A short, sweet visit
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| View from the ship. |
Sandra, the ship naturalist, had encouraged passengers to rise early to see the bridge and watch as the ship passed underneath. In the press of packing the night before, I completely forget so I don't set an alarm, and we miss it.
It looks like the Golden Gate, except for the color, because it was built by the same people, only a year earlier.
We hang out for a while, taking pictures of the bay -- of sailboats, sea planes taking off, mountains, sea planes taking off past sailboats with mountains in the background. The morning temps are a bit chill, so we eventually head inside to find a warmer place to wait. We find a little spot that's completely vacant, with a view of one of the passageways.
Suddenly we see some crew members apparently playing with the mobility scooters. I'm sure they were performing some serious duty, but when an officer sees Sharon laughing at him, he offers to let her try it. When she says no, he says, "You sure? It's fun."
About a half-hour before our designated departure time, someone announces that everyone is now clear to leave. After a little glitch when Sharon can't find her ship card -- resolved quite easily by the crewman checking those things -- we go pick up our bags.
Now, this is our fourth cruise, so we're not quite experts yet, but of all them our embarkation and disembarkation have flowed way more smoothly than any of the other three. I don't know if it's because of the ship line or the destination, but I don't care. It's just nice.
We had booked a hotel for the night to spend some time in Vancouver. Somehow I had it in my mind that we would have more time there, but we'll pretty much only have the afternoon and evening, as our flight leaves earlier on Sunday than I remembered.
Our room's not quite ready when we arrive, so we walk up to a local restaurant -- the White Spot -- that the shuttle bus driver had recommended and have lunch. It's kinda like a Chili's, though it's not part of a chain. They tout their hamburger with a special, "secret" sauce on their menu, and because we're always up for a hamburger, that's what we order.
Remember the "special sauce" on the McDonald's Big Mac? And everyone decided that it was just a variant of Thousand Island dressing? Well this "secret sauce" tastes for all the world like they mixed mayo, mustard and ketchup -- it has that flavor that you get on chain burgers when they put a dollop of each condiment on their buns.
Later, back at the hotel, the clerk who's checking us in asks where we ate. We tell her, and she doesn't look impressed but asks what we had. When we tell her hamburgers, she lights up. She loves the sauce, she tells us. Go figure.
Sharon asks for a map and directions to a nearby grocery store. The woman asks if we've heard of Safeway, and I have to stifle a laugh and the urge to say anything other than yes. The store is located pretty close to the hotel. We stow our stuff and decide that we only have time to see one thing, so we decide on Stanley Park and the Vancouver aquarium, both a short walk from the Safeway.
After picking up some cold medicine, sodas and a couple of bananas at the store we walk another few blocks to the park. The parks is, how do they say it? Amazeballs. To us, anyway. We have no experience with large urban parks and can hardly believe the plants and trees. One plant has giant leaves between which a huge spider has woven an appropriately large web. The leaves on this thing are nearly huge.
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| Look at the size of those leaves. |
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| Look at the size of that spider. |
The trees tower 100, 120 feet, maybe more. I don't know how tall they are, but I know they're significantly taller than the Sam Houston statue in Huntsville.
We misread a map sign erected in the park and wind up taking the long way around to the aquarium. The route we take loops us around a small lake, and along the way we come up on a group of -- please excuse the OF term -- young people. They've found some swans and are trying to take pictures, but every time one of the birds spreads its wings or start to move in their direction, the girls shriek, causing their male friends to dissolve into laughter and the swans to back off.
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| They have a rowing club. And it puts the Arlington Yacht Club to shame. |
I have no idea how far we've walked this vacation, but it's a lot of steps. We had the idea we'd walk the promenade desk for exercise each day we were at sea, but what with traipsing from one end of the ship to other several times each day and taking the stairs almost exclusively, we never use the deck for any other exercise than creature watching. I think it worked out pretty well anyway.
Also on our way to the aquarium we pass through an area of the park where artists are set up. Most only have their art on display, but a few are quick sketch artists. All have signs up asking passersby not to take photographs. As we're passing through, I spot a knot of people gathered near a bench and trash can. A group of raccoons, well fed by the look of them, are wandering about, causing the excitement.
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| Sharon's picture of one of the raccoon. My shots came out fuzzy. |
The aquarium was nice, but I'd have to say the Texas State Aquarium in Corpus and the one in New Orleans are better. They do, however, have an impressive number of jellyfish, neither of those other aquariums I mentioned have what appears to be a totemic statue of an orca in front of their buildings. Our route out of the park ends up being much shorter, taking us along the seawall past the rowing club building, where a wedding was taking place, and quickly back to the room.
We crash for a while before heading to a restaurant Aaron and Brandon, our sons, had recommended after their recent trip to Vancouver. It's Saturday night, down near the seawall, and the place is a zoo. The hostess tells us we'll have to wait an hour to an hour and a half, unless we want to try the bar, where the wait time is shorter and they serve a full menu. We briefly try that wait, but the noise is overwhelming, what with the music playing loudly and people talking loudly to be heard over the music, so we strike our for quieter realms.
So we embark on what turns out to be another long walk, trying to find something that sounds good. We end up at a place called Hons Wun-Tun House, a Chinese food place. We were seated, given menus and a glass, not a cup, of hot tea and pretty much left alone. Turns out when you're ready to order you have to flag down one of the wait staff. But the food was good, plentiful and relatively inexpensive.
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| Whale statue in front of the aquarium. Part of a fountain that's not running because Vancouver's in a drought. |
We've been wandering around in downtown, not really all that far from the hotel and pretty close to the Safeway we were at earlier. But the streets are transformed. In the daytime, I saw several homeless people camped out on the sidewalks. Tonight I don't see any of that, but people are everywhere. Couples, small groups, not many individuals. Most are dressed up a bit. Downtown seems to be a place to be at night on the weekend.
We find a 7-11 (a 7-11 y'all! In Canada!) we'd walked past in the afternoon, pick up some drinks and head back to our room. We've had another full, satisfying day, and we're tired. Tomorrow, we go home, and we're both ready. We'll actually be going back to work to rest up from our vacation.
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