Day 4….Let’s Board the Coral Princess

It’s Wednesday.  Sail Day.  We’re up early, mostly packed and ready to bike.  What?

YES!  We’re biking around Stanley Park.  It’s 49 degrees, but we’re, mostly me, hopeful it will warm up.  Mostly I’m wishing for some sunshine.

We head off to the bike rental store, Spokes.  No one is there so renting is quick and easy and we’re on the trail by 8:30am.  We only have 7 miles to ride, but I like to take a lot of pictures so I budget 3 hours to make the trip.

We got on the bike trail at Denman St and pedal toward the harbor.  The wind is cold on my face.

After the first couple of stops and getting off my bike, unpacking the camera from my backpack, repacking……  I decided to just carry the camera around my neck and ride.  It’s heavy.  Somewhere there is a video – maybe on my daughter’s phone.

Even though there’s no sun, it’s still pretty.  Not too many people are on the trail.  There are 2 separate trails – one for walkers, one for bikers.  Nice.  Once you get into Stanley Park, the trail is one way – even better.  Stanley Park is Canada’s version of Central Park.  The walking/biking trail runs all the way around the perimeter of the park at the water’s edge, so it’s mostly flat.

We stopped off to see the totems.  There are a bunch of them.

All very different and unique.

The Lighthouse – nothing exciting, but cute.  The yellow pile in the background is sulfur we think, but we haven’t found anyone who knows why it’s there.

That’s our ship.  It’s big.

Girl in Wetsuit

I also took the close-up, but it’s not exciting since there is NO sun on the water.  It’s pretty flat and blah.

Selfie Girl

Lions Gate Bridge

There was a kids’ splash park here and a kids dryer.  How funny.  I guess they need to dry quickly.  It’s not Florida.

I asked Abby to sit in the tree but she didn’t want to so Al said he could work the tree – similar to how Doug Heffernan worked the stripper pole.  Did I mention before that I am married to Doug Heffernan?  I hate to admit it, but it’s true, way too true.

This is Abby being embarrassed for her dad…..and herself.  Bikers are riding by.

Abby decided she could do better than dad.

Lions Gate is getting close.  It seemed so far when we started.

Thought I’d try black and white since it was such a gray day.

I think this ride would be very scenic on a nice blue day.

Do you think he was bored with the flat ride?

I like the optimistic thinking.

A little glimmer of color!  YAY!!!

Siwash Rock

Beach Lookout Snack Bar

Vancouver Beach

Looks very neat and organized.

Looks like fun…..no ball playing, no floats, no beach balls, no dogs.  I guess you just sit very orderly on the log benches and occasionally dip your toes because there’s no way you can swim in the frigid water!  Unless you’re a seal or a mermaid or a girl in a wetsuit.

As you can see, we never found any sunshine:(

After about 1 1/2 or 2 hours into our photo ride, a big group of middle school kids came along and some of them were out of control.  A girl completely wiped out and found herself in the ditch beside the trail and a boy passed me and skidded sideways.  I thought for sure he was crashing and taking me and my camera out.  Abby and Al weren’t far behind.  It could have been a total family wipe-out.

 

After we finished the loop, we visited the Rose Garden.

It definitely has a lot more than just roses.  It is beautiful and nicely done.

Just trying to blend in.

It would have been much more impressive if we hadn’t just visited Butchart Gardens.

But we still enjoyed it.

So many lovely flowers and many of them smell good too.

I love these!

Can you tell?  I didn’t even post all of them.

These are cool too.

 

When we returned our bikes, the rental shop was jammin’.  We were glad we got out early, even if it was a little chilly at first.  I’m sure by now the bike path would be very crowded and not so much fun.

We started walking back to our hotel and looking for a final Vancouver souvenir shop and maybe a little snack.  We could not find any shops!  We saw Asian food after Asian food.  We couldn’t believe it and we were nowhere near China Town.

Then we saw Dynasty Dumplings on Robson St.  Steven, our Monday tour guide, had told us that this was his favorite Asian restaurant, so we decided to give it a try.  It was about half full and we got seated right away.  Then, all of a sudden, we were invisible.  What happened?  Finally we got to place our order and they were out of one of the things we wanted – bummer.  Now they were starting to get really busy and we thought our food might take a while.  It came out pretty quickly and we loved it ALL!  Al and I both got Hot & Sour Soup and it was so full of ingredients – maybe the best I’ve ever had.  We also tried beef soup dumplings, and pork dumplings, and I can’t remember what else.  We ate it ALL.  Highly recommend.

