Eric Benshetler

We extended our trip by one day to see Vancouver. After all the small Alaskan towns, it was odd to be back in a large, busy city with more than one main road. Vancouver also seems to have as many Starbucks per block as New York City, which must have something to do with its proximity to Seattle.

The cruise ship terminal was one of the nicer ones we've seen with many employees around to direct us and answer questions. Getting through immigration and customs was very quick. The cab line was handled very efficiently and we took a minivan cab (remember - lots of luggage) to the Renaissance Hotel, where our travel agent had arranged a one-day rental from Hertz. (We weren't staying at this hotel and there are other locations to pick up cars in town, but this was a very short distance from the terminal.) Realizing that we wouldn't be able to check in at the Delta Suites Hotel until later, we headed to the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre in Stanley Park.

Stanley Park has a long, one-way loop road with a few side roads, so it's hard to get lost. We found our way to the aquarium a few minutes before it's 9:30 AM opening. Parking in Stanley Park costs only $5 for the full day. We found a parking spot and looked for a blue-and-white ticket machine. After selecting from 1 hour, 2 hour, or all day parking and inserting our credit card, the machine printed a receipt that we left on the car dashboard. (I wasn't sure if the machines would take U.S. currency, and since we were only in Canada for one day we charged everything.)

The aquarium was outstanding. It's not as large as the Baltimore Aquarium, but the outdoor animal demonstrations were great. These seemed to be intentionally scheduled for half-hours without overlapping, so we were able to go right from the otter feeding to the sea lion feeding to the dolphin show to the beluga whale show. The indoor exhibits were interesting and educational. There's a large frog exhibit that proved to be an eye test when trying to find some of the smaller, well-camouflaged frogs. The only aspect of the aquarium that was disappointing was the food area. It's located outside and there are only a few tables with umbrellas. Our lunch itself was tasty, but a light rain was starting to fall and it took a few minutes to get an open table that was partially covered. The nearby beluga whale area is partially covered, too, but since another show was about to start there wasn't much room there. There is a small coffee bar with some sandwiches downstairs inside the building, but it has almost no seating. Other than this one glitch, the aquarium was a fantastic way to spend about 4 hours.

We finished driving around Stanley Park, stopping at one of the scenic overlooks on the way, and headed back into downtown Vancouver to our hotel. Traffic in the center was surprisingly heavy, more like rush hour even though it was about 3 PM. There are a lot of one-way streets, so watch for the white-on-black arrow signs which do not say "One Way;" twice I saw cars going the wrong way. (Note that Granville Street, one of the major streets, appears to be limited to mass transit, not cars. There are one-way streets running parallel to Granville for cars.) After looping around one of the blocks due to the traffic, we managed to find the Delta Suites and turned the car over to a valet to be parked in their garage. Our suite here was much larger and fancier than the more basic rooms in Denali and Seward. There are probably less expensive hotels further out, but this was within walking distance of several attractions and the currency exchange rate made it more reasonable.

My older son is major hockey fan, so we asked Mike, the front desk clerk, how to get to General Motors Place where the Vancouver Canucks play. Mike, it turns out, is a Canucks fan who goes to many of their games. He gave us a map and showed us where the Authentix team store was located. Since my wife and younger son were tired after the early morning debarkation, they took a nap while my older son and I walked the half-mile to the arena. The first entrance we went into on the west side turned out to be the corporate offices. The friendly receptionist told us how to get to the store (the next entrance) and also invited us to pick up any of last season's program books that he had out on the counter. We made it to the store about 5 minutes before they were going to close at 4:30. We didn't really plan to buy anything, just look around. However, they had a clearance sale on hockey jerseys from other NHL teams, with 4 from our own home team, so we picked one up. I told the cashier we had come all the way from the East Coast to take one of their non-Canucks jerseys off their hands, and she jokingly apologized for having to put it in a Canucks shopping bag. We took a few photos outside the arena and walked back to the hotel.

At dinnertime, we walked the two blocks to Gastown. This is a recently improved street which has several shops, restaurants, and a steam-powered clock which "chimes" on the quarter-hour. This was a great area to stroll in although there were several panhandlers who approached people, more than I see in our own city.

While my wife rested her feet back at the hotel, the boys and I walked over to Granville Street. This seems to be a popular hangout for teens and young adults at night, with numerous neon signs that make it look like a slightly less bright version of Las Vegas. After we returned, I was going to head back there with my wife to show it to her, but it had started raining steadily so we decided to stay inside.

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