another transportation adventure

The whole world is visiting our city and last weekend I thought I would take T to experience some of it. So someday I can show him the pictures and say, "you were there!" But as these things go, it didn't quite turn out the way I planned. I had originally thought of taking a bus downtown to look at the cauldron and the outdoor skating rink at Robson Square and watch people zipping overhead on the zip lines - the ones people are lining up for hours to go on (6+ hours in some cases!). But that's not what happened. We took the Seabus (T loves it!) across the harbour,

seeing boats, landing float planes, nearly colliding with a sailboat and we did spy the cauldron in the distance. Then we took the Skytrain to the Olympic Village station and lined up for the Olympic trolley.

When it was our turn to board the "trolley",

the driver spied T and asked him to do him a favour - guard the space behind his door so he would be able to open in and get into his booth. T was thrilled. Once the driver was in the booth and we were getting underway, I put T up on my shoulders so he could see the track.

So during the whole 10 block ride, T gave us a running commentary about crossings and the cars we were racing. The driver thought it was funny! At Granville Island we stopped for a bite to eat, T played with his truck by the duck pond

and around the kid's playground. There were crowds of people enjoying the sunshine. We didn't end up visiting any of the pavillions there or seeing anything beyond all the people but it was a lovely day and T had fun. We did get maple leafs painted on our faces!We made our way back via trolley and T shared his chocolate buttons with the people behind us in line. He commented all the way back on the trolley. Back on the Skytrain we managed to get a spot at the front so T could see the tunnel. Then back to the Seabus passing thousands of people in Waterfront station - some lining up for the train to the Richmond Oval and thousands more streaming into town for the US-Canada hockey game (we lost!) all wearing red and white costumes and waving flags. And on the Seabus ride back across to the North Shore, we saw two helicopters land as well as a float plane.

planes, trains and boats

Today I took T on a local adventure. First stop, the SeaBus. T was fascinated by the "ferry". He loved the big boats in the harbour and watching the seagulls take off in front of the hovercraft.

Then we took the SkyTrain, the new Canada line out to the airport. On the walkway between the SeaBus and the Skytrain we passed over the train tracks for the cross country freight trains and the WestCoast Express commuter train. And along the way, lots of escalators which T loves to ride on. The SkyTrain wasn't very full but we ended up facing the wrong way. T didn't think we were going very fast and got a bit cross as we kept stopping (at the stations along the way). He was very excited when we came out of the tunnel and went over the river. He could see a lot of trucks and construction trucks. We had a bite to eat at the airport and headed up to the public viewing area. T gazed at the planes taking off and coming into the terminal.

We saw a plane taxi up to the gate and watched the "tunnel" drive up to the plane (to disembark passengers). Then the baggage was unloaded with a conveyor truck and the baggage carts and the plane was refueled by one of the orange tanker trucks. In the meantime other planes were taking off in clouds of spray (from the past days of rain) and other trucks were zooming around picking up parcels, delivering suitcases and food and pulling or pushing planes in and out of the gates. After about an hour, we left. I managed to dodge the request for a stuffed orca at the Aquarium gift shop, although T really, really wanted the giant plush orca at the front of the store. We walked up to the SkyTrain station and while waiting, T asked me why a man was standing on the yellow line (I had told him we had to wait for the train behind the yellow line). We managed to get a seat at the front of the train so we could see all along the tunnel, realizing that the train squeals as it goes around big bends in the tunnel.

Then back on the SeaBus. At the SeaBus terminus we stopped to look back at the city skyline from the sailboat fountain

and a quick stop to look at the tug boats anchored at the dock.

Then back to where we left the car and home to tell Daddy all about our adventure.