Vacationing in Canada without a car

[+The Chaos Crew]

hi there guys

 

2 weeks tomorrow I'll be landing in beautiful Van City with my 5 year old son

 

We have a week in Vancouver followed by 5 days in Edmonton and 2 days in Calgary

 

The main focus of our trip is hockey Go Canucks Go!!!

 

but in between the games, we would LOVE to get some caching done

 

In Van we will be staying in the ents district downtown, and will have no car. I would really appreciate any recommendations for child friendly, regular or bigger sized caches (my son loves those maccy D toys ) that are in nice locations that would be good places to visit on our vacation anyway, and are accessible by public transport (or close enough for a reasonably priced taxi ride).

 

nothing too difficult please as we are relative beginners (although already hooked, of course)

 

I'm mainly concentrating on our week in Van as we'll be on our own and need things to do (staying with pals in Alberta) and also I'm hoping the climate might be relatively mild in BC. We are prepared for extreme cold in Edmonton and might choose to stay indoors (but if you know of an unmissable cache around Edmonton or Calgary, feel free to let me know)

 

I'm going to bring some travel bugs with me, and some very British swag to leave behind

 

thanks in advance for your assistance

 

Sarah

 

(PS on an entirely unrelated matter, I have just realised I still need to book my internal flights!! do you have any suggestions for the best company to fly with from Van to Edmonton and then from Edmonton onto Calgary?)

Edited February 27, 2008 by The Chaos Crew

[+marmi&tas]

Hi Sarah.

 

First off we hope your trip is a pleasant one

 

I assume that ents district downtown means the entertainment district?

 

If that is the case have a look at Yaletown Currency Exchange ( GCVY64 ) it will give you a good centre point to find nearby caches. It is just about the only large cache in the downtown area, but can be hard to retrieve at most times (lots of muggles), almost all of the other downtown caches are micros.

 

There are several caches in the area and at the southern edge of the downtown peninsula is False Creek. Along the southern shore there are several caches and it is a pleasant walk along our very popular seawall.

As a bonus your son will get to ride on our little shuttle ferries which are about 4 metres long and scurry back and forth all over False Creek. Of course if your son is into toys a visit to Granville Island will be a must as they have a great kids mini mall there

West of False Creek is Kitsilano Beach which has a few caches nearby, again a nice walk along the seawall.

 

As for Airlines to Edmonton & Calgary I think most people would recommend Westjet .

 

Good luck & have fun!

 

Chris

 

hi there guys

 

2 weeks today I'll be landing in beautiful Van City with my 5 year old son

 

We have a week in Vancouver followed by 5 days in Edmonton and 2 days in Calgary

 

The main focus of our trip is hockey Go Canucks Go!!!

 

but in between the games, we would LOVE to get some caching done

 

In Van we will be staying in the ents district downtown, and will have no car. I would really appreciate any recommendations for child friendly, regular or bigger sized caches (my son loves those maccy D toys ) that are in nice locations that would be good places to visit on our vacation anyway, and are accessible by public transport (or close enough for a reasonably priced taxi ride).

 

nothing too difficult please as we are relative beginners (although already hooked, of course)

 

I'm mainly concentrating on our week in Van as we'll be on our own and need things to do (staying with pals in Alberta) and also I'm hoping the climate might be relatively mild in BC. We are prepared for extreme cold in Edmonton and might choose to stay indoors (but if you know of an unmissable cache around Edmonton or Calgary, feel free to let me know)

 

I'm going to bring some travel bugs with me, and some very British swag to leave behind

 

thanks in advance for your assistance

 

Sarah

 

(PS on an entirely unrelated matter, I have just realised I still need to book my internal flights!! do you have any suggestions for the best company to fly with from Van to Edmonton and then from Edmonton onto Calgary?)

[+WCoaster]

Lot's of stuff to pick from for sure. I would highly recomend GCZBFZ - By The Light of the GPS'r . Not only for the cache but it is also in a great tourist destination of Stanley Park. A horse drawn carrige/trolley ride is also in the offering if you so wish. Don't forget to see the aquarium as well.

 

Enjoy.

[+DanOCan]

 

If you are into Puzzle caches, you should try and find one of 3jaze's caches while you are here. (His non-puzzle caches are good too, but his puzzles are the stuff of local legend.)

 

As for the domestic flights, I'll second the vote for WestJet.

[+Yorkshire]

 

(PS on an entirely unrelated matter, I have just realised I still need to book my internal flights!! do you have any suggestions for the best company to fly with from Van to Edmonton and then from Edmonton onto Calgary?)

 

Yup, Look no further than Westjet for your internal flights. They will look after you.

Have a great vacation.

[+Aerodoq]

I'll echo the others. The Yaletown Currency Exchange is a fun, if not surprising find. By The Light of the GPSr is also a fun find, but could be muggle heavy. There are a number of others in Stanley Park that aren't micros too!

 

The south side of False Creek has some but the cache density isn't very high, and most of the caches are on the smaller side. Still, a visit to Granville Island is a must, and from there you can strike out and go after a few more.

 

Queen Elizabeth Park is a bit further away, but accessible by transit. It's a nice walk and there are a few caches there including a nice "traditional" multi that tours you around the park.

 

If you're really adventurous, you can take transit out to the Point Grey pennisula (with the UBC campus on it) and visit the Pacific Spirit Regional Park. There are many trails through this large park, and there are a number of larger caches scattered through it. However, you can expect to walk several kms while going from cache to cache. And it's hilly. But it's West Coast rainforest, so that's kinda cool.

 

I'll also support the others: WestJet is the way to go for regional flights.

 

If you want some help on some of the transit options, drop me a line.

 

Enjoy your visit!

 

A>

[+ibycus]

Where abouts are you staying in Calgary? Anything by "outforthehunt" gets my vote. (3jaze's are good too), although a lot of both of theirs have been archived since they scaled back their activities.

 

If you can get to Nose Hill, there are some good caches up there, and some nice walks (not too many micros).

 

The "Brass Cap" cache is a local favorite, its the only traveling virtual that I know of.

"Stash n' Dash" is another traveling cache in town (has to stay in Calgary though... part of the rules that it was approved under).

 

Dale

[+ve6dave]

Hi Sarah,

 

When you are staying in Edmonton, and probably staying downtown, there are scores of caches along the river valley that are regulars. Most of the regulars carry the requisite McD toys, just because they tend to end up in the caches. Of course that is what my kids tend to grab too.

 

You can't go wrong by flying with Westjet.

 

The weather in Edmonton is hitting spring thaw right now, 10C yesterday and the snow is melting quickly. So the potential for a wet trek into the bush off the trails may exist. We have a winter friendly cache event happening next week which will add a substantial number of new regular caches into the area. Winter friendly are caches that you don't have to dig too hard through the snow to find. Most often hidden in trees and above ground level. The twist with this year's event is that all the cache hides must use ammo boxes. So you are generally assured that the caches will contain kid swag.

 

I hope that you and your son have a great trip.

 

We have a good group of cachers in the Edmonton and Calgary areas with kid friendly meet and greats. Maybe you will be in the area when one occurs and be able to attend one of them. You would be more than welcome.

 

Dave

[+The Chaos Crew]

thanks tons guys, you've given me loads to go on

 

I have now booked my internal flights with WestJet, so that's one less thing to worry about

 

a lot of the places you have recommended are areas I wanted to visit anyway, so to combine them with some caching will be just perfect

 

2 weeks and counting, very excited about my trip