Our luggage packed, and a wonderful breakfast of pancakes eaten, Tyler and I bid farewell to our hosts. Saying goodbye to people is always tough, and I hope I can maintain a friendship with them, they are truly awesome people. Also, Daniel is still ridiculously cute, and was even more talkative this morning. After our farewells, we drove the car over to Regent and picked up Nate, who had once again been driven there by his host, and I picked up my free cup of coffee. It was a very good cup, neither too strong nor too weak, with a nice rich and nutty flavor.
With Nate’s luggage securely placed inside the Scion, we set out from Regent and deeper into Vancouver to view the famous Stanley Park. Curiously, Tyler’s parents had actually flown up to Vancouver the day before, and we thought to meet them in Stanley Park, but, alas, they had to catch a small plane over to Vancouver Island. We had also, by the way, just missed seeing some of our Southern California friends when we were in San Francisco. Seems like everyone is traveling these days. Anyway, about a half-hour after we set out we arrived in Stanley Park.
Stanley Park is, like the Pacific Spirit Park, a little too epic to rightly be called a park. It is essentially, a forest located out on a peninsula. There are walking paths, bike paths, beaches, a lake, a lagoon, restraints, a rose garden, and probably plenty of other things we missed. Our time in the park started with a stroll through the rose garden and onto a path that led us into the forest and past Beaver Lake. Really, Beaver lake hardly counts as a lake, having hardly any water anymore (a sign on its banks calls it “The Incredible Shrinking Lake”). After passing the lake, we came down to a walking path which circled the peninsula and actually walked almost the entire circumference of the park. Along the way, we stopped to eat lunch at a beachside stand. Tyler and I ate Paninis and Nate had a salmon burger. The path around the park was raised above the waterline, and for the most part the beach it passed was rocky, but there were actually two sand beaches along the way, one of which had a swimming pool behind it.
Anyway, after enjoying our trip through the park, we set out on the road and drove all the way from Vancouver to Portland, where we’ll be staying the night. Tomorrow we get up super early for the twelve-hour drive to San Jose. Wewt.
By the way, for those of you keeping track, in two days in Canada, Tyler and I never had an actual conversation with a single Canadian. Our hosts were Australian, and our guide to Regent American. Nate, however, stayed with Canadian hosts.
