Today was another gloriously sunny day, so I ventured out into the neighbourhood. I took some pictures to share with you.
This is our building, from the pedestrian walkway. There are only five units and we’ve met the people from Units 1,3 and 5. We’re not sure if there’s anyone in Unit 2.
This is the walkway in front of our house, looking away from downtown area. The whole path is beautifully landscaped and maintained by the Port Coquitlam Gardening Club. Down this way are several large parks, and if you take a path to the left part way down, you’ll get to the Community Gardens. I’ll cover that another time.
And this is the walkway that goes to the downtown area. The many gardens in the downtown area are in transition, from spring to summer. The tulips are gone but the rhododendrons and azaleas are still blooming, and now so are the lilacs. The scent on this path right now is heavenly! I also love how the sunlight flutters through the leaves of the many mature trees along the way. There are a lot of gardens and parks in the downtown area. All of them have benches to sit on. The garden by city hall always has people in it.
This is the Sunny Farm Market. The front of the store is produce, right now mostly BC Hothouse items. The back is a well-stocked ethnic market. I will definitely be spending some more time going through the aisles there! I am really looking forward to getting fresh, seasonal produce there soon.
Across the street from the farm market is Super Valu. It is a small grocery store. I don’t do my main shopping there but I am there at least once a week. They sell Avalon organic milk, in bottles! We used to buy this when we lived on the Sunshine Coast and we are thrilled to be able to have it again. Their organic chocolate milk is amazing! The store also sells Oliver’s bread, an organic, non-GMO product. Their whole wheat French bread is the most delicious bread I’ve ever had. I love it toasted. The store also sells organic, free-range eggs.
A couple of short blocks away is Matteo’s Gelato and Bistro. We haven’t eaten there but we have had several flavours of their gelato. The take-away containers are divided so you can get 1/2 a litre of two flavours. Darin brought us hazelnut chocolate and watermelon one day when we were still in the throes of moving in. I walked there recently and got chocolate and blood orange for me, and blueberry and mint chocolate for Dale. We just take our containers out of the freezer and eat the gelato with a spoon right from there, bypassing the bowl. Matteo’s Gelato is incredible! The selection of flavours changes with seasons. We can’t wait to discover them all!
I didn’t really know much about downtown Port Coquitlam before we moved here. But when we first came here, for the first viewing of our townhouse, I knew it was a place we could call home. I like the pedestrian lifestyle that I can have here. I can find most things I need within walking distance. There are bus stops all around the downtown area that I could use to get to Coquitlam Centre or to a sky train terminal, if I wanted to go right into Vancouver. Driving here is not intimidating, and there are many shops and centres that I can get to with just a short drive. For recreation, there is a bike path that connects to the downtown area, and just off of downtown is the Coquitlam River. Interestingly, last year after watching Darin play slo-pitch on one of the hottest days of the summer, we walked down to the river and stood with our feet in the cool water. There were a lot of people hanging out down there. Now, that spot is just a short walk from where we live. This year more than our feet will be in the water!
This set of benches is on the pedestrian walkway in front of our building, towards the downtown area. Today as I finished up and headed home, I could see three men of varying ages sitting on them. They must have been good friends, for they were sharing a smoke. This may be the suburbs, but some things about the Lower Mainland don’t change, whether you’re in the West End or downtown Poco!