Vancouver for a day

Dad and I

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The first magnificent view was already there when the plane landed. Overlooking the city, the mountains behind it with snow on top of them. Once landed around 5:50pm, I had to walk to the baggage area and I walked through this really nice room which looked sort of like a "jungle room". Very nice! Further along the track they had a nice waterfall going on. I'll see if I can get a shot of those things when I go back.
I had to go through customs (again, the Chicago ones took LONG). Nearly no lines here thank god, they didn't ask too many questions and I was out of there in just a few seconds. Now that's how I like it!
Off to pick up my baggage then. Which baggage? They lost it in Chicago! But found again; they put it on the next plane and it would arrive at around 11pm. They were willing to send it over to wherever I was staying, but  we decided just to pick it up ourselves.

View from the hotel

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Leaving the baggage area my dad and his wife were already there waiting for me and picked me up and took me to the car park, which was just accross the road; not even a 5min walk!

After leaving the airport we left to look for a hotel, not too far away as we had to come back to the airport anyways. We found the Travelodge Hotel in Richmond after driving around for a bit. Not a bad hotel if u have the money - $129 for a quad room. Excellent view on the city though from the 11th floor, with the mountains again in the background.

Dinner
The little restaurant attached to the hotel didn't have that many different things, and as I was craving for pasta, we decided to leave and look for something different.
We drove downtown Vancouver and found a place not bad called White Keg. Pretty empty as we got there at around 8:30, but it looked like a nice place. I had a nice pasta dish, and it wasn't half bad, just would've wanted a little less cheese and a bigger plate, but as I ordered it I guess I shouldn't complain lol.

Stanley Park Totem poles

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After sleeping in, we had a nice breakfast at Denny's. Not too fancy but they serve a nice breakfast.

Just a shame it's raining today, but I wanted to go to Stanley Park anyways. Stanley Park is a VERY big park, where you could wonder around for hours if you'd want to. Driving or walking along the shore, through the forest, along the famous Totem Poles, with excellent views on the city and on a clear day the mountains in the background. Definatly coming back here on a clear day!

We decided to leave for Lacey, as it would be a 4 hour drive too and it was about 4pm and still raining. Crossing the US border wasn't a problem, my green Visa waiver was still in my passport. We stopped at Subway on the way, getting some nice food from there. Little bit of traffic on the way back, but it wasn't bad at all!