16WOC, VANCOUVER - PART ONE


    Photos by Lois Greer, except where otherwise captioned.

Had a WONDERful time in the beautiful cities of Vancouver and Victoria - ablaze with red and yellow tulips and cherry blossoms - a setback or two couldn't ruin a fantastic trip -



A little mishap with the rental car -

which other than the time involved in getting the paperwork together (and attendant worry) - has been easy to handle (so far). My insurance carrier, USAA, is very cooperative - just a matter of faxing the facts, m'am. *S*



On to the GOOD times in Vancouver:

My daughter, Linda, flew in from Phoenix and joined me in Vancouver. We had 7 full days, I planned two for orchid business, the remainder we were pure tourists! One day was reserved for AOS committee meetings, the other was judging day and the preview party.

Committee meeting day, we started it off with brunch at the Pan America Hotel. VERY impressive. Understand there are two 5 star hotels in Vancouver of which the Pan America is one - the lush and more touted Hotel Vancouver only rates 4 stars. *G* We went by the Vancouver Art Gallery next to the Hotel Vancouver (where the AOS meetings were held) where they had a Toulouse Lautrec exhibit! My meeting finished up after 6 p.m. Six of us met in the lobby, three went out for salmon at an upscale seafood restaurant, we three (Marilyn Lee, Linda and I) opted for a trip to "The White Spot" - cheap, clean, good...great "desserts for two!" The three of us shared a huge slice of chocolate cake with ice cream and whipped cream - and a cherry on top! Was so good we had dinner another day at a "White Spot" further out of downtown.

There were two OrchidSafari get-togethers!

Breakfast in the Chelsea Restaurant on Saturday morning

From left, front row: Marg Baker, Marilyn Light, Charlie Baker, Michael MacConaill
Back row: Abu Bakar Ahmad, Michael Ooi, Linda Chavez, Jose Bona, Lois Greer, Colin Hamilton, Bob Podgorski
Also there, but not photographed: Marilyn Levine




Left to right: Marg Baker, Colin Hamilton,
Marilyn Light, Charlie Baker, Michael MacConaill.

Mr Lee, the most gracious manager of the Day's Inn Chelsea Restaurant, did a fine job of accommodating us.






Then we met at the Registration desk the evening of the Preview Party and went up to the Lounge in the Pan America hotel for a visit.

Across front, left to right: Sue Smith, Ellen Glasser, x, Sue Zientarski, Jane Deleonardis, x, Ursula Ploch, Cassio Van Den Berg (sp?)

Back row: Carol Holdren, Clare , Colin Hamilton, Greg Steenbeeke, Joachim Erfkamp, Lois Greer

Met Ellen (Dody Ellenberger) and hubby in the Days Inn lobby; Grace Leung also dropped by the hotel - was so nice to meet her too!


The small and tall of it: Grace Leung and Lois
We did a city tour - went by Dr. Sun Yat Sen Classical Chinese Garden, and meant to go back to see it - but forgot!!! Nina Rach says it's a must for any return trip to Vancouver. We were the last on the trolly tour and she took us out of her way to a fruit market! We stocked up and got flowers for the room. We also walked over to the show site at the Convention Ctr and did the dinosaurs at the IMAX theatre, and that night we had dinner at the Cloud 9 revolving restaurant atop (forgot name of that hotel)!. *S*

Another day was the ferry to Victoria - took the rental car - and really enjoyed the ferry - hadn't done that before. Did Butchart Gardens, shopped downtown Victoria, went by the Empress for High Tea, and seeing the room and the menu, decided to cancel and go for Chinese. For the same price we had egg rolls, fried rice, chicken and cashews, sweet and sour hicken, beef and peppers and a couple pots of green tea...and didn't have to go out to dinner after eating! *LOL*









Linda in the Japanese Sunken Gardens, Butchart Gardens








We also went thru the House of Miniatures
(at the Empress)






- and then went to Craigdarrock Castle - that's is one gorgeous old home! More on a scale of what I consider "livable." And all that glorious wood and stained glass! Only did the first floor and then gift shopped while Linda did four floors and turret (82 steps). Got a few gorgeous old-fashioned get-well cards. None of the digital photos taken of flowers at Butchart or the city of Vancouver or Victoria turned out - all overexposed. Wonder if I had the flash on.



An afternoon at Stanley Park - where Linda did the aquarium and I snoozed in the car (went through the aquarium two years ago when Vancouver hosted the Spring AOS show and meetings)





- and a great dinner at the Japanese teahouse on the back side. Had been to dinner there the last time; the second trip was just as good.



A day's tour took us by bus around Vancouver,










- including a paddleboat over to West Vancouver.










The bus met us on the other side, and on up to Capialano bridge - that was nice -









  That redhead in middle of bridge is Linda!        Nice gift shop too! More totems!






and the gondola skyride up to Grouse Mountain,
















Lunched up there, Linda did the IMAX (sat that out too *S*) Gorgeous day!
Lovely view! Very nice day.

We'd planned a whale watching trip off Victoria, I kept looking at that brochure with the Zodiac and yellow suits and figured if Linda ever got me into one of those suits, with our string of bad luck, one of us would be lost at sea...so we cancelled. We spent this, the last day in Vancouver, sleeping til 11 a.m.- lunch downstairs at the Chelsea Restaurant and shopped all day. Got some costume jewelry at Hudson Bay for Linda and Melissa, found a pair of shoes I liked, but way too high - even after conversion! - and returned to hotel at 7 p.m. Dinner at the Bombay Bicycle Club (mistake - same food as the Chelsea, but not cooked and served in the same manner! Quaint - and smokey, of course, yet the lesser of all meals consumed in Vancouver. Packed that evening as we left early the next day.

That's the way we walked and ate our way through Southwestern Canada! *LOL* I swear those Canadians have laid out the downtown and tourist areas for the longest possible walks with the most stairs! Getting to the IMAX theatre at the Convention Center (which is huge in itself) is a real exercise! But what a wonderful feast for the eyes while doing so.

So that was my trip - wonderful place to visit, an orchid show, meetings with OrchidSafariers - and an added bonus of doing it all with my daughter!

Make your next trip Canada, eh?!


Go to Part II for SHOW PICTURES