Vancouver

 Our stay in Vancouver started with our view from our hotel window!

It was an amazing view of the port and the Cruise terminal. The ship on the picture is a Princess cruise ship. We noticed over our time here that the boats come in between 6:30-7:30am and leave between 6-7pm. We were told that there are about 300 cruise ship docking per year here. They are almost all between May-September. One day there were three ships docked at the cruise port. 

During our time here we did a tour of the Vancouver downtown. The greater Vancouver  Metropolitan area is over 2 million in population. An interesting finding is that the downtown  buildings are 60% residential buildings. With over 100,000 people living in the immediate downtown area. 

Vancouver has one of the largest urban parks in North America. Stanley park is right off downtown Vancouver. The park is 1000 acres in size and is just a bit bigger than Central Park in New York. Within the park there are bicycle trails, a marina, aquarium, old growth forest, and other recreational areas. There are great views of the city too. Most of my pictures of the city are from Stanley Park. There is a display of totem poles in the park from indigenous peoples of western British Columbia.

A final point of interest for Vancouver is the steam clock. An area of town (gaslight) has central supplied heat. The steam from the heat runs the Steam clock. 

Our second day in Vancouver we did a day trip to Whistler mountain. Vancouver was the site of the 2010 Winter Olympics games. Whistler Mountain is where all of the downhill events took place. The ride up to Whistler is on the Sea to sky highway. Along the way are some dramatic views. Including a look back at Vancouver city.

You can see the Cruise port and Lions Gate Bridge.

We stopped at two waterfalls along the way. Shannon Falls and Brandywine Falls.

Shannon Falls

Brandywine Falls

While at Brandywine Falls we met a group of Volcanologists Studying the area around the falls. 

They were doing detailed laser mapping/imaging of the area around the falls that would then be combined with detailed satellite images. The combination will be used as a research tool.

At Whistler mountain we were amazed at the views. We did a peak to peak gondola ride. First we went up from Blackcomb Ski area. 

After spending time at the Blackcomb peak we took the Peak to Peak Gondola over the Whistler peak. The ride is 2.7 miles long. And at the lowest point of the ride you are 1400 feet above the valley floor. 

The initial descent got to Ila a bit. Amazingly even with a gusty wind outside the gondola was very steady.

Reaching Whistler Peak we took a short hike.(limited due to snow on most of the trails)

Back down on to the Ski Village there were numerous shops and Hotels. Also the site where we think Olympic Medals were given out. 

The day was very enjoyable and highly recommended. We booked our tour through Tours by local. But you can also reach Gabriel directly at his website.  https://bcgrandtours.com/

To finish off our time in Vancouver we were out early to see our cruise ship coming in to port.

This afternoon we board the boat to start the next part of our Journey.

Dale and Ila