Vancouver

We’re getting spoiled here in Vancouver with long nights of sleep, the Anderson’s hospitality and Kim’s cooking! It’s been a great rest before we turn around to head back home. After a long night’s sleep, we headed to downtown Vancouver this afternoon with Steve and his daughter Lydia (age 13). There is an different sort of mass transit here to take you from North Vancouver over the water to Vancouver – the SeaBus. It’s very convenient, with a SeaBus leaving every 15 minutes for the 12 minute trip across the water.


In downtown Vancouver we strolled through the Gastown district and did the usual tourist things – enjoyed looking around, taking photos, and shopping for gifts and souvenirs. Having Lydia along with us all day yesterday and today made me realize something – I sure do miss my daughter Amy and all the friends she so often has at our house! Lydia has been a great “substitute daughter” for the weekend, and she did a wonderful job today helping me to pick out the perfect gift for Amy. Thanks, Lydia – I won’t forget your kindness!

While walking along the boys suddenly broke into grins as they spotted a red sports car and a grey sports car inside of an upscale hotel. I didn’t see what the big deal was, but they pointed out that this was a Ferrari F430 and an Aston Martin Vantage – I guess to a car enthusiast this is as impressive as the mountains are to me! I wanted to take a photo of the boys in front of the cars but they told me that this was not proper car etiquette.

Vancouver is a big hub for cargo ships, and we saw quite a few being unloaded onto trains. We also saw several Cruise Ships preparing for trips north to Alaska. I might have to try that some day, as Alaska is one of only three states that I have not yet been to.

After dinner the boys and I sat down to discuss the various possible routs back to North Carolina, and they decided that what they wanted most was “the shortest route!” After two weeks on the road traveling well over 4,000 miles, I can understand this. We let MapQuest plan out route and it will be back down to Seattle and then east through Washington, Idaho, Montana and so on, following an ESE course. I will have to wait for another day to see the Canadian Rockies, but that’s OK with me. We will of course get to travel through the Rocky Mountains again in Montana, and we just may get to see the Cascade Mountains in Washington tomorrow.

With our course set, we are packing our bags and getting ready for an early start in hopes of crossing the border much quicker than we did on Friday. This has been an absolutely wonderful weekend with Steve and Kim and their family, and we will leave here well rested, well fed and in very high spirits!