Leg 1: Vancouver

Our first scavenge!

We stayed in Vancouver for a test run day of scavenges, getting the hang of how things worked. We had a big list and instructions to do at least 10 of them before 8pm.

Visit and explain so-called Affluent Alley

Affluent Alley is what they call Alberni St. It’s like the Vancouver Rodeo Dr. There’s a lot of fancy restaurants and people like to bring their expensive cars with them out to dinner and park them on the street (or so I’ve been told). We stopped in a Prada store and some fancy jewelry stores.

Poll three locals as to who the most famous Vancouverite is

We started asking who the most famous was in Affluent Alley and as we traveled around. There were votes for:

• Seth Rogen
• Ryan Reynolds
• Chip Wilson (lululemon)
• Jim Pattison (billions of dollars)

Find Canadiana at Roots on Robson, explain

Enough said

It did feel a bit weird to be doing touristy things at Roots. But the employee there was the one who told us about Jim Pattison, so hey?

Visit and explain the building at 355 Burrard St.

It’s a crazy beautiful art deco building with weird decorations. When it was built in 1930, it was the tallest skyscraper in the world!

Visit the 2010 Winter Olympic Cauldron

Not actually very exciting to look at, it was surrounded by a bunch of scaffolding.

Canada is a BIG country, but you can take a FlyOver Canada at Canada Place. Do it!

We did it. It was pretty cool! But we don’t have any photos.

Visit Dr. Sun Yat-Sen’s gardens in Chinatown

Wow, these gardens were really cool! They called them scholar’s gardens, and there was a little study room. I kinda wish I had such beautiful gardens when I was a university student…

Find what is allegedly the “world’s narrowest building” and explain

Okay this would be the Sam Kee building. It’s in the Guiness Book of World Records for being the skinniest building and is only 6 feet wide.

Pose with the Millennium Gate

Visit the Police Museum, explain its location

Okay so this one was pretty fun. The mentioned location is it used to be the Coroner’s office for some time, and now it’s been turned into a museum. But it was a pretty good little museum, with lots of interactive bits. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐!

Locate Hotel Europe in Gastown and Explain it

Built in 1905, it’s the first fireproof building in Canada!

Footwear fetish? Locate John Fluevog’s and find the most expensive pair for sale there, explain.

Coolest shoe store I’ve ever seen

Street Art Photo Safari: take photos of at least three examples of major works of graffiti/art, and or murals in Vancouver

Locate the Gastown Steam Clock

This is super cool. The Atlas Obscura even has an entry on the Steam Clock, which is the second one ever made and one of only 6 in the entire world.

Locate a statue of a woman (NOT Mary), explain what and where

We found a few good ones, but this one is my favourite:

Locate and try an original Japadog