable glass panel enclosure system manufactured by Lumon, a Finnish company for which I do some consulting. https://lumon.com/ca/.

The adjacent Sandpiper Golf Course is a challenging 18-hole course that takes you into the woods and across creeks and streams, often full of salmon. One year in late October, I could not believe my eyes when I discovered salmon jumping in a creek in the middle of the 15th fairway.  The 17th fairway runs along a small airplane runway, so it is wise to check if a plane is landing before searching for an errant tee shot.

Twenty-one years ago, Sally and I booked the entire resort and invited friends, both golfers and non-golfers, for the weekend. The resort catered meals, as they do for many weddings and other celebrations, and it was most memorable. Upstairs in the Inn, I saw a bookcase full of guest comment books and just happened to find my entry from May 1st, 2001. I wrote that the resort was a well-kept secret and wasn't sure whether to simply leave it that way.

The clubhouse restaurant with its expansive retractable glass enclosed patio

The clubhouse restaurant offers good food but it's menu could be expanded, especially for those staying in the hotel and not attending a catered function.

While Rowena's remains a well-kept secret for many, this could change as the developer has plans for some major renovations. The old swimming pool will be replaced by a spa facility and further accommodation and golf course upgrades are planned. So, my advice is to book a short stay now, before the place becomes even more popular. You won't regret it. Here are a few more photos that you won't find on the website.

A new pizza oven and outdoor patio area have been built since we were last there.

The resort hosts a lot of weddings and other functions, special birthdays, etc.

The earlier cabins

A view of some of the newer cabins overlooking the golf course and lak

The side entrance to heritage Inn

The room layout on the second floor of the Inn

My guestbook comment from 20 plus years ago

Happy Hour at North Vancouver's Seaside Hotel - one of the city's best kept secrets

In June 2021, as we were coming out of Covid, Sally and I enjoyed several Staycations around the Lower Mainland. One of the most memorable was at the Seaside Hotel, part of North Vancouver's Shipyards redevelopment. I wrote about it here. http://gellersworldtravel.blogspot.com/2021/06/staycation-3-city-of-north-vancouver.html

While I have returned to the Shipyards on numerous occasions, yesterday, Sally and I decided on a return visit to the hotel after hearing CBC Stephen Quinn's extravagant acclaim on his Early Edition program for a show at the Polygon Gallery https://thepolygon.ca/exhibition/jeremy-shaw-phase-shifting-index/.  It is fascinating, and portions were visually outstanding. But I couldn't really understand what was going on. The gallery suggests you take at least 35 minutes to watch it. I would suggest you take more time, and also do some research beforehand. 

At 5pm the gallery closed, and we headed over to the hotel. If you haven't been, the entrance can be difficult to find, especially when there are thousands of people milling about the area. But just follow the signs. 

The hotel's restaurant offers Happy Hour from 3 to 6pm. All the 'small plates' are half the regular price. But when I saw other tables enjoying giant platters of oysters, I asked Megan, our very stylish and welcoming server, whether discounted oysters were also available. She assured me the 'buck a shuck' oysters were still on offer.  I ordered two dozen. When Sally questioned two dozen, I reduced the order to 18!

We also ordered the chili garlic prawns, tacos, lobster roll and crispy chicken. We would have ordered more but were planning to go out for dinner. The prawns and crispy chicken were superb. The lobster roll and tacos were not as good, but still enjoyable especially at the modest Happy Hour price. The 9-ounce $9 white wine was good enough to justify a second glass. 

It was a beautiful evening and fortunately we had a table by the window. However, as we left, we noticed a very attractive couple sitting at an outside table with an extremely large platter of oyster shells. I had to ask. "How many did you order?" "Four dozen !" they told me.  It turned out they were both engineers working at nearby Seaspan and go there every week. 

The Shipyards is now one of the best public spaces in the Lower Mainland, along with Granville Island, Steveston Waterfront, and Fort Langley.  Yesterday it was full of vendors including a large area devoted to second hand vintage clothing. The pier was jammed full and the city skyline, a Seabus ride away, was beautiful. 

