Belated Canada Day Post

A month ago today we were in Vancouver, B.C. celebrating Canada. Bry and I having been wanting to go to Vancouver since we moved to Washington and thought our 5-year anniversary would be a good reason/time to go. We decided to have our anniversary trip a couple weeks late so that we could be there for Canada Day and we had a wonderful time. Bry hadn't been in Canada on Canada Day for something like 10 years; it was Emma's first time to Canada; and it was Canada's 150th anniversary which is a cool milestone. 

We drove up Friday afternoon and got settled into our Airbnb and went to a mall where we walked for a bit and got some food. Saturday morning Bry ran out and got Tim Horton's doughnuts and Timbits (doughnut holes) for breakfast.

 

On Saturday morning we headed out to Stanley Park which is beautiful and really big. We walked along the Seawall for a long while, enjoying the perfect sunny weather and the salty breeze from the coast. We made our way over to the Totem Poles in Stanley Park, had a successful stop in a gift shop, walked some trails through Stanley Park to get to a playground, and walked briefly through the Rose Garden. We went back to our car and drove around to the west side of the park where we stopped at a beach that we walked on for a bit and at which I took some of my favorite pictures.

Emma found this large rock very interesting.

Canadian Geese IN Canada!

Lions Gate Bridge

Totem poles

Bry helped Emma overcome her fear of swings.

From Stanley Park we took a bus over to Canada Place where some Canada Day celebrations were taking place. They had a couple stages set up with musicians/performers, had a tent with little Canada flags and things, and a couple food tents.

There's a "Canadian Trail" at Canada Place that has different city names on the ground you can read as you walk along.

On Sunday we explored Queen Elizabeth Park which was pretty, although not very impressive having been to Stanley Park the day before. From the park we drove to Langley, B.C., where the temple is located and we ate a snack there. Then we headed on our way home. It seemed we were not the only ones who thought it'd be fun to go to Canada for Canada Day and the wait to cross the border was AWFUL (stop-and-go - mostly STOP - for about 1-1.5 miles that took at least 45 minutes to get through). Aside from that part, the drive was mostly smooth.

We got Canada shirts on Saturday that we then wore Sunday.