Today was the first day of our Canadian/Alaskan adventure. Joe, David, and I boarded our Air Canada flight yesterday at 5:45 pm and after a three-hour flight, we were visiting our northern neighbors in Vancouver, British Columbia. But wait! I've jumped ahead a bit.
Let's back up to October 2022 during my 60th birthday. When I was 40, I had a big birthday bash. When I turned 50, I celebrated at Disneyland with my family. So when I turned 60, a friend asked what was I planning for this big year which started me thinking about it. After some contemplation and discussion with others, I decided on a Disney Alaskan cruise. I've always wanted to go on a Disney cruise with my sons and I've also wanted to go on an Alaskan cruise so no time like the present to combine the two dreams. Disney's Alaskan cruise sets sail from Vancouver. Well, that got me thinking even more! I have never been to Canada except for the accidental trip across the border documented in a previous blog post (but we aren't going to dredge those memories up right now). So in honor of living 60 years, it seemed appropriate to extend the trip and spend some time visiting Vancouver. So here we are spending 5 days in Vancouver before we board the Disney Wonder for a week of sailing fun. It's two vacations in one!
Okay, now back to today. We are spending our time in Vancouver at an Airbnb located near downtown. Aside from the hard mattresses and the very small sofa sleeper, it's a nice little basement apartment of a very lovely Victorian home on a tree-lined street. Our host left us some snacks. One was a bag of chips. At first, I thought they were barbecue flavored, but nope, they are Ketchup flavored Lays. Haven't tried them out yet, but I saw another brand with the same flavor in the grocery store, so when in Canada, we'll do as the Canadians do.
Today's excursion was to Stanley Park. Stanley Park is a gigantic park with much to explore and do, but we spent about 90 minutes walking on the famous Seawall that circles the island. We didn't make it all the way around the 10 km loop, so we didn't see all of the sites, but we did see Siwash Rock, Prospect Point, the beaches, Lions Gate Bridge, and assorted restaurants and points of interest. Siwash Rock is a tall rock stack with a native legend about selflessness and rewards as well as a more recent memorial to a young man who dived off the rock during low tide and died. Lions Gate Bridge looks a lot like the Golden Gate Bridge except it's green. Both are suspension bridges and both bridge the entrance into a harbor. At some point, we hiked into the interior of the park to find Beaver Lake. All we found was a marsh. We were getting tired and needed to find a restroom, so we didn't pursue Beaver Lake any further. I read that sometimes people can actually see beavers, but the only interesting wildlife we saw today was plenty of Canadian geese in and out of the water.After Stanley Park, we drove over to the False Creek area and rode the Aquabus Ferries to different points of interest on either side of the inlet. There are eight stops, but we spent time at three of them Hornby Street (where we parked), Granville Island which has a huge public market, and David Lam Park. It was fun riding the water taxis and it was a nice end to our first day of exploring Vancouver.
