A little first class love to YVR thanks to American Airlines (and surprisingly on-time).  A few glasses of wine and we’re set to see the sights of Vancouver.  It took us much longer to leave the airport than anticipated as customs was a mess (several Asian flights arrived at the same time we did).  That meant we didn’t have a lot of time to explore this beautiful city, but, thankfully, we had a warm, sunny day to walk around.

As we were descending into Vancouver, the kids were amazed to notice that the mountains were still covered with snow.  While they were used to seeing mountains off in the distance living in Phoenix, those were rarely covered with snow (and certainly not in late May)!  It was fun to watch them get excited and chatter excitedly about the mountains as we were landing.

Given the 2 hour time difference, everyone was super hungry by the time we got to the hotel, so we set off walking to find a little snack to tide us over until dinner.  We walked down toward Canada Place near the cruise ship port, and found a cute little place to have some poutine and, of course, a glass of wine.  We probably shouldn’t have been, but we were a bit surprised to see that the majority of the wine list was from British Columbia — we just never see these wines in the States.  I can’t recall the name of the Chardonnay we had, but it was good…and sitting outside and breathing in the ocean air was wonderful.

Dinner last night was also good.  We specifically looked for a seafood restaurant because we figured that we should eat what is fresher here than anywhere else.  We ended up at Coast, which ticked all our boxes — good wine list, freshly caught local seafood, oysters for us (naturally), and sushi for the kids.  We had another fantastic B.C. wine — a Chardonnay from Checkmate Winery.  From the description given to us, it was supposedly made in the California style — but it was very different than any CA Chardonnay we’ve ever had.  Crisp and clean with lots of green apple on the finish.  I wish we had a bit more time here to explore the wines and visit their wine country –we may have to plan another trip just for that!  The seafood was also fantastic.  Of course we started off with a dozen oysters — three different types, all locally caught.  Halibut is in season and was the special of the day, served with a watermelon, tomato, goat cheese, and serrano salad that we plan to try to recreate at home.  We also ordered Alaskan King Crab…it was so fresh and delicious that we hope to be able to order this a few more times prior to ending our journey.  The kids both had sushi, but Belinda was (unpleasantly) surprised to find out that in BC, they add the wasabi to the pieces for you.  Oops.  (Kenneth, who loves spicy food, loved it.)  She continued her vacation tradition by finishing her meal and then promptly falling asleep at the table (as she has the first night of every vacation we’ve ever taken).

Today we will board the newly reimagined Disney Wonder to begin our Alaskan adventure.  But first, we took a walk and a ferry to Granville Public Market to explore more of this enchanting Canadian city.  The kids were amazed at the variety of meats and cheeses and other things that were available (it made Central Market look pedestrian)…and they noshed on some inventive French macarons (I’m not sure if the root beer or bubble gum flavors were their favorite).

Now it’s off to visit the beauty of Alaska and immerse ourselves in all things Mickey Mouse!