I’m going to apologize up front. My pictures from yesterday are not that good. It’s kind of hard taking a picture while you’re holding an umbrella, especially if you’re on a suspension bridge that is moving–a lot. More on that later.

I know I said I was going on a train trip, but my first full day of this trip was really scheduled to hang out in Vancouver. Fresh Tracks Canada schedules their train trips with buffer days on both ends. This is to ensure that you don’t miss the train when it leaves–you could have delays or flight cancellations–and because the train could be delayed during the trip–freight trains have priority. Plus, you know, there’s always the chance of snow during the winter. The end buffer avoids the possibility of missing your flight at the end. My anxious mind appreciates this policy.

The funny thing is that my original tour, which I knew nothing about besides that it was a private tour of Vancouver, was cancelled. The company doesn’t do those tours anymore. Candace, my trip organizer, put me on this tour instead. The other tour was just the morning, but this tour was all day and included Capilano Suspension Bridge Park. She also added some other things, which I will bring up when I get to use them, but I hope she takes a chance to check out this blog because she needs to know that I can’t imagine the original plan being better than this “alternative.”

But first things first: Breakfast. As you can imagine, I was starving since I skipped dinner the night before. I looked up the restaurant connected to the hotel and got there right when it opened.

I did this because I was starving, but also because this is one of the things I do to help manage my anxiety, especially the anxiety of eating alone. A lot of times, I don’t mind, but most of the people reading this know that I suffer from anxiety and have actually had (though infrequent) serious panic attacks.

It amazes some people that I suffer from anxiety and yet still travel alone. I actually am less anxious traveling alone than with people; maybe I’ll write about that at the end of the blog, but not here.

In any case, one of the things I do to manage eating by myself is to pick times when restaurants aren’t usually busy. This doesn’t bother me at all because I’m frequently hungry earlier than most people anyway. When you get up every day at 3, you want real food by 6 ,and it’s time for lunch at 10:30-11. Those popular dinner times at 7:30 PM?!? I’m about to chew on my own arm eating that late.

Here we need to talk about Frankie’s Italian Kitchen. It’s a nice spot, and when I’ve walked through the lobby at night and passed it, it seems pretty lively. Not surprising being close to BC Place.

But, as you can see, there was no one there when I arrived at 7:05. It was a relief. While waiting for my breakfast (I splurged and ordered eggs benedict), I got a text from my friend Rita and of course we talked about food, but when I asked her if she thought my strategy–getting to restaurant before anyone else got there–would work at the dining car on the train, she admonised me, telling me I need to make friends on this trip.

Sigh. Humph. Why would I do that? I’d never see any of these people again, right?

She’s under the impression that I love people.

I’m just trying to figure out ways to not be awkward.

I had plenty of time before the tour, so I went back to my room and wrote in my journal and watched a show. Then it was time for the tour.

People will ask what I will remember the most about yesterday, and there are lots of things, but I hope I don’t forget the feeling of realizing that I wore exactly the right thing.

Now this isn’t a fashion statement at all. I really debated what to wear yesterday. It was raining and was going to drizzle and rain all day. Vancouver is fairly mild in the 40s, but I also know what wind can feel like when you are wet. I changed my socks and my layering plan last minute (for heavier socks and lighter chest layers), and I was happy with that. We were both outside and inside throughout the day. My feet would have been too hot in my boots, but with my mid-weight wool socks, my feet didn’t even feel wet until near the end, but not enough to change shoes before I went to Shoppers Mart.

Note to travelers. Socks are key to life.

I waited in the lobby until our tour guide came to get me and was the first on the bus. There was another person from my hotel going on the tour. Then we went to four other hotels to pick up people.

The other person from my hotel was the only other person going on the tour alone. There was a young couple and her mother. There were two older, clearly retired couples, traveling together. Another couple probably my age. A family with teenagers from Australia who only went with us for the first part of the tour because they were really in Canada to ski. And then a family with two elementary school kids. Turns out that the other three couples are also going on the train trip, so at least I will be familiar with some people on the train to Jasper today.

While we drove around Vancouver, our tour guide told us about the growth of the city. I found it really interesting that so much of the glass on buildings are a particular shade to reflect the sun down into the streets or that flashing green lights mean that it’s a pedestrian controlled intersection, so if a pedestrian hits button, that is the only time the light changes. He says that he has seen drivers jump out of their cars to hit the button!

