For Thanksgiving break, we took off to Vancouver for a few days. The end of November can be unpredictable weather wise which lead us to pick a city with a combination of indoor/city activities and outdoor activities. The goal was outdoor activities but we didn’t want to show up to terrible weather and never be able to see anything. Vancouver was a perfect balance for it. Here’s how we spent our 3 days in Vancouver. Day 1: We initially spent the night in Seattle. We always start driving after work so we don’t lose time at the spot we’re going to. After a relaxing and slow start Saturday morning, we drove north to Vancouver. We ate at Tim Horton’s as soon as we crossed the border which was around lunch time. I’d recommend one stop at Tim Horton’s per Canada trip but don’t get too hung up on the new fast food place unless you especially love it. We made our way to Stanley Park outside downtown Vancouver. This was when the day quite honestly went downhill. We set navigation to the park but accidentally hit the bike route button. It took us 45 minutes to figure it out. It kept taking us to dead end roads that we could hardly turn around in because we were driving my truck. It also tried to keep us off the freeway and the other busy (but more convenient) roads. I’m pretty sure it would’ve taken us 20 minutes to get there if we hadn’t messed this up. By the time we figured out our mistake, we were too deep in the route to get on the convenient route. Over an hour later, we made it to Stanley Park. We had around an hour of daylight left after our slow morning and navigation disaster. That was when we figured out that we had left my camera in the living room at home. As a professional photographer who gets so much joy out of capturing our travels, I was pretty upset. It was 40 degrees, raining, and all I had was my old needs-an-update cell phone to take photos with. We ended up taking a couple laps around the park. We stopped at the Lions Gate viewpoint (worth it), a beach viewpoint (not as worth it), and a pond with a view of the Vancouver skyline (worth it). By then, the sun had set and we went to our AirBNB with a view of Deep Cove in North Vancouver. It was the perfect base for all the spots we wanted to go all around Vancouver. We ordered a pizza from Nektar Pizza and Greek and just relaxed after our afternoon of bad luck. Day 2: We dedicated this entire day to driving the Sea to Sky Highway. SO. BEAUTIFUL. Since the days are so short, we left before sunrise and drove back during sunset. It was easy to plan with such a short day but I’d highly recommend that you put in the work to fit your schedule to sunrise and sunset. The sunrise started as we got on Highway 1 towards Whistler. We had a bird’s eye view of the Howe Sound as it glowed pink and purple. It had rained the day before so there were some sparse clouds rolling around the peaks. I’ve seen some epic stuff but that was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. Unfortunately, there’s not really any places to stop for photos on the way there. So don’t get disappointed and just enjoy the view. We made it to Whistler in time to sip some Tim Horton’s tea and coffee and make a game plan. They had free Wifi and I didn’t have cell service. By the time we finished planning, the shops in the Village were beginning to open. We wandered the shops and waited to see if the clouds blocking the mountains would burn off. After a couple hours in Whistler and accepting that the clouds were there to stay, we started back towards Squamish. We’d recommend spending at least a night in Whistler. There were some places an hour outside Whistler that were epic looking. We just didn’t have the time to drive three hours one way when we had so much to see in Vancouver. We meandered our way back and stopped at as many spots as we could. Our first stop was Alexander Falls. Navigation took us one turn too far and brought us to the back of the falls. It’s pretty easy to tell where you actually need to go if you look at the map. It was a nice easy stop with an epic waterfall. We then made a straight shot for Squamish. We meandered more than expected and had a late lunch at Howe Sound Brewing. There weren’t very many food options in Squamish and we wish we would’ve waited a bit longer and eaten lunch in Whistler. Since we were in Squamish, we were right down the road from Shannon Falls. We looked at the falls and then wandered around the forested area. We hit the road again and started meandering our way down. We stopped at every viewpoint along the way but none of them had a particularly good view. You have to get off the main highway and go to some parks to see the view. It was also partially overcast so maybe our views were obstructed. We ultimately stopped at Porteau Cove Provincial Park. It had our best view of the Howe Sound. We ended up watching the sunset over the Howe Sound there. It was absolutely stunning. Now that it was dark, our outdoor activities of the day were done. We still had some energy so we went to a used book store (one of our favorite things to do). We found Book Lovers in North Vancouver. It was a great book store with lots of variety and good prices. It’s even dog friendly but it’s also a narrow book store. So our 15lb Sophie was fine but my parent’s 70lb golden retriever would not have fit. After our book store adventure, we went back to our AirBNB and ate our leftover pizza. Day 3: We dedicated this day to more nearby Vancouver locations. We started with a breakfast at Waves Coffee House. After multiple days of rising with the sun, we were ready for a relaxing morning. We went to downtown Vancouver in search of a used book store. We parked in a parking garage because we were driving my truck (in case of snow) and we didn’t want to mess with parallel parking. Unfortunately, there was construction outside the bookstore and we couldn’t figure out what entrance we could access. We instead made our way to Gastown. There’s a steaming clock that everyone is excited about but we really didn’t get the appeal. We snapped a photo of Sophie with it and moved on. My husband collects magnets from everywhere we go and I collect stickers. So we found some gift shops and got our souvenirs. It’s a great area for your typical tourist souvenirs. We then made our way to one of the many parks around Vancouver. We went to Whytecliff Park in hopes of seeing some ocean critters. I’m personally always hoping for a whale sighting because of who I am as a person. The odds of finding whales during November isn’t great though. It was a cute beach with a rock area to explore (as a side note, make sure that your exploration isn’t killing sea critters; just be respectful). They were filming some mermaid show on the beach which wasn’t ideal. There was hardly any parking because they had so much stuff set up. Thankfully since it’s November, there really wasn’t anyone competing with us for those few spots left. It’s a great park that we recommend. Hopefully you won’t catch it on a filming day. We went to the little downtown area near the park to get lunch. We just got cheap by the slice pizza so we could splurge more on dinner. The pizza was good and then we planned on moving onto Lighthouse Park. It’s a beautiful little park with a cute lighthouse. The forest is a typical, heavy rain, PNW forest. Our next stop was Capilano Bridge. We started some research for details and realized it’s $54 (Canadian so more like $40 in US at the current exchange) per person. The bridge looks cool but it also was busy. It definitely wasn’t worth it to us for that price. We decided to wrap up our day at Deep Cove in North Vancouver. We walked around the the park with Sophie and watched the sunset over the cove. We picked up sandwiches for dinner and some donuts for dessert at Honey Doughnuts (recommended by a local which is always a good call). The sandwiches and donuts were amazing. We ate our dinner and packed our bags for the drive home the next day. 3 days wasn’t nearly enough for this beautiful area and during November, there’s some things you can’t see or do. We look forward to a return trip during the summer someday!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Miki & BobWe're an adventurous couple that travel internationally and travel nationally in our RV. We have a corgi named Sophie that comes along on our adventures. Our goal is to encourage others to travel and show genuine travel over Instagrammable travel. CategoriesArchives
April 2020
|