8 Days at Vancouver

It's a family vacation. Mom, sister and I had an 8-day vacation in Vancouver and Victoria Island. It's a relaxing and slow-paced vacation. Lots of sushi, some chilly weathers, walking and talking. Along the way, we stayed at 4 or 5 star hotels, treated like privileged customers. We did pretty much what a typical tourist would do in Vancouver. We visited the vast and popular city park- Stanley Park; restored Gastown full of heritage building and the signature steam clock and China town; the fun Granville Island with a colorful farmer's market; " hilarious " nude beach- Wreck Beach. We took the " SeaBus" over to North Vancouver and visited Lonsdale Quay Market and Lynn Canyon park. In Vancouver, our favorite thing is to eat sushi. I personally think high quality and incredibly reasonably priced sushi a major attraction in Vancouver. We literally felt obligated to take advantage of the best part of the trip and had sushi everyday for 4 days in a row! Besides sushi, the highlights that linger in memory include the comic Wreck Beach and the spooky and freaky W Hastings St near Chinatown. I give a great deal of credit to my mom for our hilarious experience at Wreck Beach. Needless to say a professional comedian, my blunt and funny mother blurted out a bundle of hysterical jokes based on her observations of the nude people which immediately transformed the a bit embarrassing beginning to a hilarious experience. I personally think W Hastings St the most scary street in north America even during the day time. It's not just a street lined with "Pot Cafes" and drug addicts. It's home to zombi looking people. They are terribly sick and crazy. Some of them are simply lying on the ground, lifeless and others are high and jumping around. I literally felt I was in a Halloween maze and having all the horror characters scare me to death. I fled.
A side trip to Victoria turned out to be cold, sick and short. It's incredibly freezing cold in Victoria in late July! I caught cold and my sister felt sick from her pregnancy. We cut the trip short-from the originally planned 3 days to 2 days and ended up staying in Victoria only. Aside recovering from the sickness in the hotel, we got to scroll around and checked out Chinatown, Bastion Square and of course the Empress Hotel and Parliament Buildings.
Overall it's a nice and rarely relaxing trip for me. I found myself spend a large amount of time at hotel and run out of things to do in the end. Yet, hanging out with my folks is indeed the point of the trip. I do need and enjoy that.