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Vancouver is a perfect city for people who love doing things outside, with lots of urban parks and excellent access to the water, but why limit yourself to the great outdoors when you can have outer space as well? The H.R. MacMillan Space Centre and Planetarium is one of the city's most fascinating and unusual attractions, starting with the building itself. Resembling a flying saucer and guarded by a giant chrome sculpture of a crab, the center boasts enough outer space videos, interactive displays, and astronaut activities for a full day of fun and enlightenment for the family. Start off with a ride in a 30-seat spacecraft simulator, which blasts you into orbit while providing an excellent view of the earth and the stars. Then, drop by the Cosmic Courtyard to touch a moon rock and attempt to dock the Space Shuttle to the International Space Station. (It's not as easy as it looks.) The centerpiece of the center is the H.R. MacMillan Planetarium Star Theatre, whose domed ceiling and 360-degree Zeiss camera recreate the night sky with thousands of planets and constellations. Note to music fans: on Friday and Saturday nights, the planetarium hosts laser shows choreographed to the music of Led Zeppelin, Coldplay, and Pink Floyd. Nobody said science and rock 'n' roll don't mix. Starwood has five properties in Vancouver, including the nearby Westin Grand, Vancouver.

[image via ubc.ca]

In my imagination I'm the "Ironman" type. I run five miles and swim fifty laps before breakfast. But in real life, I'm more of a beach bum. Get me to the warm sand before peak tanning hours and I'm in ecstasy. Both types will find many hours of enjoyment at Vancouver's English Bay Beach. Just a mile across the peninsula from The Westin Bayshore, Vancouver, the long sandy stretch is popular with lunch-breaking locals as well as seaside-loving families.

Swimmers and sunbathers began flocking here in the late 1800s when summer cottages were constructed nearby, and sand was added to the shore. The original, wooden bathhouse and dance hall were torn down many decades ago, but the current bathhouse, built in 1931 offers visitors a place to change into their swimsuits and shower off after plunge in the salty Pacific Ocean.

Most every day a game of volleyball is being played on at English Bay Beach, while special activities like the Polar Bear Swim Club's New Year's Day dip, and "Bard on the Beach," Vancouver's summertime Shakespeare festival take place here every year. If you're in town July 23, be sure to pack a picnic and find yourself a nice sandy spot along the waterline, because when night falls leading fireworks designers from around the world will illuminate the star-studded Vancouver sky at the HSBC Celebration of Light competition.

"It's not part of the United States, and not really part of Canada: It's this odd little bit caught between the mountains and the ocean and the border, so you can see it all but view it from a bit of a distance."

So says the author William Gibson on Vancouver, his adopted hometown. Vancouver always has seemed to me to be the ultimate cyberpunk landscape, with its modern glass and steel architecture set in this volatile rainforest. It only seems natural that its citizens would be hyper aware of technology, yet in love with the erratic nature of the city's weather. Cyberpunk founder and "Neuromancer" author Gibson, in his just released novel, "Spook Country" visits this caffeinated oasis in fiction and even read from it in Second Life. Word has it that it provides a captivating view into the future home of the 2010 Olympics.

One thing important past, present and future in this city is caffeination. Indeed, coffee is one commodity that is simply beloved in Vancouver. Outside of New York, Vancouver is one of the few places I've ever been where dueling coffeehouses can be found on all four corners of a street, all bustling with activity. One local favorite is JJ Bean House of Coffee a five store chain that makes phenomenal coffee, extremely fresh and potent partially because it roasts its small batches of beans, often on-site. While it does not boast free wi-fi, the ubiquitous Vancouver heavy chain, Blenz does, as do over a hundred other coffeehouses in the city of buzz.

After getting wired on espresso, it may be necessary to shake those jitters with some outdoor action. Essential to any trip to Vancouver in summer is a visit to Stanley Park, one of the most stunning urban parks in the world, boasting 500,000 trees. Yes, half a million trees. It's got shade, let me tell you. On the edge of the park lies the seawall, a 5.5 mile path for walking, biking and skating along a simply breathtaking landscape. Originally conceptualized in 1918 as a path to prevent erosion along the park, this public works project took almost half a century to construct before being thoroughly transformed into a fully realized thoroughfare. About 30 years ago, it became the focal point of Vancouver's "inner" waterfront. You can rent bikes and rollerblades here or go old-fashioned and walk the route, but in any event, be prepared for 2 hours (on foot) of breathtaking Vancouver. Good news is that the seawall is only 3 blocks from the Sheraton Wall Centreso after all that coffee and exercise, you have someplace lovely for the inevitable to everything cyber, if not punk: the crash.