Posts by: WantsToTravelMore

Each year the miniature train in Vancouver‘s Stanley Park puts on a ride through the woods where they make a family friendly spooky adventure. This year’s theme is Alien Invasion, which gives nods to all the famous alien abduction themes from the 1950s to the X-Files. The train itself is a small sized replica (hard for my tall body to squeeze into) of Canadian Pacific Railway Engine #374. This is the first engine to arrive in Vancouver and the original full-sized engine is on display at the Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre in Yaletown. But the fun is the […]

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After a short stay at the Sheraton Wall Centre, it was time to go home and I promised my kids breakfast. However, the hotel breakfast was too complicated and too expensive for my children’s tastes and my wallet. So my tech savvy iPhone addicted older child looked for breakfast places near Burrard and Nelson. It was a bit further than I wanted to limp, but we arrived at the Nero Belgian Waffle Bar at 1002 Seymour St. It’s not that big inside, but they use the outside space well with effective heaters to offset the chill of an October morning. […]

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The Sheraton Wall Centre in Vancouver is located on Burrard Street across the street from St. Paul’s hospital. It’s walking distance to a movie theatre, downtown Vancouver. I had the fun of using the hotel as a post operative recuperation zone. For reasons too boring to go into, I could not make it home after some abdominal surgery. Booking.com had some deals and I booked in advance, making sure I confirmed the date before the cancellation date of the reservation, which was 3 days before the scheduled surgery. There was a small line up at the front desk in the […]

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The family decision was to ride horses. Of the four of us, I the eldest, last rode a horse in the early 1990s a couple of years before our trail guide was born. I didn’t feel old at all, no sir. The rest of the gang was equally out of practice or inexperienced. Errington is near Coombs and only 10 minutes from Parksville. Tiger Lilly Farm is a left off of Highway 4A on Errington Road. Tiger Lilly Farm offers trail rides and a farm petting zoo. This part is perfect for younger children, especially those with limited exposure to […]

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On 403 Lowrys Rd, Parksville you will find the Morningstar Farm, which is home to two businesses: the Mooberry Winery and the Little Qualicum Cheeseworks. The Morningstar Log Cabin that greets you. The whimsical and comic layout of both these businesses is to be admired. And it’s refreshing to find because on Lowry’s Road there’s creeping urban development and a Save-On Foods, which I suspect would never stock their products, is a mere 2.3 km away. It’s easy to find your way around the farm. The wines are all fruit wines ranging from apple (close to apple cider but not […]

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Qualicum Beach shares tourism marketing with Parksville but are two rather different towns. Parksville has the “miracle mile” feel along Highway 19A with Tim Hortons, Starbucks, Domino’s Pizza and other national chains. Qualicum Beach on the other hand has only local vendors with lo-branding. The closest is the Quality Foods store, Lefty’s restaurant and the LDB (Liquor Distribution Branch) store. They have other branches in Parksville and, in the case of the government run liquor store, beyond. A few years back a shopping trip to Qualicum Beach yielded so-so results because the stores seemed generic and bland. This trip however […]

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Coombs is a 10-minute drive (about 10 km) inland from Parksville, which is considered part of central Vancouver Island. We always enjoy a side trip to Coombs when we’re in the area as there’s a couple of favourite shopping spots and there’s always something new. On Highway 4A, our first stop is Dutch Imports because some members of my family enjoy the rather peculiar-to-the-Dutch taste in candy (and other things). Stop here to find 43 types of salty licorice The store has more than odd foods. There’s a lot of traditional Dutch stuff that will make any Hollander homesick. Dutch […]

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This isn’t going to be a story where an infant saves a senior from some horrible fate in the cafeteria. Rather, it was a gorgeous summer sailing from Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo. We were starting or family vacation at last before the madness of the Fall descends. We were seated near the cafeteria when my son says, in hushed tones, “Dad, is that Jimmy Olsen?” My son had successfully recognized Mehcad Brooks of the TV show Supergirl, which films in Vancouver. Later on the sailing I saw him again and stopped him and introduced my son and daughter to him. […]

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There’s a 19+ years of age movie theatre in Vancouver at 5th and Burrard (Fifth Avenue Cinemas). For the people who don’t want to deal with children, there’s an option for you. For my friend and I, children aren’t the problem (we have our own) it’s the choice of movee. Dunkirk is not for pre teens. At 5:30 PM on a Friday we managed to get a table for two outside at Trattoria in Kitsilano on 4th Avenue. We did not have reservations but what I see on other sites tells me that if you are tight for time, reservations […]

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Sometimes you have too many meetings and things go late and you are gripped by strange food urges. In this case my urge was for seafood chow mein. Also, sometimes, you find yourself not in your usual neighbourhood and you have to take a risk. Main Street from 13th to 16th in Vancouver is slowly gentrifying and certainly gives the rough-and-tumble neighbourhood feel but you see the creeping in of branded stores and eateries. In this particular case, I found Kwong Chow Congee & Noodle House. I tend to test a Chinese restaurant’s authenticity by the number of anglo-looking faces […]

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