What a fun employee trip, Sara! Lucky you!
I'm in Vancouver, yes, and there are also other Fabbers lurking here! PM me and we'll see if we can swing a meet up. Warning: it's the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend so it might be tricky to work around people's family plans. It might also be unusually busy (or exceptionally quiet...) at restaurants, etc. (It all depends...) Either way, you'll have lots of fun here and your US dollars will go far.
I never notice the lack of Uber. We're a one-car family and I walk or take transit everywhere. Mr. Suz and I actually had some trouble figuring out Uber in Seattle and had to rely on US friends to help us out in that department.
You can buy a day pass for the transit and hop on and off. Transit is safe and runs often and takes you everywhere you want to go. People here complain about it but I think it's remarkably good. You can buy a Day Pass and get unlimited travel. https://www.translink.ca/Fares.....icing.aspx. There are also maps of the system and people will help you out if you ask.
Re sightseeing: Sally makes good points. Stanley Park is gorgeous and will be especially pretty if the sun is shining. It's great to walk or bike around the sea wall. If you can, pop into the bar of the Sylvia Hotel and have a drink. It's a lovely spot. I also love Granville Island (fun artists' studios, market, restaurants).
Gastown is actually a hip and happening place now with some of the city's best shopping, as well as galleries, etc. But it does border the downtown eastside and that is Canada's toughest, saddest neighbourhood. You don't want to go to the downtown eastside at night on your own. (Although I have in fact walked around there at night on my own and right now I teach a night class right on the border of the area and so regularly wait for the bus there.) Truthfully it is not so dangerous; people rarely harass you -- they are just trying to get by -- but it's painful to witness and can be a bit scary, in that you can't always predict how addicts will act.
Other good areas for shopping/ window shopping: Robson Street and the Pacific Centre, 4th Avenue, Main Street for funky shops and lots of thrift type stores.
Look for a chain of consignment stores called Turnabout -- they have several branches in the city and often offer good stuff. Fab shoes at Fluevog (a couple of locations) and Gravity Pope on 4th.
Vancouver Art Gallery is decent and a nice building but they are renovating so I'm not sure what's open now there. There's always music, theatre, etc. happening and October is the start of the season.
Food is amazing in Vancouver -- you really can't go wrong if you look up a few reviews.
Hope you have a wonderful trip and with luck we can meet up!
