Tag Archives: attractions

Festival of Lights at VanDusen Botanical Garden

The Festival of Lights usually run from mid December to early January at Van Dusen Botanical Garden, every evening from 4:30pm to 9:00pm,  during the holiday season except on Christmas day (December 25).
Friends, couples and families can enjoy dancing light shows on Livingstone Lake every half an hour, meet Santa, watch performances and see over a million twinkling lights to get you into the holiday spirits.

Admission is $14.25 for one adult (prices are subject to change from year to year, please check their official site for current admission prices). It can get pretty chilly, so bundle up and take lots of photos :D

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Entertaining:carrotcarrotcarrot    Cost for Admission/Food: N/A

Atmosphere: carrotcarrotcarrotcarrot    Location: carrotcarrotcarrot

Britannia Museum in Squamish

idearabbit-britiannamuseum9Yay! Trip to the mountains :)

We got our tickets for the noon tour. It was partly sunny, but the winds were bone-chilling. I knew from their website to dress warmly as the tour would be taking place inside the mine where it was going to be dark, cold and damp. I suggested to my friend to get his coat that he left in the car. I’m sure he was glad he did.

The actual tour seemed a bit short for $25 (compared to the Underground Tour in Seattle), though it was neat to see everything. The rest is self guided, and there is a gold panning area where kids and adults can try and pan out some gold. Sheepie got so into it that he spent so much time freezing his hands off to get some gems and gold looking stones while his friend and I went to the cafe to have some hot tea and coffee with chips. The cafe isn’t really a real cafe. Something you’d expect out in the middle of nowhere…with simple table and chairs set up, and a few snacks with coffee brewing in the coffee pot. Very simple and low key. But the tea is nice to warm up with! And for those that doesn’t want to freeze their hands off panning, you can buy the gems in the souvenir shop :P

idearabbit-britiannamuseum7Mockup Model

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The real thing idearabbit-britiannamuseum5

Our tour guideidearabbit-britiannamuseum4

Little train we ride to get deep into the mineidearabbit-britiannamuseum6

So, with the actual guided tour part, you ride on a small train into the mines. The guide will show how they use to mine with facts that made the Britianna Mine so special and important back then. The train may be fun, but for the rest, it may not be suitable for infants. The machines are super loud as the guide turns them on to demonstrate how they used to dig back then. The little ones on our tour got scared or were restless as they got bored.

Overall, it’s a nice half day trip to Squamish from Vancouver. It’s a nice museum, but $25 for admission is pretty expensive. Students get discount, so don’t forget to bring your student ID if you are one!

Seattle’s Underground Tour

Seattle’s Underground Tour
So if you’re in Seattle and looking for an attraction, The Seattle’s Underground Tour is a must. Tickets are $17 (adults) and takes about 75 minutes. There’s a little cafe inside for those waiting for the next tour. We got a small coffee and apple strudel as we waited. This was my second time going, and it seemed shorter than the first time, likely because I already knew what the tour was all about.

The tour is an interesting way of seeing the history of Seattle. It’s quite a different experience than just going to a museum with antiques behind glass casings. You get to walk through the old town of Seattle. Most people may not realize that the ground you currently walking on in that area is actually the second level! So back then, originally, the Underground, was level ground…yup…hard to imagine…
idearabbit-seattleundergroundGrab a coffee from the cafe while waiting for tour to begin

idearabbit-seattleunderground4idearabbit-seattleunderground2 idearabbit-seattleunderground3You can see how it was back then, though other than the actual pathways that the group goes through, the rest is blocked off or covered up. Many of the things were stolen you wont find any valuable antiques there.

Both times, I had a humourous tour guide which made the tour even more entertaining.  Because Sheepie loves taking pictures and gets left behind by the group, we were once locked inside! Luckily, we could unlock from the inside and rushed off after the group which was already crossing the street half a block away. Phew!
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Entertaining: carrotcarrotcarrot     Cost for Admission/Food: carrotcarrot

Atmosphere: carrotcarrotcarrotcarrot    Location: carrotcarrotcarrot