The Best of 604: Family Edition

The annual “Best of Vancouver” issue of The Georgia Straight left me wanting more and had some of my readers saying wondering just what we’ve done to deserve Nickelback as a top band in our city? Because of this, I’ve decided to follow in the footsteps of the MaGoggy‘s and create my own awards, the Best of 604. These are not the things that are highest rated by Zagat or that have the most stars. These are people, places and things that I personally find enjoyable. With some help from John and my sister Jenny I hope to cover a different spectrum, all inclusive of the “604“.

The “Best of 604” will be an ongoing series, so watch for more posts in this category.

I wanted to touch on a ‘real’ demographic and ‘real’ places in and around Metro Vancouver. The first edition of the “Best of 604” is focused on family. Here are Jen’s recommendations.

• Best low-tourist, in-park, miniature train experience: Bear creek Park Train (in Surrey) – Really inexpensive and fun for the kids (especially at Halloween and Christmas)
• Best place to take energetic kids who have been cooped up on a rainy day: Go Banana’s (various location) – Cheap and the kids can run wild for hours and hours
• Most kid-friendly restaurant where your child’s screaming can be camouflaged by other children’s screams: Montana’s (in Langley) – Wicked kids menu, they can colour on the paper table cloths, tons of families and good grown up food too, really good place to take kids with super friendly staff
• Best park and playground you probably haven’t been to: Flight Path Park (in Richmond) – The kids love the park by the airport where you can see the planes taking off and landing, it’s free entertainment for hours and hours. There are a few little planes to pretend to fly on, mock runways they can run down and off course real-live jumbo jets flying overhead

Photo is property of True Colors Painting Ltd.

• Best park and playground you may have been to AND there’s ice cream: Rocky Point Park (in Port Moody) – Water park, playground, ice cream, fish and chips, walking trails, who could ask for anything more
• Best 1-day getaway from the city: Cultus Lake (in Chilliwack) – 1 hour drive East, lots of places to swim, nice picnic areas, nature trails to pick up sticks and discover bugs and stop at the dairy on the way home for some yummy ice cream (it’s all about the ice cream)