Day 2 begins in Vancouver and ends at Echo Valley Ranch.
We arose, breakfasted at the Fairmont Waterfront breakfast buffet, and proceeded to the Vancouver Aquarium.
The breakfast buffet was good enough -- the usual array of cold and hot cereal, scrambled eggs, smoked salmon sausage, bacon, baked goods, and fruit. I can't comment on the cost as it was included in our room price. I have to say I love breakfast buffets as I am a grazer by nature, and can have a few bites of very many items.
After breakfast we took a cab to the Aquarium, which is in Stanley Park. I particularly wanted to tour the British Columbia exhibit and watch the belugas. Happily, you can too, via the Beluga Cam. I strongly recommend that you pre-purchase your tickets online and arrive about 15 minutes before opening time to avoid waiting in line.
If I were planning to spend the whole day, I would try to book one of the animal encounters. My choice would be the beluga encounter, the steller sea lion encounter, or the sea turtle encounter. Another thing I would love to do (if the dates worked out) is a family-themed sleepover
As I said, we only had the morning, but there's much more to explore in Stanley Park. I particularly would like to visit the Shakespeare Garden and take tea at The Teahouse.
From the Aquarium we proceeded to Aviation (a charter firm) for the 40 minute flight to Echo Valley. The flight was pleasant and uneventful. As always, there's some bumpiness when flying over the mountains, and for those who haven't flown in a small aircraft, the plane seems to get too close to the terrain.
It was quite hazy as we flew in.
We were met at the Echo Valley airstrip by our host, Norm Dove, and the ranch's general manager, Flint. There were hugs all around -- this was Renee and Ruth's fifth visit to Echo Valley. Flint ferried us to our several domiciles. Renee, Ruth and I are in [] while Jumper Girl and Leona are sharing the bunkhouse.
Flint mentioned that there were two fires burning nearby, which was the source of the haze. The ranch is in the Cariboo district, but can be affected by fires elsewhere. At least one is burning in the Kamloops district.
By the time we had unpacked and freshened up, it was time to mosey down to the lodge for dinner. Echo Valley Ranch is not the place to go for a weight-reduction vacation. The chef, Kim [] trained in Denmark and worked at a number of four-star restaurants before taking up his post at EVR.
Dinners are served family-style. That night's menu was baked herbed salmon with an herbed sauce of the bernaise family, a melange of vegetables, and jasmine rice. The salmon was perfectly cooked.The sauce on the rice was particularly delicious.
After dinner we signed up for the next day's activities. Jumper Girl, Ruth and I wanted to ride both in the morning and the afternoon; Renee wanted to ride only in the morning and have a spa treatment in the afternoon. Leona, being pregnant, isn't riding at all on this trip. She signed up for a spa treatment in the morning and flyfishing with Flint in the afternoon.
The upside to the fire haze: the moonrise (waning, just past full) was spectacular!
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