We're going on a Bear Hunt, RV trip with Kids - Vancouver to Rockies August 2018 - Day 1 - Vancouver

[Campinggirl]

Amazingly we didn't wake until 6am! Simon went out to grab a Starbucks and to suss out the public transport system, so concerned we were about whether we would get there we had hardly done any research on Vancouver . We only had one full day so the plan was to make the most out of our time today.

I had hastily read the Vancouver travel pages on the flight and had decided that we would like a trip to the Aquarium and to grab some breakfast en route at a place called 6 Degrees which had good reviews and was at a place called Cold Harbour which is within easy walking distance of Stanley Park which is where the aquarium is. We then had a loose plan to end up in Granville Island by dinner time.

So off we set on the bus which was very easy from our hotel to just outside of Coal Harbour. We passed Trump Tower on the way which amused the kids but I hadn't got the phone to hand.

Coal Harbour is absolutely beautiful, loads of yachts - how the other half live eh

it's not mist you can see it is smoke from the forest fires - more on that later...

6 Degrees was a fantastic choice! It was open early for business customers so we were in there before 8am with the aim of being at the Aquarium for opening (which was very good advice from Trip Advisor reviews as the queues were horrendous later in the day).

The children both had a breakfast muffin which were huge and a hot chocolate!

I had a breakfast wrap.

and Simon had an omelette that he declared was the best he'd ever tasted, praise indeed!

The coffee was also great as was the atmosphere, in fact we enjoyed it so much we ended up back there the following morning as we didn't think we could beat it! The bill came to $51 for the 4 of us which we thought was very reasonable.

From there we walked along the seawall to Stanley Park and this morning we realised that Stanley Park is no normal park, it's massive!

We got to the Aquarium for opening at 9am and paid $126 for entry which we did not feel was bad value for money. The aquarium is massive and we had a very entertaining morning, we watched a walrus training display and saw a sealion show.

By about 11am the kids were starving again, I think that the time difference was effecting them so we bought them chicken tenders and chips from one of the stands, revolut says I spent $16 dollars on 2 chicken tenders and some drinks! They enjoyed them and they did the job! Simon and I decided to wait for something more interesting later.

By about 1pm we'd had enough and left via the shop and bought postcards, Phoebe had decided to send her grandparents postcards from each stop of our journey so we had to get on with it quickly. Phoebe also had a T - Shirt.

From here we had a wander around Stanley Park but it was very hot (late 20s ) and we were flagging a bit so we decided to catch a bus to take a look at Granville Island.

More to follow...

[Campinggirl]

We had to get 2 buses to get to Granville Island and it turned out to be a bit of a nightmare as the second bus did not show up, we decided to try an alternative bus which took us near to Granville and ended up getting a bit lost but eventually we made it!

By this stage it was hot, I was hungry and we were in a busy tourist area, the kids had eaten earlier so we quickly found some where that looked interesting but there was a wait! We decided to wait because I couldn't face wandering around in the heat any longer!

The kids had already eaten at the Aquarium so we just ordered them cokes - they were not impressed that it was not Coca cola!

The kids had eaten at the Aquarium earlier so we ordered some fries to share, I had a chowder and Simon had a Po Boy and we each had a beer. It was fine but in retrospect we'd have been better off finding the market and eating there as it came to nearly $80 for not very much.

We were amused during the course of the meal because Penguin Meats managed to shed it's load of chicken pieces, which were later hastily cleared up by the driver! I felt really sorry for him as they were everywhere !

From the restaurant we had a walk around the markets, they looked amazing!

and Phoebe didn't miss her opportunity to have a photo taken with an oversized stuffed animal!

This is a theme that will continue!

We then quite fancied visiting one of the micro breweries but being semi responsible parents we let the children visit the Kids Market instead!

If you ever visit Vancouver with children this is a must! I'd recommend the little magic shop on the top floor which is run by a Chinese guy, he kept doing little tricks for the children and we ended up leaving with a squirty ketchup bottle and a magic box! It was very entertaining!

By the time we left the kids market we were flagging and decided to head back to the hotel. At the bus stop we got talking to a British couple who told us about the extent of the forest fires, we were completely oblivious to the extent of it. They had changed their itinerary and we're missing out Whistler and BC altogether as they had been told the visibility was so poor. This was worrying as a large part of our trip was to drive through British Columbia and to visit Whistler .

On the way back to the hotel we popped into the stadium that was practically next door to our hotel to buy Joseph a shirt he had his eye on.

We chilled out in the hotel for a bit I suggested that the kids watched a bit of TV and they chose Country File! Odd kids!

We actually had a better view of the mountains from our room than we'd had the previous day and I spotted an RV from Cruise Canada on the car park opposite

They then went for a swim and I did a bit of looking into the fires. It was clear it wouldn't affect the first part of our trip to Vancouver Island so we decided just to get on with it for now!

By now we were peckish again and decided to try Japanese at Ryuu Japanese Kitchen.

We ordered Salad, noodles for the kids and Sashmini, Simon and I had a beer. It was delicious and very reasonable at $66 (£40)!

However the kids and Simon were still peckish after we finished so stopped in at Macdonalds on the way back to the hotel

We liked the fact that the takeout bag has a maple leaf on it!

We then went back to the hotel exhausted but excited about picking the RV up the next day but determined to make the most of the little time we had left in Vancouver!

[Pussycat Doll]

Sounds like a busy day, can’t believe you had to stop off at McDonalds after your dinner! Your Sushi looks lovely.

[Campinggirl]

Originally Posted by Pussycat Doll

Sounds like a busy day, can’t believe you had to stop off at McDonalds after your dinner! Your Sushi looks lovely.

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It was such a long day! The sushi was yummy!

I didn't have a MacDonalds , just Simon and the kids, greedy so and so's!

[jocat]

The haziness in the sky obviously got a lot worse after we came home! We had such gorgeous blue skies at the start of our trip, but it was only about 4 days later that we started to see the change. Hope it didn’t impact on your plans too much.

[Campinggirl]

Originally Posted by jocat

The haziness in the sky obviously got a lot worse after we came home! We had such gorgeous blue skies at the start of our trip, but it was only about 4 days later that we started to see the change. Hope it didn’t impact on your plans too much.

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I think we did the trip the right way round as by the time we got to the Rockies it was cooler but clear. The mountains in BC were in a haze but it didn't spoil our time, I was just relieved to actually see mountains in Alberta! However apparently Alberta was smokey right up until we got there!

[disney owl]

a good 1st day