Planes, Trains & Antitussives, Alaksan Wonder Cruise - All done! Complete 11/21

[rndmr2]

Nice day in Vancouver! Stanley park looks like such a nice place. We had an Alaska trip tentatively planned for this year and we started doing all of the research on Vancouver and that was on our list of places to go.

So sorry Fran was feeling so bad that she couldn't enjoy Vancouver, hope she improves for the cruise. I know those little cough pills well. As a Home Health nurse I see them all the time.

Looking forward to the rest of the trip!

 

[Leshaface]

Watching and will be back to read!

 

[DnA2010]

Oh Stanley Park- ever so lovely- I don't get there often as I live about 4 hours north of Vancouver, but I do enjoy it. The flowers were really getting there and looking good and it looked like a nice day for taking them in.

Poor Fran- getting ill at the beginning of a vacation is just no good at all.

Your halibut looked quite nice- we like to do the same- intersperse meals out with cooked meals- I'm sure this is what we will do if we make it to WDW in March...

We brought a good amount of booze onto the Fantasy- never can be too careful (I think we were able to bring on more than just wine at the time- pretty sure we also brought some gin for me and possibly some rye for the DH- we do enjoy a few, especially on vacation...booze is expensive in Canada hey! (I should eh)

 

[franandaj]

That sounds like a bit of a pain, but I am glad that it worked out.

I'll have to go back and look at the credit card statement, but Fran was happy this way, she got her cc miles. She hates spending cash if we can avoid it.

This actually looks rather nice. Even though it is quite heavy on the seafood, there are a few things on there that I would love.

It gets top marks for Vancouver's best seafood restaurant on quite a few sites.

This sounds rather too fancy for me.

I tried the seaweed butter, but in the end just skipped the bread mostly. My mom was all over the orange stuff.

What a shame that the waiter did not get the message.

We told him, he just ignored us. Oh well one less charge for us to tip him on!

The desserts look amazing.

I really liked my chocolate cake!

I am so sorry that you were feeling unwell.

It wasn't quite so much feeling unwell, but the dang persistent cough was rather annoying.

That is not good at all. I hope that she did feel better by the time you got on the ship.

Well sort of. It was interesting.

Stanley Park was one of the highlights on our visit to Vancouver.

I really enjoyed it too! I like that there is so much natural beauty but it's still right there in the city.

I loved the area. I cannot remember the tourist trap though. We were there early in the season so maybe it was not open yet.

Or who knows, maybe they put it in since your visit. That was sort of a while ago.

The view was stunning.

And it was such a nice day. They had all the windows open and slight breeze was blowing.

Graham would have been in his element there.

I could have eaten the whole plate (without the arugula).

Whereas this would have been right up my street. All the food looks delicious.

This was good, but I would have liked it a little crispier.

What a shame that this did not work out.

The Saga continues...

Yikes! Not a good start to a vacation. I don't know how you managed to pack in such a full day after that.

Most of it was driving. There was only the one stop at the Rose Garden where we actually walked more than one would from the typical parking lot to a grocery store.

Bummer. I hope you were both well enough to enjoy the cruise. I guess it makes sense that the pharmacy needed a Canadian doctor to prescribe. When I went on the cruise, I brought a bag full of over the counter stuff. Most of it we never touched, but it's so easy to pick up germs and stuff in airports, hotels, etc.

We had a bag full of OTC stuff, but she needed something stronger. At least we had the Z-pack with us.

Stanley Park looked awesome. We didn't have enough time to visit there. We only saw it while we were on the bus coming and going. I'd love to go back to Vancouver, even without a cruise, and spend some time visiting Stanley Park and some other places. I think vancouver might be the overall best city I've seen. I love how clean downtown is, that you are right on the waterfront and can see snow capped mountains, there are trees on tops of big buildings, you don't go far and soon you are in a forest, the weather was great...it was a nice combo of so many things.

Vancouver is a great city, I used to love visiting there when my work used to send me.

Loving this trip report!! First-time Alaskan cruiser coming up in August 2017 so I'm anxiously reading along!

