This is a little of week 7 and the beginning of our 8th week on the road together in one post because it seemed easier to just do one big post about one of my favorite cities in Canada…Vancouver!
Day 48: The sky seemed to be more clear today as we hit the road. We made it to Vancouver mid afternoon after fighting a reasonable amount of city traffic. We have been to Vancouver once before in our RV and decided to stay in the same park, the Burnaby Caribou RV park. We committed to three days here because there is so much to see and do in this beautiful city! We also had a big milestone to celebrate as our baby girl would be celebrating her 1st birthday while we were here!
We got settled into our RV park and then immediately hopped into our truck and headed downtown!
It was Friday night, so we weren’t the only ones with the same idea as we fought traffic into Granville Island.
Immediately upon entering Granville Island, under the bridge, is the Granville Island Brewery. I hopped out to put our name in for a table while Adam circled around to find us a parking spot.
It was packed and we had to wait about 40 minutes for a table, but it was worth it!
We were given a nice table in the back corner and ordered their tasting flight, which turned out to be a little bigger than we expected!
I ordered the grilled veggie sandwich with a side salad, which was so good.
Adam went with a burger, and the kids had delicious flatbread pizzas. This place is definitely worth a stop if you are on Granville Island!
After dinner, we spent some time walking around and exploring this fun hub of the city.
We made our way to the indoor public market. Inside was a beautiful assortment of colorful food, baked goods, meats, and handcrafted products!
Markets are always one of my favorite things about traveling! I especially can’t resist fresh produce!
We told the kids they could pick out a dessert for us to go eat out on the deck by the water. Their eyes lit up as they gazed over the 100s of possibilities.
The doors to the market lead directly out to a large deck overlooking the water and marina. There were street performers doing magic tricks and tables where you can sit and enjoy the delicious selections from the market.
I shared the most amazing carrot cake mini with Charlotte.
Her foot was up in her happy eating position and it’s safe to say she loved every bite!
After our dessert, we walked through the other section of the market, where they have a food court full of amazing restaurants and fresh flowers.
We stopped to play at the playground before we went back to the truck for our next destination.
We crossed the bridge back into downtown, headed for Stanley Park.
We brought our chalkboard and a frisbee, and the kids ran wild! Even Charlotte was having the time of her life watching the kids play as she relaxed in her stroller and took in all the fresh 70 degree weather!
The skyline from the park is beautiful!
We wondered over to the totem poles, which are actually the most visited attraction in all of British Columbia.
We stayed in Stanley park for the sunset before heading back to Burnaby to turn in for the night.
Day 49: Today was a very exciting day for me! I am going to fly my nerd flag high here and say that I have been the biggest fan of the TV show, “The X-Files,” since I was a kid and it premiered in 1993. It was a huge part of my teen years and still my favorite television show today. The excitement over it’s recent return with a 10th and now 11th season (which begins January 3rd…I am counting down!!) had me all pumped up, so when Adam suggested we take a day to visit a bunch of filming locations (the show filmed here for it’s 1st through 5th seasons, as well as the 10th season revival) – I was stoked! He knows the way to my heart. I printed up a list online and we set off!
We drove east to Langley to start our tour. We were impressed with the architecture of The Port Mann Bridge on the way out.
Our first stop was Blieberger Farm, aka Mulder and Scully’s house from the second movie, “I Want to Believe,” and sadly, just Mulder’s house in the season 10 revival. Scully did make a few visits, though. ♥
Screen grabs from Season 10’s “Babylon”
I wanted to trespass SO badly.
This is the gate Scully opens in “I Want to Believe,” located right off the road at the front of the property.
As much as I wanted to skip through the golden fields humming the theme song, my family had to pull me out of my fan girl stupor to continue on. Our next stop was Riverview hospital.
This location alone screams “X-Files” and about a dozen horror films. It’s an abandoned mental facility. Yup. There are dozens of different buildings on the property, and quite a few films and TV shows have been filmed here. Even on this bright and sunny day, this place had a spooky feeling to it!
Screen grab from Season 1’s “Pilot”
Our next stop was supposed to be Buntzen Lake, but after driving all the way up there, we were greeted by police cars blocking off the entrance. When the lake reaches capacity, they close it off to the public and seeing as though it was a beautiful, sunny, Saturday, I guess that’s where local Vancouver was!
We moved on to Cate’s Park in North Vancouver. This was a beautiful park on the water and the kids loved that they also got to fit in some play time!
Screen grab from Season 10’s “Home Again”
We enjoyed some time at the park, and made some furry friends.
Then we moved onto Old Marine Drive…
And The Wellington (Mulder’s Apartment)…
Followed by Scully’s apartment.
We had worked up quite an appetite during our scene location tour, so we decided to head downtown to grab some dinner!
We decided to park in the Gastown district and catch the hour changing on the famous Gastown Steam Clock.
We walked over to the Steamworks Brewing Company for dinner. This place is awesome. There are several levels of eating areas, from casual outside eating overlooking Gastown and the water, to the inside ground level with a sports bar atmosphere, to a lower level that has an underground speakeasy feel to it with exposed brick, pool tables, and a line of large beer fermenters for their brewery. They have the unique acclaim of brewing their beers using steam power!
We sat on the ground level, tucked back in a quiet corner and ordered a flight of beer samplers and lobster ravioli. Everything was top notch!
When we finished our dinner, we headed back to the steam clock to watch another hour change, hear the whistle blow, and take our chalkboard photo.
Then walked around in search of dessert, which came in the form of delicious gelato that we took on cones to go as we strolled the cobblestone streets of Vancouver.
The Gastown district at night is fun and the most perfect date night location with romantic white lights in the trees, jazz music playing the from the pubs, cozy restaurants, and character that oozes from every corner. Made me want to put on some fun heels and hit the town! If only we had a traveling babysitter…
Although it was way past the kid’s bedtimes, we couldn’t help but make one last drive through Stanley park to view the skyline at night before we drove back to Burnaby. Gorgeous!
Goodnight, Vancouver.
Day 50: Today was our baby girl’s 1st birthday! We decided to head out for lunch on Granville Island again, so we could take the birthday girl to the kid’s market after lunch.
We walked around, checking out various restaurants and shops along the way, but ultimately settled on going back to the public market and each getting something different from the food court and eating out on the deck overlooking the water again.
After lunch, we walked over to the kids market to pick up a few gifts for the birthday girl!
The kids market is a series of tiny little stores and boutiques selling toys, books, and clothing for children. There is a fun costume shop here and we found a selection of unique toys. There is an arcade upstairs and a playground out back by the water.
Our new ONE YEAR OLD was super happy today!
We left Granville Island a bit later and managed to make a few more X-Files film location stops on our way to pick up a smash cake. We saw The Orpheum and Christ Church Cathedral in downtown Vancouver before heading out of the city center.
We took the Port Mann bridge again and ended up back in Langley in my search for a supermarket…hm, wonder how my phone directed us here? One last look at the Mulder house before we leave!
Back at the RV that evening, we had a little celebration for our baby girl. She wasn’t thrilled about us singing “Happy Birthday” to her, but once the candle was blown out and the cake was in front of her, she was pretty happy!
What did I tell ya about that left foot?!
She was smitten with her cake and gifts! I think it turned out to be a pretty good birthday and a great time in Vancouver! Tomorrow we leave Canada and return to the lower 48 on our journey back home. Two more posts left of our summer RV adventures with a big post on coastal Oregon next. Happy Holidays to everyone!
