Vancouver Hotels
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Vancouver
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Click here to views the pictures of Vancouver and Whistler
Friday - Day 01 - Welcome to Vancouver
Leading up to the departure date, I was very worried about this leg of the trip as the weather network was forecasting 100% probability of rain in Vancouver and Whistler for each day there. However, leading up to the arrival in Vancouver small signs of hope appeared on the horizon as the P.O.P. went from 100 to 80 to 60 to a respectable 40 percent. Maybe there would even be some sun!
My expectations for Vancouver were to experience those things I had not previously seen. Catherine and I visited there in 2001 and we had seen most of what there was to offer (Stanley Park, Granville Island, Gastown, Aquarium etc).
My first day in Vancouver started out as any action packed day of touring and walking should. A POWER BREAKFAST at the closest greasy spoon. We went to a place called something Joe's or whatever. The typical breakfast fare was available and wolfed down with west coast java. Perhaps I was extra hungry and really didn't care what I ate since my body was telling me it was lunch time in Ottawa and I had not even had decent coffee or my typical Aitkin's unfriendly morning fare.
Anyway, for some reason (perhaps from looking at the not-to-scale tourist map we had), we decided to walk to Granville Island (over the Granville Bridge). On the map it didn't seem tooooo far.
Well off we went, and about an hour later we made it! But the walk over the bridge was actually quite interesting as the views of downtown Vancouver are pretty neat from the bridge. As good as the walk was though, there would be no hoofing it back - needed to save our legs for the streets of San Francisco and the hills of Whistler (both of which were yet to come).
The visit to Granville Island was as I remembered from my last visit but I am not sure it met up with Bill's expectations as we did the quick pass through the place in about an hour.
Our exit from Granville was less exerting than the entrance. We took a harbour ferry back. Enroute we passed several house boats on the harbour water - a bit more upscale than Relic's house boat in Gibsons - and several large yachts. After a coffee at another of the many coffee houses, a parting occurred. I went off exploring at the Museum of Anthropology while Bill went visiting some of Vancouver's finest stores.
The visit to the Museum of Anthropology was born from my desire to learn more about west coast native history and culture. I was not disappointed as the museum holds a vast, impressive collection of native artifacts such as totem poles, masks and sculptures.
These native Canadian icons were very captivating. Hours could easily be spent looking at the wide variety of expressions and characters portrayed on the masks and totem poles.
As I was ready to leave, I noticed that there were some adjacent hiking. So with an hour to spare before meeting up with Bill, I decided to see what was there.
The trail signage indicated the trail name as Wreck Beach. 'Wreck Beach, isn't that the famous nudist beach?' I thought. Seeing that it was only about 14 degrees Celsius the probability of this natural encounter was unlikely. That being said I decided to walk down the several hundred (ouch!) steps to wreck beach.
The beach itself was not too different that any other seaside beach I had seen growing up in Newfoundland. The attraction I think is its 'remote' location. After all, it isn't getting to the beach that is the problem but rather the huge climb up from the beach to the main road.
There are numerous large logs on the beach that provide the necessary privacy and shelter. Finally, any doubts over Wreck Beach's place in Vancouver were put to rest when I saw the following carved into one of the beach logs.
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