We can now officially say that the boys are international travelers! They took their first trip into Canada over winter break.
Usually we like to stay home over winter break and take advantage of skiing, lounging around, doing fun things around Seattle, etc. But this year we decided to do something different and take advantage of the provided days off by taking a little family trip up to Vancouver, BC. James and I last visited Vancouver just a couple months after we started dating and we haven't really been back since. It's such a fun city and there's also so much to do with kids. We stayed about 4 days, 3 nights which was perfect and had some good adventures together.
The first day we arrived we instantly grabbed lunch because it was a long 3 hour drive up from home and a long-ish wait at the border. Then we walked around the city's shopping district to get acclimated before we could check in. Once we checked in, our first destination was the hotel pool. We distinctly made sure our hotel had a pool because let's be honest it doesn't really feel like a good vacation without a hotel pool--especially as a kid. That night we ate a really yummy meal at Earl's Test Kitchen.
The next day we explored more of the city and spent some time in Stanley Park.
Here we visited the famous steam clock in Gaslight District.
Then it was on to Stanley Park to explore the totem poles, walk along the waterfront and then of course visit the Vancouver Aquarium.
For our second evening we ventured down to Yaletown area for dinner and found an amazing Mexican restaurant called Tacofino. Amazing taco flavors that were to die for and we already can't wait to go back.
The following day was 2 big adventures that forced us to get out of our comfort zone a bit and be brave. The first was we took the gondola up to the top of Grouse Mountain. The boys were pretty nervous to ride the gondola up so high especially because they had never done anything like that. But they were brave and then ended up loving it! We played in the snow at the top of the mountain which was so fun. It's always crazy to me that a ski resort place like that is so close to the city!
The next adventure was a big one for me. All day I was thinking about it and felt so nervous. We visited the Capistrano Suspension Bridge which is a super long suspension bridge that is pretty high up. I hadn't visited it since I was a kid and at that age I never got across to the other side because I was so terrified. But at Christmas time they light up the bridge and the whole park and we didn't want to miss it! Luckily I was miraculously able to get across! It helped that it was nighttime so I didn't really see how high up we were. My palms were sweaty the whole way across both times but I did it! Major major fear conquered for me. And the reward was this beautiful lit up tree house park and other light up features on the other side. It was so unique!
That evening we got takeout from a comfort food restaurant across the street called Burgoo and watched the UW Husky bowl game on James' phone because we couldn't get any American football on the Canadian TV. It was hilarious seeing those boys crowded around the iphone for the game.
In between all these adventures we had lots of visits to the hotel pool as well. Even the morning before we checked out! Just before we headed out of town on our last day, we made one final stop at the Granville Market which is very similar to Pike Place Market, but bigger and laid out differently. We could have purchased every cheese and pastry item in that place. So yummy!
All in all it was such a great trip for our family--easy place to get to and relatively close to home, but fun to be in a foreign country--and especially in Vancouver which always feels so European and cosmopolitan. Such great memories and so happy we also conquered some fears and challenges that we'll remember for a long time.
