I've always called it the Bloedel Bubble. The Macmillan Bloedel Conservatory in Queen Elizabeth Park is an excellent place to escape our icky winter weather. It's warm and dry and there's hundreds of tropical plants and birds and fish. It even smells like you've changed continents.

Macmillan Bloedel Conservatory is celebrating it's fortieth birthday this year but could be shut down because of shortfalls in the parks budget.

It's shocking how many people here in town don't even know the conservatory exists. Oh, Vancouver, don't you understand you could be spending an afternoon in the tropics for four dollars and eighty cents?

See more beautiful photos and learn the cool history of this Vancouver landmark here.

Just for fun, and because summer is feeling like a long, long time ago these days, here are some kids playing in the fountain next to the conservatory:

photography by Becky McEachern