So just to clear up any confusion, we are talking about Vancouver, BC, Canada, NOT Vancouver, Washington. The latter sits on the Oregon-Washington state border, just across the Columbia River from Portland, so when you tell locals that you are going to Vancouver, they are not sure whether to gush to you about British Columbia's lush greenery, or ask, "Why, do you need pseudoephedrine cold medicine from Washington?"
We departed from Victoria in the morning and rode another car ferry about 90 minutes to Vancouver. Following our poorly-photocopied map, we navigated our way through traffic to get from the city where the ferries dock over to downtown Vancouver. This was to be our last hotel stay out of only a scant few along this whole trip, so once again we were looking forward to relaxing in a slightly more luxurious setting.
So you can imagine my shock and fear when I stepped up to the front desk of our tiny "boutique" hotel and they had no reservation for us. Nada. Due to some Expedia.com glitches on Expedia's part, the hotel had record of a cancelled reservation for us while I held a confirmation number from Expedia (not to mention a charge on my bank account) that led to nowhere. Ordinarily, this might not be a big deal on a Tuesday night in a busy downtown area full of hotels, but Vancouver's hometown hockey team, the Canucks, were playing in the Stanley cup for the first time in about a million years. Their first game was tomorrow night, at home, naturally. There wasn't a hotel room to be had in all of Vancouver.
Luckily, the young, chain-smoking Turkish gentlemen who ran the hotel were professional and sympathetic and managed to rearrange things so that they could accommodate us. We had to switch rooms after the first night of our stay, but the remaining three nights were all in the same room AND they gave us complimentary parking. They were delighted to hear Alton's name, because "altin" is a Turkish word for "golden," and was the name of one of the women on the housekeeping staff! Alton could not figure out why everyone at this hotel did such a great job remembering his name all the time.
Phew! After finally getting the car parked in the underground garage and our luggage up to the room, we walked down the street to dinner and picked up some tourist pamphlets in the hotel lobby to begin planning our activities for the next few days. Our hotel was situated on a busy street crowded with shopping (right on the edge of one of their city fashion/shopping districts), tiny delis and hole-in-the-wall restaurants, fancier bistros, grocery stores, and high-rise apartments and hotels. We selected this place mainly because of its proximity to Stanley Park, a giant city greenspace on the north side of Vancouver that houses museums, walking/hiking/biking trails, the boat marina, some playgrounds, the seawall, and the Vancouver Aquarium. Seemed like a perfect place for a sightseeing family to decamp and enjoy themselves for a few days. Once we parked the car, we never moved it the entire four days we were in town; we walked to every meal and activity! (And besides being a great city for strolling, we were so impressed with how "green" Vancouver is. Very ecologically-minded, and pretty much every city cab we saw was a hybrid vehicle. No ancient sedans idling at curbs around here!)
With Stanley Park being at the peak of our interest, we spent the first day at the Vancouver Aquarium. An easy stroll on paved walking trails past the boathouse and marina, we arrived at the aquarium to great Nemo fanfare:
One of the things the aquarium is known for is its great northwest mammal exhibits. Dolphins, seals, sea lions, otters...
...and beluga whales.
The four sweet beluga whales (including one baby beluga...hee) had viewing areas both under and over the water. We sat bathed in bluish light down below for awhile, watching them swim back and forth.
Then we headed abovedeck for the whale show, where the trainers with microphones got to introduce the belugas to the crowd and talk about some of their species' traits. Of course, the whales also got to show off how well they can spray the onlookers.
Besides our blubbery white friends, Alton was also fascinated by the touch pool, where Daddy lifted him up to stroke a finger on sea stars, sea cucumbers, and other squishy creatures.
Some of the indoor displays were pretty stunning, too, like the jellyfish.
Although he was so entertained by the fountain out front, for a minute I wondered whether we should have saved ourselves the admission fee and just played all morning in the water.
Our walk back to the hotel.
The next day, it was up and dressed in our best rain gear to walk a few blocks up the street to another hotel, where we caught a free trolley ride!
The trolley took its travelers north just on the edge of the city, where concrete jungle gives way to trees, trees, and trees, and the Capilano Suspension Bridge.
The bridge began as simply a way for a landowner to get across the Capilano River back in the late 1800s, but preservation of land and historic points of interest eventually turned the Capilano Suspension Bridge into a small park of adventure that looks like something out of Disney's Frontierland.