I hope you enjoy it. We tend to do a lot of adulty things, not much kid stuff.

Possibly Virginia Creeper, we have it all over the place here in Michigan. When we visited Vancouver in 2015, we walked alllllll theeeee wayyyyyy around Stanley Park, ending up at Tour de Butts. It was great fun! but very tiring.

Interesting. I have not heard of that plant. My parents were reluctant about doing a lot of walking on this trip, especially before we got on the boat. They were actually surprised at how large the ship was and how much walking was involved.

 

[skier_pete]

I've been THROUGH Vancouver many times but never stopped - will be through there again in just 8 days. Flying in to visit friend/college roommates - one lives in Seattle and he owns a place in Whistler, BC. We will be driving through Vancover next Thursday on our way up. First time the four of us have been all together in 16 years. (I've seen each of them individually within the last 3 years.)

Anyways, enough about me - I would love to visit there. The parks in Vancover seem so nice. Someday we'd like to do an Alaska cruise, but just not sure when.

 

[franandaj]

OH man! Does that ever look heavenly! I've never heard of seaweed butter, but I am highly intrigued!

It was OK, I actually didn't care for either of them much, but my Mom did!

What a cool place! Those are really nice and make such a great photo! You could get this one framed.

Thanks! It was nice that they were able to maintain these totem poles because a lot of them fall into disrepair.

This is a bad sign of things not going to go well....

Well all is not lost, but we'll just say that the best of times are not to come.

And this is a worse one.

Yeah, coughs also tend to linger with her. We are actually still dealing with the cough, both of us.

We got our KTN less than 8 hours after our fingerprinting. Whoop! First thing I did was go update all my profiles with the airlines.

We got the approval email, but it's been almost a week and neither of us got the email with our KTN, I think I need to check the link in the approval email. We just booked our flights for October, but I'll have an update on that in the other TR.

I wish I had time to write my TRs I keep thinking I should do one for the France trip, especially the planning part so I have it all in one place, but there just never seems to be enough time. I don't think I finished the last TR either.

I know what you mean. But as soon as we are out of the old place and have it rented, I'm hoping we will have lots of time. Other than Fran listing 75% of what we own on eBay and Craigslist.

Stanley park looks lovely, and what a fun time and memories made with your parents. Your meals look down right wonderful, making me hungry at 9:57 in the morning....

It was a nice day, until I realized how sick Fran was and how bad she felt.

I sure hope Fran and you feel better quickly, I hate travelling when I don't feel great.

I'm not exactly sure how much better we felt but the trip is not lost, just "challenged".

It's called an "Erhu". Not a first nation instrument, but an Asian one.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erhu

Thank you for pointing this out, I changed the post to reflect this.

Uh oh about Fran not feeling well and you don't sound good either. Glad you were able to get out and enjoy the day.

Yeah, the rest of the trip becomes "interesting".

The sushi dinner looks quite yummy!

It was very good and I left plenty happy and full.

I'm worried about the pharmacy issue now.

Everything works itself out in the end. Just not immediately.

Stanley Park is beautiful!

It is a great place to enjoy, I wish we were more mobile and could have actually walked a bit, but my parents were being conservative as far as walking. There were some stops where my Dad didn't even get out of the car.

Ok just posting for now so it will show up in my threads. Alaska fascinates me so I'm looking forward to this. I'll be back later!

I'm glad you could stop by, the thread will go on and you can catch up as you have time. I know you have much more important things going on, but a cruise is a comfortable way to get a sampler of Alaska.

 

[cakester]

I'm in! Woohoo! First time reading a Fran and Alison trip report live! Love your TRs so much!!!

A bit sad to see that you were both feeling under the weather! I've got a stash of those handy little antitussives too since my doc loves prescribing them for daytime use over cough syrup with codeine!

My parents are headed out to Alaska via Royal Caribbean (they like having a casino on the ship... that's the only downside they see to DCL!) in a few weeks. They're super excited to go on their first Alaskan cruise, but sad that they're going to be missing 11 days of the Olympics! We have nightly watching parties every two years, and while we still are having our opening ceremony party (since they're luckily still in town for that), this year I'll be on my own for the rest of the Games!

