Road Trip: Vancouver BC

Monday morning was nice and rainy, at least for a little while. But thankfully I was able to find a window of time to go running right by our hotel. The hotel gym was crazy small and always busy so my plan B was to just run outside (sometimes not a good idea if you're unsure of your area). Thankfully Mom and I had driven around a bit the night before and I knew the surroundings well enough to know that they were safe. I had a lovely run outside. The air was crisp and cool. The sun was just peaking its head from behind the rain drenched clouds and the fall leaves were showing their colors in full. 

We headed over to Vancouver that morning. It rained heavily almost the entire time. Though once we hit Vancouver it slowed up and eventually stopped. Crossing the border was mild compared to the last time we went. She asked to see our passports, the nature of our trip and how long we were going to be there for and that was it. No condescending guards grilling us for all we're worth. I had been scared (Mom's question 2 minutes from the border "Do you have your registration?", My panicky answer, "I think so. Wait, why would I need it?")

Vancouver is probably the cleanest city I've ever been to. The streets are wide (though a bit odd with parking) and the sidewalks are clean. There aren't many homeless people and the city is completely separate from the normal residences. Downtown is the primary part of the "city" and everything else is just normal. It wasn't terribly hard to navigate (though tell Mom that when I'm asking her where the heck I'm supposed to be going). Mom's and my very favorite part of the city (and my favorite part of the trip) was Stanley Park. It was a 5 mile round trip park with the most spectacular views. (I'll have more pictures later) 

Also sidenote story: Mom and I stopped at the Totem Pole park and took pictures and went to the gift shop. Then we decided to walk the pathway on the water. We were taking pictures when Mom asked me what "that man" was doing next to my car. He was trying to give me a ticket. Thankfully I ran right when I saw him and asked him what was going on. He told me I needed to pay for parking throughout the park (I should have realized it but there was  no sign out where we were). Then he stopped writing the ticket once I said I was going. Little blessings make all the difference. 

Another sidenote story: We were next to the ocean and we wanted to eat fish, if we could. I also wanted to head over to North Vancouver since it looked lovely. We might have gotten a little lost on our way and after going on a long, but beautiful, drive we decided we were hungry. How hard is it to find fish in a city next to the ocean? Apparently very. First we had a hard time finding parking (don't even get me started with parking in a big city.) then we couldn't find an actual restaurant that specialized in fish (really?). So we just decided to eat at a mainstream restaurant that was overpriced and apparently only serving senior citizens (it was late lunch, I'm guessing that's the reason for all the white haired people). Our food was good and we were full. Since we reallllly wanted to beat traffic past the border we headed out of the city right after we ate. We stopped to look at some of the houses right by the border, but it was getting late so we only got to go down a street or two. 

We're glad we left when we did because as it was we had to wait at least 30 minutes to get through the border. The guy at the border was funny and nice and he let us through easily enough. The people in front of us weren't that lucky but they had probably been there for more than a few hours, like us. 

We drove to Lynnwood that night and ordered pizza at a Rock n' Roll themed pizza place. Then we had to pick up a few necessities at Fred Meyer and we ended buying more pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, though these were half dipped in chocolate and were what we originally  had wanted. Our Marriott hotel that night was very well appointed and we were happy campers. 

Travel Tip #2: Stick to your routines and bring things that you use and love. If you have a nighttime routine make sure you keep it up on your trip. I think it helps you feel more stable and more at home. Also I ended up bringing two soft and warm blankets and two pillows. I think these also made us feel more at home and comfortable in a hotel.