Our Canadian RV adventure began in Vancouver, British Columbia. Vancouver is an extremely modern, large, cosmopolitan city, and the first thing that struck us as we drove in was the number of high-rise apartment buildings everywhere around the city. Our GPS was not very kind and took us right through the middle of downtown as we arrived. There was a lot of traffic, and not the best place to be towing our rig! Some of the turns were very tight, and as we made them, we noticed people jumping back away from the curb!!! Les and Joanne met us in Vancouver, and we had fun exploring the city together. We all agreed it was a great place to visit, but extremely expensive!
The first day we toured the city, and started at Granville Island. The island is home to a very active public market with shops and restaurants surrounding it. It is located on a harbor which was very colorful with water taxis coming and going from area hotels. After touring Granville, we stopped at Canada Place, which was originally created for a world exposition. There was not a lot to do there, but we were able to see the famous canvas "sails" that make the building look like a cruise ship. There are cruise ships that dock there, many of which are going to Alaska. Our next stop was Gastown, an historic district of Vancouver. We sat at a restaurant, across from the famous "Steamclock", the first steamclock in the world. I'm not sure how popular they ever became. The clock would whistle and let off steam on the hour and at 15 minute intervals. Very interesting, and definitely a place for people to gather and watch! We ended the day with dinner at the "Boathouse", a restaurant on English Bay. Not only did we have a delicious dinner, we watched a beautiful Pacific sunset!
On our second day in Vancouver, we drove to Whistler Mountain, where some of the 2010 Olympics took place. It was located about 50 miles from the city, and we took Highway 99, the "Sea to Sky" Highway to get there. Absolutely gorgeous scenery! Once there, we decided to take the gondola ride, which was labeled the "longest continuous lift system in the world"! Actually, there were 2 gondola rides, one to the top of Whistler, and "Peak 2 Peak", which traveled from Whistler Mountain to Blackcomb Mountain. In the second gondola, we were over 6000 ft in the air, suspended only by the steel cable! It took 11 minutes to cross: a little scary, but what magnificent views of the mountains, valleys, and millions of pine trees! Although there was no skiing, the Whistler resort was quite busy with mountain bike competitors, who actually took the gondola rides with their bikes to get to the higher elevations and try out the different trails, some of which were quite steep!
Les and Joanne left Vancouver before us to drive to Jasper, and we were to meet them in Banff 3 days later. On our last day in Vancouver, Art and I decided to go for a bike ride. Stanley Park was set aside 100 years ago as a natural area for the citizens to enjoy. It is a beautiful park right in Vancouver at one end of the Lion's Gate Bridge, which connects North Vancouver with Vancouver. There is a paved path around the entire exterior of the park, (6 miles), to accommodate bikers, walkers, and inline skaters and it is right next to the water. What a great place to enjoy the outdoors! Our campground was at the opposite end of the bridge, so Art and I decided to ride across the bridge to the park. It was a little longer and steeper than we had anticipated! We did make it, however, with a little sweat and some rests along the way.
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