Victoria Day in Victoria

Taking the ferry over to Victoria was both scenic and relaxing -- or as relaxing as it can be traveling with a 11 month old.  Owen had plenty of space within the seats to cruise around and enjoyed making all the ladies smile. Julie even set up a playground while I hid in the corner feeling sick as a dog.  As part of our breakfast credit at the Fairmont in Vancouver we bought some lunch sandwiches from Giovane and enjoyed those instead of the cafeteria looking food on the ferry.

Owen waves goodbye to Vancouver

Julie and Owen set up camp on the floor.

Arriving in Victoria there were highland games and marching bands everywhere celebrating Victoria day. We got checked in to the Fairmont Empress under a light drizzle. Without much of a plan we walked the main strip lined with tourist shops prominently selling Canadiana wares.

Owen's first up-close bear encounter

Owen and I also hungout with some buskers while Mommy frequented her favourite type of shop; souvenir.

Since the weather was sub-par along with our health we wandered over to Red Fish Blue Fish, essentially a permanent food truck on a dock, for some take-away.  The line up was manageable and the dock provided lots of walking room for Owen along with the dozen other kids running around that always catch Owen's attention.

Great view from the dock. Seafood poutine. Le menu.

Back at the hotel we took advantage of the break in the drizzling rain to snap a few pics of this historic grand hotel.

We packed it in for the night while I finished some work.  The next morning I snuck out for a wet run  (route) that wasn't overly enjoyable.  With almost no sleep and constantly hitting dead-ends I bailed without even hitting the 5k mark. Ah well.

After feeding Owen we loaded up to get an early run to Tofino to enjoy the scenic drive in daylight.  With a quick stop at Tim's for some breakfast and after dodging the parade we were on our way.

Final Days in Van

To round out our stay in Vancouver I snuck in a quick out and back through Gastown (route).  The route became a bit industrial and included razor wire across balconies.  Interesting. Also a few cruise lines were disembarking which made "tourist frogger" fun, especially since they all had rolling suitcases and were in small flocks.

Unsurprisingly we started our day with breakfast at Giovane -- which is included in our Amex FHR package.  Can't get enough free breakfast. We wanted to get in some shopping and check out some galleries but our declining health didn't let us get very far.  Prior to coming on the trip Owen got croup then it seems Julie developed some sort of cold around the first day in Vancouver and by the second or third day I was coughing up a storm and feeling generally crappy along with them.  On our brief outting we stopped at the Frey Willie shop.  Last year I bought Julie a ring while in Budapest from Frey Willie (an Austrian jeweler) and it was the wrong size.  Fortunately there is one Frey Willie shop in Canada so I shipped mine to Vancouver and they sent me a new size.  Anyway, the lady even remembered me/my situation.  I grabbed a pair of shoes and after some fun trying on goofy hats we headed over to Cardero's in Coal Harbour.

Owen chilling in the change room.

The food was great as were the views.  Afterwards we called it quits and headed back to the hotel for a slower paced afternoon in the room.

Good food.

Walking in Coal Harbour.

Before dinner I headed down for a massage and more importantly some serious steam room time.  It helped, but only temporarily. In the mean time our new babysitter, Christine, had shown up and Julie headed down to the lobby for some drinks.  The lobby lounge is very happening, even on Wednesday, and reminds me of a W where they really try to make it a scene.  Live music starts at 5 every day and ends at 1.  Pretty good.  Mike and Colleen met up with us and we had a few more drinks before heading over to Black and Blue for some steak.  We even got to finally use the hotel car service.

Black and Blue is a massive 3 story steakhouse.  The steak was great and pretty much put us to bed.  Literally I fell asleep on the couch before Julie rolled Owen's crib from the bedroom to the living room.  At which point Owen began to wake up and I was stuck on the couch waiting for him to fall back asleep.

