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I didn’t intend to arrive in downtown Vancouver alone with my two-year-old twins.  Just the thought of walking around a large, unfamiliar metropolitan city without a stroller was enough to send those waves of panic straight to my gut. But my traveling companion took the first flight home from Seattle after one migraine too many and there I was, alone, and zipping up a soggy interstate towards the international border.

Thoughts of hiding in our hotel room crossed my mind. It would be certainly the easier way to go. We could watch cartoons and order room service. It would be safe, simple, and, well, boring. I quickly shook those thoughts out of my mind and channeled my inner travel savvy self. We could do this!

Yes, it was raining but we had rain jackets. Yes, there were lots of cars but I could keep a death grip on their tiny hands like nobody’s business. Yes, I had no idea where to find the bus to Stanley Park but that’s what a hotel concierge is for.

And so we bundled, we held hands, and we got directions to the number 19 bus.  The children must have picked up on the tone during my pre-adventure lecture because they behaved like seasoned professionals. They kept a grip on my hand just as I had asked. They boarded that bus and sat together like urban transportation veterans. The giddy expressions on their faces told me they were having a great time, and when we got off the bus and stepped into Stanley Park they were absolutely thrilled.

The rain was a novelty for my southern California kids, and only added to the Pacific Northwestern atmosphere. The forests of fir trees helped shelter us from the heaviest droplets and provided the perfect oasis in this urban park. We walked along the seawall and watched seaplanes take off from an aquatic airport. We gazed at the massive totem poles created by people whose ancestors had lived in the area long before skyscrapers and seawalls. We wandered with no particular destination in mind and just enjoyed some of the beauty of Vancouver.

Then we got back on the number 19 bus, walked back through the concrete canyons hand in hand, and settled into our room for some room service and cartoons.

Read Sharlene’s review of the Delta Vancouver Suites, the hotel she did not hide out in.