Summer Vacation - Vancouver

Our family went on our very first real summer vacation this year. The other vacations we've taken in the past were to local places like Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Barbara or to visit family like Chicago. This past August, we went to Vancouver, which was short 2.5 hour flight from the Bay Area. Neither John or I have ever been there but have heard such great things so we decided to get passports and head over the US/Canada border. Vancouver was beautiful, the weather was warm, the people were friendly, and there so many things to do there. Two great things about Vancouver are:

1) Location, location, location - it is near the water, the beach, surrounded by trees and mountains yet in the middle of a big city too. It seemed like we were only 10 minutes away from everything!

2) As diverse as here in the Bay Area - there were so many different cultures in Vancouver as here in the Bay Area, much more than I was expecting!

We were there for 8 days before we headed down to Seattle. We had tons of pictures so obviously, here are some highlights.

Day 1: We went to Granville Island Public Market where they had a ton of little shops selling fresh fruit, fresh seafood, and every possible kind of food imaginable.

After the market, we took a little boat too see the surrounding area. It was fun and people actually took these boats as transportation to get around.



Day two: We met up with my friend Gopi and her family who are from Vancouver. We worked together at KPMG when she lived here in the Bay Area. Here we are at the Capilano Suspension bridge which was scary but exciting. You can't tell from this picture but the bridge is about 230 feet high up.

Then we hung out her beautiful home and let the kids rest. After naps, we headed to Earls for dinner.

Day three: We went to Stanley Park where we went to the Vancouver Aquarium:

We were fortunate enough to see a baby whale that was only a couple months old. We even got too see the baby latch on to his mommy to nurse. It was quite amazing!


After the aquarium, we went to lunch at White Spot and then headed back to Stanley Park for a trolley tour around the park.
Day four: We took a ferry to Victoria Island where we stayed overnight.

Day five: After spending the day in Victoria, we took the ferry back to Vancouver and drove up to Whistler, which is a popular and beautiful ski area, high in the mountains. It was a long day so we just hung out and relaxed.

We stayed in Whistler for two nights (LOVED IT there). Then we headed back to Vancouver to enjoy our last night before heading to Seattle.





At the Vancouver Art Museum where they had a comics exhibit which John and Ethan really enjoyed:


It was sad to leave, we really enjoyed ourselves! But we were off to Seattle!