Vancouver, Canada

Because of our extra luggage we had the choice of paying for the luggage or upgrading to First Class where our luggage would be free.  The difference in cost was minimal so we travelled First Class to Vancouver…it was brilliant.  It’s only a 3 hour flight but we were so comfortable.  The kids did really well especially with all the room we had and Spencer made a little friend in the girl the seat ahead of us so they played quite happily with stickers and such.

We got a great view of Vancouver on the way in, a lovely city that sits between mountains and sea and the autumn colours were breath-taking.  Pure reds and yellows.  We stayed in an airport hotel but the Sky Train goes straight from the airport into the city so we planned on taking a look around.  We had been invited to stay at John and Debbie’s in Victoria (the great couple we met in San Francisco) but the kids were just getting over colds and Spencer especially was still miserable.  The weather turned nasty and although we can handle rain, when it is combined with the cold temperatures and sick kids we decided that sticking around the immediate vicinity was better than trying to trek with the kids so we reluctantly turned the offer down.  It was a shame because we were looking forward to seeing them again and having a look around Victoria which sounds lovely.  It’s another reason for us to return one day.

Downtown Vancouver

We took the train into the city and tried to have look around the waterfront but the weather was atrocious.  We noticed on the subway (Vancouver only has two lines) that lots of people were wearing work clothes etc with GUMBOOTS and that should have been our first clue.  The streets were sodden and the rain was incessant it just didn’t stop.  So we ran from shelter to shelter trying to keep the kids dry and in the end gave up and headed home.  It was hard to get an idea of down town, seems a lot like Auckland actually.

Gumboot capital

Harbour and ferries

The next day was slightly better and we headed for uptown, this was a short ride on the Sky Train and then a nice walk through David Lam Park up towards Granville Island.  Crossing the Granville Bridge gives you a great view of the city, the harbour and the mountains beyond and then on Granville Island they have great markets.  The first one is a Kids Market which has playgrounds and toy shops for Africa.  Leo had earned his 10 stickers so he chose a cool robot for his toy and Spencer got a funny hour glass toy that she was fascinated with.  We had a great lunch and then headed to the other market which is in a huge warehouse and has everything you can think of…cheese, deli, veggies, coffee, wines, crafts, spices, icecreams, biscuits, fish, chocolate…the senses are almost overwhelmed and it was awesome to look around and get some ideas for what Auckland doesn’t have.

Wrapped up for day ahead..

Autumn colours in David Lam Park

View of harbour from Granville Bridge

Uptown apartments

Mummy and Leo keep warm

Granville Island markets

Looking back at city

We caught a cute little ferry back to the train station, it’s only big enough for about 6 people and the kids had a brilliant time hanging over the side and touching the water which was FREEZING.  It was a great day and gave us much more of a feel for Vancouver for sure.

Leo and Mr Robot who lasted 5 minutes

Hanging off the ferry

Uptown marina

The Sky Train is a driverless train so we sat up the front so Leo “could drive” and he had a blast thinking he was in control, taking the train up and down hills and into tunnels.  Unfortunately however he was on such a high that he raced off the train without his treasured robot…bye bye robot.  He was very upset but forgot about it all pretty quickly when he got home to his other toys, life is so simple for a 3 year old. 

Leo the train driver

It’s a bit disappointing not to see more of Canada as we had first planned but seeing how cold it is here (and wet) it was absolutely the right decision not to bring the kids up here with the camper.  We vow to come back!

Airport action - Justin catching up on important news

City of Angels (Los Angeles)

The drive from Las Vegas to Los Angeles is about 3.5 hours, it took us about 6 of course because we stop so often and always take a long lunch break for the kids.  It was a nice and uneventful drive which was great.  There is a great diner on the I15 not far from Barstow called Peggy Sue’s 50’s Diner and this is well worth a stop.  It’s like stepping into Happy Days. 

We found a KOA in Pomona which is about 30 minutes from the heart of LA and it was here that we prepared to spend our last 9 days in the USA.  Both Louie and the camper are up on craigslist so it’s hopefully just a matter of time before we are free agents with a fistful of cash so to speak.

Right next door to the campground is a big RV Fair, so of course we headed over for a nosy.  Man, the Americans know how to camp.  I mean, there were some RV’s with fireplaces, guest bathrooms, a DECK of all things and what a way to live.  The big ones were about $400,000 and this was a proper RV, with the truck included.  The tow campers were a lot less, the luxury ones going for about 150,000.  The ones we really liked (the ones you can tow with a normal car) were about $22,000 (just to note we looked in NZ for the price of one of these and it was more than double at $50,000).  A lot of the dealers we spoke with said they did a lot of business for Australia and some for NZ.  People are buying on line and having them shipped out themselves.  So if we ever do this (and we have got the bug) this is how we would do it for sure.