 

[franandaj]

Nice day in Vancouver! Stanley park looks like such a nice place. We had an Alaska trip tentatively planned for this year and we started doing all of the research on Vancouver and that was on our list of places to go.

I'm sorry you didn't get the trip on your radar, but Stanley Park is definitely a place to visit when in Vancouver, there is so much to do there, we didn't even scratch the surface.

So sorry Fran was feeling so bad that she couldn't enjoy Vancouver, hope she improves for the cruise. I know those little cough pills well. As a Home Health nurse I see them all the time.

She does improve, but it is an interesting few days. I wish I had more of those pills packed, but I'm not sure that it would have helped all that much.

Watching and will be back to read!

I hope you make it back soon!

Oh Stanley Park- ever so lovely- I don't get there often as I live about 4 hours north of Vancouver, but I do enjoy it. The flowers were really getting there and looking good and it looked like a nice day for taking them in.

I didn't realize you lived in BC for some reason I thought you lived in another province.

Poor Fran- getting ill at the beginning of a vacation is just no good at all.

Yeah, no fun at all, she evens kicks herself for it!

Your halibut looked quite nice- we like to do the same- intersperse meals out with cooked meals- I'm sure this is what we will do if we make it to WDW in March...

On a good trip, Fran gets tired and we like to spend time in the room for her to rest. I'm trying to work out which nights we end up cooking up in the room on this October's trip.

We brought a good amount of booze onto the Fantasy- never can be too careful (I think we were able to bring on more than just wine at the time- pretty sure we also brought some gin for me and possibly some rye for the DH- we do enjoy a few, especially on vacation...booze is expensive in Canada hey! (I should eh)

Yeah, they don't allow booze anymore. I guess they were losing too much money to in room cocktails. Now it's only beer and wine.

I've been THROUGH Vancouver many times but never stopped - will be through there again in just 8 days. Flying in to visit friend/college roommates - one lives in Seattle and he owns a place in Whistler, BC. We will be driving through Vancover next Thursday on our way up. First time the four of us have been all together in 16 years. (I've seen each of them individually within the last 3 years.)

Well I hope yu have a good time with your old friends!

Anyways, enough about me - I would love to visit there. The parks in Vancouver seem so nice. Someday we'd like to do an Alaska cruise, but just not sure when.

I think that would be a good one when Adriana is out of the nest, it's best as a couples thing, at least IMHO.

 

[franandaj]

I'm in! Woohoo! First time reading a Fran and Alison trip report live! Love your TRs so much!!!

I'm guessing from your response you have found my TRs once they have been completed.

A bit sad to see that you were both feeling under the weather! I've got a stash of those handy little antitussives too since my doc loves prescribing them for daytime use over cough syrup with codeine!

Yeah, we had a stash at home that I should have been ore proactive about packing, but this is my issue with Fran waiting until 1-2 days before we leave to pack. If she wants everything we need to have it set aside in the week before we leave, not gathering the night before.

My parents are headed out to Alaska via Royal Caribbean (they like having a casino on the ship... that's the only downside they see to DCL!) in a few weeks. They're super excited to go on their first Alaskan cruise, but sad that they're going to be missing 11 days of the Olympics! We have nightly watching parties every two years, and while we still are having our opening ceremony party (since they're luckily still in town for that), this year I'll be on my own for the rest of the Games!

I like NOT having a casino, as that's what we go to Vegas for. If we had a casino, I'm afraid that we might spend the whole cruise playing blackjack and not enjoying the cruise iteself!

 

[franandaj]

Day 3

I woke up early, about 5AM. I decided to take a bath.

Then it was time to get everything all packed up. We were switching to the Port hotel today and with all our luggage and such a small car, it was impossible to transport all of us AND our luggage at the same time. At 8:30 Mom & I took the luggage to Pan Pacific. It was an easy drive down Burrard, straight to the port and one of the bellman at the Pan Pacific just put our luggage on a cart and it sat there all day until our room was ready.