 

Back at the hotel, where the housekeepers were always polite and friendly, we finished packing and guess where we’re going????

TO THE SHIP!  We have so much luggage that we cannot fit in a standard taxi so we have to be sure to get a mini van.  Don’t pack like us.

Boarding is organized and quick.

We headed to our room to drop off a few things and then started wandering around.  Their theme song is THE LOVE BOAT!  How excellent is that?  I tried to get Abby to learn the words with me last week so that we could do karaoke on the ship.  She didn’t think it was a good idea:(

Our room is tiny and Princess wins the award for the smallest shower ever!!!  Abby’s bed pulls down out of the ceiling creating a bunk bed for me – Joy.  Her ladder fits in so tightly that it is partially under Al’s bed.  It’s good that we all like each other.  It’s going to be a tight fit for the next week.  We do have a balcony, so that’s nice.

It looks like I’m traveling incognito.

The upper decks are nice.  Decks 14 (Lido, of course) and 15 are where the excitement is.  Did I mention that it’s mostly an older crowd?  Mid 60s plus. There are only a few kids on the boat, which I have no complaints about.  There is no Deck 13.

I’m sure that pool will be way too cold for me to even put my toe in.

This room looks promising.

It’s warm in here too.  With the sun shining, at least a little. I don’t even need a jacket to sit in here!  It does look like there is sun, but not a lot.

Some of the evening entertainment will be in this lounge.

This is a private, adult only, pay extra deck, so this will be our only opportunity to relax here, so we take advantage now.

Someone is happy to be aboard the Princess Coral.

 

Love the hair!

 

Abby already has her first drink and we’ve only been on the ship about 30 minutes.

It’s time for muster training.  What is muster????  Wouldn’t a better name encourage more people to want to go?  Princess has a theme song to get everyone moving – it’s the Love Boat with some new but not necessarily improved words.  It’s fun though.

 

We sail at 4:30!

4:30 comes and goes, and shortly after we start to move but there’s no BIG horn!  We were ready for it, but there’s nothing.

Vancouver, Canada Place and the Lookout Tower from the water.

The Olympic Sails – I love them!

We took a bunch of pictures from this park and watched the seaplanes take off and land.  It seems so small now.

There, high in the hills, is the wind turbine that we went to the top of – almost 4200 feet above the city.  The cut path and the cleared part of the mountain is where the gondola and the chair lift are.

The Twin Peaks

Goodbye Canada Place

Goodbye Vancouver

Stanley Park Lighthouse – didn’t we just meet this morning?  From the other side?

Lions Gate Bridge

YIKES!   Are we going to make it???  Maybe it’s really high tide!  Look out bikers!!!!  GO GO GO!!!!!

Oh, it’s fine.  Relax!

One last look at Beautiful Stanley Park.  It is actually larger than central park and has some really old and big trees.

Burrard Inlet

Heading south before we head north to Alaska.

After a while, it feels like we might see Seattle.

Next stop Ketchikan, AK on Friday.  I hope we’ll see more sunshine there than we found in Canada.

Ready for our first dinner at sea.

 

A Final Good Night Canada!

 

 

For more images from Vancouver and Alaska, visit my facebook page at:

https://www.facebook.com/pg/GanleyPhotography/photos/?tab=albums

 

 

 

 

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Day 2….Grouse Mountain Vancouver

Grouse Mountain, Capilano Suspension Bridge, Wind Turbine……

But, before we leave for the mountains, we are visiting Vancouver Lookout.  It’s a circular tower in downtown that gives visitors a 360 degree view of the city.

It’s maybe a 10 block walk from our hotel.  It’s a cool, crisp morning, but perfect for walking.

And, there it is!

Tickets are good for all day, so our plan is to see it in the morning before it gets crowded and then come back at night when some of the city might be lit up.  We read that Canada Place is lit up from dusk until dawn.

The elevator is glass on the outside of the building overlooking the city.

Look for the stadium.

Vancouver has 3 skylines.

The big container port near the cruise ship port.  Lots of train tracks.

The cruise ship port at Canada Place.  That is not our ship, but ours will be here in a few days.  Until, we have a lot to see and do.

