I think we were still living in San Antonio when we bought tickets for a Jacob Collier Concert in Vancouver, BC. Never mind the fact that Jacob was also performing in Seattle, but the tickets cost less in Vancouver and we'd have a chance to explore somewhere new. Thus, Spring Break 2022 in Canada was born!
Vancouver is about 3 1/2 hours from our house. Since it wasn't going to be a huge road trip, we looked for things to do along the way. We settled on a scenic byway, and a stop at museum in Bellingham, WA, and a quick waterfall hike.
On the road! Dan loves munching on some bellivitano cheese and an apple :)
We survived!
Also nearby Bellingham is Whatcom Falls. The boys were anxious to just get to Vancouver, and it was super rainy/cold, but we made the stop anyways. I'm glad we did because it was a really short walk from the car to some beautiful scenery.
I loved the juxtaposition of the bridge architecture and the waterfall :)
After all of that exploring we were finally ready to make our way up into Canada! There are no pictures of the next 3-4 hours of our journey because it was a bit miserable and not picture worthy. There are two border crossing spots within a few miles of each other, but there was no winning line. It took about 2 hours just to go through the border, and not for any good reason that we could tell. We are super glad that just before our trip they got rid of their COVID regulations, so we didn't have to show negative tests, just vaccine cards! So much easier and less expensive.
Native american history has a huge presence in this area of the world. Not far off the path was a whole collection of totem poles. Some in their original state, and some restored. Each one had a little backstory.
We made it to the lighthouse! Now that I look back at it, i think the design has a little asian influnce to it.
Not unlike Seattle, Vancouver is surrounded by water which makes for some awesome bridges!
Another great photo-op... that is one big split in one big tree!
After some rest at the hotel we found a few spots within walking distance of our hotel that we wanted to explore.
Now for the whole reason we came to Canada! Jacob Collier!
If you haven't taken the time, do yourself a favor and look up Jacob Collier on YouTube or whatever your preferred music listening style is. He is unlike any other musician out there right now. Some call him a prodigy, or an equivalent to Bach or Beethoven. He is a pure creator, an all-around awesome human being, and just a genius with musical instruments. He performs in a lot of different styles too. His world tour was postponed due to COVID, but a few years later we are all better off for having been able to see him live!
I hope the boys will remember what an amazing musical experience this was. Jacob had us singing, dancing and having a great time!
They also had a lot of neat things to interact with and learn about. Have you ever used a Theramin?
And as you can tell it was night time by the time we finally arrived at our hotel. Thanks to Dan's diamond elite status, they upgraded our room and we got this really cool hotel suite with epic views of the city from our all-around windows and balcony.
There's just something about urban settings that just get me excited. We dropped off our luggage and then headed out to find something to eat. We settled on this trendy waffle place! Over the top and delicious.
After roaming around and filling our bellies, we headed back to hotel to play a game and head to bed. Gotta rest for more adventuring!
Had to take another shot of the city from our room, but during the day time!
For this day in Vancouver we decided to visit the Aquarium, have lunch and explore the area around the aquarium, and then after a rest at the hotel we went back out into downtown vancouver to explore a bit.
First up, we love a good aquarium, and honestly we haven't been to a good one in awhile. I definitely think this is worth the time/money! We all found things that appealed to us and spent quite a bit of our day here.
Shenanigans...
I've seen these little eels before, but they creep me out every time.
How's it going ther Mr. Pelican? Finding what you're looking for?
This guy was moving around a lot! It was fun to watch him interact with his surroundings.
Alex always loved poison dart frogs. They're just so vibrant!
Check out these clear fish! Nature is just wild when you really think about it.
It's marlin and nemo!
Ugh- this sea urchin was ultra creepy with that EYE right in the middle! Seems like something out of a zelda game
Jelly fish are always one of my favorites
Had to laugh at these next two pictures that Cade took. He noticed this crab-like creature, and then saw that up close his face had this smile, lol.
I sat down and took a break for a bit next to these big fish. (I'm real good at remembering all the names, can you tell?) While I sat there this one fish stayed right with me while the rest of the school continually rotated and shifted. It was weirdly awesome. Alex snapped this picture.
Axolotl!
