Author: Dan

We were hoping to get to Butchart Gardens on Vancouver Island today, but it’s a two and a half hour trip including the ferry. Opted instead to head back north to Vancouver to check out VanDusen gardens. Glad we did.

SO much color, so much in bloom. The Pacific Northwest is a little slice of botanical paradise.

Nectar collectors workin it everywhere.

Many paths taken, some paved, some mulched, some grassy.

A train runs through it. Three, maybe four diesel locos pulling what seemed like a mile of hopper cars (smelled like coal) trailed by two more engines pushing. Something ironic about five diesel locomotives moving a hundred hoppers full of coal. Commuter trains also use this track.

You may ask yourself, why is the city named “White Rock”? And you may ask yourself, maybe it’s the majestic snow covered mountain peaks? And you may ask yourself, maybe there’s zinc mines? From the fount of all crowd-sourced knowledge, Wikipedia: “The 486-ton granite boulder (above) was kept white by shellfish-eating seabirds whose guano covered the rock so much that 19th-century sailors used it as a beacon. It is now kept white through monthly applications of white paint by the city parks department.” Ah, namesakes.

White Rock, incorporated in 1957, is also the home of Canada’s longest pier.

With taxi rides between Vancouver and White Rock running about $70 USD a pop, we realized it would be way more economical to rent a car to get around, so we took a taxi 🤦🏼‍♂️ back to the airport, intercepted Diane’s luggage before the courier got it, rented a compact SUV, and headed up to Granville Island, because it looked like a nice place to spend the afternoon.

Granville Island juts into a creek (creek?!?) off Burrard Inlet. Many boats of all sizes docked there, and little water taxis shuttling locals and visitors here and there. Beautiful sunny day there by the water.

This right here, just the Granville Island Public Market itself, is worth the trip to the island. All manner of meats, veggies, fresh pastas, pastries, and breads are available. Snacked on a couple freshly made bagels before getting lunch at a seafood restaurant called The Sandbar.

Late afternoon we finally arrived at our B&B in White Rock, a small (2 square miles) town that’s part of metro Vancouver. It’s on the shore of Semiahmoo Bay (pictured here at low tide), and a mile from the U.S. border. Lots of cute shops to explore.

Well, today hasn’t gone quite as planned, with what added up to a four hour delay til wheels up out of Orlando. Three hours fixing and testing an instrument failure. And another hour because just before taking off, a couple refused to change seats at the captain’s request to compensate for too much weight forward. So, back to the terminal to boot ‘em off and finally get us on our way.

That put us at San Fran with four hours to chill, so we grabbed dinner at Cat Cora’s place while waiting for our rebooked flight to Vancouver. Boarded and on our way by 7:30pm. It’s all good.

Or so we thought 🤦🏼‍♂️ Diane’s checked bag didn’t make the flight to Vancouver, so UA would have it couriered to us tomorrow. Fine. After the taxi deposited us at our B&B in White Rock BC, around 11:30pm, we discovered the B&B gets locked up at 10:00pm. Found a room at a Ramada and another taxi to get us there, settled and lights out by 1:30am.

Dontcha just love travel days? What a start!

Eight sleeps ’til we’re off to the Great White North. These are the planned stops, plus three nights up front to explore Vancouver, BC.