Vancouver B.C. in our backyard

Some of the best ideas come when you are laying in bed first thing in the morning. Since Vancouver (BC) is just a quick 2.5hrs drive from our house, and neither of us have spent much time up there, we thought - why not do a day trip? Well, a day trip turned into an overnight trip and for good reason! There are so many beautiful, fun, cool places to explore! So maybe an overnight trip is still not long enough, but we will be back for more fun, hopefully later this summer.
Our adventure started early Wednesday morning as we packed up our car, our pups and hit the road with passports and Starbucks in hand. Luckily. we had a quick and easy trip placing us in Chinatown (our first stop) for lunch. Chinatown, in Vancouver, is said to be one of the largest outside of the Far East. We wandered to our lunch destination (Hons Wun-Tun House) through the vendor filled streets which brought back memories of past trips to Hong Kong and China. There is something about smell that seems to be able to transport you back in time. We arrived at Hons which was filled with lots of locals which is always a good sign. I had War Won-Ton Soup (my fav) and Caleb had BBQ pork with veggies in a Lettuce Wrap - both were wonderful.

Our second stop was to Gastown, a funky revitalized area with beautiful streets lined with cafes, shops and galleries. I loved all the old street lamps and hanging flower baskets that lined the streets. After our stroll through Gastown we popped into Steam Works Brewery (which looked more like a high end bar than a brewery) and had ourselves a drink while we relaxed and took in the beautiful surroundings.




After settling in at our hotel (in North Vancouver) we drove back over Lion's Gate Bridge to wander around the Downtown and West End neighborhoods in the late afternoon sun. As we made our way down to Canada Place we saw Chirst Church Cathedral (smaller than expected) and other unique buildings. We spent most of the afternoon and evening wandering the waterfront from Canada Place over to the West End. The harbor was bustling - a cruise ship pulling out of port, seaplanes taking off and landing, crew teams racing and party boats loading up for their sunset sail. We both agree that this was our favorite part of the day. As we were heading back over to the Northshore we stopped into Stanley Park to let the doggies out and so I could grab some marina shots with the warm evening summer sun hitting the buildings and boats - it was magical. Our evening ended with dinner at Burgoo Bistro, A-MAZING! I would highly recommend it to anyone.









Day 2 - Thankful for two beds in our hotel room so that we could actually get a little sleep - yes I said TWO beds as Miley wanted to spoon with Mom and Koda wanted to sleep with Dad - we made our way down to Lonsdale Quay Market which is much like Pike's only newer. The vendors were still setting up their displays as we walked through the market and you could smell all the wonderful baking as they got ready for the crowds. Caleb and I did give in and got a few treats and they did not disappoint!

We watched fishing boats load up and head out for the day and then headed up toward the mountains to Lynn Canyon Park to see a smaller scale suspension bridge (smaller and FREE I might add - Capilano's cost $40 to walk across!) The park was gorgeous and we had the most amazing find for lunch at the Lynn Canyon Cafe. They advertised that their fries were world re noun and they were correct! Their burgers were too I might add. Our day wrapped up by doing another drive around Stanley Park as we headed out of town.






All-in-all a great trip and hopefully we will be back soon to do more exploring!