Up goes the camper for the last time!

Evicted tenant from camper....

Kids cleaning camper up for selling!

Inside American RV, the lounge!

Justin's dream truck

The camper actually sold quite quickly, we had about 3 “open homes” and eventually sold it to a lovely Mexican family who want it for holidays after their ancient 1975 (ours is 1991) pop up was totalled in a car accident.  The Barrera’s wanted to pick up the camper the next day though so all of a sudden we were going to be homeless, we spent a lovely last night in the camper and said a sad goodbye to her the next day.  It’s really nice to know she has gone to a good home and will give another family some great memories too.

Happy buyers - The Barrera Family

Goodbye house

We stayed the next night at a Long Beach hotel which is very near Huntington’s beach and arranged to doss at Justin’s old school friend Paul Gilles and his wife’s condo in Santa Monica for the next two nights.  That left one night in an airport hotel before jetting off to Vancouver to catch our flight out.

Huntington Beach Pier

Before heading to Paul’s we took a nice drive along the Pacific Coast Highway down to the Huntington Beach and Pier for a look.  It was great apart from the strange fog that seemed to hang around the coast line.  They call this the marine layer and it’s so weird because you drive 5k inland and it’s bright blue skies.  It all added to the atmosphere though and the kids had a great run on the pier and at the beach before we grabbed some Mexican for lunch and bundled the kids in the car to drive to Paul’s.

Paul and Gabrielle live in a beautiful spot just minutes walk from Santa Monica beach and their condo is lovely, all wooden floors and open plan with bedrooms upstairs and a converted loft.  They also have a crazy cat called Lola who the kids loved immediately.  I say crazy because she has an extra claw on each poor which makes it look like she has fingers and a thumb, she loves to shower with you and she does the most amazing acrobats on the bannister of the stairs.  Gorgeous.

We were welcomed with open arms and it was great to get to know more of Justin’s mates.  We had a great BBQ and a few tequila's while the guys caught up.  I never knew guys could gossip so much hahah!

Paul demonstrating Justin's winning tennis serve

The next day we had a punter who wanted to look at Louie about an hour away and another ring back who had viewed the car and made an offer which we were happy to accept.  Not ones to count our blessings we booked both in and when the first guy offered us way less than our asking price we headed on to the next and gladly (and sadly) signed Louie over to a new owner.  The new owner is a 15 year old teen so I hope she is kind to our Louie.

We then drove back to Santa Monica in our newly rented Dodge SUV and Paul took us out for a walking tour in Santa Monica…along the beach and down to the pier which was brilliant.  A lovely vibe and lots of people about.

Santa Monica Pier

Hotel Casa Del Mar - Marilyn Monroe's old hangout

Leo's fighting moves

Wishful thinking....

Making ourselves at home in the condo

Our wonderful hosts, Paul and Gabrielle

On our last full day in America we drove even further up the coast to see Malibu and then took Sunset Boulevard in towards Beverly Hills.  Sunset is a long road and great because it takes you through Bel Air, you can see the UCLA campus, it takes you through the canyons and then onto West Hollywood via Beverly Hills.  We were meeting Paul for lunch in Beverly Hills and the kids were asleep so we took a diversion up into the Canyons and along the ridge that is Mulholland Drive.  This looks down onto San Fernando Valley “The Valley” as the locals call it.

Malibu...through the marine layer

Our lunch spot on Sunset Strip

Beverly Hills

Leo in action on Rodeo Drive

Latest Bugatti, we thought the crowds were for a star.

Pretty Woman hotel

Malibu in the morning

When the kids woke up we went to have some lunch with Paul on Sunset Strip at a place called Saddle Ranch (incidentally they have filmed here for both Sex in the City and Desperate Housewives) which was lovely and it was a really beautiful day so Paul then took us for a tour of Rodeo Drive.  This is actually a lot shorter than I thought it was and has no real boutique shops but more of the Gucci and high end stuff.  It’s a lovely walk though just a bit hard to do any real shopping with two roudy kids in tow!  We saw the hotel that Pretty Woman was made in and then headed back along Beverly Boulevard.  Didn’t see anyone famous but really tried!  Paul has met Reese Witherspoon (really nice girl), Arnie Schwarzenegger (read business papers during dinner with his now-ex-wife and 3 kids) and done some IT work at Sarah Michelle Geller’s (talks a lot) house (Buffy the vampire) and his brother sat next to Robert De Niro at a bar once(bar tender told him “your money is no good here”).

After getting back to Paul’s and picking up our gear we got to the hotel after dark and settled in to sort ourselves out for the flight to Vancouver the next morning.