VANCOUVER - British Columbia: Including the Alaska Highway - page 64

Adjacent to the museum complex is the Gordon MacMillan Southam Observatory
(604/738-2855, donation), which is open for public stargazing 8pm to midnight Saturday
when the skies are clear.
MM Vancouver Maritime Museum
Just a five-minute stroll from the Museum of Vancouver is the Vancouver Maritime Mu-
seum (1905 Ogden Ave., 604/257-8300, 10am-5pm daily in summer, 10am-5pm Tues.-Sat.
and noon-5pm Sun. the rest of the year, adult $11, senior and student $8.50), at the end
of Cypress Avenue. Filled with nautical-themed displays that showcase British Columbia's
seafaring legacy, exhibits chronicle everything from the province's first European explorers
and their vessels to today's oceangoing adventurers, modern fishing boats, and fancy ships.
Beyond the front desk is a historical Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) vessel, St.
Roch, which fills the first main room. Now a National Historic Site, the St. Roch was the
first patrol vessel to successfully negotiate the infamous Northwest Passage. Beyond the
vessel and easy to miss are the large black-and-white images of local waterways from 100
years ago—a real eye-opener as to how much and how quickly Vancouver has grown. Chil-
dren tend to gravitate toward the back of the museum to the Maritime Discovery Centre,
where they can dress up as a fisherman, try their hand at navigation, and crawl through a
pirate's cave
When you're finished inside the museum, wander down to the water to view Heritage
Harbour, where a small fleet of historical vessels is docked.
MM VanDusen Botanical Garden
In the mid-1960s, Shaughnessy residents lost their golf course to encroaching residential
development but managed to save a plot of land that was later redeveloped as a public
garden—the city's answer to Victoria's Butchart Gardens, albeit on a smaller scale. Today,
the 22-hectare (54-acre) VanDusen Botanical Garden (5251 Oak St. at 37th Ave., 604/
257-8335, 10am-8pm daily in summer, 10am-6pm daily April and Oct., and 10am-4pm
daily the rest of the year, adult $11.25, senior and student $8.50, child $5.50) is home to
more than 7,500 species from every continent except Antarctica. It's the place to feast your
eyes on more than 1,000 varieties of rhododendrons as well as roses, all kinds of botanical
rarities, winter blossoms, and an Elizabethan hedge maze. Look for the display board near
the front entrance to see what's best for the time of year in which you're visiting. The com-
plex also includes a shop selling cards, perfumes, soaps, potpourri, and all kinds of gifts
with a floral theme. At popular Shaughnessy Restaurant (604/261-0011), the light and
airy decor, picture windows, and garden view bring the outside in. It's open 11:30am-3pm