We arrived into Vancouver with a weather report of cool and rainy for 3 of the 4 days we are here. Planning everyday was the only way to see all the things we had on our list and try to minimize the not so happy weather. It’s funny how we spend each morning discussing what we will wear trying to match the activity and weather to our clothes. Wouldn’t you know it though, most people told us it never rains this much or is this cold in July. Oh well! (or Eh! as they say in Canada)
We stayed close to base camp for dinner when we arrived, and went to a small coastal community just west of our RV Park called White Rock. Evidently, this is where locals and tourists alike head in the evening for fish and chips and some ocean views. There were about 20 restaurants on this walkway on the water and every one of them touted their food as the best and everyone of them sold fish and chips. It seems the thing to do is buy a large order, enough for the whole family, and get it to go. Then find a place on the walkway and have a picnic at the edge of the beach. 
We opted for a table outside the restaurant for our dinner.
Fishboat cafe in Whiterock, BC
Glad I have a doctors appointment already scheduled when we get home. All this fried food and french fries is killing me!
All of Canada has about 30 million people and Vancouver is the third largest populated area after Montreal and Quebec with about 650,000. That tells you how sparely populated most of the other areas are except for those cities. Vancouver is a big city and cruise ship port with all the pluses and issues of traffic and congestion.
Thursday we headed into Vancouver to take a city tour to get the lay of the land and hopefully spend most of the rainy time on a dry bus. We did have to drive into the city to hook up with the tour trolley, though, where we stood in the rain under an umbrella to buy our tickets and then stand in the rain until our trolley came by to pick us up.
This is one of those hop on – hop off deals but we really had no desire to hop off once we had hopped on because of the nasty weather.
Here are some of Jim’s pictures of what we saw that first day which included the western red cypress tree that had the hole in it large enough to park a VW bug, the Olympic Torch for the 2010 Olympics, and Convention Center sporting a 6 acre roof covered in live vegetation including the herbs used in the various restaurants inside, and two beehives.
Vancouver Skyline and harbor
View of Convention Center earth roof
Island Gas Station in Vancouver Harbor
Olympic Cauldron – Vancouver 2010
Hollowed out Tree in Stanley Park
Steam Clock in Gastown Vancouver
Street in Gastown Vancouver
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