If you're staying in town this Labour Day weekend, I highly recommend a visit. Based on our Happy Hour experience, I would also urge you to visit 'Provisions' for its Happy Hour specials, but also for dinner as well, especially if you can get a table outside. (Although the inside is very elegant and cozy at the same time). If you do go and meet Megan, tell her you read about her here. And if you see Jeremy Shaw's phase shifting index and understand what it's all about, please explain it to me. 

A weekend at the Bellevue Club Hotel and Pacific Northwest Washington

An aerial view of Bellevue. The air was not quite so clear this weekend due to smoke from eastern Washington fires

Having recently received new Nexus cards, Sally and I decided to take a trip to the States this past weekend. It was our first trip in more years than we can remember. We initially thought about visiting Port Townsend, a favourite destination over the years, but our favourite hotels were booked up. Also, I was cautioned about relying on Washington State Ferries. They are not as reliable as in the past, and this was confirmed in the Sunday edition of the Seattle Times. 

We then considered La Conner, another longstanding favourite destination, but it too was completely booked up, except for one tiny room in the Hotel Planter. This prompted me to choose Seattle where we often visited when I was working with Narod Developments 40 years ago. (As vice-president development Vancouver and Seattle, I often drove down in the morning for a meeting and returned that evening.) But rather than stay downtown, we investigated Bellevue on the eastside of the city.

Since the Arbutus Club has a reciprocal arrangement with the Bellevue Athletic Club, we checked it out and discovered it has a 66-room hotel. Not only that but it offers Canadians a discounted rate. (15% off regular rates) https://www.bellevueclubhotel.com/bellevue-hotel-specials/neighbourly-love/) And so we checked in for two nights. I am glad we did.

On the way down we stopped off at the Duty-Free shop, which was virtually empty. I had read that the shop was suffering and was not surprised why. The prices did not seem much lower than in BC Liquor stores. I didn't check watches or perfume, since I don't buy such things in Duty Free Stores.

If you haven't been to historic Fairhaven, it's a wonderful destination just south of downtown Bellingham

We did enjoy a stop for lunch in Historic Fairhaven. https://www.bellingham.org/my-ideal-day-in-historic-fairhaven-%E2%80%93-10-must-dos. If you have not been there, do check it out. While we have always enjoyed this place, often staying there overnight, the town has gotten better since our last visit. It took just under two hours to drive to Bellevue.

The entry roundabout as seen on the internet

As viewed from our room at night

This is one of the smaller rooms - 510 sq.ft.!

Next time I'll try and book one of the garden rooms

Hotel guests have access to all of the club's facilities including the gyms, four restaurants and pools. However, don't be fooled by this photo of the pool. When we were there, you could barely see the water for all the kids!

The Bellevue Club Hotel is close to the heart of Bellevue if you consider the Bellevue Shopping Centre to be the heart of the city. It's also close to Old Bellevue, which has a different vibe. If you don't want to drive, the hotel has two luxury vehicles (a large electric BMW and Lincoln Navigator) to transport guests to nearby destinations. the club has a very luxurious feel. The rooms are extremely well-appointed with power drapes, a virtual assistant, and much more.

While Bellevue does not have the attractions of downtown Seattle, or downtown Kirkland for that matter, it does have a lot of stores to browse, interesting restaurants, and beautifully maintained streets with colourful planting and manicured gardens and parks. Yes, it feels a a bit artificial, but it's pleasant.

I didn't realize it but Bellevue Square and the surrounding 35 plus acres were all developed by the Kemper Development Corporation. A model in the shopping centre shows what's coming next. https://kdc.bellevuecollection.com/

One of the striking architecturally designed buildings in downtown Bellevue. I looked for Westbank's latest development but couldn't find it.

