It was a sad day as we departed sunny Vancouver! We caught a taxi (courtesy of my folks) from the hostel to the airport arriving with plenty of time. Found out a couple of weeks too late that you clear US immigration in Vancouver! Which meant that I didn't need to change our flight to the earlier one to LA! However this worked to our advantage as we got another taxi to the Marina Del Ray to enjoy the late afternoon /early evening. We dined at "Le Marmiton" restuarant. Charlie had a Roast Veg Rissotto and I had a Burger (yep Meat for the first time on the trip!). Charlie soon tried to follow this up with a Chocolate Souffle, it looked better than it tasted Salty due to a kitchen error, somehow it looks like ... read more

Today we did a whole set of "Events" in North Vancouver, Grouse Mountain, Capolina Suspension bridge and Fish Hatchery! Unfortunately the morning was a marred by rain and fog. To get to the top of Grouse Mountain we took North America's highest cable car ride, which given the conditions still gave pretty spectacular views, in fact the rain just added more atmosphere! At the top we were treated (?) to a Lumberjack show which wasn't as bad as it sounds! We also got to see a couple of seven year old (350-400 lb) Grizzly bears at about twenty feet and two Deer within 3 feet (bears behind fence, deer walking free)! Had lunch overlooking (a sad rainy) Vancouver! We also got to see 3 wolves at pretty close range (again fortunately behind a fence)! In the ... read more

Charlie started off the day with her second run (4 miles) of the trip, whilst I made sure we got our monies worth out of the bed! We did our first "Event" of the trip today, a 3 hour Whale Watching trip in a Zodiac rib from Victoria with Ocean Explorations (10:00 - Jeff). We were told we had about an 85% chance of seeing anything as the high season has just finished. Awesome (and then some), we managed to spot all three Resident Orca (Killer) whale pods with our boat concentrating on a family of three. We were also fortunate enough to see 2 Humpback Whales with one of them "Fluking" (going for a deep dive and displaying it's tail). All this viewed from about 250 - 1000m. We were also escorted for 5 minutes ... read more

Another fairly hot day with the temperature staying around 23C. Spent today touring Stanley Park on hire bikes, what a beautiful place, a 6 mile sea wall / path surrounding the headland with separate sides for pedestrations and cyclists. Stopped and visited the Aquarium for a couple of hours, highlight being the Dolphin display, but we both thought that the Beluga whales (one only 3 months) were too confined in their tank! Spent the early evening in Gastown again after finishing off the trolley route. Eat in a good Italian, though the waiting staff really let the kitchen down! We both had excellent risottos, Beet for Charlie and Seafood for myself! Still going to bed early due to either jetlag or just fitting a lot in to the day! We've been walking to most destinations trying ... read more

DAY 2 Well it seems like I'm not the only one who can get lost, Charlies 6 miler turned into 9 after getting lost in Stanley Park and stumbling upon 4 raccoons, luckily she realised they could be dangerous when they got within a foot or so. Once we were finally reunited we jumped on the Vancouver Trolley tours bus and headed for Granville Island which included a 2 minute ferry (10 people max)! Granville Island had the most amazing set of markets, with the food Market being an eye opener, grabbed some Candied Salmon & Salmon Jerky! Lunched there and had Salmon (yes, more Salmon) sushi in Teriyaki batter and some seaweed w/sesame seeds, fantastic! In the afternoon we then headed for Chinatown and Dr Sun Yat-Sen's Classical Chinese garden. Early evening spent in Gastown ... read more