My day in Stanley Park!

Well I have arrived back in Canada. I hit the boarder at 10 am. It was easy and not a hassle getting back into Canada. When I arrived in Vancouver I stopped at a nice park, and chatted with a local man.

The decision was made. I was going to spend my one and only day in Vancouver, in Stanley Park.

Here is the information on Stanley Park.

Stanley Park is a 404.9 hectare (1,000 acre) urban park bordering downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was opened in 1888 by Lord Stanley of Preston, the Governor-General of Canada.[1]

It is more than 10% larger than New York City's Central Park and almost half the size of London's Richmond Park.[2] The park attracts an estimated eight million visitors every year,[3] including locals and tourists, who come for its recreational facilities and its natural attributes. An 8.8 kilometres (5.5 mi) seawall path circles the park, which is used by 2.5 million pedestrians, cyclists, and inline skaters every year.[4] Much of the park remains forested with an estimated half million trees that can be as tall as 76 metres (250 ft) and hundreds of years old.[5][6] There are approximately 200 kilometres (120 mi) of trails and roads in the park, which are patrolled by the Vancouver Police Department's equine mounted squad.[7] The Project for Public Spaces has ranked Stanley Park as the sixteenth best park in the world and sixth best in North America.[8]

Being in Stanley Park was a great experience. The disadvantage was that the weather in Vancouver today was fantastic! No humidity, not a cloud in the sky, and temperatures around 26 Celsius. So the bike path that circles Stanley Park was very crowded. Also you had to share the path with roller bladder's. I arrived in the park at 11 am and was lucky to find a place to park. An all day parking pass was only $8. That is the only thing that was cheap in Vancouver. It is a fantastic city. However the downtown area is very congested, and not very suitable for exploring by bike.

A good tip when you visit Stanley Park as you should. Show up with food and drinks. They defiantly rip you off on the price of concessions. I did bit the bullet and paid $4.75 for a hot dog. Has the world gone completely mad, or is it just me?

I rode my bike over to the water front, that is very close to Stanley Park, and grabbed some dinner. No luck, I paid a high price, and again got no satisfaction. I tried a local microbrewery beer. It was O.K., it gets no better rating then that.

Just before 7 pm. I decided to make my move and head back to Vancouver airport. I had my very nice Hyundai car to return. When flying defiantly leave yourself lots of time to make your flight. On a holiday, you want to avoid stress. So you can enjoy yourself. It is now 9:34 PST. I'm sitting here at gate A2, waiting for my flight. I will finish this post tomorrow at home.

It is now just before noon on June 14th, EST. Everything went smooth with the return trip. However I felt I was overcharged by the airport parking lot. It was only a little more then $10. But is the principle of the powerful that take advantage of the helpless, that gets me upset. A taxi I guess would have been the better choice. However using a taxi to the airport is also an expensive proposition. The rip off there is that regular taxi's cannot pick up at the airport. Only limousine service can. So the limousines get away with charging the customer double what a taxi would charge.

Anyhow I made it home in one piece. The whole experience was a very great one. Lots of good memories of visiting; Puget Sound, and some of the wonderful islands, located in the sound, the state of Oregon, and the wonderful scenic river valley drive, the drive around mighty Mt. Hood, the drive up to Mt. St. Helens, and the tour in the Boeing factory. I will get my pictures from the trip developed today, and can't wait to post the pictures.