The next morning I headed over to the cruise ship terminal across the street to pick up our rental car.  Fortunately more ships were unloading and it was easy to pretend I had just got off (a requirement to rent from this location).  Not sure what to expect for a 'full-sized SUV' I got a Jeep Liberty.  Not exactly as full sized as I hoped as we have heaps of gear.  On my way back I grabbed some breakfast from Giovane and brought it up to the room to enjoy on the balcony.  We weren't able to get Julie in for a full hour massage on short notice but she did manage to squeak in a 30 minute session while Owen and I packed -- aka I packed and Owen played -- Julie had already slaved over packing all of Owen's goodies.  With the car loaded like a trophy session of Tetris we were on our way to the ferry terminal to head off to Victoria.

Breakfast on the balcony

Overall, we had a good time in Vancouver.  Being sick took most of the life out of us but we still managed to see some parts of the city and enjoy some great food. 

The crazy shrubs that everyone seems to cover their house (big or small) with.

A day with the Huitemas

Vancouver Aquarium

 This morning I headed out for a city run over to Kitsilano (route). A fairly hilly run plagued with traffic lights I made my way over to Vanier Park just after the Burrard St bridge.  The park offered a decent vantage point over to the route I ran on Stanley Park as well as some early morning standard up paddler surfers (what?).  I've been wanting to try this since I had an opportunity in Dana Point, Cali -- but this wasn't the time.

The dark treed area is a portion of the seawall route I ran yesterday.

SUP'ers at Vanier Park

 While I was out, Julie and Owen were getting ready and watching some telly.

Once we were all showered up and dressed we headed down to Giovane for some breakfast before meeting Mike and Colleen en-route to Stanley Park and the Vancouver Aquarium.

Owen going back for a second espresso

After breakfast we headed over to Shoppers to pick up some baby supplies.  Apparently everything in Vancouver is organic and therefore twice as expensive.  Since Owen prefers preservatives we ended up buying a few tasters before committing to stocking up.  Yup, he hated 'em.  Mike and Colleen met up with us en-route as we walked over to the park to find the aquarium.

Aunt Colleen and Uncle Mike on baby-duty

The aquarium was a busy place on the Thursday before the long weekend.  Particularly with multi-children families.  This made maneuvering the stroller a bit challenging due to the limited space.  In hindsight we should have checked it at the door; provided that was an option.  The aquarium was nice but relatively small.  The new penguin exhibit opened on the day we visited so it was nice to check out those guys.  Everyone seemed pretty jazzed, including the penguins.

A few of the colourful things we saw at the aquarium.

 
 Owen's favourite part of the aquarium was the abundance of ladies to check out.

Owen's favourite part of the Aquarium -- girls.

After the aquarium we walked around Stanley Park a bit more.  Since it wasn't the warmest day we didn't spend a great amount of time in the park but we got the gist of it.  It's tough to beat any waterfront park.

We've exclusively used the 'Cat in the Hat' cartoon (starring Martin Short) to remedy scenarios where Owen just doesn't want to act appropriately.  Up until basically this moment he'd hear the song, get distracted from being a brat, and be merry.  His attention span for the show would be the 15s the theme song lasted and then he'd be on his way.  Apparently he realized the show continues and that he doesn't mind it -- as seen here watching an episode.

 After the park we walked along the seawall through coal harbour and stopped at Mill Marine Bistro for some lunch.  Keeping up with the seafood theme the salmon wasabi vote won Mike and my votes.

Lunch at Mill Marine Bistro

After lunch we went our separate ways until dinner.  Julie ran out trying to find other groceries stores that may stock more varieties of baby food (to no avail).  Owen and I had a no-pants party in the room while Mommy was gone.

Sarah, our babysitter, showed up at 730 and off we went with Mike and Colleen to East is East restaurant.  The food was amazing and the only thing that could top the flavours was when the lady next to Julie dropped a massive roti on the floor.  Half the innards of said roti landed in Julie's shoe and on her pants.  The offender didn't even look over to apologize or anything -- although she did scoop the rice off the floor back into the roti -- back into her plate -- and lastly back into her mouth.  What?!?  Highlight of the night, no doubt.

