Blogs from Stanley Park, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, North America - page 4

My plan today was to get up nice and early so that I could get a workout in before a day of adventures, Vancouver style. That really didn't eventuate. I headed towards the city and stopped at an IGA on the way (yes a little supermarket - not the same chain, but still found it amusing that it was an IGA like at home). I had to buy an umbrella - thanks a lot weather. I don't usually do umbrellas... but I didn't want the day to be ruined. I headed across the road to a Starbucks (one of about 14 that I saw today). Decided to try the Salted Caramel Frappucino. LIFE CHANGING. So amazingly delicious. Once I had drunk my delicious treat, I headed towards the Art Gallery. Of course, it stopped raining (thanks ... read more

Decided against driving all the way out to Alaska, so we flew to Vancouver to catch a cruise ship up the coast. That'll take us to a few spots not accessible by road anyway, and afford a view of some glaciers not visible from land. Once finished, we'll spend a few weeks touring around by trains and buses and cars. In the meantime, we spent a night in Vancouver (arriving just after the Canucks 2nd win), in time to witness the mayhem in the streets. Wow...it was like their own G20 protest. Great closeup views of Vancouver cops busting faces! Hung out for a few hours the next day, then got on board. First stop will be Ketchikan, AK.... read more

Next stop...Canada Arriving in Canada, we were greeted with snow. Little houses with snow covered pine trees lined the streets of Vancouver, snow falling heavily upon them, like a picturesque scene from a movie. We meet friends in Vancouver and stayed in North Vancouver. Coming from the sub tropical climate of Queensland Australia where the temperate on average is between 20-28 degrees. Rugged up quite literally to the eyeballs, we could not believe how cold it was there. For Christmas we joined our friends in Sechelt Sunshine Coast, British Columbia, bordered by the waters of Trail Bay and Sechelt Inlet. Sechelt is a small community of breathe taking beauty and spectacular scenery. We stayed on a house boat surrounded by snow capped mountains and an ice cold lake. No need for a fridge, to keep our ... read more

Next stop, Vancouver! We opted to take the cheap way, bus to Vancouver. We are on a budget you know! So we need to start acting like it. The bus station was an experience in disorganization. It was everyone for themselves. I had an older Scottish women behind me pushing the whole way. We were 6 people from the ticket counter, but if more than 6 inches got between me and the person in front, she was leaning into me. It is a shame when peolple are so stressed over traveling they find it very hard to relax. So we fought our way onto the bus (luckily, we were much younger and manage to double team a few of them) which took about 1 hour to get to the ferry crossing from Vancouver Island to the ... read more

What could be more perfect than a sunny 75 degree day, a beautiful hotel room, a happy bus driver, and the yummiest chocolate dessert ever? Vancouver, B.C. is a small city with many different ethnic groups who all seem to get along. The population is about 578,000 with a large Asian contingent but also Indian, First Nation( the aboriginal people), slavs, and a smattering of everything else. The setting is to die for: a deep water harbor, home to several enormous cruise ships, surrounded by huge red cedar, fir, and hemlock trees, and bordered by the Coastal Mountain Range. Flying from Prince Rupert in a noisy prop plane I was stunned by the beauty of the mountains. Miles and miles of dark black crenulated folds looking like skirts on Southern belles of old who used to ... read more