The 3hour time difference can clip you at the knees when you are up at 4am EST and travel west. By the time we hit the hay, we had been awake close to 24 hours. As we went to bed East coast time, we were up at 5am in Vancouver. Yikes! Katie did her usual "chat with anything that moves" routine, but all her effort paid off. She received critical lunch spot recommendations, not to be missed sites and several new best friends. The double rainbow at breakfast was a great sign of good times to come.

We arrived at the Vancouver Lookout Tower just prior to its opening and were the first ones there . The 360 view of Vancouver was a great way to become acclimated to the city. We planned to be at the “Fly Canada” ride/simulator when that opened at 10am. We were on our game as we had been up for 5 hours already! Tim and I had already purchased tickets for a hop on hop off bus tour and Katie was heading to buy the “Fly Canada” tickets. I turned and panicked when I saw her at the WRONG kiosk about to buy some tickets. I ran and yelled “KATIE!!!! Don't buy those!” thinking that she was purchasing duplicate bus tickets. Turns out she was just fine, but I had succeeded in terrifying scores of tourists. The ticket lady, who I presumed was from India, proceeded to tell me that I had VERY positive energy, just like she had. That’s one way to put it.

We arrived with the correct tickets to be first in line for the “Fly Canada” ride. The only challenge was the overheated covered area where we had to wait. I was about to strip down to my skivvies but it was worth the wait .

Next on our speed tour was the hop on hop off bus tour of the entire city.  Stanley Park, Gastown and Yaletown were some of the highlights. Vancouver is truly a spectacular city. Its temperate climate provides flowers and greenery throughout the year. Vancouver is the “Hollywood of the North” as many many movies have been filmed here.

We checked in
with Rocky Mountaineer this evening to get our luggage tags, boarding
passes and the insane departure time early tomorrow am. Katie was
delighted to find out that they will have historical information and
GAMES during the train ride tomorrow. She did ask if there would be
prizes... they are now warned.