Vancouver- A Gift

We arrived early to the King Street Station

All Aboard the Amtrak to Vancouver Gate 3

Lot of Rivers descending the Cascades to Puget Sound = Lots of old rusty bridges.

That is a 80' Work Boat but looks so small in Northe Puget Sound against the Olympics.

Chukanut Bay where we anchored on our last night on our charter trip through the San Juan Islands with our daughter and future Son in Law.

This is the North end of Chuckanut where we choose not to anchor.

Anchoring in Chuckanut Bay got us close enough to Bellingham to make our 12 noon return time.

Boundary Bay! The name of my Favorite IPA

Boundary Bay is of course at the Border of USA and Canada

About to enter Canada

Crossing the Fraser River, after we get off this train we will walk a short distance and board the commuter Skytrain seen in the background

Way bigger than a dishwasher.

I Think I can!

We Exited the Pacific Center after a short scrutiny by the Canada Customs and walked just across the street to the Skytrain Terminal and two stops later exited into Downtown Vancouver for about a 6 block walk to the Westin.

If you raise your kids right this is just one of the rewards. 

Captain of the Aquabus Welcomes you to the False Creek water bus. 

These bridges are plenty high to get Wand'rin Star into the False Creek Anchorage.

This artist needs to come to Seattle and spruce up the Grain Terminal there.

English Bay on the other side of that bridge

The False Creek Yacht Club http://fcyc.com/ I could not believe all the Bayliners we saw while we were in Vancouver, they are a really popular motor yacht here of all sizes, lots of the 57 footers. 

Looking East under the Granville Street Bridge

We came in for a salad.

After living in the PNW for almost two years the choices are clear.

I would like to crew on the sailboat that used this propeller.

This shop that made models for Architects and whoever else was pretty cool.

Looking across False Creek at Granville Island and The Market

In the Distance is Vancouver Island

Had to wonder about all the small sailboats anchored just near the mouth of False Creek and exposed to Ocean like conditions 

I guess there all at work?

Lot of vessels out sailing.

Alomost missed this shot of a Canadian Eagle

A Catamaran washed up on the shore.

BC Place Stadium where we will see Canada play Switzerland in the round of 16 Women's World Cup

Be sure to get a day pass for the Aquabus

Science World, did not make it there.

A Mexican Band at the Dragon Boat Festival in Vancouver. But they were very good!

And they had this guy that played a conch shell!

Building Blowing in the wind.

Vancouver- A Gift

Vancouver has been on the list and we talked about visiting there often but our Daughters Family put the check on the list. They gave us three nights at the Westin and tickets to a Women's World Cup Round of 16 game at BC Place Stadium just a few blocks from the hotel. We debated on how to get there but I wanted to take the train. I had read on the net that the train trip from Portland Oregon to Vancouver is one of the top 10 in the US, and since we never travel long distance by train this would be our chance to check that one off also. We had a 7:30 departure on Amtrak from King Station in Seattle so we had to get to the gate an hour early so an early alarm and a quick UBER ride to King Street Station. The route to Vancouver is straight up the East shore of Puget Sound so the view is awesome and way better than driving. Instead of avoiding crazy freeway drivers you can just get up go back to the galley car get some breakfast, nice comfy seats with plenty of leg room and no lines at the border to get through, just a quick walk through at customs at Pacific Center in Vancouver.
Once through customs it was about a three minute walk over to the Skytrain terminal and we immediately boarded the Skytrain, jumped off on the second stop in Downtown Vancouver and walked about 6 blocks to the Westin and our thoughtful daughter had called ahead and got us an early checkin. We dropped off our bags in the room and walked about 3/4 mile to the waterfront of False Creek and the Yaletown Ferry Dock. We boarded the Aquabus to Granville Island. The Market is a popular place to shop and eat with great 360 views of all the boating activity on False Creek that empty's into English Bay. English Bay serves a s a huge anchorage for commercial shipping as well as the body of water used for local sailing regattas, and boating of all sorts. Constant boat traffic in and out of False Creek day and night.
After finding some food we hopped back on the Aquabus and went to Sunset Beach Park for a walk along the shore of English Bay. The Admiral kept us hopping so back to Granville Island and we did a walking tour which found us the Granville Island Brewery so timeout for a tasting and back to the Market for dinner. Then onward to the Villege Ferry dock where there was a Dragon Boat Festival underway. We found some chairs and enjoyed the music of a 12 piece band from Mexico and the Conch Shell Player was fantastic.
It was near sunset so I started thinking the HEAVENLY Bed was sounding pretty good so I suggested we take our last ride of the day to the Plaza of Nations Ferry dock. All we had to do now was to navigate our way around the BC Place Stadium to find our way back to prone support.