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Family travel in the Pacific Northwest and BC

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Vancouver

February 5, 2020

Seattle Cat Cafes and Vancouver Cat Cafes

I first visited a cat cafe in Tokyo, and was so happy when cat cafes started popping up in the Pacific Northwest. I mean, what’s better for adults or children than making small talk with a cat while drinking a cappuccino? Okay, maybe cappuccinos + kids don’t mix. Hot chocolate or ice cream is a better idea.

A few things to know before you go to a cat cafe (with or without kids):

  • Cats are cats. They may interact with you or they may just ignore you. Frantic, needy behavior tends to spook kitties. Remember: Cats needs to sleep up to 18 hours a day, much like a newborn.
  • Like all of their purrrsuasion (shhh! I get ONE PUN), these cats will like you more if you have treats. Some cat cafes provide treats for an extra price, or it may be included.
  • Most cat cafes have minimum ages for visitors. It might be best to take toddlers elsewhere.
  • Cat cafes primarily exist to find cats a “forever home.” While pricing may sometimes feel like light extortion ($30 for an hour of cats ignoring you and the kids?), money funds the space, pays wages, and provides cat care to kitties with out homes. If you’re on a budget, sign up for a cat cafe’s e-mail list, where you can often find good deals, such as $5 off or student pricing.
  • Don’t bring anyone who has impulse-control issues or otherwise can’t follow what can be fairly comprehensive rules. For example, not picking up cats. That goes for you too, adults.
  • Some cat cafes allow you to bring your coffee into the room with the cats, while other don’t, or only allow some items (such as drinks, but not cookies).
  • Wash your hands, and your kids’ hands both before and after visiting with cats. Some cats are immune-compromised and could easily get sick from tourist (or local) germs.
  • Cat cafes are busiest on weekends, like most destinations. Make a reservation in advance, if possible, if you want to visit on a weekend.

Vancouver-Area Cat Cafes

Catoro Cafe.

This cafe’s charming “cat forest” is where adults and kids can interact with kitties in a large, forest-themed room filled with yep…you guessed it—cat trees. The process of removing your shoes and sanitizing your hands is most similar to the Japanese experience. Bring socks.

Where: East Broadway, in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood.

Cafe options: This cat cafe offers fun, sugary beverages like pearl-cloud tea, bubble tea, Vietnamese coffee, and milk tea, along with mochi muffins.

Age restrictions. No children ages 4 and under. An adult must accompany children between the ages of 5 and 10.

Cost: Weekday admissions are in segments of 30 minutes for $8, and $2.50 for every additional 15 minutes. On weekends, you get 15 minutes for $5.75, 30 minutes for $85, 50 minutes for $11.50. For $17, you get 65 minutes and a drink.

Website: https://catorocafe.com/


Catfe.

This Vancouver cat lounge was one of Canada’s first cat cafes, and was opened thanks to crowfunding success. Here, you and the kids can mingle with adoptable kitties while drinking an “ameowicano” or “hot chococat” ($3.95).

Location: Downtown kid-friendly Vancouver, near Gastown in Tinseltown Mall.

Cafe options: Handcrafted coffee drinks, adorable cat-themed treats and Hello Kitty cookies, vegetarian food such as quiches, scones and vegan cheesecakes. Gluten-free and vegan food is available.

Advance booking necessary? Not required, but a good idea.

Age Requirements: Ages 5 and up.

Cost: $10/person for one hour

Website: https://catorocafe.com/


Neko Cat Cafe Bellingham.

Yes, this cat cafe isn’t technically in Vancouver, but it’s an easy day trip for both Vancouver and Seattle families. This cafe will open in winter of 2020, and promises to be as great as its sister site in Seattle.

Location: Bellingham, Washington.

Serves: Coffee, wine, beer and all the cat-themed treats you could imagine. See the Seattle description below.

Advance booking necessary? Probably wise on the weekends.

Age Requirements: No requirements, but every two children under age 14 must be accompanied by an adult.

Cost: $11/hour

Website: https://nekoseattle.com/neko-bellingham

Seattle-Area Cat Cafes

Kitty Corner.

This Seattle-area cat cafe is a little different from others, but has some cool extras such as a kid-friendly Meowvie Night (watch movies with cats!), Kitty Kraft (make crafts with cats!), birthday parties (celebrate your birthday with cats!), and more. Cats here come from kill shelters in California. Another advantage of Kitty Corner: no minimum age restrictions, and kids age two and under are free.

Location: Edmonds, Washington, about a 30-45 minute drive from downtown Seattle, depending on traffic.

Serves: Some packaged snacks, soda pop and water is available, but not a full cafe.

Advance booking necessary? No.

