This is not a sponsored post
Winter wander is an annual event is $5/per person for admission to 5 different attractions. Upon our arrival we also received a $5 off coupon from EasyPark. For my daughter and I this entire day cost us $12 (not counting food). We arrived around noon and the event was steady but not as busy as I anticipated. The weather was sunny and gorgeous but very cold. All the attractions share the same parking lot space and are maybe a 10 minute walk to get around to the different sites. We were able to visit the H.R MacMillan Space Centre, Museum of Vancouver, City of Vancouver Archives, Vancouver Academy of Music and Vancouver Maritime Museum. There was also food trucks on site if you didn’t want to have to leave for lunch.
Selfie at the Space Centre
H.R MacMillan Space Centre
It had been over a decade since I have been here so it was fun to re-visit. We were able to sit in on an interactive presentation on rockets. Upstairs we were able to catch a sample of all the shows that they offer in the planetarium. I found the movement of what we could watch was giving me a mild case of motion sickness so we didn’t stay long. There was lot’s of great picture worthy opportunities throughout the exhibits as well. Our favourite was a life-sized space suit that you could appear to be wearing.
Museum of Vancouver
It is always so fascinating to see old tools or sculptures to see how things have evolved or stopped being made. It’s crazy to think that leaving sculptures or carvings behind in the same capacity will end with our generation. The things we will leave behind will be 3D printed or digital files. We really liked walking through “old” Vancouver and seeing different artifacts. They had a neon lights exhibit which my daughter enjoyed taking selfies in front of.
City of Vancouver Archives
We were able to view old city plans for Granville street and posters from different events back from the 80’s. Langara College also had a photography exhibit on site. The students had taken old photographs from Vancouver architecture and re-visited them today. They superimposed both photographs together to create some very interesting pieces. They also had some old sketches of plans of what Vancouver was originally supposed to look like.
Vancouver Academy of Music
We were able to listen to the youth orchestra rehearse. It is beautiful to see when young people dedicate themselves to an art form and have it really some to life. The Academy has been operational since 1969 and offers classes from early childhood to adult. The next performance is February 10th at the Orpheum.
Vancouver Maritime Museum
This was the busiest location of the day. They had Triple O On The Go, Tacofino and Mama’s Fish and Chips and Slavic Rolls food trucks outside but it was so windy that we didn’t want to grab food and eat outside. We didn’t realize that they had a room set up that you could sit down and eat. There was a long wait to explore the Franklin Exploration so we ended up skipping it. We enjoyed looking through the Greenpeace exhibit. Very inspiring to give up single use plastic. My daughter enjoyed the virtual reality experience at the Parks Canada table. It allowed you to experience different Canadian sites.