I also loved the way the city is clearly a bike friendly and pedestrian friendly place.

Our first stop was Stanley Park. Yes, it was named after the same Lord Stanley that the Stanley Cup is named after. It is 1,001 acres and has miles and miles of walkways and trails and so many things to do and see. It’s really beautiful even in the rain and provides lovely views of Vancouver.

I walked a little bit along the path looking over Burrard Inlet and got some grainy shots, but I headed back toward the bus early because I wanted to see the Totem Poles before we had to leave.

I love reading the stories of these storytelling poles. I saw a number in Alaska. What I didn’t know was that some were actually built to be inside houses. See the one on the right with the flat top? That is the type that would have been inside a house helping to hold up the roof.

We got back on bus and did more touring of Vancouver. Most of my pictures from the bus aren’t really good because of the rain, so I stopped trying to take more pictures and just listened to the stories our guide told us about the different areas.

Our next stop was at Granville Island Public Market. It was very busy with many different booths, and people selling all sorts of food. It reminded me very much of Reading Terminal in Philadelphia with the mixture of ready made food to eat and butchers and fruit and vegetable sellers.

Such high quality meat and fresh made sausages and raspberries the likes I haven’t seen in awhile. Our tour guide told me that locals come early because before 11 am parking is free. There were definitely things I would have tried if I had an apartment and a fridge to cook. There were so many pies and even Cornish pasties.

There were also lots of different shops and artists places plus a theater in Granville Island, but I knew the real reason we stopped here was so that we could eat lunch. It took me forever to decide. I wasn’t really hungry after that big breakfast,and I was a bit overwhelmed by the choices. It’s the kind of place that if I was planning to eat lunch, I would have decided ahead of time.

I decided to get Karaage, Japanese fried chicken, which I’ve never had and always wanted to try. It came with togarashi sauce, which I also never had, but it’s got a surprising kick. Delicious snack. I, of course, could not resist getting a donut from Lee’s famous donuts. It was the one place our tour guide said we had to try. Apparently in the summer, the line is half way down the block. I ended up just getting a honey glazed one because I didn’t want anything too much, but wow. I’m a donut judger, and this donut was probably one of the best donuts I have ever had.

After I cleaned the table and myself from all the flakes of donut glaze, I headed back to the bus. I wasn’t sure I was going in the right direction, but I saw people using our tour company umbrellas and just followed them. Turned out they were the Australian family.

Our next stop was Vancouver Lookout. This is where the group got smaller. Our tour guide dropped us off and took the Australian family and one of the husbands from the train couples back to their hotels. The family was preparing to head out to their ski resort, but the husband, from what I heard, does NOT like heights. So it makes sense that he didn’t want to come to the rest of the tour.

The Lookout is at Harbor Centre Complex and provides a 360 degree view of the city. And even though it was cloudy and rainy, meaning you couldn’t see any of the mountains, the view was still great.

I’m going to be honest, I was getting tired. I thought at the time, maybe what I’d really like is to go to the restaurant and sit. If I lived in Vancouver, or if I was vacationing here, it would be cool to have dinner at the restaurant, especially at sunset.

But I garnered my energy because what I was anticipating all day was coming. In fact, even our tour guide said that we had saved the best for last: Capilano Suspension Bridge Park!

I can’t really describe how beautiful it was. So lush with such varying type of foliage lots of giant conifers but also large ferns of the type you would think to see in some place much warmer. I would definitely go back if I ever come back to Vancouver. In fact, I’d say if you were going to do one thing in Vancouver, you should do this. I really need to go back because I didn’t really feel like I had enough to time to look at everything. I didn’t even get to do the cliff walk!

I also didn’t get to take really good pictures while I was on the bridge because it was so hard to hold the my phone and the umbrella and take a picture while the bridge was moving so much. I did only see one person a little freaked out, but the rest of the people, despite the increasing rain, were just amazed at how beautiful it all was.

On the bridge, I held the umbrella for a young woman who was trying to take a picture of her friend and her mother, so she took pictres of me, too. We kept laughing because we were so wet and trying to keep steady standing on the middle of the bridge.

