Vancouver: City, Beach, Forest, Mountain

A high-rise of 20 stories, the Rosedale is all suites. There are several sizes, but they aim for a clientele of families and they get it. Our family expedition (three sisters plus their spouses and kids) made this our Vancouver headquarters for 2 nights, and it worked out well.

The rooms are little more dated than I had expected but okay. Ours had a separate bedroom with a queen-size bed, overlooking the top of the spectacular Vancouver Public Library. Our girls shared the living area, which had a foldout queen-size sofa bed (we had a roll-away brought in). That area was a little dark--it was between the bedroom and the hall and thus had no sunlight (other layouts had windows in both rooms). There was a kitchenette in the hallway between the two, but we didn't use it.

The pool is on the mezzanine and a little hard to find but nice. There are lots of windows in this area, which gives a lot of sunlight. Breakfast was in an area just off the lobby. It was little disappointing but fit with what was advertised: juices (from a juice machine), coffee (from a coffee machine), and muffins (prepackaged). There was coffee in the room (which was better than the machine's).

The location is a little to the east and south of the central part of Vancouver. For example, it's over 2 miles to Stanley Park at the northwest corner. It is close to Yaletown, a recently revived area that's home to the Yaletown Brewing Company (highly recommended) and other restaurants. It's about a mile walk to the Aquabus stops on False Creek. If you're going to concerts at BC Place, it's pretty convenient, and they appear to offer package deals for all the events there.

The staff was friendly and helpful. They have a computer with Internet access in the lobby they'll let you use (there's also free access at the library across the street). All in all, it was okay--Vancouver is expensive, and the price here was moderate given the range. But if I come back here, I'll probably look for somewhere else to stay first.

Yaletown is a former warehouse district that's recently become a center for urban reclamation. You can tell that as you walk the streets--all the buildings look like, well, warehouses. But housed in their first and second floors are a growing variety of shops, businesses, and restaurants.

A fixture in this area is the Yaletown Brewing Company, a fairly large place offering great beer and great food at modest prices. We called ahead and told them that our party of 15 was coming and they treated us really well. It's comfortable for people of all ages. They were great with our seven kids as well as the singles and 20- to 60-somethings throughout the restaurant. The menu is fairly standard for a brewpub, with pizzas, pastas, sandwiches, salads, etc., but everything we ordered came out well. The pizzas were a big hit.

The beers were terrific (and I can speak to more than one variety). We sat here for a while after dinner, enjoying the setting and relaxing after a full day (which included disembarking from our Alaska cruise and touring Stanley Park and the Aquarium). Adult or kid, beer drinker or no, I think you'd like this place.

On the campus of UBC, stretched out along Point Grey with Burrard Inlet to the north and Strait of Georgia to the west, this site was probably one that the First Nations people themselves inhabited for centuries. This building and the collection it houses are terrific introductions to the people and cultures of the northwest. It should be a part of your itinerary in Vancouver, regardless of your interests: anthropology, historic, craft, arts, architecture are all a large part of this place.

Designed by Arthur Erickson, whose work is found throughout Vancouver, the large concrete-and-glass facility gives these artifacts a beautiful home. It begins with the front doors, nearly 9 feet high, a carved depiction of the history of one of the regional people. The building looks to the inlet to the north, with the Great Hall bounded by an impressive 30-foot floor-to-ceiling glass wall. The entire facility echoes the post-and-beam architecture employed throughout the area.

Major pieces are displayed throughout the museum. The size of the facility allows for some very big items, including the walls of lodges, totems, and others. They're interspersed with interactive displays that allow you access to oral histories collected from principal members of the First Nations in the mid- to late 20th century. In addition, the recent work by artists from these peoples is also on display, including the stunning large-scale cedar piece "The Raven and the First Men," by Haida artist Bill Reid, on permanent display in the Rotunda. This piece itself is worth the visit.

Outside, a Haida village has been recreated, crafted in 1962 by Reid and Doug Cranmer. Be sure to head outside and to the west to see the family house, the mortuary house, and a collection of poles, including one in honor of Reid.

If you enjoy the art of these peoples, you'll find the gift shop hard to pass up. From postcards to posters to replicas of major pieces, there is a host of beautiful items available here.

Erickson was charged with making the museum's entire collection available to the public as well. So in addition to the galleries, the University's anthropology collection is at your fingertips. This includes things from around the world, not just the northwest.

Following your visit, you have access to some of Vancouver's major beaches. Wreck Beach is just a short jaunt west and south along Marine Drive. If you're staying in central Vancouver, consider stopping in Kitsilano as you head back. Fourth Avenue in particular is a long stretch of great shops and restaurants.

Park? zoo? Science center? Amusement park? It's hard to classify the Vancouver Aquarium. If it lives in the water--especially in the waters of the Pacific Northwest--then the Vancouver Aquarium has one, and has a fun and engaging presentation of it.

We spent half a rainy day here--our first in Vancouver after disembarking from a cruise ship. The Aquarium is located in Stanley Park, on the eastern side, and is a pretty big complex. The number of outdoor exhibits--sea otters, seas, dolphins, beluga whales--apparently just keeps expanding. The new beluga whale exhibit was just be dedicated the day we were there, and the trainers were showing off their charges for the newspaper and television cameras. You can view these beautiful white creatures both from inside, where you look into their tank, or outside.

A series of exhibits display the varied aquatic habitats around Vancouver Island, with very large tanks containing realistic reproductions of the different shore areas. There's a simulated rainforest here, complete with beautiful tropical boards. You can watch the dolphins perform at regular intervals. You can get up close with an octopus (if you invest enough time waiting for these shy creatures to come out of hiding).

There's a fascinating exhibit on the ocean life in Lancaster Sound, near the Arctic Ocean. I had no idea how rich and varied marine life is there--but it wasn't surprising to hear that it's cold.

You should never have to pay full admission here--there are discount coupons of all kinds all over the city. Some came with our rental car (from Budget), and ended up knocking nearly a third off the price of admitting our family of five, ending up around $40. That was a great price for four hours of great fun.

North of central Vancouver, across the Burrard Inlet, are a series of canyons where rivers come down out of the thickly forested mountains to the ocean. It takes a drive to get to any of them--it was probably close to an hour by the time we got here from our hotel in central Vancouver.

But by the time you leave the suburban neighborhood behind and drive into the park, it's hard to remember that you were just in an urban area of a gazillion people. The thick forest, the deep canyon, the rushing streams--this is a terrific place to see something of what this area was like before it became the metropolis it is now.

The main attraction is the suspension bridge over Lynn Canyon: built in 1912, the cable and wooden plank construction does sway somewhat as you cross over the chasm below and is wide enough to allow two people to pass side by side. You'll probably encounter several brave enough to stop in the middle and look up and down the canyon's length (at a height of 160 feet), but you can move by them with ease. On either side of the bridge, well-marked trails take you up and down the canyon. It's well worth crossing the bridge and turning left, which brings you to a nice view of a waterfall.

Like any main attraction, the farther you move away, the more solitude you enjoy. Don't miss the chance to head off into the woods a little bit. There's also an Ecology Center and a small cafe (with good ice cream!)

Consider coming here instead of the more famous Capilano Suspension Bridge. That one's longer, it's true, but it's more crowded and certainly more expensive. As a county park, this wonderful place is free.

If you're driving, cross Burrard Inlet over Lion's Gate Bridge out of Stanley Park, and then come back east on Highway 1. We came back from Lynn Canyon that way, after making the mistake of driving east in central Vancouver (on Hastings Street) and then crossing over the Second Narrows Bridge.