First thing was to get our rental van, then head off to our campsite and get set up. We stayed at the Capilano RV Park and Campground, which wasn't the nicest campground around - rather crowded and "urban" but it met our needs and, best of all, was close to downtown Vancouver where we wanted to see the sights.
I sometimes wondered why I bothered to have an air mattress for the kids, since they both usually rolled off it during the night (especially Button). On this particular morning, I'd gotten up early and left the tent door unzipped (hardly any bugs around) and Mustang actually rolled right out of the tent!
We had a good view of Grouse Mountain from our campsite - and actually took the gondola up the very first night we were there. Didn't have much time at the summit, but it was a nice ride up and felt like we accomplished something other than just set-up that first day. 
We had only four days in Vancouver, and seemed to spend most of the time at Stanley Park. There's lots to see there! Here are the famous totem poles.
We met one quite friendly raccoon...
... and took a tour of the park in a horse-drawn carriage.
These two creatures weren't shy. (The moose is actually a carving, in case you can't tell!)
The kids LOVED playing on the beach. In the flats off Stanley Park we would find a dozen little crabs under every rock.
Stanley Park also has a children's petting zoo. The goats were quite friendly!
One of the big attractions in the park is the Vancouver Aquarium. We just happened to be there about two weeks after a baby beluga had been born. The line-ups to see it were long, as they were limiting visitors while the baby bonded with mama, but it was worth it. I took a bunch of pictures, but most of them didn't turn out that great, owing to glass and water and all.
We also took in a dolphin performance. It's hard to catch them on film during their spectacular jumps - by the time the finger reacts to the eye seeing a "great shot" they're already in the water again, or almost. So here are a few pix of the doplins doing some of their other tricks.
On our last afternoon in Vancouver we stopped in at the local Chinatown - the biggest in Canada. We saw the gates and popped into a few stores where we found a new qunzi for Mustang and Chinese parasols for both kids. We didn't have a lot of time there, so didn't see much else, but we happened to stumble upon the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden, a very tranquil spot in the midst of a bustling city, and spent a half-hour exploriing the garden.
In the garden, we saw an artist who was using a glass lens to focus the sun's rays and do woodburning. He had some very intricate pieces on display.
No comments:
Post a Comment