![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
When we reached the area of the border, it took us an hour to actually get to the gate due to traffic, and only a minute to go through the process: "Where are you from? Where are you headed? What's your purpose? Do you have any firearms or [some other thing, I forget - explosives, maybe]?" That was it. They didn't actually check all of our IDs, just mine. On the way back into the States, we had our IDs checked before getting on the ferry, and when we landed all that we were asked was whether we'd brought back anything with us, which we hadn't - none of us bought souvenirs or anything. So besides the long wait to get in, the border crossings were quick and easy.
We stayed in a hotel in Coquitlam, a suburb of Vancouver. Our hotel was just off the Trans-Canadian Highway and right near the Braid transit station, so we were around 15 minutes away from Vancouver's downtown by car, or 45 minutes by SkyTrain (the mostly-elevated train system). Because we got to the hotel at mid-afternoon and then had a late lunch, we didn't do much on Monday besides take the SkyTrain in to downtown to walk around a bit (mainly in the Gastown neighborhood) and have dinner. In the future it'd be nicer to be closer in to downtown by train, but the train is pretty nice so it's just as well to leave the car behind. In fact, if there's decent train or bus service from Seattle to Vancouver, I'd seriously think about not driving at all.
On the other hand, if I wanted to include a return to Whistler (where we went on Tuesday) along with the trip to Vancouver, I'd definitely want my car. There's probably some bus service from Vancouver to Whistler, but the highway there is a winding mountain road, and that's the sort of thing I can drive just fine but get motion sick if I'm in a bus. And I would like to go back to Whistler, though it'd be better to spend a night or two there. The main resort, Whistler Village, is very nice and it looks like there's quite a bit to do year-round. We went for a walk around Lost Lake, which had a couple beach areas and a bunch of people swimming; I tested the water and it felt fairly warm. I haven't gone to the beach in a long time (even longer for a lake) or gone swimming, and suddenly I really wanted to. Overall it just seems like a good place to go on vacation with a group of friends.
Back in Vancouver on Wednesday, we watched the Tour de Gastown, a bicycle race held in the streets of Gastown. We were eating dinner during the women's race, but finished and were outside shortly before the start of the men's race and decided to watch. The course is 1.2 km long and the men (130 of them to start) do 50 laps, or 60 km - it took about an hour and a half to finish. Although none of us were particularly interested in racing, we found it exciting to watch after all, but would've preferred it to end sooner than it did. A guy standing near us was loudly urging his friend on with calls of "GO JEFF! MOVE IT UP, JEFF!" As we didn't know anyone in the race, we decided to start rooting for Jeff as well, which the guy thought was cool and amusing. Sadly, Jeff stayed resolutely in the middle of the pack and never had a chance of winning. One thing about the race that nearly drove me crazy was the poorly-managed pedestrian crossing in the course near us. The crossing guards weren't coordinated with each other and weren't good at deciding when to allow pedestrians to cross, often hesitating too long, and as a result there were some close calls with a few pedestrians scuttling out of the way of the oncoming pace car or cyclists. I realize an hour and a half is a long time to have the street closed and strand people on the inside of the track, but it still seemed like they'd be better off to do that than allow any crossing.
Other things we did on Wednesday included visiting Stanley Park and walking around a good portion of the seawall, and visiting the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden. We had bought tickets for a trolley tour designed to allow people to get on and off at various landmarks (and hotels), and that gave us a quick overview of the highlights we weren't really visiting, too.
Thursday, while waiting for T. Davis to meet us for dinner in Victoria, we went to check out Miniature World, a collection of dioramas of historical and fictional scenes. It was pretty neat - as I've been interested in Warhammer 40K since moving to Seattle, I could appreciate the work they put into the models and terrain. The historical ones were generally better than the fictional ones. Mom was quite impressed with the detail they were able to get into the tiny figures, and decided she wanted to add some to her Christmas village display.
Friday morning, we went to the Butchart Gardens, planned by the wife of a wealthy cement manufacturer to fill in a worked-out quarry. They were pretty nice, and of course the transformation of the quarry into the "Sunken Garden" is quite impressive, but what I liked most was their Japanese garden. Even though it was just as much a planned creation as the rest of the gardens, it felt the most natural and therefore the most comfortable to me - the other gardens were places to view, while the Japanese one felt like a place to spend time in. Then because the 3:30 ferry was already sold out by the time we got there at 1, we spent a few hours walking around downtown and had an early dinner before catching the 7:30 ferry to Port Angeles.