The biggest draw of all is obviously the bridge itself. With reinforced steel cables anchored in 13 tons of concrete on either side of the canyon wall, you inch across the gently swaying planked path 230feet up above the rushing river below. Add in the steady rain of our morning's visit (although the bridge is well-prepared for this, with great traction the whole way across) and I had to hold Alton's hand to keep him from running across the bridge. Let's goooo!
Once across the bridge, there's lots to see and do, including the Treetops Adventure, which is a series of little tree platforms connected by more suspension bridges, about 100ft up off the forest floor. You scurry from tree fort to tree fort like a squirrel!
Peek-a-boo Alton refused to wear his rain hood--he's from Oregon, after all. His hair clung damply to his forehead as he giggled and hid behind trees and wondered why all these people around him were bundled in free plastic ponchos.
Huck Finn, hanging out at a little fakey river house on the creek.
Heading back across the bridge; Andy waited for a clear shot to give you some perspective of how high, far, narrow, and steep the suspension bridge is. Any acrophobes ready to puke now?
Time to get this pud muddle back home! We wait for the trolley with hoods on after a stint under the hand dryer in the bathroom to dry out a bit. Notice the yellow poncho-ites behind us; Andy and I were stifling our giggles when one gentleman tried to put on the poncho, lifted the skirt of it over his head, then couldn't find the head-hole and stood peering up into a yellow plastic expanse and "swimming" his arms around trying to find the hole to poke his head through. Hee, hee.
After our soggy day in the rainforest, we braved the wet weather once again and walked to a fancy French restaurant to warm up over soupe a l'oignon and white wine. One sweet waitress produced a piece of butcher paper and some crayons for Alton, which he proceeded to color, and color...and color. Some of his best work, and we rolled it up to take home with us since it had finally stopped raining!
Our chipper walk home in the wild northwest summer daylight: is it 9pm, or 3pm? Who knows?!
Alton does his best Gene Kelly impression, even if he's not technically "singin' in the rain."
The next morning, my two guys went on a very considerate coffee run and decided to make it a photo tour as well. Alton expressed interest in using Daddy's big, heavy (expensive) camera, so Andy took some strap-wrapping precautions and let the little guy snap pictures of things he thought were interesting. In addition to lit-up, scrolling signs, Alton expertly framed this shot of a tree outside our hotel...
...and a picture of Andy...taking a picture of Alton...taking a picture.
Our last full day in town called for some two-wheeled sightseeing.
We decided to rent bikes to circle the 5.5mi seawall path around Stanley Park, and it turned out to be a beautiful sunny day for our ride. We were really missing our bikes on this trip and didn't have too many exercise options ("hiking" at a toddler's pace is what most people would call...shuffling), so we were excited to get a chance to wake up our leg muscles. Alton was hitched to a small trailer attached to Andy's bike, and we snapped a quick photo op before closing his little "door" and setting off down the trail.
The trails in Stanley Park are great: one-way, for the most part, so you don't run into much oncoming traffic, and clearly delineated which side is for walkers and which side is for cyclists, so no worries about running into pedestrians. Then there are plenty of small side areas with benches for you to stop and take in the view. Here we paused just outside of the marina, where we got to see a few seaplanes taking off and landing.
Lion's Gate Bridge, which we'd ridden over in the trolley the previous day to go to the Capilano Suspension Bridge. At the base of the bridge on the park side is Prospect Point & Lighthouse.
We perch on the low wall overlooking the water for a picture; I'm clutching Alton's arm!
The snowy hills surrounding the city of Vancouver--anyone up for skiing? (Heh, not me.)
A little more riding and we came across a playground with such a cool old-fashioned fire engine to crawl all over!
More pictures.
This narrow plastic beam is actually a groovy slide!
One more pose before hopping on to ride 'round and return the bikes; everyone's in helmets, naturally.
We earned our last dinner in Vancouver, which was at a lovely Italian place a few blocks away.
We partook of their amazing antipasto appetizer (a little of everything--we didn't get all of this, unfortunately!).
Alton was ready for a giant plate of pasta of his own...
...while Andy and I feasted on gnocchi, carbonara, and Italian libations. Delicious!
The next morning, it was time for a quick coffee and muffin while packing up, then southward to the U.S. border! Unlike the dusty chaos of the Mexican border, our farewell to Canada involved a picturesque "peace arch" and lots of well-tended green lawns.
We're home!
