The Vancouver Birthday Trip

We had a fab time in Vancouver the past two days. We started early Sunday morning to catch the 9AM ferry from Swartz Bay (here on the island about 40 minutes away) to Tsawassen (south of Vancouver). We left ourselves plenty of time, figuring that the ferries wouldn't be too crowded until later in the day.

Now, BC Ferries, in addition to charging exorbitant rates (round trip to Vancouver costs $120 in the summer), has installed a digital traffic sign about three miles south of the ferry terminal. These signs commonly read "8 AM ferry full. 9 AM ferry 76% full". It was 8:00 when we saw this sign. Immediately, Mark and everyone else on the road sped up, trying to beat the other cars to the terminal and secure a spot on the 9AM ferry. The police could make a killing along this road, but I haven't ever seen a patrol car there. Go figure.

Mario, I mean Mark, got us there safely and we made the 9 AM, arriving in Tsawassen just before 11 AM. Here are some pics from the boat ride through the southern Gulf Islands. We saw many bald eagles, but I wasn't swift enough with the camera to get photos of any of them.

Another, smaller ferry on its way to Saltspring Island.

The passage through the southern Gulf Islands.

Saltspring Island

And the realtor said there were too many steps to the water at your place Gram and Opa...

A sailboat off Mayne Island just before entering the Strait of Georgia via Active Pass where Mark and I counted six bald eagles.

After arriving, we headed straight to Pini's Kosher Pizza for lunch. It was a treat to have someone else prepare the food - there are no kosher restaurants in or near Victoria. We spent the afternoon shopping for maternity clothes in trendy Kitsilano - a neighborhood in the west end of Vancouver. I found a very cute empire-waist dress and a turtleneck sweater for the fall.

Sunday night, we went out for dinner to another kosher place for hamburgers and fries - yum! We then walked around Grandville Island enjoying the window shopping. Granville used to be industrial warehouses. They have all now been converted into an artists' colony of sorts - each building houses a different artisan.

We spent the night at the luxurious Fairmont Airport Hotel where our room overlooked one of the concourses and the Coastal Range Mountains north of Vancouver.

Monday morning after breakfast, Mark drove me to North Vancouver to see where he spent his first seven years. We went to the ecological center at Lynn Canyon Park.

Mark on the suspension bridge in the park. We started to cross it and I chickened out after a few feet. It sways and is quite a drop.

We took a short hike instead and passed this little waterfall on the way.

We spent the rest of the afternoon shopping at Ikea, Lee Valley garden store (where I got compostable trash bags for our compost!), and the last kosher bakery on the way out of town. The ferry trip back was uneventful. We saw a school of Dahl's porpoises in the Georgia Strait, but they didn't come up far enough for decent photos.

I didn't take this (obviously), but these are what the porpoises look like - they are quite small.

It was a lovely mini-vacation - exactly what we needed to recharge - and we were happy to get home last night.