We drove back to the Century Plaza and I got coffee, and mom got a coffee for my Dad and we all went back to our rooms. When I got to our room Fran was all dressed and in one of the Living Room chairs.

Mom and Dad came up and we talked about what we were going to do for the day and we hung out until just before 11AM when we had to be out of the room.

There were a couple things that I sort of needed. I had forgotten to pack my contour pillow which helps me sleep better. I had put on my blue jeans for this day and I realized that I needed a belt. 25 lbs evidently makes a bit of difference when you are wearing jeans. Normally I wear only stretch pants. I had tried on these jeans on New Year’s Day back when I was heavier. Since I rarely wear jeans at home, I hadn’t put them on since I was in Louisiana, and they were practically falling off me.

Fran and I enjoy checking out Costcos in various towns, there was one close by in downtown so we went there first after checking out of the hotel. At home they have my pillows, but we weren’t so lucky here. Of course we had to pay for parking here as well.

We thought we would leave Fran’s scooter in the car and use their cart, but it was a huge PITA to get an electric cart. We waited almost 10 minutes at the customer service desk, while this couple in front of us tried to schedule a complete remodel of their home, or something like that. Finally, I decided to go get her scooter out of the car. That turned out to be faster.

We walked around the store and briefly checked things out. At home we love to visit the Costco buffet, but here they had strange buffet offerings, my mom liked the seaweed with some sort of cracker. Fran and I didn’t see anything that sounded very good.

I also noticed that people seemed to be much pushier with their carts than in Southern California. More people were on a mission and not just “looking”. Maybe that was the whole pay for parking thing, you don’t take your time if you’re paying a premium to keep your car there.

After we didn’t find anything. We decided to go to lunch. I showed my parents the menu of a DDD location (Guy Fieri’s Food Network show, Diners, Drive Ins and Dives) while we were still at the hotel and my Dad was fine with it. My Mom said she could find something to eat there. We got parking on the street (again pay by phone). Here is the place, Save On Meats, it was half restaurant, half butcher shop.



It was your typical coffee shop/diner kind of place. I think my Dad kind of likes these places, but my Mom never lets him go to them.





The menu had a pretty good variety.



I went with the S.O.M. burger and upgraded my French fries to Poutine. I ate half the burger and barely made a dent in the Poutine, but it was really good!



It was a nice thick burger, and very tasty!



Fran got the breakfast sandwich, she was going to share with me, and all of a sudden decided that mine might not be enough. I guess she thought that she was feeling better and was having an appetite.



My Dad also got the S.O.M. Burger, but he went healthier and had a salad.



Mom got the Pesto Chicken Sandwich Protein Style. She couldn’t taste any Pesto in there, only the Mayo. Needless to say, Mom is not a fan of Triple D type restaurants. Fran suggested that we not take my parents to them ever again.



After lunch we went to the Port hotel, Mom and I checked in, but the room was not ready. Fran decided that she would rather sit in the lobby and sleep while we ran around looking for a belt for me, so I got her all situated and we took off.

After leaving the hotel, we drove up Robson street looking for a store with a belt. All there was (besides trendy eateries) were Gucci, Prada, Dior, Hermes, not my kind of shopping. To be fair, there was a Gap somewhere in there, but we didn't see any parking so we gave up and went back to where we had spied earlier. We ended up at Nordstrom, but we still struck out since they don't cater to "women of size" and the men's department was priced out of this world! However, there was a mall attached to the department store and we found an American outfitters that had something that fit.

As we were leaving the parking lot, I got the phone call that the room was ready. So we went back to the hotel, I transfered Fran to the bed in the room, then we went down to the car to get the rest of the hand luggage. The bellman had delivered our luggage when we arrived at the room.





We checked out the view.



There were cruise ships in port that we could see.



I loved how this building had a grass roof.



Now that we had our room to store all of our stuff and Fran was as comfortable as she was going to get for now, it was time to go back to the airport to drop off rental car. My Mom and Dad came with me and on the way we stopped to get some more wine, since we drank one of our bottles intended for the ship the night before. There was no problem dropping off the car, and then for me we were on an adventure. We were taking the train back to the hotel.