Those are the highlights of the trip. It's clear that there's a lot to do in Vancouver and another trip is in order. Victoria will also be nice to visit again (and spend more time with T. Davis), but I think next time I'll take the Victoria Clipper ferry and leave my car home. In fact, if I wanted to visit both cities on one trip, I'd probably go to Victoria first using the Clipper and then take the regular ferry from Victoria to Vancouver.
We stayed in a hotel in Coquitlam, a suburb of Vancouver. Our hotel was just off the Trans-Canadian Highway and right near the Braid transit station, so we were around 15 minutes away from Vancouver's downtown by car, or 45 minutes by SkyTrain (the mostly-elevated train system). Because we got to the hotel at mid-afternoon and then had a late lunch, we didn't do much on Monday besides take the SkyTrain in to downtown to walk around a bit (mainly in the Gastown neighborhood) and have dinner. In the future it'd be nicer to be closer in to downtown by train, but the train is pretty nice so it's just as well to leave the car behind. In fact, if there's decent train or bus service from Seattle to Vancouver, I'd seriously think about not driving at all.
On the other hand, if I wanted to include a return to Whistler (where we went on Tuesday) along with the trip to Vancouver, I'd definitely want my car. There's probably some bus service from Vancouver to Whistler, but the highway there is a winding mountain road, and that's the sort of thing I can drive just fine but get motion sick if I'm in a bus. And I would like to go back to Whistler, though it'd be better to spend a night or two there. The main resort, Whistler Village, is very nice and it looks like there's quite a bit to do year-round. We went for a walk around Lost Lake, which had a couple beach areas and a bunch of people swimming; I tested the water and it felt fairly warm. I haven't gone to the beach in a long time (even longer for a lake) or gone swimming, and suddenly I really wanted to. Overall it just seems like a good place to go on vacation with a group of friends.
Back in Vancouver on Wednesday, we watched the Tour de Gastown, a bicycle race held in the streets of Gastown. We were eating dinner during the women's race, but finished and were outside shortly before the start of the men's race and decided to watch. The course is 1.2 km long and the men (130 of them to start) do 50 laps, or 60 km - it took about an hour and a half to finish. Although none of us were particularly interested in racing, we found it exciting to watch after all, but would've preferred it to end sooner than it did. A guy standing near us was loudly urging his friend on with calls of "GO JEFF! MOVE IT UP, JEFF!" As we didn't know anyone in the race, we decided to start rooting for Jeff as well, which the guy thought was cool and amusing. Sadly, Jeff stayed resolutely in the middle of the pack and never had a chance of winning. One thing about the race that nearly drove me crazy was the poorly-managed pedestrian crossing in the course near us. The crossing guards weren't coordinated with each other and weren't good at deciding when to allow pedestrians to cross, often hesitating too long, and as a result there were some close calls with a few pedestrians scuttling out of the way of the oncoming pace car or cyclists. I realize an hour and a half is a long time to have the street closed and strand people on the inside of the track, but it still seemed like they'd be better off to do that than allow any crossing.
Other things we did on Wednesday included visiting Stanley Park and walking around a good portion of the seawall, and visiting the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden. We had bought tickets for a trolley tour designed to allow people to get on and off at various landmarks (and hotels), and that gave us a quick overview of the highlights we weren't really visiting, too.
Thursday, while waiting for T. Davis to meet us for dinner in Victoria, we went to check out Miniature World, a collection of dioramas of historical and fictional scenes. It was pretty neat - as I've been interested in Warhammer 40K since moving to Seattle, I could appreciate the work they put into the models and terrain. The historical ones were generally better than the fictional ones. Mom was quite impressed with the detail they were able to get into the tiny figures, and decided she wanted to add some to her Christmas village display.
Friday morning, we went to the Butchart Gardens, planned by the wife of a wealthy cement manufacturer to fill in a worked-out quarry. They were pretty nice, and of course the transformation of the quarry into the "Sunken Garden" is quite impressive, but what I liked most was their Japanese garden. Even though it was just as much a planned creation as the rest of the gardens, it felt the most natural and therefore the most comfortable to me - the other gardens were places to view, while the Japanese one felt like a place to spend time in. Then because the 3:30 ferry was already sold out by the time we got there at 1, we spent a few hours walking around downtown and had an early dinner before catching the 7:30 ferry to Port Angeles.
Those are the highlights of the trip. It's clear that there's a lot to do in Vancouver and another trip is in order. Victoria will also be nice to visit again (and spend more time with T. Davis), but I think next time I'll take the Victoria Clipper ferry and leave my car home. In fact, if I wanted to visit both cities on one trip, I'd probably go to Victoria first using the Clipper and then take the regular ferry from Victoria to Vancouver.
◾ Tags:
