Actually, we flew into Seattle, rented a car, and then drove up to Vancouver. We started our trip with a stay at the La Quinta Hotel near the Seattle airport. I can't say I'd recommend the place. The room didn't smell that great and we couldn't open the window, but they had make-your-own waffles for breakfast so it wasn't all bad!
The next morning we headed up to Vancouver. It was a pretty ride and the only part that wasn't so fun was the hour-long line at the border to get into Canada. And then we almost didn't make it past the border because didn't have a birth certificate for little t... luckily, after some questioning, the border guard let us slide and we were on our way!
We pulled onto a side road looking for a place to stop and freshen up when we came across a go-cart track in Richmond, BC. We hung out there for a little while and rode on some of the quarter (or in this case, Canadian dollar) rides, played some video games, and climbed on some kiddy slides.
Then it was off to Vancouver. We stayed in a neighborhood called Kitsilano, which was by the beach and was a great place for restaurants!
Our first excursion took us to Granville Island where we had some lunch and thoroughly enjoyed their changing room - yes, a whole room dedicated to changing your baby/toddler's diaper. There was even a little bed for taking a rest break! tyson, as you can see below, really liked this little bed!
From Granville Island, we took a water taxi back to the Kitsilano area and spent some time walking around the Maritime Museum. Since tyson was having a great time darting around, we didn't actually go into the museum, but it's located in a nice park (Vanier Park) so there was plenty of open space to run!
In this park, there is an enormous pool (the Kitsilano Pool). It's actually the longest in Canada. It is also a salt water pool, drawing it's water from the ocean right beside it. There's a better picture of the pool HERE.
After all the activity, tyson was pooped!
While we were in Kitsilano, we also visited Naam, Vancouver's oldest vegetarian restaurant. The food was good in a healthy, organic kind of way - tyson especially loved the alfalfa sprouts!
We spent lots of time walking around Kitsilano - it's a great place for a stroll. Like all of Vancouver, really, it's got lots of lush green trees and pretty flowers.
We went to stay off of Robson Street (downtown/shopping area) near Stanley Park after a couple days.
The Vancouver Aquarium is located within Stanley Park so we made our way over there to visit the fish! It's an amazing place and I think we were all most impressed by the beluga whales. What strange, amazing creatures they are!
We visited several other areas of Vancouver while we were there including http://www.gastown.org/ and its Steam Clock...
And, Chinatown and the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Chinese Gardens. I thought this would be just a quick in and out, but it was a really beautiful place - and tyson couldn't get enough of the turtles that populated the pond!
We also went to an area called Commercial Drive. Lots of restaurants and funky little shops. There was also this cute little phone booth that we parked near... Unfortunately, it's cuteness must have caused us to miss the no parking sign and our rental car got towed. Ooops! At least we got to ride in a taxi and visit the impound yard, which didn't make it onto our original itinerary :)
Most of the rest of our time was spent in parks, in playgrounds, and at the beach...
Here's tyson playing with his chinese yoyo from the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Gardens - This toy didn't last through the first afternoon!
The day we left Vancouver, we headed back to Granville Island. It's a touristy little area with art shops and a public market with lots of yummy foods. But the reason we came back was the huge chilren's market that was there filled with toy stores and a two-story play zone!
The rest of our trip was pretty un-eventful. After some more questionning, we made it back over the US border and flew out of Seattle back to Oakland. tyson continues to be a travelling champ. The only trouble we've run into with him is convincing him that he needs to wear his seatbelt when the plane takes off and lands...
The day after we got back, we went to a fun little birthday party for tyson's friend, Arjun. Luckily it was just up the street from us at our local park.
Then home for a bath!
XOXO
