It was sad, but eventually we ha to say goodbye to Alaska and to our home-away-from-home.

We disembarked in Vancouver, where I promptly lost my cabin card (thus delaying my getting off the ship) and saw a million children coming off the Disney cruise docked next to us. I’ve been really looking forward to visiting Vancouver because, although I’ve made a few visits to the West Coast

Our first stop was Stanley Park, which is definitely one of the most beautiful parks I have ever seen.

We didn’t have enough time to explore the entire park, but we were able to stop by and see the Rose Garden. It was gorgeous.

We spent a bit of time in downtown Vancouver, which I enjoyed. The downtown area is more urban than I think I was expecting it to be, but it wasn’t overwhelming or dirty. (Although there is a small chance that there was an exchanging of drugs across my chest at one point, I cannot confirm this.)

We went up the Vancouver Lookout Tower and were able to get just a stunning view of the city.

One of the highlights of this trip was actually my visit to the UBC Museum of Anthropology. I didn’t want to spend the entire time taking photos of every single exhibit, but I learned so much about the First Nations people that lived in this area. We were able to get a free guided tour, which was just incredible as far as how much information I was able to learn. I highly highly recommend visiting if you’re in Vancouver and you enjoy museums. This was easily one of the best museums I’ve ever visited, and I cannot believe that UBC’s anthropology students have access to basically all of the exhibits in the museum. ALSO you can look at the items online. Just… wow! What amazing accessibility to knowledge!

I also really liked Canada Place, which is actually the port for Vancouver cruise ships (including mine!) and the home of the Vancouver Convention Centre. It’s designed for tourists but I still really liked it, especially in the evening. You get to learn about Canada’s history and enjoy a beautiful view. PLUS there’s a new(ish) attraction called FlyOver Canada, which is a really fun flight-simulation “ride”, one of those movies where the seats move. It’s such a large screen that you really feel like you’re flying over the beautiful nation of Canada.

I had a really nice time in Vancouver, and I’m glad I was finally able to visit this gorgeous Canadian city! I can’t wait to come back.