Vancouver 2010 - 01 Jul 2010

The Parliament Building of The Province of British Columbia

Day I - Start of The Journey

The summers seem to offer a lot here, in Canada, especially the holidays falling during this time make the times merrier. This should not come as a cause of bewildered envy for those who are not party to it, as the winters are equally harsh and movement is constricted to quiet indoors for the months falling between October and February. And as summers had to, they blessed us with a holiday on July 1, 2010. It was a National Holiday for Canada Day. This day fell on a Thursday. What more could we ask for, other than a vacation on Friday. We got it sanctioned from our managers and planned a trip to Vancouver. This gave us a complete 4 day vacation. 

The travelers who made this trip - 

• Myself
• Anand Sastry - my buddy from earlier trips
• Dipak Mali - my buddy from earlier trips, this time accompanied by his wife and sweet small kid
• Ganesh T Sarag - fellow IBMer
• Avneesh Gupta - fellow IBMer

We were a total of 6 adults along with one kid. I was the only driver among all, but this did not perturb me as I enjoy driving a lot. Vancouver is about a 1000 kilometers from Calgary. I got my rental car on Wednesday evening (30th of Jun) by 5.15 PM and we were able to, amid some delays, start off by 7.20 PM. We had booked two rooms at the Acadian Inn at Kamloops, British Columbia. Kamloops is about 650 kilometers from here. Because of the distance we decided to go for a bigger vehicle this time - a full size SUV. I got a 3.5 L Chevy Traverse. It is a pretty good vehicle with 3 rows of seats with lots of space to stretch out in all the rows.

Early Morning - In Front of the Hotel in Kamloops

 

The seating arrangement was such that we had two bachelors occupying the mid row and Dipak's family was at the back. We had purchased volumes of eatables for the journey, the day earlier, and that took a lot of space in the boot as well as in the middle seat. 

The journey takes you through the Banff National Park and the Yoho National Park on the beautiful Trans Canadian Highway. Including the fuel stops and the stop made for dinner, which was a hefty one hour, I took a little less than 6 and a 1/2 hours  to Kamloops. Yes, I had to push quite hard in the hills to make this happen. The usual journey takes about 8 hours. Dinner was taken in the car - home made paranthas (stuffed Indian bread), kind courtesy Dipak's wife. Dipak and his wife were very thoughtful in this, and we all are thankful that he made this arrangement. 

It was pitch dark when we reached Kamloops. I am sayin pitch dark because here in the extreme North (not as extreme as in Yukon or Alaska), the sun stays around for upto 10 or 10.30 at night, which makes the sky lighter even at night. The time must have been 1 AM at that hour. It took some time for us to get the receptionist to open the doors. He must have been fast asleep. We got to bed as soon as we took the room.

Day II - Kamploops to Whistler and Vancouver

We woke up pretty early on the second day and were ready to shoot by 8 AM. The guys were in a jovial mood and some rounds of photography were in order before making the move. The plan was to cover Whistler on the first day. For those who are not aware, Whistler is the venue where the 2010 Winter Olymicps were hosted by Canada. 

The distance to Whistler from Kamploops is about 300 kilometers. The Trans Canadian Highway, Highway 1, on which we had been travelling all along, becomes Highway 97 at Cache Creek. Further along, you have to make take a left on 97 which becomes HWY 99. The roads here, though picturesque, are narrow, allowing only one lane on one side, which I find by North American standards quite antique. The speed limit also dies down to almost 60 KMPH at certain patches, though the posted limit at most places is 80. 

Many places along the road made me feel that I had travelled back to my childhood days. They so very much reminded me of Ranikhet, Almora and Nainital in the Kumaon hills (Himalayan province of Uttaranchal in Northern India). Avneesh was able to connect with me on my nostalgic emotions, as he too had visted these places around the same time I grew up there.

There is a humungous number of single~vehicle~wide, wooden bridges on HWY 99. It is an unsaid first~come~first~go protocoal and the vehicle that arrives second has to yield to the first one. Believe me one should drive on these to get a feel of what I am referring to. We made fuel stops where necessary and stopped by at a few locations, primarily lakes in between, to take pictures. 

We made it to Whistler a little after noon. My brain cells had been choked low on sleep for the past few days, and the effect was showing in my eyes and my general response. It was raining when we got there. This was a definite no-no for the morale. We had been wrongly advised beforehand to visit the City Centre first to take the tickets to the Whistler Black Comb. Amd when we went there we found out that we had nowhere to park there and furthermore that tickets were availble only at the ticketing station. 

After squandering about an hour into this confusion, we were finally able to locate the parking slots and then walk down to the ticketing center. En route we found a small inforamtion booth, which gave us discount coupons of dollar 2 per head for the journey ahead. Again, I must make a mention that Canadians are absolute gentlemen when it comes to conduct 

Base of the Whistler Gondola

Whistler is famous for its cable car, popularly called Gondola in Canadian terminology. It has the highest and longest cable car route in the world. It is a set of two Gondolas - a small one which takes you from the base to the top of the Whistler mountain. The second one takes you from the Whistler mountain's peak to The Blackcomb mountain. It is special in that there is no support for it in between the mountains and it is about 4.4 kilometers long. Blackcomb is the largest ski resort in North America. There are lot of sporting activities that one can do here and as per their liking purchase a relevant ticket. For instance people can go to various grades of difficulty in skiing, then there is the mountain stunt bike course and so on. We got a one day ticket that cost 43 dollars per head. The initial mount take you about 20 minutes, including one small stop where skiiers can get down. The second one takes about 11 minutes and goes approximately at a speed of 7 KMPH. I would call the first Gondola about average. But the second one is really marvellous. You can embark on the ski track of your choice using the open Gondolas present there.

