First time crossing the new Port Mann Bridge coming into Vancouver. It even has an HOV lane.
We left Monday about 9:30AM and returned last evening ( Tuesday ) at 6:30PM. 840kms driven / 522miles. Vancouver is one of Canada’s prettiest cities but the roads have not kept up with the increased population and heightened traffic. Per Google maps from here to where we stayed could be driven in 4hrs and 23minutes. It took us 6 hours and 30 minutes and the traffic was constantly moving. In the past it has taken 8 hours or more. Much construction due to the floods from a few years ago. Plus the new pipeline construction. However we lucked out leaving Vancouver as we just beat rush hour traffic. Very few slow downs coming home. It was only a 5 hour drive 😀
The pipeline is moving along quickly.
Needless to say we missed the girls but Jordan our sitter kept sending texts and photos which comforted me. I could not have asked for a better sitter. The girls were happy, greeted us with much enthusiasm and then moved on to look for snakes Today they were perfectly normal. For some reason we had many phone calls to return today and a few deadline matters to handle.
The girls waiting for us.
I had spent several hours a few weeks back to find a place to stay for our one night in Vancouver. We stayed at the Sandman Suites on Davie. For $360.00 It was okay but not perfect. Friends kept telling me to go with Airbnb. Yes the prices were lower but they had close to $200.00 in added costs including over $100.00 for cleaning 😥 The expensive hotels were cheaper.
The Downtown Westend of Vancouver is riddled with apartment buildings.
Stunning sunset over English Bay from our 15th floor balcony.
We did have the best Thai curry dinner in this tiny restaurant on Davie Street. Two huge meals, coconut rice and one liter of Hungarian Pino Gris was only $70.00 cad. I can still recall all the various fragrant tastes.
We did a few touristy things on our last morning. This was the Olympic Cauldron from the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. Wish we could have seen it at night.
The waterfront is full of activity.
Lots of places to walk and many sitting areas. Wished we had had time to enjoy these lounge chairs.
Colin and I have lived in Vancouver separately and as a married couple for at least 20 -25 years. We have been to the Vancouver area over the years but not exactly downtown where I used to work. So very very many changes. New lovely buildings, bike lanes, efficient transit but as everywhere else there is a horrific homeless problem. We loved living in Vancouver, first in the False Creek area and then Tsawwassen before moving to Ladner. The city became larger and larger and more congested. We made the big move to Kelowna in 2003. What we saw the past few days confirmed that we had made the correct decision to move here to Kelowna.
I have read about the homeless situation but it is even worse in person. Block after block filled with people living on the sidewalk.
It was wonderful to get back home to our girls. We are rather tired, too much time in a vehicle in such a short time. Next post will be about the purpose of our trip to Vancouver.
Looks like a fun filled 2 days. The last couple of times we have been in Vancouver we have stayed in North Vancouver by Stanley Park. Nice location and for some reason much cheaper.
Great point but we had to be in a certain location at an exact time. What if the bridge had been closed re an accident. However I did recall later that there is a passenger ferry from the North Shore to Vancouver.
That sunset picture is a beauty! The homeless seem to be everywhere, we even have a population in Rapid City. I can only imagine how had it is in the larger cities.
Life is changing.
Yes the homeless are everywhere, we live in Spokane and have a house in Tucson as well, both cities have large populations of those folks. AirBnb additional costs are just plain wrong.
I was shocked once I figured out the extra Airbnb costs.