Day 29 (4/29)
Biking around Stanley Park . . .
We had to pay for another 24 hours of parking by 9:11 or risk being towed, so we got an early start and got there about half an hour early. Since we were going to wait until the last minute to pay, Connie walked back to the hotel to get her phone, which she had been charging. Once she was back, we set out to explore the nearby Gastown district. This is where the city started out and the roads and many of the buildings are original. After walking around a bit, we went into the Smart Mouth café for breakfast. On the way back to the hotel to pick up our bikes, I noticed a Royal Canadian Mounted Police store and went in. It wasn’t officially attached to the Mounties, but had lots of Mounty souvenirs. I spied a tee shirt with RCMP blazoned across the front and bought it – Rob, Connie, Meagan & Peter. Later, Peter reminded me that had been our very first computer password.
We got our bikes and headed down to the waterfront. When we got there we found that we were 3 levels above the walk/bike path. So, we took the elevator – much to the amusement of the people standing around I am sure. For most of its length the bike and walk parts of the path are separated. We covered familiar ground until we go to Stanley Park and began to ride around the inner harbor. Along the way there were some great places to take pictures of the downtown area from across the harbor, which we did. We also stopped at a totem pole display with an area of several fine examples. While there, I spotted a Bald Eagle circling high in the sky. On we went until the greater part of Vancouver Harbor was exposed and we could see the North Vancouver across the water. We could also see Lion’s Gate Bridge, which spans the harbor from the north point of the park and over which we would be driving tomorrow on our way to Whistler. Not long after we rode under the bridge, we rounded a point and immediately knew we were on the windward side.
There, you look out into Salish Sea (to the north of Peugeot Sound) with ocean going ships at anchor far out and Vancouver Island filling in the horizon between the north and south points of the land. The wind wasn’t that bad and, after a while, we stopped adjacent to a pair of stairs that led up to a café and teahouse (English, not Japanese). We decided to push on and before long came to a public swimming pool that was being readied for opening. Warmer weather was obviously just around the corner. Not far past there we missed a turn we should have taken and ended up following the path we had taken the day before toward Granville Island. Once we got straightened out, we were soon on the path back to where we would head up to the hotel. We rode past the elevator we had taken earlier and not 100 yards beyond found the bike path ramp that brought us to street level.
Back at the hotel, after putting our bikes back into the storeroom and going to our room, we once again decided to dine in (I know – boring). However, at the bar – not the café – we found much better dishes than we had on the first night and were satisfied with our day when we went back upstairs.