Wife and I are taking our overdue anniversary vacation up to Vancouver B.C. next weekend. Any ideas on cool stuff to do in the area? The hotel we're looking at is very close to the seaplane terminal, so I thought I might sell her on the idea of a ride or something (she flies with me a lot, but I think her vacation is also a vacation from my obsession with flying.) I can only justify paying for something like that if I get to ride right seat.

I think we'll be staying downtown but we can probably figure out some transportation to anywhere in the area.

It's been awhile, but the market @ Granville Island is a have to along with the drive out to Horshoe Bay.
I took my ex Brother and sister inlaw on ride in the Maule through Vancover down town and the Bay, Controller was spectacular!! Had me turning this way and that to make sure we saw everything!
Then took us out back to Point Roberts right over the middle of Vancouver International at about 500' was the best City flight I have ever done!!
It's a great place to visit, You can find just about anything from any where. Oh yes Stanley Park was great look at also.
Have Fun

Go up to Horseshoe Bay and spend a day on the BC Ferry system. Lotta fun for the buck and beautiful scenery.

Gump

Victoria is pretty cool if you can make it over there. Floatplane over and knock around the parliment building, provincial museum and downtown and then have tea at the Empress. Pretty cool.
FZ

Every thing mentioned above are great things to do and places to see. There is a lot to do. A lot of great restaurants are located on Robson St. and elsewhere in the business district along with fun places to shop. As already mentioned, Stanley park is a neat place to go and to relax. Bikes or roller blades come in handy in the park. The aquarium used to be really good. It might be worth a trip to Whistler if your already at Horseshoe Bay.

The ferry trip over to Victoria is a great trip and the BC Ferry system outclasses the US system by long way. They used to run a hydro plane ferry from the docks near your hotel over and back so it would be worth checking to see if that is still going. If you do make it to Victoria, be sure to go to Butchart Botanical Gardens. The botanical gardens in Vancouver used to be really good too but again, check first since I haven't been to them in a long while.

I'm going to just miss you. I'll be in Vancouver Monday through Wednesday of this week. I'll pass along any new info when I get back. However, there is a lot to do there; you won't have any trouble spoiling Erin! Are you flying or driving? Driving in Vancouver is a challenge so as I do in most cities, i would ditch the car at one of the outlying subway lots and go by rail from there. If flying into YVR, you can take the subway to a stop near your hotel so it is really convenient.

Thanks everyone. Mike, we're actually Amtraking in to VAC train terminal, then somehow getting to our hotel in downtown.

I'm kind of excited about this ferry ride action, if we can manage to get on one that takes us north into somewhere less populated.

I used to do entire mini-vacations based out of Horseshoe Bay. There's a motel right there at the ferry terminal parking lot, and a bunch of pubs just yards away. I'd get on a boat first thing in the morning, headed anywhere, it didn't matter. And then go from spot to spot, making sure I caught the last run of the day back to Horseshoe Bay.

Made for a good day's wandering, and room and beer was waiting for me when I got back.

http://www.bcferries.com/

Gump

Sydney, which is spittin' distance away and actually closer to the Victoria airport than Victoria, is a charming little town with a great outdoor market on (I think) Thursdays.

A couple of summers ago, I took a lesson in a seaplane (a 172 on straight floats) with Pat Bay Air--terrific fun, most I've had in an airplane in a long time. Because we were staying on Marilyn's brother's boat at Sydney, the instructor picked me up at the marina and then dropped me at the airport, as our flight out was later that afternoon.

My lesson included normal docking, plow taxiing, step taxiing, and ramping, and half a dozen landings and take-offs--instructor never touched the controls through any of that, just talked me through things--I'd never even been in a seaplane before, though I have gobs of boating experience to go with my flying background. One of the landings and subsequent take-offs was under power lines at Montague Bay--very new experience for me--"Come in at 100', stay at 100' after take-off--no worries". Yeah, right. Maximum altitude was 500' MSL/AGL (same thing)--and a real blast. I knew the area really well after boating there several times, but as always, perspective from the air is different. Since it was in a 172, the only significant flying difference was that it was slow due to all that drag from the floats, and chopping power brought it down fast. But what a blast!

The marinas at both Victoria and Sydney are interesting, if you like boats (I do). There's a neat little water taxi at Victoria that putts you around the marina and is worth the ride.

Personally Burchart Gardens doesn't appeal to me, but many people like it. There are nice pubs and restaurants near both the Victoria marina and the Sydney marina.

You'll have a good time, without much effort.

Cary

http://granvilleisland.com/public-market

Interesting place to look

In 1984 or so, we went to BC to attend the Abbotsford Airshow. One of the days, a friend of a friend arranged for a floatplane ride in a 180HP 172. The pilot flew us out to Vancouver Island, and we landed on a lake somewhere in the southern partof the island, taxied right up to a dock in front of a beautiful little restaurant for lunch, looking out over the lake, the trees, and watching other airplanes land. Absolutely spectacular, and for a city boy it was even more so. I cannot remember the name of the lake, or the restaurant, but I'm sure some of the BCP members can identify it. It was definitely one of the prettiest $100 burger destinations, I've ever seen.

If you guys make it over to Victoria, there is an aircraft museum at the airport, which is near Butchart Gardens-fun, too!. Pretty good small museum maybe 30 planes. Butterfly gardens are in that area, too. Pink flamingo's reside there and koi.

Have a great time!

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Search?q=van ... 0,c=global

http://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=va ... +bc+canada.

Two great links to plan sightseeing, eating out, etc!

Or you could run the local drainage ditches before the fun police put a stop to it...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... 35mph.html

The Flying Beaver Restaurant/Pub is great. It's just beside the YVR south terminal Great place and you can see float planes take off and land. You can take the sky train from downtown Vancouver to the airport and then a shuttle from the main terminal to the south terminal.

Stanley park, the sea wall, Robson street, Granville island, Davis Street are nice places to visit.

Zane:

You are bringing back good memories. Wife and I, early in our marriage before we had kids (so we had both time and money) spent a long weekend poking around Vancouver and Victoria.

My wife, being the archetype female, insisted on going to the Empress Hotel in Victoria to have High Tea. As you can imagine, wasn't my cup of tea (best pun I could come up with), but she loved it.

Sometimes after dragging wives to airplane museums, small airports, etc., you have to concede a few things!

At any rate, besides the trip to the Empress we also went to Butchart (pronounced But Chart) Gardens and although I expected not to enjoy it, really did. So a second on that.

Whatever you do, it is almost impossible not to have a great time there. Happy anniversary!

Regards, Larry

A fun restaurant in downtown Vancouver is Liliget Feast House 1724 Davie Street, Vancouver, BC. Run by local native band (tribe in the US) and focuses on native cuisine.

If you are up for it there is scheduled floatplane service from Vancouver harbor to Victoria harbor which puts you at the front door of the Empress hotel and all of downtown Victoria.

Stanley Park in downtown and Capilano park (with suspension bridge) are great places for a good walk. Extend to the Grouse mountain gondola and ride to the top of mtn. overlooking downtown Vancouver.

If lady likes gardens, Van Dusen gardens on Oak Street (I think that is right) in Vancouver are really nice.

Have fun.

TD