Badger's Blog: Vancouver Day 1

Thursday, September 22, 2011

What a beautiful drive into Vancouver on Route 3. It was a windy path with white knuckle moments through the mountains and forests. The ride was absolutely gorgeous with the fragrance of fir trees in the air.

Words can't describe how beautiful Vancouver is! The backdrop of mountains, forests, and sea adds an unusual perspective to an urban landscape filled with soaring buildings and architecture more European than American.

We stayed at the Grouse Inn in North Vancouver. A home base made it easier to explore Vancouver without the need to pack up camp each day. A warm shower and a soft bed was also on my needs list. We have camped for 12 days straight! That's a record for us. We checked in and then headed to Stanley Park and Lighthouse park before dark.

Stanley Park can be compared to our Central Park. It providers an oasis of beaches, trails, biking paths, an aquarium, picnic areas, boating, etc. It is a 1,000 acre rainforest jutting out into the ocean on the west side of Vancouver. It is filled with towering western red cedar and Douglas fir, manicured lawns, flower gardens, lagoons and lakes. The seawall is a bicycle/ walking path that runs along the waterside edge of the park. The sign above tells of a severe wind storm in 2006. About 10% of the trees were destroyed. The community and businesses pooled resources to restore the park. It was evident that Stanley park is a haven for locals and tourists.

I'll include a few pictures of Stanley Park here and then more on Day 3, Vancouver.

View from path at Stanley Park

How about the sizable this cedar tree?

Vancouver is a major port city.

Sea plane

From Stanley Park, we took a ride to Lighthouse Park.
It was dusk and we figured we had about a half hour of day light. It was quite a hike of about a mile to the lighthouse. The bear signs were a bit concerning!

Cedar and Douglas fir path