As some of you know, I have been a resident of Seattle, Washington since 2007. It seems that no matter how long you are in a place there is still a ton to explore and experience. A few years back, Joe, my long suffering husband of now 29 years arranged for the three of us, our daughter Erika, and myself to drive up to Vancouver CA for an over night…yes DRIVE….at THESE GAS PRICES!! But heck, it was cheaper then flying the Lear round trip and renting a car for 36 hours.
On the Way to the Capilano Suspension Bridge
It was only 150 miles one way, unless you get lost, then you can add on 50 miles of aimless wandering while trying not to kill each other over who told who to take a right when it should have been a left! (No names please!! JOE)
So we left the Seattle area taking the northern route toward Vancouver, B.C. Driving on the I5 highway was a beautiful ride on a Sunday. The sun was shining and we were all in a great mood. Waiting the 45 minutes to cross the border into Canada wasn’t even that bad with the windows rolled down and a light breeze wafting off the Pacific Ocean from the left and on the right, a lovely little speck of flowering shrubs and green grass where the Peace Arch Provincial Park is located. (No we didn’t get out and stroll because we were hoping for a miracle to happen. One that included the lines moving faster through the check points into Canada….don’t hold your breath!) We did bring our passports and once it was finally our turn it was all of 55 seconds of where are you going and why and THEN we were through and experiencing THE GREAT NORTH WEST of Canada….where road signs are hard to follow!
We finally arrived at the River Rock Casino Resort located in Richmond, Canada just south of Vancouver. Check out the link! This is a all Suite resort and Spa with a small casino. We checked into our beautiful suite over looking a marina….Erika had a very comfortable queen size sofa bed in the living room and we had a heavenly king sized bed in the bed room. Everything was new and fresh. After we were settled in we had lunch at the Dockside Cafe and Joe and Erika hit the beautiful indoor pool with a water slide! (I just lounged on a chair, took pictures and read my book…MY idea of relaxing!) After an hour or two of swimming we were off to see a movie. We had a quick bite to eat and then back to the hotel. I am leaving out 2 things here…how DISAPPOINTING it was to find out that the US dollar is only worth 95 cents AND how horribly LOST we were trying to find the movie theatre! I swear that when you are on a road that provides signs every 2 miles that states ‘please respect slow moving farm equipment’ you would think THIS is the WRONG ROAD….and you turn around….and we DID…and then we found out that we actually WERE on the right road and so we had to back track AGAIN….sheesh…This is where the “D” word is tossed around with abandoned while my child, from the back seat, in a sing song voice, tells her father and I to build a bridge and GET OVER IT! HA (SHE isn’t driving!!)
Back at the hotel, Erika settles in with some ice cream, the remote control and the cell phone while Joe and I decide to support our neighbors, the Canadian’s, with some of our hard earned American Moola. This is my way of saying…NO we didn’t hit the big one on the slots and don’t ask anything about the exchange rates at the Casinos! But it was fun for a while and we tucked ourselves into our heavenly bed by midnight!
Memorial Day dawned bright, I’m sure…but I didn’t see a bit of light until 10:30 am. Now THAT’s a Vacation! We packed up and by 11:30 we were out the door and on our way North through Vancouver to Capilano. I highly recommend a visit to the Capilano Suspension Bridge | Explore the Park . It is beautiful! And well worth the price. We had only thought that the Suspension bridge would be the best thing about it but we loved the bridges in the tree tops as well as the cliffhanger walk. This is perfect for all ages and I really don’t think you need to worry about any small child falling through the cracks…there aren’t any! It is perfectly safe…..although I saw MANY older people hanging on for dear life! We stayed a couple of hours and may have stayed longer if we didn’t need to get back to Seattle.
Again, on the drive back, we had to wait at least an hour to cross onto US soil and again, our passports came in handy. But this time there was no breeze as we took a less scenic route back to America and I-5. We will be traveling north again but we may take a ferry to Victoria the next time. I always believe in taking full advantage of where you are living and see what is out your very own back door……and with travel starting to cost so much these short trips maybe all we do for a while!
Leave a Reply