“I-spy with my little eye something begin with P”. “Pavement?”, ” No”, “Pine cones?”, “No”, “Clouds?”, “Yes! Daddy wins!”.
And so began our long weekend in Vancouver, playing i-spy up the I-5, making the miles pass with much hilarity. You can’t beat a game of i-spy with Toby. Whatever he spys has no relation to the letter he suggests and daddy always wins! Brilliant!
The journey up to Vancouver was pretty good, including the border crossing, and we arrived around 2pm in the afternoon. Fortunately our satnav worked in Canada as well as I have no idea how we would have found the hotel – what did people do before satnavs!? After checking into our rooms we had some lunch in the hotel as we were all starving – this is a common feeling in both the US and Canada which is surprising given how much we manage to eat!
After lunch (3pm) we set out to explore the city. Having been overcast most of the day the sun was starting to burn through the clouds and it got quite warm. Much to the delight of the children the initial part of exploring involved shopping on Robson Street – which is the main shopping drag in Vancouver (funny how we ended up staying in a hotel there!). Our wanderings took us down towards the water (the Burrard Inlet/Vancouver Harbor). We watched the sea planes landing (there were lots of them), looked at the cruise ship that was docked and then set off up the hill, back to the shops and hotel. The following picture credits belong to Harry – this is us down by the Harbor:
The evening involved (quite a large) bite to eat and off to bed for a not very early night but early enough so we were bright-eyed and bushy tailed in the morning.
On Saturday we booked our tickets for the Big Bus tour. It seemed a good way to hop on and off around the city and help us get our bearings. First stop (that we got off at) was the Gastown district because 1) we hadn’t been shopping for hours, and 2) we were all starving! Gastown sorted both of these needs. We took photo’s of Gassy Jack (an old Vancouver whiskey drinker whom Gastown is named after) and then went into the shop behind his statue – O.K. Boot Corral – because Sally needed some cowgirl boots (and a hat as well as it turns out). It was interesting to see/feel some cowboy boots that were made out of stingray skin – apparently that is the best/longest lasting material to make cowboy boots out of. The other leathers, etc. only last 20 years – stingray lasts much longer. There were also a few pairs made out of sealion skin but they are few and far between as they are not allowed to hunt them anymore.
Although I’m sure the boys weren’t overly enthused about being in another shop it turned out that they did enjoy themselves as the disappeared up the back of the shop and were trying on cowboy hats, striking poses and taking photo’s of each other! Toby took the one on the left, Harry the one of the stingray boots on the right:
After making the necessary purchases we went for brunch at Smart Mouth Cafe which was just down the road. The coffee, ham stuffed croissants and fruit were very, very nice – to the point that we spent most of the weekend talking about it! After this it was time to hop on the bus again and head for Granville Island, which is where the local market is held. On the way we saw a steam clock – one of only two in the world (the other is in Japan) – and we timed it to perfection because it was just in the process of steaming something o’clock. At Granville Island we had to first allow Harry to discreetly take a wee in a car park as he was bursting – even though it was only 15 minutes since his previous one! Then we walked down into the market and park area. There were some lovely shops with strange shaped wood carvings that would have looked lovely in our house however the price was somewhat prohibitive, even though I’m sure he was just making prices up off the top of his head. After a splash around in the water park area we then jumped on the bus again. Next step was the hotel and a quick drop off of the earlier purchases and then it was back out on the bus and Stanley Park.
During our time on the bus we went near, in or around Stanley Park around 3 or 4 times, so I should be able to give you a brief run down of the park but I can’t actually remember so for more info check this out. We got on a separate bus that took us on a 50 minute tour of the park, stopping a couple of times to allow us to check out the totem poles, bridges and the views of North Vancouver. By the time we’d finished this is was time to go back to the hotel and have a well earned drink. Being the adventurous types we are, we asked the waiter for recommendations for where to eat and the feedback was to try some Japanese or Korean places just down from the hotel. Now this would definitely have not been our first choice but we decided to give it a go and as it turned out it was pretty darn good! Possibly even more impressive was 1) the amount of food Harry and Toby ate, and 2) Harry and his chopstick skills:
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During dinner we had watched a steady stream of people walking down towards English Bay in readiness for the firework display that was happening later. We hadn’t originally intended to go and watch them however as we finished dinner we decided we would walk in the general direction and see what all the fuss was about. On the way we, 1) realized that every other person in Vancouver walks around smelling of weed, 2) saw a skunk running down the street and in peoples front yards, 3) saw a really nice fire station! Eventually we reached the bay and decided that even though is was another 45 minutes before the display would begin we should stay and see what all the fuss was about. As it turns out, the fuss was clearly worth it. The Celebration of Light display lasted 25 minutes and was pretty darn impressive! Check out the fireworks here.
The following morning we checked out from the hotel and set off for Grouse Mountain. We spent a fun day there watching the grizzlies, eagles and wolves before deciding it was time to set off back for Bellevue. As we were naturally starving, we stopped just before the US border in a place called White Rock. It was a lovely “seaside” town and with that in mind we parked up and went for fish ‘n’ chips (washed down with a lovely drink which was pink cream soda mixed with vanilla ice-cream – good job I wasn’t sick on the way home!). With our stomachs full, we arrived at the border. Having sat in the car waiting for our turn to reach the border guard, we had discussed that we should tell the guard that we had just been visiting Vancouver and not mention the shopping. However, this didn’t take in to account the guilt that border guards create in me – even when I’ve done nothing wrong – so as soon as I was asked what we had been up to I just said we’d been visiting Vancouver, doing shopping! Still never mind, he let us through without wishing to go through the contents of the trunk and without much waiting we were back in the US of A.
The journey home was fairly uneventful other than more i-spy and we arrived home at about 8:30pm. It had been a lovely weekend. I think the boys had enjoyed themselves too although when they were asked what they enjoyed most they responded with “playing on the DS in the hotel”.
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