OT: TRAVEL

[Buffdog]

Heading to the west coast for my daughter's soccer showcase this weekend. We'll be staying in Richmond, so if anyone has any tips for places to eat or things to, I'm all ears. I *think* @Inanna and @raideralex99 have some knowledge of the general area, but I realize metro Vancouver is a huge place. Anyone else has insight, let me know!

 

[raideralex99]

Heading to the west coast for my daughter's soccer showcase this weekend. We'll be staying in Richmond, so if anyone has any tips for places to eat or things to, I'm all ears. I *think* @Inanna and @raideralex99 have some knowledge of the general area, but I realize metro Vancouver is a huge place. Anyone else has insight, let me know!

For casual dining I like Catus Club its like Moxies. they have one in Richmond. Whitespot has the famous triple O burger if you have never been to BC. Depending how much time you have and if its not raining Stanley Park or Grouse Mountain or Capilano Suspension Bridge are cool.
If the girls like to shop there's the Richmond outlet mall right by the airport.

 

[Inanna]

Heading to the west coast for my daughter's soccer showcase this weekend. We'll be staying in Richmond, so if anyone has any tips for places to eat or things to, I'm all ears. I *think* @Inanna and @raideralex99 have some knowledge of the general area, but I realize metro Vancouver is a huge place. Anyone else has insight, let me know!

If you're based in Richmond, you're south of the airport and about 20 km from my neck of the woods (KB). So, I've got no advice to offer you, sorry. However...

If you do venture up into Kitsilano, there's a lot of places on 4th that totally slay. If you're feeding kids, the best lit place is Sophie's Cosmic Cafe. When we had money, another dope hangout was the Sunshine Diner. When the folks/family went for a fancy meal, it was most often Au Comptoir which was, big surprise, French. It was pretty expensive a decade ago so it's probably full boujee now. And in high school if I boy wanted you to know he had more money than brains, he took you to the Boathouse on the beach. The steaks started at $50 back then and weren't worth it.

If the girls like to shop there's the Richmond outlet mall right by the airport.

That really cracked me up....

 

[FFHockey]

If you're based in Richmond, you're south of the airport and about 20 km from my neck of the woods (KB). So, I've got no advice to offer you, sorry. However...

If you do venture up into Kitsilano, there's a lot of places on 4th that totally slay. If you're feeding kids, the best lit place is Sophie's Cosmic Cafe. When we had money, another dope hangout was the Sunshine Diner. When the folks/family went for a fancy meal, it was most often Au Comptoir which was, big surprise, French. It was pretty expensive a decade ago so it's probably full boujee now. And in high school if I boy wanted you to know he had more money than brains, he took you to the Boathouse on the beach. The steaks started at $50 back then and weren't worth it.


That really cracked me up....

Making a quick trip into Van this summer (to see Tyler Childers) and staying out Kits way, so thanks for the Kits tips.

Wife's gal pal just lives up the street from the beach in a studio apartment, but will be away when we are there, so she offered up her place. May stay an extra day to hang out...

 

[buggs]

Heading to the west coast for my daughter's soccer showcase this weekend. We'll be staying in Richmond, so if anyone has any tips for places to eat or things to, I'm all ears. I *think* @Inanna and @raideralex99 have some knowledge of the general area, but I realize metro Vancouver is a huge place. Anyone else has insight, let me know!

I'm assuming your daughter's showcase will be at the Richmond Oval? My daughter played some volleyball there a couple of times so I've stayed in the area before.

Not all that much to do in the area without a car to be honest, though the Skytrain does run quite close to it (only a block or two away IIRC). That can take you right to the end stop downtown which basically gets you to the sea wall (OK, it's two blocks away to the west), though it's still quite a walk to get to Stanley Park. But you could go into Gastown (a shadow of it's pre-Covid self IMO) where there are a couple of neat bars/restaurants. You can walk by the convention center and watch the sea planes take off and land and the Vancouver Harbour is always neat to look at in my estimation.

