Spokes: Our New Favo(u)rite Activity when we visit Vancouver with kids

If I say the best new activity we found with kids in Vancouver is in Stanley Park you’ll probably think it’s the Aquarium.

And we do love the Vancouver Aquarium and the fun you can have with their jellyfish exhibit right now.  But this is an activity we did a long time ago pre-kid that we never imagined you could do with 4-year olds in tow.

Spokes bicycle rentals is still around and thriving.  (I think we first started going here maybe 15- 15!! years ago?!!)

They outfitted us with bikes, helmets and locks.

And around the seawall at Stanley Park we zoomed.

“This is my first time on a two-wheeler!” my little rider yelled.

“It’s actually a three-wheeler!” I yelled back.

And after we finished and survived I felt exhilarated.  I do admit it was a little rocky at times with a little guy trying to pedal behind me.  Sometimes an unexpected wiggle or a hard pedal by one of the boys was almost enough to knock me over.  I rode rather white-knuckled and I was really thankful that there were a few places where we were forced to get off the bike and walk. I also was terrified in a few places where the road narrowed so much that I voluntarily got off my bike and walked.  And since passing is on the left it felt a little scary when you rode too close to the edge to let people pass and unfortunately we had a few bikers yell at us “RIGHT OF WAY-MOVE OVER” while they whizzed by.  But these things were minor and most of the trip was exciting and fun.

See us smiling in this picture?  Isn’t this proof enough?

And a really nice bonus at the end was a playground that we’ve visited without bikes.  There is also a beach nearby and I imagine one day bringing our swimsuits and parking our bikes at the pool here while we go for a swim.

We rode for about an hour and a half and it cost around 50 dollars total for the two bikes and tandem attachments at Spokes.

I’m tempted to get these tandem bike attachments for our bikes at home. (If you really want to get technical they’re called “trailer bikes”) We’ll see.  The boys are working on two-wheeling it right now and I’ll definitely let you know how it goes!  We had a lot of fun renting bikes from Spokes and was fun to do an activity we did pre-kids with them too.

(PS. even though we live in Seattle we have a Vancouver Aquarium membership.  I figure if we go twice a year it’s worth it and it’s a really fun aquarium.  They even have little monkeys and a sloth!)

Terumi

Terumi Pong is a Seattle-based family travel writer and mom of twin teenage boys.  She loves coffee and pastries, shopping local and looking for greener ways to live.  She is also known as Scout’s mom (Scout is a 5ish pound little black yorkie-poo)