We took the escalator up to the platform and bought our tickets. Since it was Sunday there were no restrictions and so we didn’t have to figure out complicated logistics on which ticket to buy.





We didn’t have the best view, but it’s more about getting there than how scenic it is.





We went past the casino where Fran and I would be spending our last night of the trip.



After getting back to the hotel, I went over to my parent’s room and we opened one of the bottles of wine we picked up and we looked up menus online. We ended up at the ARC restaurant across the street.





We had some bread, this was better than the foo foo butter that we had the first night.



The menu, it was sort of limited, but none of us were terribly hungry.



My drink….



We all went with the mushroom Bisque.



Dad and I both got the Beef Tartare. I couldn’t eat all of it.



I’m pretty sure my Mom got the green salad.



I didn’t want any dessert, but my Dad got a couple scoops of sorbet.



Then I went back to the room. Fran was still feeling crappy and cranky, but I made her a peanut butter sandwich before hitting the sack.

 

[dgbg100106]

Day 3

I woke up early, about 5AM. I decided to take a bath.

Then it was time to get everything all packed up. We were switching to the Port hotel today and with all our luggage and such a small car, it was impossible to transport all of us AND our luggage at the same time. At 8:30 Mom & I took the luggage to Pan Pacific. It was an easy drive down Burrard, straight to the port and one of the bellman at the Pan Pacific just put our luggage on a cart and it sat there all day until our room was ready.

We drove back to the Century Plaza and I got coffee, and mom got a coffee for my Dad and we all went back to our rooms. When I got to our room Fran was all dressed and in one of the Living Room chairs.

Mom and Dad came up and we talked about what we were going to do for the day and we hung out until just before 11AM when we had to be out of the room.

I like these laid back mornings before the trip, David is NEVER laid back, he always has a plan and we have places to be, but this had to be relaxing. I can only imagine.

There were a couple things that I sort of needed. I had forgotten to pack my contour pillow which helps me sleep better. I had put on my blue jeans for this day and I realized that I needed a belt. 25 lbs evidently makes a bit of difference when you are wearing jeans. Normally I wear only stretch pants. I had tried on these jeans on New Year’s Day back when I was heavier. Since I rarely wear jeans at home, I hadn’t put them on since I was in Louisiana, and they were practically falling off me.

umm yes, jeans are not forgiving, but congratulations on the 25 pounds lost, that is awesome.

Fran and I enjoy checking out Costcos in various towns, there was one close by in downtown so we went there first after checking out of the hotel. At home they have my pillows, but we weren’t so lucky here. Of course we had to pay for parking here as well.

We thought we would leave Fran’s scooter in the car and use their cart, but it was a huge PITA to get an electric cart. We waited almost 10 minutes at the customer service desk, while this couple in front of us tried to schedule a complete remodel of their home, or something like that. Finally, I decided to go get her scooter out of the car. That turned out to be faster.

We walked around the store and briefly checked things out. At home we love to visit the Costco buffet, but here they had strange buffet offerings, my mom liked the seaweed with some sort of cracker. Fran and I didn’t see anything that sounded very good.

I also noticed that people seemed to be much pushier with their carts than in Southern California. More people were on a mission and not just “looking”. Maybe that was the whole pay for parking thing, you don’t take your time if you’re paying a premium to keep your car there.

We seem to do this with Sam's club also, we like their local stuff, and can usually find some cool things, people in Maryland would just as soon run over you then "look" at things, and we have free parking. I know the Costco in D.C. has pay parking also.

After we didn’t find anything. We decided to go to lunch. I showed my parents the menu of a DDD location (Guy Fieri’s Food Network show, Diners, Drive Ins and Dives) while we were still at the hotel and my Dad was fine with it. My Mom said she could find something to eat there. We got parking on the street (again pay by phone). Here is the place, Save On Meats, it was half restaurant, half butcher shop.