While walking and waiting to grab a cab we checked out Safeway and were able to find Owen's preferred Heinz, unorganic -- extra preservative baby food.  Everyone was happy.

Uncle Paul takes us to Whistler

Owen decided to remain on home time and woke up at 330am. After some finessing we were able to get him back to sleep, on me, until 7.  Crisis averted.  I decided to log my first of hopefully many runs this trip by jogging the seawall around Stanley Park (route).  The route from the hotel and around the park offer great views of the Vancouver skyline, Burrard Inlet, Vancouver harbour and English bay.  It was a quiet run seeing very few others on the outer edge of the park. As I didn't actually go in to Stanley Park it'll be nice to head back with the family.

Some pics I took during my run.

Lions Gate bridge

While I was out running Julie decided to let Owen try out the hotel tub.

After getting cleaned up we met up with my uncle Paul who drove in from Langley to spend some time with us.  As neither of us had eaten we grabbed some delicious breakfast at the hotel cafe Giovane.  Some great breakfast sandwiches guaranteed we'll be back.
 
Originally thinking he would take us through Stanley Park, my uncle decided to take us up to Cypress Mountain over in West Vancouver for some great city views.  The slopes were a mix of bare and snow covered but where snow still remained it was a few feet deep.

On the way down the mountain we took a brief trek down the Sea to Sky corridor (highway 99) to catch the stunning scenery.  After a few kilometers we decided to continue on all the way to Whistler.  The drive along was worth it alone as the views are amazing but visiting Whistler was originally on our list and got cut.  So we were thrilled to get a chance to include it on this trip.

Arriving in Whistler we meandered around the shops with the hordes of other tourists and seasonal workers.  The sun was shining and despite all areas of the mountains being closed we still saw many in full snow gear clearly coming down somewhere.  To contrast that sight, mountain bikers were flying down at an alarming pace. With the perfect weather we hit a patio for some drinks and lunch.

Playing in the village.

Owen hanging out with uncle Paul

Owen loves Mommy's enthusiasm

We were glad to spend the day and catch up with uncle Paul as we don't get to see him often enough.  It was especially nice for Owen to meet him.

 Owen napped most of the way back to the hotel which was slightly concerning as we got back around 5pm.  Fortunately he still went back down for the night at 7. We hired a babysitter through a nanny service for the next 3 nights knowing that Owen is such a good sleeper.   Sarah showed up promptly for her tough gig of 'watching tv' until 11.

We caught up with Mike and Colleen and headed over to Gastown for dinner.  Without much research we walked until we found a place that looked busy enough to be a sure bet. Chill Winston was just that place.  We sampled a variety of brews and I stole the last kangaroo steak the place had to offer for the night -- sorry Mike.

Vancouver Travel Day

I love vacation and especially hotel beds!

Hanging in the Air Canada lounge pre-departure.

 
Ready, set, go. We're off to the wild West. Flying out of Toronto and back in to Hamilton posed one issue; we need our vehicle to move locations while we're gone.  Enter the problem-solver, Bruno, who was kind enough to drive us to the airport and drop our car back at YHM.  We quickly identified the second benefit to Bruno's participation -- we were actually on time arriving at the airport almost 2 hours before (domestic) flight departure.  Far better then any international flight we've taken.

With Owen's recent bout with croup and flare up of asthma coupled with his newfound love to almost be on his two feet (cruising) we weren't overly hopeful for a peaceful flight.  Due to some medical advice we actually considered canceling the trip until Owen seemed to be on the mend. Fortunately we gobbled up some Aeroplan points and decided to the ride at the front of the bus assuming the added space would be helpful. It certainly was.

We enjoyed a relatively uneventful flight with Owen spending a portion of the time reading with Julie, standing on the floor, or smiling at the ladies and children around us.

