vancouver

We just got done spending 3 days in Vancouver before we start our Alaska cruise, and Vancouver is AWESOME! I'd never been there before, but now I have and I love it!

We got into Seattle on Thursday afternoon (the 9th), rented a van and drove up to Vancouver. Why did we do this? Because flights to Seattle were hundreds of dollars cheaper than flights to Vancouver. If you want to go to Vancouver, and flights are cheaper to go to Seattle and you think maybe you can just rent a car and drive to Vancouver, well Don't. The cost of renting a van one way pretty much negated any savings we might have realized, not to mention the additional time spent driving and the problem of getting back down to Seattle once you're ready to go. We took a very nice train ride back, but of course, that costs money too...

Anyway, once we finally made it to Vancouver, we stayed right by Stanley Park, in a cute little place called Rosellen Suites. Our suite was not the most beautiful suite ever, but it was very affordable, totally functional, perfectly located, and pretty much exactly what we needed for the 6 of us. I can't believe I didn't take a picture of the elevator - it was so tiny probaby only 2 people could fit in it, and it had a little knob by the side of the door that spun as the elevator was going up and down, to tell you what floor the elevator was at. I've never seen anything like it!

On Friday, we had a lovely breakfast at the Red Umbrella, and then we went and hung out at the beach. Charli loves the beach. She loves water, she loves sand... We weren't clever enough to bring a cup so she could play in the sand, but it didn't really matter. More importantly, we weren't clever enough to bring her hat or sunscreen, so Brian had to run back to get them. Meanwhile, I stayed and took a thousand pictures of Charli.

Vancouver has a lovely walking/bike path that goes for miles along the shoreline, so we walked from the beach over to Stanley Park. Then we walked around Stanley Park for a while, which somehow manages to feel much more like wilderness than it ever feels like in Golden Gate Park, although I think they are just about the same size. Then we went to the Vancouver Aquarium, which is in the park, and is a very nice aquarium. We saw a 10-minute 3-D immersive movie, where they spray you with water and blow bubbles, and the seats rumble and poke you in the back, and, most realistic effect in my opinion, hit the back of your legs with a string so it feels like rats are running around your ankles. Charli didn't get the back-poking and leg-swishing since she was on my lap, but she watched and was the stillest I've ever seen her for the whole 10 minutes. She wore the 3-D glasses and never touched them or attempted to get them off, and she held my fingers so tightly I couldn't get them loose to scratch my nose or adjust my own glasses for the whole movie.

After that, we met up with a friend of mine that I used to work with and her family, and we wandered around the rest of the aquarium. As they were closing up, we went to see the dolphins - they were VERY interested in the girls, and there was no one else around, so we had them all to ourselves. It was quite exciting. We had delicious Greek dinner and headed for bed.

The next day we managed to get a little further away from our hotel - like maybe to the next neighborhood. We went to Granville Island, via the cutest little water buses. They look just like the boats you float in the bathtub! Granville Island is kind of like Fisherman's Wharf, and Charli was grumpy, so we ended up not spending too much time there. We took a look at Science World but didn't go in, and then we walked back to the hotel via a cute playground, Chinatown, and Gastown (they have a clock. It isn't that impressive). Then we met up with my friend again for a lovely dinner at some fancy place in Yaletown, took a little walk after dinner (during which we saw an extremely bad public dance performance), and headed for bed again.

Sunday was the day of the cruise, so we just went out for breakfast and then went over to Canada Place to get on the boat. On the way back to the hotel, we walked through a cute little public garden, where Charli aquired some flowers. Sam put them in her hair (so cute!), and Charli tried to put them on her nose (so cute!).