The 2nd Gondola - Peak to Peak

We roamed about the place and perched inside the big cafe which is there on top. It was snowing profusely and foggy conditions prevailed. Needless to say it was very cold even in July. I am personally not a big fan of snow and rain. But this thought may change if some bears are around.

On Top Of The 2nd Mountain

After wrapping up our Blackcomb operations we made our way back to the first peak on the Gondola. We stopped for a good deal of time there to take some award winning pictures. Coming back we saw bike stunts and ski tracks. We also spotted a brown bear. The last Gondola from the top is at 5 o' clock in the evening and we were pretty much in advance to come back. 

At the foothils, quietly nestled in the mountainous abode is the downtown of Whistler. It was merry time as it was Canada Day. Girls and boys moved around boisterously with Canadian flags painted on their cheeks. There were bands playing and people singing. We threaded our way across the neatly packed lanes amid beautiful edifices, never failing to take pictures.

Whistler Downtown

We were done with Whislter downtown by 6 PM and then decided to drive down to the Olympics Plaza. Unfortunately, it was closed. So we embarked on our journey to Vancouver. We had booked rooms in the Travelodge Hotel, located near the Vancouver International Airport at Richmond. It was quite funny, the way our GPS lost signals frequently, while our car was trampled under the heights of the Vancouver skyscrappers. 

The route took us over the Lions Gate Bridge. We were at the hotel by 9 PM. I was too tired too do anything. But the guys were insisting on visiting downtown at night. So after dinner at McDonalds, we took to Vancouver Downtown. We parked and walked down to the Ocean Front, where Canada Day celebrations had just got over. We missed the fireworks though, which had started early at 10 PM. We were back to our suite and off to bed sharp at 1.30 PM

Day III - Nanaimo and Victoria Island

The best part of Vancouver is the Vancouver island which consists of Vicoria downtown and Nanaimo among others. Trips to the island are made through BC Ferries. Ferries from the mainland can be embarked on from either Horseshoe Bay in the Pacific Ocean or from the Tsawwassen terminal. We had made reservations in the first ferry which starts at 0800 hours from Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo. But due to some delays and misleading by the GPS, we missed it just by a few minutes. But we were lucky enough to get the second one, an hour later at 9.30. This is the first time I have seen upto 100 cars being loaded in a ferry. The parking lots are available from decks 1 to 4. Decks 5 and 6 are for passengers. While 5th is a closed environment, the 6th one is open air. We had a nice time on the 6th deck soaking on the sun and viewing the splendid mix of ocean lined with the horizon and mountains sculpted in snow. 

The Ferry to Nanaimo

The ferry took an hour and a half to reach Nanaimo. Our initial plan was to spend some time on Nanaimo beach. But as we were running out of time due to delays, we decided to skip this and go to Victoria directly instead. The drive from Nanaimo to Victoria is about 120 kilometers, which fetches on an average, about 2 hours from the clock. Our first stop was the all famous Butchart Gardens. It is a 1907 built, family owned floral display garden spread over a whopping 55 acre plot. We spent some 3 hours here.

The Sunken Garden - At The Butchart Gardens

We later realised that we should have stayed over night at Victoria. This would have enabled us to spend more time there. As time was a priced possession at this point, we had to package our visit such that we covered the maximum of this place.

 Ross Fountain - Butchart Gardens

We spent about 2 and a half hours at Butchart and then fled to downtown Victoria. We parked our vehcile in the Fairmont Empress parking lot. Downtown Victoria is an enchanting place to visit. How we wish we had one more day to stay here. We visited the following places in downtown - 

a. The Parliament Building

b. The Undersea Gardens

c. The Madam Tussauds Wax Museum

We then strolled down downtown and hunted down an Indian Restaurant to have food, which was located on Fort Street. We got the food packed and left sharp at 7.30 to reach the Ferry Terminal. We had booked the 9 o clock ferry, which is the last one to Tswwassen on Mainland Vancouver. We had our dinner in the car, parked in the parking lot of the ferry, and then went up to the 5th deck.

 

 Day III - Mainland Vancouver

At The Entrance of The Capilano Bridge

The third day was reserved for Mainland Vancouver. We started off with the Capilano suspension bridge. It is 136 meters long and 70 meters and was built in 1903, and then rebuilt in 1956. It has a variety of attractions including The Treetops, adventures, rain forest tours and totem poles. We all liked this place a lot.

A Totem Pole

The Capilano Suspension Bridge

The next destination was Stanley Park. It is a huge urban park with a periphery of 8.8 kilometers and an area of 409 hectares. It has a humongous number of attractions including an aquarium, ocean walk, beaches, restaurants, trails, swimming pool, light house, war memorial, the Lost Lake and The Siwash Rock among others. We took a complete circle of the park and had food there. We spent almost 3 and half hours on Stanley Park. In the evening we visited the Jericho Beach. The weather had opened up by then and we spent some time there. There were people on the boardwalk who were fishing and every person was able to catch a crab in his net. We also went to Grouse mountain but decided not to take the Gondola as we had seen too many of those. Then we went to an Indian restaurant in downtown Vancouver by the name of 'A Taste of India'. Parking is a big hassle in downtown, but once we got a spot we enjoyed our meal and came back home.

Sunday - It was time to get back to Calgary and we had to cover all the distance back in one day. On this last day in Vancouver, we woke up at leisure. We were able to push off only by 10.30 AM EDT. And taking stops in between we finally reached Calgary at 1.30 in the night. It was once again a magnificent trip and I thank all members who were involved in making this an indeed memorable experience.