We took a ride today that I called, "The Mad Hatter Ride" because that is how I felt a lot of the time on this ride. It started out innocent enough as we decided that since it was kind of cold we would drive to quaint beach town on the west side of Vancouver Island, called Tofino. We would take a main road up the east coast and then a small windy road up over mountains to Tofino. When we had been driving for about two hours, we kept noticing that the snow on the sides of the road was increasing and then by the time we got to a town called Nanaimo there was so much snow on some of the side roads, (Notice the picture of the snow covered road leading to the harbor.) that we were afraid to go down some of the roads. We are crazy, but not that crazy and realized that our trip to Tofino would have to be aborted.

Day 5 Victoria and Surrounding Areas

We woke up to SNOW, but decided a little snow wasn't going to stop our early morning walk to town along the harbor. After a freezing, slippery walk along the harbor path to town, we decided to check out the grand hotel of Victoria, The Empress Hotel. It really is a magnificent building and a short walk through its grand hallways warmed us up for our trip back to the condo.

Day 4 On to Victoria

A trip to Vancouver would not have been complete without seeing the 5 sails building up close and personal so this morning first thing we took our walk in the rain to see the inside of this building. It really is a gorgeous building inside and very unique, the sails are the ceiling of a convention type room. We then packed and said good-bye to Vancouver and boarded the ferryr Victoria. We are now all settled in another great condo, however this time we are overlooking Victoria's inter harbor. Tomorrow we look forward to enjoy the atmosphere and sights of Victoria, BC.

Day 3 Vancouver

An early morning walk on the sea wall in Stanley Park started our day. The sea wall was started in 1917 and goes all around the park. The views from the sea wall are fabulous as you can see the sky line of Vancouver with the five sails from the building that was built for a world expo called Canada Place. This building seems to show up in all the pictures of Vancouver. We were able to see sea plane after sea plane land and take off from the Frazier River and watch the commuter ferries. Then it was off to the Vancouver Aquarium. What an amazing aquarium! It is really kid and family friendly and was packed with all ages of school children. (Brought back lots of memories of field trips for me.) The highlight of the aquarium for me was seeing the beluga whales. They really are stark white and quite small for a whale. One was pregnant and the other two were mom and baby. They were in a large pool outside and put on quite a show during their training session. I especially loved how the baby would stay close to its mom and then nurse every now and then. We went back to the Public Market for lunch and then just hung out for awhile and then checked out the shopping in downtown. I love the sights and sounds of a city so we have had a great three days here in Vancouver.

Day 2 Vancouver

We walked down to the waterfront and back and I had the absolutely most delicious hot chocolate that I have ever had---from a place called Chocolate Mink. It honestly made me think of the movie "Chocolat". We made a great breakfast and headed out for the day. We got in our car and crossed the bridge to Granville Island to wander around the Public Market. We found some of the most beautiful fruits, vegetables and treats we have ever seen---the lemon mousse and chocolate eclair just called to us. It was fun to browse through the shops and admire some of the Canadian art work. (We did purchase an Olympic pin for the 2010 Winter Olympics which will be held here.) Then off to Stanley Park. It is a huge park and we did stop to see the totem pole displays. I was real excited to see the totem poles and read about them after teaching about totem poles for so many years. The weather has been real nice today and so before the rain started up again we decided we would head for the Capilano suspension Bridge. I was a little afraid at the thought of walking across a 450 foot long suspension bridge 230 feet, above the river but I wanted to give it a try. I survived and the scenery was gorgeous. We took in a few more sights and then programmed Emily to find us a seafood restaurant as Craig really wanted some good Vancouver salmon. After a bit of a goose chase we ended up back at the condo and checking with the desk as to where to go. Craig did get his salmon.

Arrived in Canada

We left bright and early, 5 AM, and headed for the airport. We changed planes in Seattle, went through customs and were off to Victoria, BC. It was raining and drizzily, but being a good Seattlite it was no problem. Our plans are to spend three nights in Vancouver and then three nights in Victoria. Since our first stay was in Vancouver we set our navigator, Emily, to take us to our condo in Vancouver. We knew we needed to take a ferry there and the ferry took one and a half hours to get to Vancouver, but what beautiful senery we saw along the way, so many islands and little inlets. We finally arrived at our condo and what a surprise. It has floor to ceiling windows in every room and a little breakfast nook with windows on all sides. From the 22 floor we have a spectacular view of the city. We took a long walk, had dinner, and settled in for the night.

SNOW!

Our friends, Laura, Guy, and Mackenzie invited us up to their cabin in Huntington Lake on Saturday. The kids were so excited to go to the mountains. They really wanted to see snow. Unfortunately there hasn't been much snow this year yet, but we were able to find some man made snow at Sierra Summit. It was perfect. The kids were so excited to touch it, eat it, and to throw snow balls. After, we went back to the cabin-chatted, had hot chocolate, and made a bon fire. It was so fun and the kids were kicking and screaming when it was time to leave. We definitely need to do stuff like this more often! Thank you Brautigam family.