Stanley Park Vancouver BC
Stanley park is on First Nations territory. The first peoples have owned this territory for thousands of years. The park is on unceded Coast Salish Land. This first and foremost must be acknowledged as fact.
As a child and as a young adult Stanley Park was always there for me. For the city of Vancouver. For everyone. Everything about this place is special. So many things about Stanley Park are iconic. Too many things to list. Somebody please tell me some negatives to counterbalance things.
The sea wall was a welcome scenic walk when I was a child. Getting ice cream at prospect point and taking in the view of North Van. Going to the zoo and the aquarium. (Yes there was a zoo in the 80’s) Watching the penguins and otters. Getting popcorn and peanuts. Feeding the birds and the squirrels. The petting zoo, the train.
My favourite part of Stanley was the Nine ‘O’ Clock Gun. Hands down obsessively favourite thing. I was 5 and loved to watch things blow up! I was a tom boy back then and also loved to play Street hockey. One time when the gun went off our dog escaped and we had to search for her. It took a very long time to find her under some bushes, cowering.
(I will write more about this later my sons tooth just fell out I have to go deal with it. The joys of being a mom lol.)