After what has been way too long, it’s time for another vacation. Susan, Lily and I have been travelling with my parents and will be joined Saturday by my sister and her husband for the remainder of the trip. As the title implies, this vacation is comprised of a few days in Vancouver, BC followed by a week in the the Last Frontier.
Wednesday morning started dark and early as we left the house at 5am to trek to the Cincinnati airport. We had already dropped off Derby over the weekend for his Delphos and Hamilton Lake vacation. My parents had come in town Monday night to help with Lily while we tied up all our pre-vacation loose ends, so we were ready to roll come Wednesday.
Our first flight from Cincinnati to Toronto (Lily’s first ever flight) went smoothly and she slept for most of it. In Toronto we had a little mishap with Lily not having a formal boarding pass (she was flying as a lap infant so no seat number) so got kicked out of the security line our first attempt. Otherwise, the travel logistics went well. The flight from Toronto to Vancouver was long and Lily was awake for much of it, but was mostly quiet and well behaved. ‘
Once getting our bags, car, and leaving the airport we drove into downtown to our hotel to drop off the bags and attempt to check-in. We were early (1:30 for a 4pm check-in time), but didn’t think it was unreasonable to think our rooms may be available…the desk seemed to think otherwise. With time to kill and bellies rumbling, we walked a few blocks to a sandwich shop for a late lunch, then set out to explore the area.
Only a few blocks from our hotel is a ferry terminal for the False Creek ferries, which includes a quick hop across the False Creek to Granville Island. Granville Island is an old “island” (actually peninsula) that sits directly below a bridge and was once a industrial area turned derelict. It has been revived as an artist and craftsman hub along with having the large Public Market, which is similar to Findlay Market in Cincinnati with tons of stalls of food vendors (ingredients and prepared goods), spice and coffee/tea shops, as well as some other artisan stalls. We made a loop of the island and bought some bacon maple peanuts (Oh Canada) before returning to the hotel in late afternoon.
During our downtime, I snuck in a run and did some reconnaissance on the northwest Seawall. The sun had come out at this time, so the paths were packed with walkers, runners, and bikers. There were also sailboats gathering out in the bay. I ran along the shore into the perimeter of Stanley Park before turning back.
With a long day of travel behind us, we decided to get take out and stay in Wednesday night. My dad and I walked to The Fish Shack for different varieties of fish n’ chips. The ambience of the restaurant was neat, but the portions were skimpy. My dad’s blackened snapper wasn’t much more than a snapper nugget.
Thursday, after a good night of rest and some great news of Susan’s passing of the EPPP, we were ready to get going again. Breakfast was at the hotel and was standard Residence Inn fare. Then we packed a day-bag and drove a couple miles into Stanley Park. We drove the park loop first to see what all was around, then re-looped back to the Totem Poles to get out and stretch our legs. After some time exploring (and shopping) here, we drove up to Prospect Point, viewed the Lions Gate Bridge overlook and then hiked some of the walking trails we could get to from the Prospect Point parking area.
Post-hike we were ready for lunch so crossed the suspension bridge and grabbed food at Nando’s, a small Portuguese chicken chain. The waitress here was a little overwhelming in her enthusiasm for Lily so we had to keep and eye out to make sure no baby-napping would take place.
Our bellies full, we drove up to Grouse Mountain, but decided not to pay for any of the activities offered since the clouds were low so we weren’t sure what kind of visibility we would get at the peak. Instead, we drove part-way back down the mountain road and visited the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park. There were a variety of attractions here including the suspension bridge itself (which has been in existence in some form since the 1890’s), a treetop canopy bridge walk, a cliff walk, as well as other nature trails and educational displays. It was a lot of fun for all of us (but a little less fun for those not fond of heights).
We returned to the hotel for a break in the afternoon before heading back to Granville Island for dinner. It had started to rain a bit, so we tried to be quick about finding one of the breweries Dad and I had spotted the day before. The only problem was…there were none. The only actual brewery we had seen Wednesday was the Granville Island Taproom, which didn’t appear to serve food. Apparently we had a shared hallucination. Desperate for food and shelter, we ducked into The Keg, which was also not what it seemed. We were expecting a sports bar, but instead found a steakhouse. Since it was Susan’s day to celebrate the EPPP passage, we decided it was appropriate and enjoyed our dinner there before returning to the hotel for the night.
Friday morning started with a run. I ran the opposite way along the Seawall, into the False Creek area and past the major sports arenas, through small parks and past the science center. It was a beautiful morning for a run with great scenery. Near the finish I ran into my parents on their run and finished with them.
After cleaning up, we again had breakfast at the hotel and packed for our outing. Our main agenda item today was a Whale Watching tour. It was AMAZING, but I’ll just let our pictures do most of the talking here.
Once on shore again we shuttled back to the hotel to take care of some business and do laundry in preparation for our departure to Alaska tomorrow, where we will meet with the rest of our vacation crew.
In the evening, the skies cleared so we headed out for a walk along the Seawall before venturing into the Yorktown neighborhood for dinner at a burger restaurant where we were sure to sample the Canadian staple, poutine. With a travel day ahead, we called it an evening early after dinner and returned to the hotel.
Onto Alaska tomorrow!
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