Age requirements: All ages are allowed, as long as they can follow the cafe’s rules. That goes for you too, adults.

Cost: Kids 2 and under are free; Kids 15 and under are $4, 16+ and adults are $8; Adults 55+ are $6. Perfect for a grandma-kid outing.

Website: https://www.kittykornerrescue.org/


Seattle Meowtropolitan.

One of the first cat cafes in Seattle with a large cat-visiting room and enormous picture windows looking outside. However, it’s also one of the most strict, restricting kids until they’re 8 years old.

Where: Seattle’s Wallingford neighborhood.

Cafe options: Barista-made espresso drinks and fresh brewed teas, along with cat-themed cookies and savory treats.

Advance booking necessary: You can sign up for a spot online, or try your chance at a walk-in.

Age requirements: Ages 8 and up only. Family Day offers 50 minute visit for $12 per person, child or adult. There must be one adult ticket purchased for every two, and the adult must stay with children.

Cost: $13 for 50 minutes, 40 minutes in the cat lounge.

Website: https://seattlemeowtropolitan.com/


Neko: A Cat Cafe.

This sunny, bright cat cafe is small, but friendly, and limits entry so the space never feels overly crowded. As well, all ages are admitted. Ensure your child is ready for the rules here, as the cats all have feline leukemia, and there can be some fragile kitties in here.

Where: Located in Seattle’s cool Capitol Hill neighborhood.

Cafe Options: Photogenic/Instagram-worthy Pusheen and Totoro treats, along with coffee and alcoholic drinks such as beer and wine. A quick note: They do not accept cash, so don’t forget your plastic.

Advance booking necessary: Yes, definitely. Or you’ll be waiting.

Age requirements: Children of all ages are admitted, but those under 14 must be accompanied by an adult. No more than two children per adult are permitted entry.

Cost: $12/person for 55 minutes, and all reservations start on the hour.

Website: https://nekoseattle.com/

Neko Cat Cafe in Seattle, a kid-friendly cat cafe

Catffeinated.

One of the newest cat-cafes on the block, this cafe aims for the small-scale experience, limiting visitors to just 10 at a time. The cat room is surrounded by glass, so cafe visitors can watch kitties having fun.

Where: In Tacoma.

Cafe Options: Espresso drinks and tea, juice, along with sandwiches, cake pops and cookies. You can’t bring food and drink into the cat area.

Advance booking necessary: Yes.

Age requirements: Children must be over 8 years old, although special “Kids Days” permit a wider range of ages and have fun extras like face painting.

Cost: $10/person

Website: https://catffeinated.net/

Filed Under: Seattle, Vancouver

August 4, 2015

No Hotel Rooms? No Problem.

Kid-friendly Hotel Condon in Condon, Oregon
Hotel Condon in Condon, Oregon

I’ve recently been contacted by readers, despairing that my top hotel picks are either priced out of reach or unavailable for the upcoming summer. Family hotels in Portland, Victoria, Vancouver and Seattle are booked solid, sold out and too expensive!

Well, no surprise — I’ve dealt with the same situation, even as a travel writer. Here’s what I typically do when faced with sold-out hotel rooms, a planned trip and kids.

1. Set up in the suburbs. Now, some suburbs are better than others. For example, many suburbs of Vancouver offer the SkyTrain option into downtown Vancouver, so I’ll look for hotels near the SkyTrain. Portland offers this as well. Seattle is still working on getting their transit act together, so that’s not as much fun — but I’ve done it. Worst case scenario, I resign to driving into the city and paying for parking.

2. Use Priceline’s “Express Deals” tab. If it’s a heavily-booked weekend, I probably won’t hook a successful, low-priced bid for a decent hotel in my desired destination. But the “Express Deals” usually work at hitting the sweet spot of price and location. The potential downside: because you don’t get to choose your bedding type, you may end up with one King, three kids, and no sleep. To circumvent this, look for “Bed choice available” in the text of the express deal. This can allow you to choose two Queens, two doubles, or whatever you need. OR arrive very, very early in the morning, and you may end up with a bed choice (this has always worked for us, but we arrive at 9 a.m.).

3. BYOB (bring your own bed). With a teen and a kid (who will not share a bed with one another), I bring an air mattress for my younger child, or build a “sleep nest” out of pillows, cushions, blankets, and more pillows. This allows me some flexibility in the kind of bedding arrangements we can find, or which type of Priceline stay we reserve.

4. Get very creative or expand the budget. Home swaps? VRBO? AirBnB? Non-reservable, last-minute camping spots? Hostel rooms — there are family rooms available, but often booked far in advance; with teens you might find the bunk options reasonable? Vacation swaps? Petsitting or housesitting stays (I’ve found great petsitters through trustedhousesitters.com, although I haven’t used it as a traveler, yet.)?