Keeping Owen occupied for 5 hours. Easy peasy.

A 5 hour flight does feel slightly like an 8 hour flight when you spend the entire time entertaining instead of relaxing.  Either way, we were grateful for the uneventful flight and all the smiling ladies, which Owen loves, surrounding us.

With our heaps of luggage we had pre-arranged transportation.  It was a safe bet that paid off as a taxi van would likely not have sufficed. The first thing we noted about downtown Vancouver properties is that the front yards have the world's tallest shrubs, regardless of stateliness of the property.  Fifteen foot shrubs generally reserved for small mansions lined the streets of commoners.

Decent view from hotel.

We checked in at the Fairmont Pacific Rim - not to be confused with the seemingly dozen other Fairmonts in Vancouver.  This hotel is the most modern of the fleet and a far cry from other Fairmont properties we've stayed at.  We're in a Harbour Mountainview Suite courtesy of a free suite upgrade from Fairmont's FPC program.  The room offers a great view, some high-tech and confusing in-room controls, a nice sized balcony, two full bathrooms -- one includes a tv in the mirror -- and most importantly, a living space separate from the bedroom -- aka Owen's bedroom. The hotel provided a bunch of baby amenities such as a crib, bathtub, bottle warmer ... and a bunch of other things.  Handy.

We didn't have any plans for the day of our arrival so we merely stumbled around aimlessly around the hotel.  Passing the Vancouver Art Gallery we decided to stop at their outdoor treed cafe for lunch.  It was a bit of a debacle to get to the second story as the exterior included a million steps. Going through the art gallery included a security escort to get to the elevator and a security escort waiting on the next floor followed by a path through an unmarked door and a hallway that doubled as a storage closet.

Back door "accessible" access to cafe

In the end it was worth it and we enjoyed some good food on the sunny patio, despite having to sit in the shade.  Owen decided to throw us a curve ball by staying awake until 7pm local time or 3 hours later then back home.  Fingers crossed that he doesn't wake up at 330am (630am back home; his usual wake up).

Vancouver Art Gallery Cafe

Once Owen was asleep we hooked up some Facetime action-a-la-video-baby-monitor and headed down to the lobby bar for a quick dinner and drink.  All in all a successful first day.

.. On the road again

After a brief travel hiatus between Nov and May we're back on the wagon with our trip to Western Canada.  Similar to our 'Europe before baby' trip, this one has been on the books since before Julie was pregnant.  The original idea was to drive an RV to BC and back but time constraints and sanity prevailed with the new plan taking us, by plane, into Vancouver and returning from Calgary.

The agenda has us arriving in Vancouver on the 16th where we'll spend 4 nights and meet up with Mike & Colleen, who are more or less doing the reverse route as us.

Picking up our rental vehicle we'll ferry across to Victoria for a brief one night visit and to possibly meet up with Tim.

Finally heading out to nature, we'll spend 4 days in Tofino hanging with surfers, taking in some coastal hikes and bear watching.

Then begins a marathon drive to get us from Tofino, ferried back to the mainland, and in to Kamloops to merely rest our heads.

The next morning we're off to Lake Louise for an outdoor family photo shoot and to explore Banff, Jasper, Glacier National Park (etc) over the next 5 days. Hoping to meet up with Matt & Amy if possible.

Lastly we're in to Calgary for 2 days before our evening flight out on the 30th.

Should be a good one. For the hotel junkies like Owen and I, we've got a mix of old world and modern lined up. 

• Vancouver: Fairmont Pacific Rim
• Victoria: Fairmont Empress
• Tofino: Pacific Sands Beach Resort
• Kamloops: Sheraton
• Lake Louise: Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise
•  Calgary: Le Germain Calgary

Next trip is already planned.  Along with Curt & Renee we've booked the Eckhart house near Sandbanks Provincial Park up in Prince Edward County.  Looking for a summer version of our Blue Mountain stay earlier this year.