Vancouver, BC

Heading through Lilloet to Whistler and eventually Vancouver, the landscape changes drastically – it's surprising that we made it through some of those steep grades in our slow moving bus – however, it was very worth the scenic peaks. When we later mentioned to some friends that we had taken Hwy 99 to Vancouver via Lilloet, they were shocked that we would attempt such a steep drive during the winter months, let alone in a school bus.

Thinking we might stop in Whistler to check out Canada's Olympic territory once we arrived and realized how over-run it was with tourists, we decided to move on towards Vancouver. Reaching North Vancouver by sundown we decided to stay on the north shore so that we could visit Lynn Canyon the following day. This was a definite must where I was able to challenge my fear of heights and cross a suspension bridge 150ft off the ground, not an easy feat at this popular destination.

Crossing the Lyon Gate's Bridge through Stanley Park into downtown, we took a quick jaunt through Vancouver's seedier parts of town in search of Chinatown. We spent another night in Vancouver's downtown in a place that was a little suspicious.  Needless to say it wasn't long before the police appeared - and after agreeing to let us stay for one night, they left, but not before having a lesson on how our bus is fueled!

After leaving Vancouver, we headed south towards the Tsawassen fairy terminal to Delta, BC. We ended up spendng the night on a beautiful scenic day beach where we watched the sun set while blue herons flew across the water. During our evening stroll, Scott came across a message in a bottle set afloat the previous summer by a young boy from Vancouver's mainland.  We have yet to respond!    

Before crossing on the ferry to Vancouver Island we visited a Bird Sanctuary - where we were hoping that we would see more than just ducks.  Not really avid birders - we really didn't come across anything too spectacular.  Some of the other visitors commented that they had seen a family of owls - for us, all we saw were ducks... lots and lots of ducks.  

Spending time in larger cities can be somewhat stressful when driving a bus – navigatng through crowded streets and trying to find spaces to park for the night as well to explore can be exhausting. Thus our time in larger cities tends to be limited, before we move on in search of smaller towns that are generally easier to navigate.