What do you call a fish with no eyes? A fsh..... hahaha
So, murphys law decided that it would be great weather while we were in the aquarium, and then when we were ready to have lunch in the park and explore, it would rain! We ate our lunch in the car to see if it would let up at all, but it didn't. Much to our children's shagrin we walked from the parking lot of the aquarium to this lighthouse anyways! (not gonna lie, I'm kind of with the kids on this one, I really didn't want to explore in the chilly rain. Neither did my body.) BUT sometimes you just gotta do what you can with the time you have. We had already paid for parking, and it's not like we were going to be back in that area any time soon. So off we went!
First up was the Vancouver Public Library. This was literally right across the street from our hotel. We could see it from our windows and knew from its unique architecture that we wanted to check it out. IT did not disappoint! Why aren't all libraries this cool?
Literally an entire floor of the library is music related. The three of us enjoyed this specific section of the library that was just full of music scores!
Need somewhere outdoors to study while at the library, head to this spot!
This was the kid's area. Dan snapped this pic of the kids on their phones.
In our wanderings for food we ended up in the alley behind the theatre where Jacob Collier would be performing. We could hear him start the show and it made us so excited for our turn to be in the crowd the next night!
Our next day was a bit of rest day, in comparison with the rest of our days. We slept in a bit and then instead of walking to some nearby shops, we drove to a different area of town to shop a bit. Truly, the thing that brought us in that particular direction was a retro video game store. Alex is always looking for neat and unique finds. It was called Play n Trade video games. There alex actually got an amazing deal on a Game Cube! He traded in a bunch of his own things and the owner gave him some Canadian dollars to hold for a bit before he paid for the Game cube. Lucky kid!
Cool mural!
I took this picture in a lame attempt to show the mountains surrounding the city of Vancouver.
We knew the concert would keep us up late so we rested in the after noon. And by rested I mean the three of us slept while Dan practiced saxophone in another room. :)
Not only do they have recording studios you can reserve, but they're McBride recording studios!
After the library we walked around these streets that had been turned into an area where there was no vehicular traffic, and there were supposed to be lots of restaurants and shops. From what we could tell most of the shops were closed, but probably would not have held our interest anyways. And the restaurants, well, we just couldn't all agree on a place. So we walked the kids back to the hotel and bough them some A&W for dinner and they got to chill in the hotel without us. Dan and I have more adventurous palettes so we we made our way through a few restaurants and split different dishes to try a little bit of lots of things. This is chicken schwarma! It was so good, and this one plate was so filling for both of us, even though we were just trying to eat a little bit!
For our pre-concert dinner we decided to try a canadian classic- poutine. Poutine is basically fries covered in things. They say americans are unhealthy eaters, this was a heavy meal! None of us could finish our dishes. Probably would've been better to split. :)
Here's a few videos from the concert from our favorite moments, and just to show how musically diverse he is. We had such a great time.
Our last day in Vancouver was also a travel day. We checked out of the hotel and headed to one last sight to see before leaving Canada. The Capilano Suspension Bridge is one of the top things to see and do in Vancouver, so we figured it was a must-see. While we had a great time I will say that it was a little too commercialized and less adventure-y and nature-y. Since it is a bit expensive you might weigh whether it's worth a visit for you or not. There are other suspension bridges in the area, even a free one.
The trees were tall and lovely. The scenery was beautiful. There were lots of trails, ground level, suspended up in the trees and on metal bridges too.
Crossing the main suspension bridge!
View while on the bridge looking upstream
Our next stop was into the treetops! Lots of tree canopies connected with more bridges! Not for those who aren't comfortable with heights.
As always, Carson is a rock star! He is terrified of bridges, so we did have to carry him across the big one, but he tolerated the rest.
We thought we were done with the park and then we found another area that had these metal suspension bridges along the cliff sides. Fun!
Then it was time to make the journey home. Again we were expecting like a 3 hour drive, but thanks to numerous accidents on I-5 it took us over 6 hours. Yay I-5!
It was super fun exploring a new city, which happened to be in another country! I love the city life and would totally go back for more adventures!
The trees were tall and lovely. The scenery was beautiful. There were lots of trails, ground level, suspended up in the trees and on metal bridges too.
After we crossed the bridge and walked some trails I found an area that had a good view of the suspension bridge. I sent the boys back up to the bridge so I could get their pictures!
