Today Miss G and I trudged off the beaten path a little to check out somewhere that’s been on my mental list for a very long while now… Iona Beach. Nestled in a quiet area out beside the Vancouver Airport, Iona Beach is definitely unique. After you pass the farms lining the airport runway, you come to Iona Beach Regional Park, a piece of rural heaven just outside of the city.
Now I must admit that there were some very serious tears when we got out of the car and Miss G realized that this beach was not the awesome playground-having beach she’s used to visiting. Our saving grace, however, was this lookout tower that was cool enough to {at least semi} make up for the disappointment.
While there were tons of swampy beach areas to explore, we opted to head out for a walk on the park’s jetty.
We were definitely the odd ones out in a community of bird watchers and dog walkers (every single person we passed had a dog or binoculars and/or a camera with a giant zoom), but what we really loved was the plane watching! They were amazingly close and basically came one after the next.
The other fascination during our jetty walk was with potato bugs. I’m not sure if Grae has seen these much in the past, but they were plentiful and she certainly loved them.
What I didn’t realize when I suggested we check out the jetty was that it was 4.5 kms long! We made it a couple of kilometres out before Miss G called it quits and asked to turn around. On the way back, there were definitely a few bouts of carrying, several sitting breaks, and even an attempt to crawl ‘because it’s easier for tired legs’. (Note to self: bring the stroller next time!)
Next time the mood strikes to plane watch or take a long walk out into the ocean, we’ll definitely go back. If you’re in the area and want to visit, simply head to the airport, and before arriving to the terminal, take a right onto Templeton… You’ll run right into it!
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