Summer 2024 Roadtrip-Honeymoon

We spent a week in Vancouver, Canada. Even though it rained almost every day we really enjoyed it. So much delicious food, views of the mountains and ocean, hikes galore, gorgeous gardens, and suspension bridges over deep gorges. We could have easily spent 2 more weeks and not had one boring moment. Can’t wait to come back and explore! Here are some highlights:

Drove across the Lions gate bridge then a bit around Stanley park. It’s 20% larger than Central Park in NYC so we plan to go back another day to see more. Enjoyed a delicious dinner at Stanley Park brewing then walked along the seawall for a bit. Water was cool and refreshing, perfect for dipping toes in. We then headed to a beachfront restaurant called Craft for what we thought would be a brief beverage and snack but ended up 4+ hours to watch the Oilers-Panthers game 7.

Drove north along the Sea to Sky parkway to Tunnels Bluff. A very popular hike and can be tough to find parking due to being only 30 minutes north of Vancouver. The first mile and some change are almost straight up and reminded us of climbing in the white mountains of Vermont. Then it levels out some and at the very end there’s a small scramble to reach the bluff. The views were incredible and absolutely worth it. There was a small cabinet at the top with a journal you could write in.

Drove around the city following our Guide Along app. We stopped at Granville Market which was filled with fresh food and goods along with stalls to grab prepared food from. All delicacies were represented, but with the cold weather the pierogis were calling our names. Talented musicians were providing relaxing background music and we grabbed some cheese and coffee to go as well. The drive around downtown was neat to see the impressive architecture and different neighborhoods.

Drove to the Queen Elizabeth gardens. It’s the highest point of Vancouver at 125 meters and is 128 acres total. Many beautiful sections even in the rain. Overall it was supposed to sprinkle a few times this day but instead it was mostly a steady rain and sometimes almost pouring the vast majority of the day. But flowers are even more lovely with water droplets. I also found out my new favorite plants are giant rhubarb and foxglove. We found wild foxglove on our last hike and now we see them everywhere here.

Explored the Capilano suspension bridge park. We heard mixed reviews on this park before going. I think the cost and the crowds really leave people with a less great impression. We chose the evening tickets which were 25% less (had plenty of time to explore) and the rain probably reduced the crowds as well. There were still plenty of times we were frustrated with people but overall the immensely extreme nature made up for it. The three main areas are the suspension bridge, the treetop adventure, and the cliff walk. All were amazing and gave you different perspectives of the forest and the river. The trees here are over 200 ft tall and it’s just impossible to capture that. But we sure did try!

Grouse mountain and Lynn canyon suspension bridge. The weather seemed to be clearing so we headed up to Grouse mountain. This includes taking an air tram up the mountain (or you can choose to hike up 2800 steps that average 12” each called the grouse grind) and we quickly realized the weather was in fact NOT clearing. The first several hours we were socked in to the point the birds were having a hard time finding their trainers during the birds in flight show. Still was neat to see these amazing animals up close. At first the grizzly bears were napping but we were lucky to see them a few times. We enjoyed the lumberjack show, the chairlift, and the nachos. Luckily at the end of our time there it cleared a bit and you could start to see downtown Vancouver across the river.

After hanging with the pups a bit we headed to Lynn Canyon suspension bridge. This was a free walk in the park and beautiful but smaller than Capilano suspension bridge. It was supposed to be less busy than Capilano but didn’t feel that way when we were there. We still enjoyed seeing the waterfalls and walking through the old growth forests.

We hiked the first peak of Stawamus chief peaks (there are three). We planned on doing all 3 but after talking to some locals and the 1800 ft of elevation gain in less than 1.5 miles we decided to just head back down and let our legs rest the remainder of the day. May have been the steepest hike we’ve ever done in terms of elevation per step. Most of the hike was 12”+ wooden or stone steps. Then you got close to the summit and navigated a chain and ladder section which was fun. Decided to end the evening by driving to the lighthouse park northwest of Vancouver. Thought it’d be just a short walk to the water but ended up on almost 2 miles of a hike with another descent amount of elevation change But absolutely worth it to see some harbor porpoise and talking with another friendly local who gave us a great tip on a beach to check out while we’re in Whistler. Being in Canada feels almost like home (Midwest) with how friendly everyone is…except for slightly different scenery.Read more