Grouse and Whistler Mountains are in the background.

The park below is where we took pictures yesterday evening.  I’m glad this ship was not in port at that time because I wanted to get unobstructed pictures of the sails.  We also took pictures of this tower.

We are 553 feet above Vancouver.  What a great view.

This is the area where all the seaplanes take off and land – out near the big boat.

I love it up here.  We stayed for about an hour.

Lions Gate Bridge.  Leaves Vancouver city from Stanley Park (on the left).

We were not successful at selfies, so Dad helped us out.

And that’s the 360 degree view.

 

Now it’s time to catch the bus for our mountain tour.

We traveled with LandSea Tours and our guide, Steve, who prefers to be called Mr. Handsome, was fun, friendly, knowledgeable, and helpful.  He helped make our day even more enjoyable.

Our first stop was at a Salmon Hatchery where they raise salmon every year to be released into the wild.

It’s a beautiful setting and the water is crystal clear.

So many fish.

This is one of the holding tanks.

There is a video somewhere……

This barrier is about 6 1/2 feet tall, just above the height that the salmon can jump.  This forces them into the tanks.

Going for a hike.

A lady has joined up with Al and Abby.  I guess I should catch up.

Peek A Boo

We will see this dam from the other side on the gondola we will be taking up the mountain later.

I would not care for this job.

Oh, my

You can barely see this little door on the giant slab of rock.

 

Next we traveled to ‘winter’ – a place we used to live but broke free in December 2016.  It is called Ohio and it definitely doesn’t look like this.

It was 40 degrees at the top of Grouse Mountain – a bit chilly for us Floridians.

We first traveled up by gondola.

Then even higher by chairlift.

Such a quiet peaceful ride.

Way down at the bottom is Vancouver.

The snow banks were pretty tall and very dirty.

We made it to the top!

Not!  We can still go higher!  Good thing we wore 4 layers on top.  It was 40 degrees.

I’ve never been inside a wind turbine before – let’s go.

The 360 degree views were amazing!  Each blade weighs over 12,000 pounds and they can rotate at up to 185mph!  I don’t think I would want to be up there for that.

Notice the sections of glass flooring.

The bubble rotates also.  What a fun experience.  Once at the top, you are almost 4200 feet above the city of Vancouver.  I loved it up there and didn’t want to come down.

Back down at the base of the wind turbine…..it’s was still windy and cold, but at least the sun was shining bright.

 

At the top of the gondola level, we watched a birds in the wild demonstration. They showed an eagle, a vulture, an owl, a falcon…..maybe one or two others.

Two rescued bears live here also.

Oh My…..What BIG prints you have!

 

Next stop…..Capilano Suspension Bridge – 450 feet long, 250 feet high – how cool.  A number of people could barely make it over and some not at all.

It’s very bouncy.

Once you cross, you must come back.  It was originally built in 1889.  Capilano means people of the river.

It’s just WOW!

On the other side are walking trails through the giant cedar, hemlock, and douglas fir trees.  Some are 800 to 1000 years old and they are huge!

And, a system of connected suspension bridges high above the trails for a little different view.

I mean really HUGE!  Not quite like the California Red Woods, but pretty huge.

Then on to the Cliff Walk – a series of walkways jetting out over the canyon.  Fascinating.

The Cliff Walk is attached with cables to a huge slab of granite.

It’s not bouncy at all.

This section has glass sides for great viewing below……Way below!

What a terrific tour.  I would definitely recommend this trip and with Landsea Tours.  They are very professional, ontime, friendly……

 

Our driver offered to drop everyone off just where they want, not necessarily at your hotel or where you were picked up.  We got dropped off in Granville where we walked around for a short time and then ate dinner.

Granville is an island.  This view is looking back at downtown Vancouver.  Our hotel is not far from here.  We met up with our Ohio friends who just flew in and had a nice dinner.  Most of the shops were closed by the time we finished eating.

The water taxis are so cute.  I must take one somewhere.

So we went to Yaletown.

The water taxis zig and zag all up and down the river and there are lots of stops with lots to see and do.  We only had this evening so our time was limited.  The view from the water is spectacular.

Welcome to Yaletown.

It was getting late, so we headed back to the Vancouver Tower for one last look before sunset.  We read that Canada Place would be lit up at dusk.  It was a long walk, but we made it.