The last stop downtown for the Skytrain also happens to end at the Sea Bus terminal if you want to go across the harbour to North Van. You'll arrive at Lonsdale Quay where there are a number of restaurants and it's kind of fun to walk around. Some brewpubs as well.

As Inanna indicates 4th Avenue that leads up to UBC is a pretty hip area, though I'll defer to her how best to get there from your location (car?). I usually stay downtown so I'd walk over to BC Place, grab a water taxi on False Creek and take it to Granville Island then walk up to 4th from there (I've also walked the full length of Granville but it's scenic in "different" ways). The water taxi is a kind of cute way to see things.

Cactus Club (they're everywhere it seems), White Spot seem like very Vangroovy places to eat - I seem to end up at one or the other on most of my trips to that city. Tap & Barrel has a few locations as well and it's another place I seem to end up at.

Weather forecast looks good so if you have time when you're not watching your daughter I'd opt for the Skytrain to downtown and then either stay on the south side and wander the Sea Wall or take the Sea Bus and do Lonsdale Quay. But doing either of those with any level of enjoyment is talking 3-4 hours minimum IMO.

 

[Inanna]

I love and agree with the other advice here, but I burst out laughing when I saw my comments quoted. Talk about the wrong audience! I'm usually pretty careful about the "English-major image" and my vocal code-switching, especially with a crowd like HFJets which slants much older.

So, correcting the vocal code-switch, what I really said was:

If you do venture up into Kitsilano, there's a lot of places on 4th that are really cool. If you're feeding kids, the most special place is Sophie's Cosmic Cafe. When we had money, another exceptional hangout was the Sunshine Diner. When the folks/family went for a fancy meal, it was most often Au Comptoir which was, big surprise, French. It was pretty expensive a decade ago so it's probably really expensive now. And in high school if I boy wanted you to know he had more money than brains, he took you to the Boathouse on the beach. The steaks started at $50 back then and weren't worth it.

Sorry for the interruption; this probably amused me way more than anyone else in here.

PS: The Boathouse Restaurant has four or five locations around Vancouver and they are all expensive but very highly rated. The one on Kits Beach though has probably the best view.

 

[Buffdog]

Thanks for the replies, everyone. I had a chuckle at @Inanna 's initial post... it's hard to keep up with kidspeak these days, but I think some of those terms are already uncool. Which is fine, you're just getting old and uncool like the rest of us lol

I'll keep the restaurants in mind. Another parent scheduled a four hour e-bike tour of the area and we have tickets to the Whitecaps game on Saturday at BC place. I'm sure I'll find my way to a park by the ocean somehow

That, along with my daughter's games and an old high school friend swinging through for a visit on Saturday from Seattle should keep me occupied.

 

[buggs]

Thanks for the replies, everyone. I had a chuckle at @Inanna 's initial post... it's hard to keep up with kidspeak these days, but I think some of those terms are already uncool. Which is fine, you're just getting old and uncool like the rest of us lol

I'll keep the restaurants in mind. Another parent scheduled a four hour e-bike tour of the area and we have tickets to the Whitecaps game on Saturday at BC place. I'm sure I'll find my way to a park by the ocean somehow

That, along with my daughter's games and an old high school friend swinging through for a visit on Saturday from Seattle should keep me occupied.

I hope, and assume, that e-bike rental will be down near the waterfront around Stanley Park. I can't imagine four hours on a bike in Richmond and coming out alive, but my experience in Richmond is limited.

Also boo on the e-bike, ya lazy laggards.

 

[Buffdog]

I hope, and assume, that e-bike rental will be down near the waterfront around Stanley Park. I can't imagine four hours on a bike in Richmond and coming out alive, but my experience in Richmond is limited.

Also boo on the e-bike, ya lazy laggards.

We're flatlanders lol

 

[Huffer]

No trips until the honeymoon which will probably be sometime in 2025. Holden and I are getting married in October!

Congratulations!