We spent the day exploring a couple of spots in Vancouver and it was both fun and annoying and baffling, all at the same time. We started by going to Capilano River Regional Park, which is a very short drive straight north of where were staying. It wasn't too difficult to find and was a really nice start to the day - a nice walk through a forest and river canyon, with waterfalls and lots of nice views. It was also very quiet, with just a few locals around and no other tourists. After finishing our walk, we decided to visit two other spots in the river area, a suspension bridge and the dam at the top of the canyon. Due to the way the roads worked, it was easiest to head south to the suspension bridge first, which we did. Unfortunately, the suspension bridge is a huge tourist attraction, which meant it was very busy. The baffling part was the price - $75 per adult, $45 for Evan and Jonathan and $27 for Bradley, for a grand total of $267 for what we had planned as a short half hour visit. Needless to say we left without going in and went up to the dam, where parking was free and you literally just walked out on to the dam and a viewing platform.
Then it was back to the hotel for a quick lunch before we headed down to Stanley Park and the Vancouver Aquarium. Sandra booked this hotel because it was an easy trip to Stanley Park, but as we were getting ready to leave, I realized that while the highway goes south into Stanley Park, the main and seemingly only driving entrance to the park is from the south, so Google Maps had us driving through the park into downtown Vancouver, then driving around a block to turn around and then driving back into the park. There is a tiny little road that you can take off the main highway that goes around the entire park, so I decided to try and take that, which worked out. We found a parking spot and headed into the zoo.
The aquarium was lots of fun and the kids really enjoyed it. Jonathan saw some turtles, Evan saw jellyfish and a couple of random animals that are in Animal Crossing and Bradley got to touch jellyfish and starfish in a tank. We spent the entire afternoon there and then walked to the totems and along the seawall so that Evan could see the standard Stanley Park photo. Our original plan was to eat supper somewhere in the park, but literally everything in the park shuts down at 5:00pm, except for one restaurant we could find near the aquarium. We walked over to it only to discover that it closed at 5:30pm today for a special event, so we were left with nowhere to eat. We then tried to leave the park, only to realize that we could not, as the tiny little access road out of the park heading north was closed until 6:30pm, since it was just a simple stop sign on a main highway and they didn't want cars darting out during rush hour.
So, back into the park we went and after finding a place to park, we sat on a bench for half an hour and then drove around the park again (since the little road is one way) and then made our way out and to a very large mall where we could find something to eat. Then it was back to the hotel after a successful day with small hiccups.
Tomorrow is going to be a fairly quiet day, as we are taking the ferry to Nanaimo.
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