5. Ask about a waitlist. If I have my heart set on a specific hotel, I might call 24-48 hours in advance of a stay and ask if there have been any cancellations. Or I’ll call earlier and ask if there’s a waitlist of any sort. Smaller hotel owners may be willing to work with a family — they want their hotel or inn filled for the weekend.

6. Reschedule the trip. This is the worst option, but sometimes necessary. Look for a weekend that isn’t insane — weekend festivals can pack Northwest hotels. This only works if I’m driving, not flying. I’ve done it many times. I’m unwilling to pay $150 for a one-star hotel room in the grottiest part of town, and there’s always another weekend that could work.

Filed Under: Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, Victoria

May 7, 2015

Sea Monsters, Star Wars and SNOT: This summer’s museum attractions for families

If making plans for summer, check out these new and upcoming kid-friendly museum exhibits in Seattle, Vancouver or Bend — the exhibits may inspire a day trip, weekend excursion or week-long adventure.

Sea Monsters Revealed
Vancouver Aquarium. Vancouver, BC.
March 5 to September 7, 2015

From now through the end of summer, discover what lies beneath the sea’s deepest reaches, where few humans have ventured. Sea Monsters Revealed uses plastination (seen in many human anatomy exhibits) to preserve the bodies of deep-sea creatures and ocean oddities, including a mako shark and a car-sized sunfish.

Vancouver with Kids, Summer 2015: Sea Monsters
Vancouver with Kids, Summer 2015: Sea Monster Exhibit. Photo courtesy Vancouver Aquarium.

GROSSOLOGY: The (Impolite) Science Of The Human Body
Pacific Science Center. Seattle, Washington.
June 20 to September 7, 2015

Two words: burp machine. This summer, animatronic exhibits and (probably too much) information edifies on snot, stink and other disgusting things that entertain kids. For example: The “Gas Attack” pinball game, “Urine: The Game,” a kidney-riffic experience, and a “Tour du Nose.” Despite being somewhat gross, it’s all in the service of teaching kids cool stuff about biology. Also, maybe, not to pick their noses so much. We’ll see.

Ultimate Dinosaurs
Science World. Vancouver, BC.
Opening Saturday, May 30.

Meet dozens of dinosaurs that evolved in the Southern Hemisphere, in the flesh (or close to it). The exhibit combines augmented-reality tech with fossils to create realistic Southern-Hemisphere dinos rarely found in North America, including those that outsize the toddler-beloved T. Rex.

Disguise: Masks and Global African Art
Seattle Art Museum. Seattle, Washington.
June 18 – September 7, 2015

This exhibit will include 50 masks and 10 costumes from SAM’s African art collection and about 100 objects on loan. The masks imitating and replicating animals are particularly fascinating for children.

Star Wars and the Power of Costume
EMP/SFM. Seattle, Washington.
Open January 31 to October 4, 2015.

If your kids are going through a Star Wars Phase (it’s a thing!), check out the 60 costumes at this traveling exhibit. Costumes cover the movies’ greatest hits; your Chewbacca, your Leia, your Darth Sidious, and so on, and there’s also an opportunity to see how illustrations become costumes and interactive pieces that encourage kids to touch fabrics. Who knows, it may inspire a costume design (or two) at home, as well.

Titanaboa: Monster Snake
Burke Museum. Seattle, Washington.
Aug. 22, 2015 – Nov. 15, 2015

He measured 48 feet long. He weighed up to 2,500 pounds. He was Titanoboa cerrejonensis, the largest snake in the world. This exhibit reveals more about the 60 million year old remains found in Columbia, along with other post-dino Paleocene critters. Skittish? It’s only a full-scale model of Titanoboa; the real thing is extinct. Whew.

Growing Up Western
High Desert Museum. Bend, Oregon
Through July 26, 2015

Kids at the turn of the 20th century — did they have it easy or rough? View kids’ clothes (like wooly chaps, kid-size saddle and Chinese shoes), learn about children’s work and play, and visit a replica of a child’s 1900 bedroom.

Gold Rush! El Dorado in BC
Royal BC Museum. Victoria, BC.
May 13 through October 31, 2015

Understand more about why some people traveled continents to seek a fortune. See BC’s largest existing gold nugget (The Turnagain Nugget), indigenous, pre-hispanic gold art treasures from Columbia and a million-dollar coin (May 13 to June 14 only).

Filed Under: Bend, Seattle, Vancouver

March 1, 2013

Vancouver Airport with Kids: Play Areas, an Aquarium & More

Whether you’re flying in or out of Vancouver International Airport (YVR) in British Columbia,  you’ll find plenty to do with kids. I love the diversity of offerings — where else can you find an outdoor park, a play area, a hands-on observation deck and an on-site airport aquarium? There’s so many fun activities, you almost want to book a trip just to play. Here’s a full map of the Vancouver Airport.

