Canada! That big place north of the United States. We Americans (uh, USA'ers) are a bit presumptuous. Canadians are Americans too! They like us visiting and they like to visit us, especially in the winter down in Palm Desert and Arizona. We see lots of them in January and February when we head to Indio for warmer weather.
Crossing the Border
First, we had to cross the border! That is nerve racking. Make sure the passports are ready!
The questions:
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Any alcohol or tobacco? No.
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Any guns, ammo, knives, pepper spray, [something else I didn't catch]? We have bear spray [pepper spray].
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Any magazines? Confused looks on our faces. With a smile, the agent said, "not reading magazines" he indicated with his hands out holding a magazine, "ammo clips?" I bet he asks it that way just to get a confused look -- No.
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Where are you visiting? British Columbia and Alberta.
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Are you visiting any Canadians while here? No.
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Do you have campground reservations? Yes.
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Have you been to Canada before? Yes.
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When was the last time? Last October.
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He completed some information on his computer terminal, handed back our passports, and said, "have a nice visit." "Thank you." He was actually very pleasant.
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Okay, we made it and he didn't take away any of our magazines.
Vancouver
Off to Vancouver! So where is Vancouver? Vancouver is in the southwest corner of British Columbia on the mainland. West of it is a huge island called Vancouver Island. Of course, Vancouver is not on Vancouver Island, it is on the mainland, go figure. Also, it is not Vancouver Washington which is just north of Portland Oregon. Confused? Then look at the map.
Oh where, oh where is Vancouver?
For four nights, we stayed at Capilano River RV Park in West Vancouver, right at the base of Lions Gates Bridge that crosses into Vancouver. We were told West Vancouver is where all the multi-million-dollar homes are -- and a few low-income houses and an RV park next to the Lions Gate Bridge.
 Lions Gate Bridge - West Vancouver. |
 The RV park at the base of the bridge. |
Vancouver is a nice city but very crowded with high-rise buildings throughout and a lot of downtown high-rise condos and apartments. It has a long waterfront with shipping terminals and is where many of the cruise ships heading to Alaska and elsewhere dock. Tourism is a big part of Vancouver's economy. Even bigger is Vancouver's import/export business. Vancouver is Canada's largest port and North America's most diversified port. I heard there are 27 shipping terminals in the port.
There was a lot to see and do in Vancouver. First stop, Canada Place. We saw two HUGE cruise ships unloading/loading passengers, the 2010 Olympic Cauldron, the waterfront, and FlyOver Canada, a 20 minute multi-sensory (big screen, spray in your face, wind, moving seat) soaring film of flying over the length of Canada. You know it feels real when you lift your feet going over Niagara Falls, so they don't get wet.
Now off to see the city. We took the Hop-On-Hop-Off bus to see the sights. They have two routes, a city route and a Stanley Park route. We took the city route the first day and the Stanley Park route the second day.
 The 2010 Olympic Caldron. Vancouver was sooo embarrassed when there was no snow in 2010, a drought! They helicoptered and trucked in tons of snow until they had a base that they could make snow on top of and the games were a success. |
 Vancouver Chinatown Statue - for the few of you who don't read Chinese, it says "Howdy Tom, we have been waiting for your visit, thanks for coming." |
 Inside the Dr-SUN YAT-SEN PARK, a beautiful and quiet park in the middle of Chinatown in the middle of a very busy Vancouver. |
 Gastown Steam Clock - built in 1977 and powered by tapping into a steam pipe running below the street. Due to high noise levels and inability to keep accurate time, since 1986 the clock has been powered by an electric motor. Please don't tell anyone. All the tourists crowded around still believe it is powered by steam. |
 We rode an elevator to the top of Harbour Centre to the Vancouver Lookout, 553 feet high, where there is a 360-degree view of Vancouver. Not a great attraction, but we can say "we did it." View of one of the 27 Vancouver port terminals plus a train terminal. |
 This view, from the Lookout (behind the building that got in the way) is Canada Place and a cruise ship waiting to head out, probably to Alaska. |
We used the Hop-On-Hop-Off bus the second day to explore Stanley Park. Stanley Park is about one-fifth larger than New York's Central Park. It has numerous exhibits and attractions, and is worthy of the pride given it by the Canadians.
 View of Vancouver from Stanley Park. Think of all those people living in high-rise buildings! |
 Yes, they have bees pollinating flowers in Canada. |
 And pesky seagulls also! |
 We took a one-hour horse drawn carriage tour around the park. |
 Statue of Girl in Wetsuit in the foreground and a pile of sulfur in the background at one of the shipping terminals. |
 Stanley Park has a display of First Nations' art and totem poles. For those few of you who don't speak totem pole, this one, with its wings wide open, says, "Hey Tom, thanks for coming to visit us. What a great honor!" |
 We stopped at Prospect Point for lunch, a beautiful spot for lunch and the food was great. They are known for their ice cream, so Becky had a delicious chocolate shake. |
 A tribute to Larry, a close friend of mine, and the bike he road this past May on a barge/bike cruise in France with his wife Judy. Congratulations, Larry, for finishing! His bike is now on permanent display in Vancouver Stanley Park at Prospect Point restaurant for everyone to see and hear his tale. |
 A happening beach at Stanley Park. Great day for a dip. |
 Granville Island. A touristy island in the middle of Vancouver that we visited. |
 The False Creek Ferry we road to get there. |
 Happening stuff on Granville Island. |
For our final day in Vancouver, we took an evening Harbor Sunset Dinner Cruise. It was a great night and a beautiful way to finish our visit to Vancouver, and our last big city of our trip.
 Our dinner ship, the Harbor Princess. |
 Becky and I on the dining deck waiting to sail. |
 The 9 o'clock cannon. Since the late 1800's, it has been fired at 9 o'clock in the evening to allow ships in port to set their clocks. Tradition! Tradition! |
 Inukshuk, an Inuit (or now anyone) made landmark or point of reference. We have seen a lot of these around British Columbia. |
 Sunset on the sunset cruise. |
 Canada Place. Made to look like a ship sailing into port. The large buildings in front are the ship's superstructure. |
 Evening view of Vancouver. |
 Our farewell to Vancouver! We had a great visit. |