Vancouver Day One

I think it would be more accurate to start with last night, with my last minute packing, booking ziplining tours and getting all gadgets from my brothers. One thing led to another and suddenly it was 11PM and I was still awake. Sleep didn’t come easy either, as I dreamt that I had gone to the wrong terminal and had forgotten my ticket… and then my alarm was going off at 4:45.

Mom and Dad drove Marni and I to the airport where we got our boarding passes, dropped off our luggage (under the 50 pound limit!) and said our goodbyes. After a quick breakfast at timmies, we boarded the plane at 7. It was pretty much empty, so marni and I made the most of the elbow room playing cards and going over plans. It was a five hour flight and we landed right on time. There was a minor (huge) scare when we went to pick up the rental car, in which they told us they couldn’t give us the CAA rate they promised us online if I was driving and Marni was the card holder. Without the rate, the price would have doubled. I’m not proud to admit this, but I panicked a little… Marni however was calm the entire way through and in the end they gave us the rate anyway…. And upgraded us to a Volvo. Score.

Using my brothers GPS we made our way through Vancouver City (the entire time gushing over the fact that we were in VANCOUVER CITY!) and found our hotel. After dropping our stuff off in our rooms we had lunch at a nearby restaurant called Hurricane Grill. Very tasty!

We decided that since we were already just down the road, we went to the Capilano Suspension bridge. It was VERY temping to bounce on the bridge, but instead we opted to practice our Jack Sparrow walks as the thing was moving in all directions.

We did the Tree Trek and ooh’ed and aww’ed over the 1400 year old trees (srsly, they’re that old.)

Marni hugged her tree.

We also did the cliff walk, which is kind of like what they have on the top of the CN tower, only not scary at all.

After that we drove back through the downtown core and eventually found our way to Grandview Island. My Mom and Dad would LOVE this place. It is a combination of their favorite Toronto hangouts. It’s an Island full of cool artistic shops and hand crafts, breweries, fresh fruit markets, and live music. We had planned to have dinner there, but were temped away by gelato, and fresh baked bread. So instead we opted to make a picnic in our hotel room and bought fresh strawberries, croissants, foccatia bread, and cookies.

We are now back in our room organizing the plan for tomorrow, snacking away and REALLY feeling the exhaustion.