153. Westminster Pier Park - East Playground

Charlotte and I ditched pre-school and work early today - and set off on an adventure!  We took the bus down to the Quay and walked east along the boardwalk, as far as we could go.  We were in search of a geocache at the far end of the boardwalk ("There's a $^@#3 in my Boot!"), which we didn't find, but we had fun getting there.  Along the way, we stopped off at the west playground, which we have visited before, then here, at the east playground.  This one is much smaller than the west playground and designed for younger kids.  There were a couple of kids playing here, but they were being told not to climb (!) so they weren't a whole lot of fun to play with and we soon continued on our way to the giant W made out of shipping containers.  After our failed attempt at finding the cache, we took the glass elevator back up to street level and caught the bus home again for dinner.  Charlotte walked and walked - I don't think she ever walked quite so far in her life!  The playground is point no. 153 on the map at the bottom of home page.

51. Westminster Pier Park, New Westminster

This park is still pretty new - in fact, it's younger than Charlotte! It was opened just a couple of months after she was born and it's a very popular place already. It has won quite a few design awards and is built half on land and half over the water with the help of 3600 pilings. There are lots of things to see that are of interest to a two-year-old; the Skytrain bridge is just to the east and tugboats are constantly making their way up and down the river. A paddlewheeler went by as we walked to the playground - I think Charlotte might like a ride on one when she's a bit older! Or maybe not even so very much older... There are no geocaches in the park because there is a series of older caches just outside it.  Charlotte had a nice time playing, then we had a picnic supper before she played in the sandbox for a while. When it got cold, we headed back to the bus stop and rode the bus back up the hill. The playground is located at N 49.12.165 W122.54.389 and is point 51 on the map at the bottom of home page.