The Stadium

Canada Place.  It’s nice but not as bright as we imagined.

Vancouver Lookout

I think we walked about 22,000 steps and I don’t know how many floors.  My watch is still set to FL time so I forget to check just before midnight when it resets for a new day.

What an Amazing day!

 

GOOD NIGHT VANCOUVER!

 

 

For more images from Vancouver and Victoria, visit my facebook page at:

https://www.facebook.com/pg/GanleyPhotography/photos/?tab=albums

 

 

 

 

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Day 1….Welcome to Vancouver

After an early start in Tampa……

 

We’re excited to get out and start exploring!

After 7 hours of flying……

And 5,000 miles…..

Over the Gulf of Mexico, the plains, snowcapped mountains, and lots of clouds……

We Arrived!

The airport was crowded.  We got here almost 2 hours later than expected due to delays in Dallas.  The first thing Abby and I notice is how many Asian people work at the airport and how many are arriving with Canadian passports.  We soon learn that many came here in search of wealth and gold.

We checked into the Residence Inn on Hornby St.  It’s nice, roomy, comfy, convenient…..

Welcome to the 14th floor.  I think we’ll stay a few days.

Watch out for all the bikers on the path.  They are fast.  A lady who was trying to beat me to the cab, almost got taken out by a biker.  I hesitated and was watching her not watching the bikes, so I lost the cab.  Oh well, another was just behind.

This building, just down from our hotel, is pretty cool.  It has a giant swinging pendulum.  I thought Abby took a picture and she thought I did and we have nothing!  She does have a video.

I crossed the street to look at a park and found this along the way.  I thought it was really cool.

Found the park.  It’s up 1 flight of steps so you have to look for it.

Very pretty.

It was raining, but we took a cab to Gas Town in search of a late lunch, early dinner.  BC is 3 hours behind.  We got up at 3am and hit the road by 3:25.  Robert Irvine sat next to me at the airport.  He likes to base jump and has 2 new shows coming out soon.

Along the way, our taxi driver, very nice, friendly, and helpful, pointed out a guy getting a ticket and said that texting and driving is a $543 fine!

Our first stop was Local Public Eatery.  It was YUM!  Abby and I shared a giant bacon burger and a chicken pot pie.  Al had clam chowda and hot wings.  All were great.  Our water had NO ice!  I guess it’s an English thing.  Fun, cute atmosphere.  5 stars from us.

Next up, some shopping and then we stopped for hot chocolate and cheesecake.  It’s 58 degrees here – pretty cool for some Floridians.

We saw a number of these old thin buildings.

Welcome to Gas Town.

Meet Gassy Jack, founder of Gas Town.

These flowery lamp posts are everywhere – love them.

I’m not a coffee drinker, but couldn’t pass up the sign.

The steam clock.  It steams all the time, but whistles and ‘really’ steams every 15 minutes.

Believe me when I say it’s hard to get a picture of just the clock.  Gas Town, well all of Vancouver, is a busy place.

Extra Steam at 5:15.

And, just like that, the sun came out!!!

We are going up in this Lookout tower tomorrow.  553 feet.  We walked around Gas Town for a while, eating and shopping and then right into Canada Place, where the port is.  More shopping and sight seeing.

We made it to the water.  BEAUTIFUL!  This park is part of Canada Place.  I think it was developed for the 2010 Olympics or at least improved for the event.

My girl, Abby.  She’s very excited about our trip.

She’s a dancer, if you didn’t know.

 

Somewhere over there is Whistler Mountain – home of the 2010 Olympics.  We are going to Grouse Mountain tomorrow.  I think it is the mountain with just the peak showing on the left.

 

I just love this view.  The park is very nice and hardly anyone is here.  It is Sunday evening maybe 6ish.

She loves to jump!

These sails were put in for the 2010 Olympics.

Such a cool park.

PhotoBomb!

 

My guy, Al, with Abby.

Huge container port.

How magnificent.  That is Grouse Mountain.  Can’t wait to go there.  It’s going to be a full day.

Lots of seaplanes coming and going.  I want to go on one but it’s expensive for a short ride.  I don’t think Al cares to fly in such a tiny plane.  I don’t know why…..we have been skydiving out of much smaller planes.

This complex looks like a ship.  We are standing at the front.