It was your typical coffee shop/diner kind of place. I think my Dad kind of likes these places, but my Mom never lets him go to them.

The menu had a pretty good variety.
I went with the S.O.M. burger and upgraded my French fries to Poutine. I ate half the burger and barely made a dent in the Poutine, but it was really good!
It was a nice thick burger, and very tasty!
Fran got the breakfast sandwich, she was going to share with me, and all of a sudden decided that mine might not be enough. I guess she thought that she was feeling better and was having an appetite.
My Dad also got the S.O.M. Burger, but he went healthier and had a salad.
Mom got the Pesto Chicken Sandwich Protein Style. She couldn’t taste any Pesto in there, only the Mayo. Needless to say, Mom is not a fan of Triple D type restaurants. Fran suggested that we not take my parents to them ever again.

That burger looks like something David would order, I think I would have just eaten the poutine.. How was it? Is it any different than the poutine we can get here in the US? We have found some good place from DDD and we have found some bad places.

As we were leaving the parking lot, I got the phone call that the room was ready. So we went back to the hotel, I transfered Fran to the bed in the room, then we went down to the car to get the rest of the hand luggage. The bellman had delivered our luggage when we arrived at the room.

Wow that room looks so comfy, and that bed looks dreamland. What great views.

Now that we had our room to store all of our stuff and Fran was as comfortable as she was going to get for now, it was time to go back to the airport to drop off rental car. My Mom and Dad came with me and on the way we stopped to get some more wine, since we drank one of our bottles intended for the ship the night before. There was no problem dropping off the car, and then for me we were on an adventure. We were taking the train back to the hotel.

We took the escalator up to the platform and bought our tickets. Since it was Sunday there were no restrictions and so we didn’t have to figure out complicated logistics on which ticket to buy.

looks like the logistics worked out easy enough for the car return, train back to the hotel.

After getting back to the hotel, I went over to my parent’s room and we opened one of the bottles of wine we picked up and we looked up menus online. We ended up at the ARC restaurant across the street.
We had some bread, this was better than the foo foo butter that we had the first night.
The menu, it was sort of limited, but none of us were terribly hungry.
My drink….
We all went with the mushroom Bisque.
Dad and I both got the Beef Tartare. I couldn’t eat all of it.
I’m pretty sure my Mom got the green salad.

I didn’t want any dessert, but my Dad got a couple scoops of sorbet.

Then I went back to the room. Fran was still feeling crappy and cranky, but I made her a peanut butter sandwich before hitting the sack.

The mushroom bisque looks really good, nice deep rich color gives some good depth of flavor! The beef tartare also looks nice and rare!

Sorry that Fran is not getting better, that really sucks.

 

[bcwife76]

I have never been to Save on Meets (despite living here my entire life), we REALLY need to get downtown more often! Oh that looks sooooo yummy!

It's not just the downtown Costco, they are like that out in here in the 'burbs too. Parking is atrocious from beginning of day to end, everyone just wants to get their stuff and get out. Last time we went my dh was looking at couches and I swear, he was doing the looking and I was doing all the shopping and the 'hurry up, let's get out of here' lol At least you didn't go to the Costco in Richmond, ten minutes from the airport. Hands down worst Costco on the planet.

Look at that gorgeous view from the Pan!!! The roof with the garden/grass on top is the new Convention Centre.

 

[dhorner233]

Wow! So exciting! Loved the totem poles and always love seeing all the pictures of food. I'm drooling!

Sorry you guys weren't feeling well and still have a cough. But congratulations on losing 25 pounds!!!!!

 

[Steppesister]

Bummer that your mom couldn't taste the pesto; it looked pretty good otherwise. Also, a HUGE drag that Fran was feeling crappy still. I"m sure that was really putting a damper on the whole trip so far. Hoping things get better, but it sounds pretty bad... not holding my breath.

 

[rndmr2]

Your room at the Pan Pacific looks really nice! That bed looks so comfy. Nice view too, I love that it looked to be a corner with 2 windows. Great you could see the ships.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Congrats on the weight loss!

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

How exciting we are getting closer to that cruise!

