It was time to hit the big city on the west coast and see what it had to offer us. We left off on our last part spending the night in Merritt. As we predicted, the party and preparation for their music festival went well into the night. Not sure when or if the music stopped but I was happy when daylight came and we were on our way to Vancouver.
As we got closer to Vancouver, I messaged yet another outdoor friend who lives in the area asking about places we should go see once we are here. His suggestions were Stanley Island and check out the Capilano Suspension Bridge park. He also suggested some other places, but we just didn’t have time, so we made the best with what time we had.
Thursday
We entered Stanley Park, found a place to park and then walked the ground. Our starting point was located at the totem pole park. From there we walked along the water, headed to the aquarium, then across to the rose garden.
After strolling around we headed back to the car for lunch and drove to another part of the park as it was a bit too far for us to walk. With that we headed to the west side of the park to walk the beach and check out the views of the Lion’s Gate Bridge. While at the beach there were many kids swimming, but sadly we did not go swimming as we had other plans for the remainder of our day.
Our next fun location was across the bridge to the north to the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park. We had no idea what to really expect, except that we would be going on a very cool suspension bridge. What was really neat was that there were walks along the forest floor, as well as up in the trees!
The bridge was AMAZING! I was giddy going across it as it was bouncing us all around. It was super hard to walk on it, but so much fun. We then meandered around the park collecting stamps on a pamphlet. At the end of the trails you would go to guest services to receive the “I made it” certificate. I guess some people do not make it across this bridge. LOL.
It was time for supper and to find our hotel for the night. Tomorrow we would be heading to the ferry terminal bright and early to try to catch the ferry over to Victoria. We did not have any bookings, so we were taking our chance and hoped the the best.
Friday
It was an early rise as we headed to the ferry terminal. We missed catching the 8 am ferry by about 15 minutes, however, that meant we were in line for the 9 am ferry. Not too shabby considering we didn’t have a reservation AND it was the Friday of the long weekend.
While on the ferry we researched places to go in Victoria and had a plan for the morning. We walked around the main street, checking out local vendors and street entertainers then hit up a favorite bakery called Crust Bakery. It was super yummy!
Street vendors 
Yummy snacks! 
Loved this tulip display 
It was an enjoyable morning in Victoria and it was time to head north to Port Alberni where we would be spending the weekend with family. On the way we passed through Nanaimo where the nanaimo bars were created and named after. Hayden had not yet tried one, so obviously we decided to stop and have a sample.
I think the pictures below express best on Hayden’s enjoyment of his bar.
It was then off to Port Alberni where we had a great evening catching up with family and planned our adventures for the next few days with them. Be sure to come back next week to see what we did on the Island.