Children’s Play Areas at the Vancouver Airport

With three locations after security and one before security, there are a number of areas throughout the airport for kids to play and climb. Before security, near the domestic terminal food court (Departures Level 2), you’ll find a play area.

The indoor playground at Vancouver Airport

After security, there are three different play areas to choose from:

Domestic Terminal, Departures Level 3, Gate 3
Domestic Terminal, Departures Level 3,Gate 43
International Terminal, Departures Level 3, Gate 54

Family-Friendly Washrooms at the Vancouver Airport

A changing station is located within every washroom, male and female.

Nursing Mothers’ Area at the Vancouver Airport

A nursery room equipped with cribs, play pens and a changing area is available before-security in the United States Terminal, Departures Level 3. It can be accessed at a person’s request. It is a large, quiet area where parents can have some privacy if feeding or changing. There are family restrooms at every washroom location with full change stations. Of course, throughout the Pacific Northwest and BC, nursing in public is both accepted and welcomed.

Additional fun zones and things to do with kids at the Vancouver Airport (observation area, aquarium and park):

If you’ve got a child that loves to point to the skies every time an airplane flies overhead, you’ll want to take them to the Public Observation Area located before-security in the Domestic Terminal on Level 4.

Vancouver airport Observation Area
Vancouver airport Observation Area

 

Peer through telescopes to watch aircraft land, listen in on air traffic control, or learn about airport careers.

The kid-friendly Vancouver Airport aquarium
Vancouver Airport Aquarium and Creek

Located in the after-security area of the International Terminal is a 114,000-litre aquarium with over 5,000 aquatic dwellers. Kids can seek out a variety of Cascadia-native underwater fauna, including wolf eels, sea stars, sea urchins and more than 20 different species of fish. The Vancouver Aquarium also runs a duty-free store right at the airport, should you need some great souvenirs or toys for the plane ride home.

For families needing a little fresh air, the airport’s Chester Johnson Park houses First Nations art including K’san Totem Poles. Located right outside the International Terminal (before security), Chester Johnson Park is a great spot to go for a walk and take in some of B.C.’s beautiful landscape. Miss 604 offers a great write-up of Chester Johnson Park.

Read more about traveling with children here, at the Vancouver International Airport’s website.

Thanks to Jenny Duncan for background information and photos.

Filed Under: Vancouver Tagged With: kids, things to do, Vancouver Metro

January 10, 2013

Vancouver’s Aquatic Centre at Hillcrest Park

In British Columbia, Vancouver’s winter rains can make a Stanley Park visit dreary and walking the seawall with a toddler sheer drudgery. But in East Vancouver’s Riley Park neighborhood, The Aquatic Centre at Hillcrest Park is the perfect way for a family to splash away the doldrums.

This 66,500 square foot water zone — and Olympic legacy facility — is now the largest pool in Vancouver, and includes a 70-person hot tub, separate dive and 50-meter lap swim tanks (with moveable floors), plus a lazy river and children’s area with playful fountains, showers and toys. The depth of the children’s pools is under 1 meter (a little over three feet), but there’s a zero-depth entry path, thanks to the focus on accessibility.

In fact, the entire pool is designed with accessibility in mind, so wheelchair users can roll via a gentle ramp into all sections, even the hot tub and play area. A bonus: it’s one more free thing to do with kids in Vancouver, if you’re the parent of a child under age three.

Hillcrest Aquatic Centre, Vancouver family fun with kids
Hillcrest Aquatic Centre. Photo Courtesy Vancouver Park Board.

The pool complex embraces mid-century modern design, with knotty pine walls, globe-shaped lights and dramatic floor-to-ceiling window views of the North Shore. In short, it’s gorgeous.

Hillcrest Aquatic Centre wasn’t as oppressively noisy as the traditional public pool from our childhood days — I think either the soundproofing or tall ceiling heights help. It’s also much cheaper than the typical resort waterpark.

If you time your visit right, you can combine a trip here with the Vancouver Winter Farmers Market, an interesting (and more locally focused) alternative to the Granville Farmers’ Market.

In summer, kids can enjoy the outdoor pool with sprays and bubble jets.

Prices: $5.98/adult; $4.24/youth; $2.99 children (ages 3-12); Under-3s are free; Families (1-2 adults and children under age 18) are $2.99 each.

Shortcut to Hillcrest Aquatic Centre schedule and prices.

More Vancouver Pools, Spray Parks and Beaches.

Filed Under: Vancouver, Water Parks, Pools & Amusement Parks Tagged With: kids, stanley park, Vancouver Metro

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