Looking back at the city.

Us, trying to take a selfie.  We’re not very good at it.

These seaplanes take off and land every minute.  They are loud.

The bridge we’ll be taking to Grouse Mountain.  Lions Gate Bridge

Look for the raindrop.

I thought this was very cool.  Not sure why really.

Oh!  I just figured out……it’s a raindrop!

 

Taken by Abby.

The Olympic Cauldron.

I guess this is like a lego orca????

I found this somewhere along our walk back to the hotel.

Time for bed and it’s still light outside.  Seems very weird.

 

Good Night Vancouver!

 

For more images of Vancouver and our adventures here, go to:

https://www.facebook.com/pg/GanleyPhotography/photos/?tab=albums

 

 

 

 

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About Me

I am a photographer who loves to travel. I have always liked photography since I was a kid with my little Kodak Pocket Instamatic camera. I was born in Ohio and had never left the tri-state area of Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana until I was an adult! I flew on my first plane at age 21 (to Hawaii), and on my second flight, I jumped out. What a Thrill! Oh, did I mention that I like adventure too?

I have been married for almost 25 years. We met in 1992 working as IT geeks, I mean systems programmers, doing government contract work. That seems like a lifetime ago. We have 2 amazing daughters, neither of which are geeks – yet, and a very cool Golden Retriever, named Marly.

Meet the Fam:  Me (Cyndi), Steph, Marly, Abby, Al

We got our first real camera in 2005 – a Canon SLR. My husband just brought it home one day. We were leaving for China in about 2 weeks to adopt a baby girl. We didn’t have time to learn how to use it so we set it to auto and started clicking. We were thrilled with our results – until a few years later when we learned how to shoot, but we are so thankful for all the memories our mediocre photos have created for us.

I live in Sarasota FL and I’m thrilled about it. It’s a wonderful lifestyle if you love beautiful sunny days, the ocean, dolphins, manatees, boating, blooming flowers year round…..there’s so much to love.  You do have to learn to tolerate the rainy, muggy, hot summers and know how to roll with the threat of hurricanes and alligators.  It’s all good!

We all love to travel and have developed quite a passion for it. We’ve been to many states and a number of countries. I feel very fortunate to live this wonderful life. We have quite a list of places we still want to visit. From now forward, I hope to do a better job photo journaling our travels. Photos help keep our memories alive for me, but I’ve noticed as I’m getting older, I don’t remember everything as clearly as I used to, so my plan is to start documenting more.

Be sure to check out my website and FaceBook:

http://www.sweetmemories.cc/

https://www.facebook.com/GanleyPhotography/

Other blog sites:

http://www.sweetmemories.cc/blog_china05.html

http://getfitnowblog.com/

https://vegasandbeyond.wordpress.com/

https://puertovallartaadventure2017.wordpress.com/

https://thebestofsarasota.wordpress.com/

Weekend in the Keys

 

 

For more images from Vancouver and Alaska, visit my facebook page at:

https://www.facebook.com/pg/GanleyPhotography/photos/?tab=albums

 

 

 

 

 

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This Is Us

We are Cyndi & Al and Debbie & Dave.  We’ve been friends for a long time. We have fun and laugh together and because of that, last summer we decided to embark on an adventurous, exciting journey to the Great Northwest in June of 2018, and it’s almost here.  We booked our trip during the first week of September 2017 – during Hurricane Irma.  Although we had our hurricane shutters on and a supply of food, water, flashlights, and candles, we had electricity and internet, so the planning began.

Our venture starts in Vancouver and then takes us to Victoria, Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, Whittier, Denali, Mt McKinley, and Anchorage.

Our countdown begins……we are under 1 week!

Here we are practicing for iceberg weather.  We’re having ice cream in single digit temps with below 0 wind chill – not in FL of course.  I think we’re ready!

We all met in Ohio, but Al and I now live in warm and sunny Sarasota.  I think Alaska weather will be a shock to me – even in the summer.

This sweet girl, our daughter Abby, is going with us.  I hope she can keep up with the old folks.

To learn more about me, your tour guide on this Northern Adventure, visit the About Me page.

 

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton

Let The Journey Begin!

 

For more images from Vancouver and Alaska, visit my facebook page at:

https://www.facebook.com/pg/GanleyPhotography/photos/?tab=albums

 

 

 

 

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