They still had their holiday decorations up and will have them up until January 22. The lights were actually not only beautiful but helpful to show deep into the woods since the combination of cloudy day and dense forest made it a bit dark. It would have been difficult to see many of the things in the forest if they had’nt been lit up. I passed by one of the train couples (stopping to hold her umbrella so she could take a picture), and she said to me that it made her think of what Rivendell must look like, and I couldn’t agree more. (Rivendell, for those of you who are not LOTR fans, is where the elves in Lord of the Rings live).

I tried to take some pictures to show how high the walkways are. It’s not just the suspension bridge, but there are walkways through the trees. I’d love to come at other times when there are more animals out. Apparently, in the spring they see a lot of bald eagles. Make sure you click on the picture on the right so you can see the people in the green ponchos on the walkways.

There was more to do (as you can see from the map below), and I would have seen more with more time and less rain. But anything that can look that beautiful when the weather is so dreary? I can’t imagine what it would look like on a sunny day.

I wanted to buy so many things in gift shop, but I only bought a magnet. I knew that I can’t fit any of the things in my suitcase. Also, I am just at the beginning of the trip. I have more gift shops to see!!

The manager did give me her card, so I could decide once I get home what I wanted and send them a request. It’s too bad that they don’t have a website for merch. One of the things they could do is what the National Museum in London does. They have a whole process for selecting prints and having them shipped to you since they know most people can’t lug a piece of artwork with them on the plane.

Do I really neeeeed another mug? But I so wanted this one.

I’m thinking though that I may do what I did when I went to my college reunion in Alaska. I bought a lot of alumni stuff and then went to the post office and mailed it too myself before I flew home.

(Wow. I just realize that I didn’t include mention of that trip in my first blog post. I did that trip in the summer of 2019. It was my 30th year since I graduated from college. When did the time pass?)

When we got back on the bus, our guide asked us if we all made it across the bridge. Apparently, sometimes people do lose their nerve and can’t make it all the way across. We all raised our hands, and then he passed out to each of us a certificate saying we actually crossed the bridge! Note that the certification only lasts for two years. After that, you have to come back and prove your mettle.

I was a bit relieved getting back on the bus. There were so many things to process from the day. Each one of those things with the exception of the Lookout could have been a full day or more. I would definitely want to rent a bike to ride around Stanley Island, for example.

I basically felt like I was crawling back into the lobby. It was sensory overload more than physical exhaustion.

However, I still had a plan. I needed to go to Shoppers Drug Mart. Mission: to buy a bottle of lotion.

Look, I know that you’re thinking that I probably got lotion in my hotel room. I did. But lotion in hotels all look like this:

I purposefully put it next to a water glass and deordorant, so you can see how small it is.

It’s humid here, but I know winter and where we are going is cold. I need to slather myself with lotion both in the morning and at night during the winter months. I need much more lotion than what I can put in a carryon.

Shoppers Drug Marts are like CVS or Walgreens in the states, and there is one within a nine-minute walk from my hotel. I knew I wouldn’t go if I stayed in the room too long, so despite it being dark, I headed out. Fortunately, I had made a shopping list in the morning before the tour:

• lotion
• First aid supplies or list
• neosporin
• anti-itch cream
• lip balm

I know. I know. Some of you are probably wondering about the items, but I just couldn’t fit my first aid kit in my carryon. I usually always travel with one because I’m so accident prone. I was actually worried I would injure myself yesterday with all the activities. There were so many opportunities for me to fall awkwardly, bump into something, catch onto something that I’m surprised I made it back without needing at least one bandaid. Nothing happened, but I didn’t want to push my luck.

I also bought an apple to eat with the blueberry cake I bought at the Ganville market to eat for breakfast today. I can’t afford to be eating eggs benedict every day!

I’m going to end this now so I have some time to relax before checking out later this morning. Today is the day I get on the train. I may just take another bath just because. It was heaven soaking last night.

Note one: Yesterday, I said that the building next to my hotel is the BC Sports Hall of Fame. I remember thinking it was a huge building just for that, and it is. It’s actually BC Place (https://www.bcplace.com/), the stadium they built for the Olympics. The Hall of Fame is just housed in the complex. Their football team and soccer team play there and it’s the spot for large concerts.

Note 2: Bathroom pic of the day. One of the bathrooms at Capilano Suspension Bridge Park