Starr Treks: alaska trip Sunday 6/7/15 Currey BC

Starr Treks Sunday 6/7/15 Surrey BC

We made use of the pool and jacuzzi last night right across from our site. We met a couple who are from here, but are full time RV’ers. They had their daughter and grandkids visiting since this is kind of their “home” park. They were actually familiar with White Sands and NM in their travels. The pool was indoor— temp about 87, and the hot tub felt good.

We left the RV around 7:45 to drive into Vancouver Our “concierge” Jackie had printed out a map quest for us, so we had no problems getting downtown to Stanley Park and the aquarium. We walked around the park paths— a beautiful day. We thought the aquarium opened at 9:30 as my brochure said, but it was not till 10, so we walked some more. There was a sculpture in front of the aquarium by a famous guy (never heard of him) Bill Reid called “Chief of the Undersea World”.. The aquarium was very well done — they had BC reef and river exhibits, seals, otters, jellyfish, penguins, dolphins, and white beluga whales. I packed a picnic lunch, the we got on the hop on- hop off tour bus that went thru the city— we really could have skipped that, but we got to see the downtown area, Canada Center where the cruise ships come and go (guess we were actually there 8-9 years ago when we did an Alaska cruise), the oldest Anglican church - Christ Church,and the Gastown area— cobblestone streets with many many little shops and eateries. We passed the Hyatt Regency where both George Bush and Bill Clinton have stayed in the past. There were many high rise apt buildings built on pillars, so if there is an earthquake, they just sway and don’t crumble. After getting back on the bus, we got off at the Rose Garden in Stanley park, walked along the seawall to see some sculptures —the Empress of Japan Figurehead and Girl in a Wetsuit. We walked another ways to the Totem Pole monument—they were carved in the 80’s to replace the originals that were carved in the 20’s. There were some signs about the Swalish First Nation people (they call Native Americans First Nation instead of Indians). Interesting that there were no sailboats on the waterway or in the harbor — there is too much tidal action and undertow. We got to see a cricket game— looked kind of like baseball. There were a Lot of people in Stanley park— runners, bikers, families picnicking— everyone has to pay to park, so the city must get a lot of revenue from a nice Sunday!

Coming back was not as easy as getting there. We tried to read our directions to backtrack. Roundabouts are frequent and are frequently confusing to us! Traffic was very heavy — there are no expressways that run thru the city— the people voted against them — so there were a LOT of cars. We listened to the Canada version of NPR— it is CBC— Canadian Broadcast Company.

So it was a good day, but glad we did not decide to spend a lot of time here— it is a big city, and I imagine the traffic during the week is even worse than today. Tomorrow we are heading north, aiming for Cache Creek, about 200 miles away — we feel like we are really starting our journey for reals now!