Friday night we drove into Kirkland for dinner. But first we stopped off at a local vineyard's wine bar along a main street. We wondered why BC's wineries don't open wine bars in and around Vancouver where you can taste different flights. 

David Mooney and other former Narod employees will well remember our 'home away from home' on Lake Washington. As the receivers were coming in, Sally and I were encouraged to go down for one final visit and take all the champagne and bedding (in lieu of outstanding holiday pay!)

His shirt says "Sorry for what I said while docking the boat"

For old times' sake we had dinner at Anthony's Homeport where we sometimes ate while staying at Narod's waterfront apartment (before the receivers came in). https://www.anthonys.com/restaurant/anthonys-homeport-kirkland/ While the food was a bit disappointing, the outdoor patio setting was spectacular.

On Saturday we drove around the region and discovered Medina. While I didn't know much about it, we drove by a lot of very expensive homes. However, we didn't find Bill Gates' 66,000 sq.ft. home which reportedly cost $127 million in 2016. https://www.businessinsider.com/crazy-facts-about-bill-gates-house-2016-11

On the way home we did stop off in La Conner, https://lovelaconner.com/ which has also improved since our last visit. When we arrived, they were dancing in the street. Wandering along the waterfront boardwalk, lined with restaurants, I was reminded of the bus tour I arranged in 1981 when working with Narod on the rezoning of BC Packer's Lands on the Steveston waterfront. 

At the time, many merchants and local residents were concerned about the negative consequences of our proposed 92-acre mixed-use redevelopment. To address these concerns, I organized a bus tour to show them how La Conner, another former fishing town had been transformed. Suffice it to say, the tour helped solicit community support for our proposed redevelopment. Forty years later, most would agree that Steveston, with its renovated cannery buildings and other attractions, has most certainly not suffered from the redevelopment of BC Packers Lands. Indeed, as I predicted, Steveston has become one of the Lower Mainlands most attractive villages.

I couldn't walk by this vintage 4-door Cadillac convertible without taking a photo. Fisker is planning to introduce another 4-door convertible. Hopefully, it will be more reliable than my old Lincoln 4-door convertible, whose top never worked properly all the time I owned it!

In days gone by, no trip to Washington was complete without a meal at the Oyster Bar along Chuckanut Drive https://www.theoysterbar.net/ however, this time we had to pass, literally.

While there is no doubt the 74 cent Canadian dollar is one reason not to travel to the States, there are many other reasons to visit. Although it's only an hour or two away, you feel like you are in a different place. Which is one of the reasons so many Americans enjoy coming up to Vancouver, along with our $1.35 dollar. Next time, we will go to Seattle, if only to see if some of its streets really are becoming as ugly and disturbing as those in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. But that will be another story for another day.

Senakw - a few photos of the model on display at the Vancouver Museum

View looking north across former Molson's property across Burrard Street bridge. Concord purchased the Molson's property with the expectation that it will be rezoned for a major mixed-use residential/commercial development

Before attending yesterday's Probus meeting at the Vancouver planetarium, I viewed the Senakw model on display next to the Vancouver Museum. In case you haven't seen it, here are a few photos.

Unfortunately, not all the model lights were on. But I must say that if this development is built as proposed, with 6080 apartments and only 886 parking spaces (0.15 ratio), many of the apartment lights may never be on.

View looking west across The Lagoons, which I co-developed with First City in the 1980s. and Pennyfarthing development

View looking southwest across Pennyfarthing development and Vanier Park

The future of Kingsgate Mall?

While I don't shop at Kingsgate Mall, and have no real estate interest in the property, yesterday I headed over to Kingsway and Broadway following my Roundtable Club lunch to discuss the shopping mall's future with Global TV's Kristen Robinson. She was interested in my thoughts on what could be developed on the property once a legal dispute between a Beedie subsidiary company and the Vancouver School Board is resolved. (If you are wondering whether this is the same Beedie Group that eventually won a dispute with the City of Vancouver regarding a high-profile property in Chinatown, you are right.) 

