Saturday, September 17, 2016 (Fort Camping, Brae Island Regional Park, Fort Langley, BC)

We woke to heavy rain this morning...the weather forecast was right on today. Just before 10:00 we received a phone call from John...looks like the rain should ease off in the Steveston area in about an hour and it takes an hour to get there, are you still game to go? Sure...so about 15 minutes later, we were off.
Steve took a couple of pictures of all the rainwater that has collected in our site...





Our courtesy car sits in the pouring rain...

 We're just entering the George Massey Tunnel that goes under the Fraser River...

Steveston was originally a small town founded in 1880 by William Herbert Steves near Vancouver, British Columbia. It has since been absorbed into the city of Richmond, British Columbia. The village is a historic salmon canning centre at the mouth of the South Arm of the Fraser River.

(Click to enlarge photo)       

The rain, for the most part, had eased off to a light drizzle...

Today, Steveston still maintains the character of a quaint, historic fishing village, with over 600 fishing boats––Canada's largest fleet calling Steveston Harbour home. Over the years, due to its still active fishing fleet, historic buildings, and National Historic Site, The Gulf of Georgia Cannery, Steveston is still very much a small fishing village, though changing quickly. It boasts over 350 businesses and services to accommodate its growing population. Steveston has become a popular place to visit and live. On sunny days, visitors flock to Steveston's waterfront boardwalks to enjoy the scenery, people and food.

Located along the pier next to Steveston Landing, Fisherman’s Wharf boasts incredible views of the Fraser River and Steveston’s famed fishing fleet. Visitors have flocked here since the wharf’s inception in 1989 to watch fishermen unload their catch and head back out to sea. The public fish sales float is a place where you can purchase fresh fish, shrimp, crabs, sea urchins and spot prawns directly from the fishermen who caught them.

Tuna...

 John and Pat buying some fresh prawns...

 Our turn...

Sea Urchins...complete with built in tooth picks...

Steveston has often been the site of filming for both films and television shows . It was used in the 2010 film adaptation of The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud as a stand-in for Marblehead, Massachusetts, and the television movie A Cooler Climate as the fictional Steveston, Maine. It has been used as a location for The X-Files series, in the episodes "Gender Bender as Steveston, Massachusetts, and later in "Miracle Man." It was also featured on Highlander: The Series as Steveston, Washington, and in the Stargate SG-1episode "Nightwalkers" as Steveston, Oregon. An episode of the second season of Sliders was shot there, and part of an episode of CW's Supernatural was also filmed in the village. Steveston, particularly storefronts and business along Moncton Street east of the Cannery, transforms into the fictional Maine town of Storybrooke for the hit television series Once Upon A Time.

After we had finished at the docks, we stopped for coffee and then wandered along the streets of this cute touristy community. We even passed up going into a brewery...

Library...

Big Red, a stray Irish setter, became known as the mascot of Steveston, or Steveston's Mayor. For ten years he freely roamed Steveston's streets, visiting merchants for companionship, food and lodgings. When Big Red was picked up by the SPCA for the fourth time, Cannery Row Café owner Ray Martyniuk asked for help in paying the $115 fine, and merchants donated $200 to a fund to care for the much beloved dog. Big Red had a house built for him at Cannery Row Café, was licensed, fed and regularly groomed. After he died from cancer in November 1989, his ashes were spread in the park next to the Steveston Museum and a granite water dish was placed there in his memory.

Now that's a different crosswalk marking...

Post Office, Tourist info and museum all in this little building...

This is a Romanian Bakery (Steve's heritage) You have to ring the bell at the door window to be allowed in...

See the large oven in the back...

After a couple of hours, we were finished our wandering and were back in the truck heading back out to Fort Langley.
On the way into town, there is a sign advertising The Fort Winery but no one knew where it was...so I googled it, found out the address, and we eventually found it. It's about 5 kms or so east of town...not a very well marked location if you're trying to promote your business.

A very cool little spot...of course, Pat and I had to try a couple of the wines but they were not to our liking. They are all fruit wines and very, very dry...other than the dessert wines which I understand are very sweet (we didn't try any).

We were back home (and back into rain) at about 2:30. Steve settled in front of the TV to spend the rest of the afternoon watching "his" shows...and I was in my glory! I have a little car that I can take off in by myself...time to go into Langley and do a little shopping/looking!

When I got home a couple of hours later, I decided to tackle the task of cleaning the two pounds of prawns we had purchased at the docks this morning. We had a third of them for dinner (sauteed in butter and garlic...yum!) and I froze the other two-thirds in 2 single containers. They were excellent...nothing better than fresh caught prawns!