It is time to bid farewell to our family from the UK who have been with us for the past couple of weeks. They flew out from Vancouver airport, so it made sense to slot in some sights in Vancouver.
Getting to Vancouver
We rented a mid-range car from Avis and were lucky enough to be upgraded to a top spec Dodge Voyager which was a very welcome surprise!
En-route to Vancouver we stopped off at Brandywine falls to see if it was frozen. It was a nice interlude, perfectly remote even though it was only a short walk from highway 99. The falls weren’t that frozen but it was another blue sky day making for some impressive views including over to Black Tusk Mountain.
Onward down highway 99 and we stopped off at numerous viewpoints taking in the stunning Tantalus mountains and the Howe sound fjords just south of Squamish. It brought back memories of climbing the Chief at Squamish 17 years ago and looking over the 700m high edge straight down, followed with great fish and chips from the Wigan Pier. We were a bit disheartened to see that a gondola has now been installed making the trip all that bit easier, but then why should Whistler get all the fun and knowing Canadians it’s not like they are just going to pop up the Gondola, it will just be to open yet more fantastic territory to explore.
In Vancouver
We overnighted in Vancouver in the Lord Stanley Suites which were a bit dated but perfectly fine for our needs. The accommodation was situated right next to Stanley Park which offered great views of the city on the seawall walk over to the totem poles. Following that we took the ferry over to Granville Island for some market food and to check out the various artworks. On the way back we dropped in to a most unusual shop dedicated to selling just nuts, delicious!
For Beth & Bobby’s last night in Canada we had to have a few drinks of course but finding a suitable bar was proving difficult until we stumbled upon Cardero’s right on the seafront overlooking the harbour. Great service, beer & a live band.
We had a bit of time to kill before their flights so we strolled along the harbour some more in the morning, unfortunately by the time we got to the Olympic cauldron the weather was not behaving so we dived into the Cactus Club Cafe for shelter. This was quite the find and we will hopefully find time to come back before we leave Canada. In particular, check out the three Olympic torches on display on the way to … the bogs!!
The airport is on the south side of Vancouver so we headed over to Kitsilano beach and dropped into an old favourite, The Naam which is a superb vegetarian restaurant, highly recommended. They were even kind enough to give us a pudding for free “because we have come such a long way”, or perhaps they were impressed that we managed to eat it all! The portions are huge.
Sadly, it was time to drop off our family at the airport which was very stress free and easy. Far easier than their 10hr flight and 7hr bus journey back to Cornwall! Our sub 2hr return to Whistler was over before they had even boarded the plane.
Back at the flat, things seem a bit quiet without our visitors but we are still giggling over things that happened while they were here and we have the gift of bananagram to keep us entertained!