Vancouver in Three Days

Vancouver was the first stop on our 11 day July vacation with Kim (Grammy) and Brett (Grandpa Brett). I took 750 pictures on this vacation, and that does not include the photos that Olivia and Kim took! So, I have worked to condense our pictures to those that give a quick glimpse into our vacation activities. And, right now I am going to apologize for the flow of this blog. I cannot figure out why the text boxes do not line up with the photos and I do not have the knowledge or patience to try and correct it!

Here is the splashpark on Granville Island that we explored on our first day (a great place with farmers' markets and dozens of local artist shops, breweries, and restaurants). You can barely see Ethan in his black and white pants.

The next day had us exploring Stanley Park (a fantastic park much bigger than Central Park). The Salmon Crossing sign was next to a creek in the Park. We spent many hours exploring the Vancourver Aquarium (a fantastic place!) and attending their dolphin show. Next up we took the Stanley Park trolley to Totem Park where the kids had great fun reading about what each totem pole was made to represent and working to see the animals mentioned in the poles. We also walked along a bit of the Seawall - something that the citizens of Vancouver are very proud of having been built as each time we mentioned having been there we were congratulated on having seen it (it is a rock wall built at the edges of Stanley Park that connect to the Pacific Ocean).

The picture of the floating gas station above became a bit of a joke between Joe and Olivia. Joe continuously could not believe that Vancouver would create a gas station in the middle of the ocean because how could cars drive out to the ocean to get their gas? While Olivia would continue to try and convince Joe that this gas station was either for the boats in the ocean or the float planes that continuously took off from the harbor. You can also see in the background 2 bright yellow piles of sulfur from their mines. These were very unusual to see! Next is the family with the 2010 Winter Olympic torch that was literally across the street from our hotel. The kids had a great time running around it.

On our third day in Vancouver, we took a bus tour of Vancouver (Chinatown, Gas Town, Yaletown, Stanley Park, etc.) and then headed to the Capilano Suspension Bridge area. This was a fantastic place, and we maximized our time there the best we could. The first picture is of the suspension bridge itself - suspended about 400 feet above a gorge with breathtaking views, and it swayed like you would not believe! The next pictures are the family on the newly opened Cliffwalk - a narrow passageway that took us along the cliff above the gorge, again with fantastic views.

These show the kids and I crossing the suspension bridge, Brett and Kim with the kids on the Cliffwalk, and a picture of Olivia and Ethan in the Treetop Adventures walk through the Vancouver rainforest (basically a series of treehouses connected by suspension bridges), and the family at the Capilano totem pole display.

Grouse Mountain was the last stop of our third day. Many 2010 Winter Olympic sports were held on top of this mountain. Here are pictures of the air tram to get up the mountain, the kids looking at the view while in the air tram, part of the lumberjack show we attended on the mountain (when we could see it through the fog!), and the family taking the ski lift to the peak of Grouse Mountain.

The final two pictures are of us filling time prior to boarding the cruise ship on our final Vancouver day. We went to the Vancouver Art Gallery for Olivia since she wants to be an artist when she grows up and was very interested in seeing the art. The last is of the kids pretending to eat a donut (getting warmed up for posing with characters I suppose).

All in all, Vancouver was a beautiful, clean, family friendly city that I was happy we had the chance to explore! I would recommend for anyone to visit!