This sounds like a good day. Lunch looked great a butcher and a diner I think I have found Polly heaven I would faint... I would live in there. Fresh meat yes please!

That sounds like one expensive mall! Same here where is my old navy and Gap!

Can't wait to get onboard with you I can almost taste that salt air now...

 

[franandaj]

I like these laid back mornings before the trip, David is NEVER laid back, he always has a plan and we have places to be, but this had to be relaxing. I can only imagine.

Well Mom and I had it slightly hectic, and once we were sitting in the room it was a whole, "whadda you wanna do"
"I don't know, whadda you wanna do?" Situation. We ended up leaving at around 10:30 since no onewanted to just sit around the room and we agreed on Costco and lunch.

umm yes, jeans are not forgiving, but congratulations on the 25 pounds lost, that is awesome.

Thanks. Most of it I lost before Mississippi, but then gained some back, took it off and gained 10 of it back in WDW. Then I took it off again. The room at the Pan Pacific had a scale and even after three days of eating what I wanted, I was still at the low weight I was before the trip.

We seem to do this with Sam's club also, we like their local stuff, and can usually find some cool things, people in Maryland would just as soon run over you then "look" at things, and we have free parking. I know the Costco in D.C. has pay parking also.

If we are on a road trip, watch out! We buy all sorts of crazy stuff and if we have a cooler and are within a reasonable distance of home, we've been known to buy ethnic frozen goods that we don't have at our Costco. This was the first one I've found where you have to pay to park!

That burger looks like something David would order, I think I would have just eaten the poutine.. How was it? Is it any different than the poutine we can get here in the US? We have found some good place from DDD and we have found some bad places.

I've never had poutine in the US. In fact this may only be the 2nd or 3rd time I've had poutine. We haven't had any really "bad" places. Some have been not so memorable but most have been really good.

Wow that room looks so comfy, and that bed looks dreamland. What great views.

The bed was great! But the price made my eyes water. One night there was the same as the previous two nights, but the ease of getting on the ship made it worth it.

looks like the logistics worked out easy enough for the car return, train back to the hotel.

It was easy peasy! I'm glad the bellman mentioned that to us when we were dropping off the bags. I think he quoted us as $47 per day for valet parking. I was like, "no, we're not even going to have this car for our stay! It going back to the airport once we check in!"

The mushroom bisque looks really good, nice deep rich color gives some good depth of flavor! The beef tartare also looks nice and rare!

Sorry that Fran is not getting better, that really sucks.

The soup was very tasty, but I definitely prefer my "regular" beef tartare, it's much more flavorful.

I have never been to Save on Meets (despite living here my entire life), we REALLY need to get downtown more often! Oh that looks sooooo yummy!

I can understand why you don't get downtown much especially with a parking situation like that. We had a good experience in downtown LA which made me think on a second occasion we could have some dinner there. And it further cemented why I hate DTLA. It also didn't help that the BET awards were happening, but it was just a mad house.

It's not just the downtown Costco, they are like that out in here in the 'burbs too. Parking is atrocious from beginning of day to end, everyone just wants to get their stuff and get out. Last time we went my dh was looking at couches and I swear, he was doing the looking and I was doing all the shopping and the 'hurry up, let's get out of here' lol At least you didn't go to the Costco in Richmond, ten minutes from the airport. Hands down worst Costco on the planet.

You mean the one that we had a view of from our room at the River Rock? How do you know we didn't visit it?

Look at that gorgeous view from the Pan!!! The roof with the garden/grass on top is the new Convention Centre.

Thanks for telling me that. I was crious what that building was. It was an even better view the next morning!

 

[bcwife76]

Uh yep, if you can see Costco from the RiverRock then that's the one I'm talking about. Did you dare enter the HELL that is Richmond Costco? Guess I'll have to wait til the end of your trip report to find out ;-)
Love the RR, DH's work Xmas party was held there last year.

And yes....parking and just driving in downtown Vancity is pretty much the #1 reason we never go downtown.

 

[rentayenta]

I'm here! I was out of town but ready to catch up!