Why is the School Board involved in a legal dispute over a shopping centre when there isn't even a school there? Check out this short segment that appeared on last night's Global BC TV News   https://globalnews.ca/news/9883404/kingsgate-mall-sale-possibility/

Kingsgate Mall is just one of many publicly owned properties around the Lower Mainland that is going to be disposed and redeveloped at some time in the future. An interesting question is whether it is preferable for these sites to be sold or leased when no longer required for public purposes. The Globe and Mail's Kerry Gold is currently writing a story about this topic which I will post when published.

Lunenburg, Nova Scotia July 1, 2023

Yesterday, someone asked me on the golf course whether my travels are for pleasure or business. I had to respond that's it is impossible to separate the two. Rarely are my trips not business since I cannot stop seeking out and seeing things to incorporate into various projects. And I can't stop working. 

This was particularly true during a short visit to Lunenburg and Chester following the CIP Conference in Halifax. It has been at least 12 years since I was last in Lunenburg and Chester. It find it hard to believe, but Lunenburg is one of only two North American urban communities designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. https://www.novascotia.com/places-to-go/regions/south-shore/lunenburg (Since you asked, the other is Philadelphia.)

The historic downtown of Lunenburg, with its quaint and colourful buildings is quite remarkable. While there is some new infill development, much appears as it did many decades ago. One difference may be the colour of some buildings. It's hard to believe they are traditional, but I am willing to be proven wrong. 

The following is an extract from a Wikipedia entry:

Lunenburg /ˈluːnənbɜːrɡ/ is a port town on the South Shore of Nova Scotia, Canada. Founded in 1753, the town was one of the first British attempts to settle Protestants in Nova Scotia.

The economy was traditionally based on the offshore fishery and today Lunenburg is the site of Canada's largest secondary fish-processing plant. The town flourished in the late 1800s, and much of the historic architecture dates from that period.

In 1995, UNESCO designated it a World Heritage Site. UNESCO considers the site the best example of planned British colonial settlement in North America, as it retains its original layout and appearance of the 1800s, including local wooden vernacular architecture. UNESCO considers the town in need of protection because the future of its traditional economic underpinnings, the Atlantic fishery, is now very uncertain.

The historic core of the town is also a National Historic Site of Canada.^[2]

During my stay I met a young couple who had lived there all their lives. He worked for High Liner, the major fish processing plant. I was both surprised and disappointed to be told that today the seafood processed in the plant is not locally caught. Most is imported, primarily from Asia. I was not certain if this applies to all seafood, or just the majority. so I checked the High Liner corporate website:  https://www.highlinerfoods.com/company-overview

"Although our roots are in the Atlantic Canadian fishery, we obtain our seafood, raw material and some finished goods for the operation from supply channels around the world, including Europe, East Asia, South America and Alaska."

While this is an interesting story, I was more interested in the buildings and streetscapes. Here are a few photos of what I saw. I highly recommend a visit. 

A young lady I met at the CIP conference suggested I stay at this loft accommodation developed by Brian Mackay Lyons. She offered to check whether there was availability, but when I didn't hear back, I assumed not and booked at another small inn along the main street. https://www.mlsarchitects.ca/whoweare

Typical streetscapes. Not a lot of front yard setbacks!

While the fish processed at the High Liner plant may come from around the world, you certainly feel like you are in a fishing community.

I was curious about the name of this vodka soda. I was told blue lobsters are very rare and hence the name. In case you have never seen a blue lobster...

One of the many colourful streetscapes in the downtown

Since I booked at the last minute, this was one of the only places with available accommodation. It was fine, but I suspect there are many better places to stay.

The view from my room after the fog lifted a bit!

I spent a most enjoyable evening at this small restaurant along the main street, thanks in part to meeting up with a Vancouver area planner. When someone asked towards the end of the evening whether it would be open for lunch the next day, the bartender replied, "yes, as long as it isn't raining too heavily." That's when I noticed there was no roof over the area where the tables were located.