May the bluebird of happiness always be with him.
Morning "Barb" as Michael drove away from three of us standing, reaching for the car in the parking lot: "Paleface need to find shade."
WTF did he mean? At one point Michael said to me, "I want you to know I'm not really playing with you." Geez, we have 8 more days in the car together!
Today was "Vancouver day." After breakfast in downtown Seattle (ordinary enough breakfast fare of eggs benedict, corned beef hash, biscuits and gravy) we made the 2-3 hour trip across the border to Vancouver.
2-3 hours is a loose number because part of the trick is getting across the border. The sign said "15 minute wait" and we pulled up. It took us 23 minutes, because Michael has a gift for picking the wrong line.
& the guard at the turnstile was...let us say "fastidious" since we have to get back across the border tomorrow. "Where are you from?" Michael, having handed them 4 US passports, goes with "the States." Then, errr..."Pennsylvania"...then "errr...we're from western Pennsylvania and they are from further east..." OMG!
Then he asks "why are you coming into Canada?" I think Michael worked the word "vacation" in somewhere in the 3rd sentence...:)
Then, "you have a place to stay in Vancouver?" This should have been simple "Yes. X hotel." Well, Michael twists this into to about 4 sentences and another question.
"Do you have any weapons?" Michael almost yells "no" but at least he gets it out quickly. Finally, the guard says "have a nice day" and he drove us into Canada.
Will we ever get out?
Vancouver is a lovely city. I will not attempt anything new here (despite having heard the lecture on words and ideas from last night's movie, Words and Pictures) but say that it is an interesting mix of high rises -- not big ones like NYC, but still a lot of them -- many of which seem to be living units and natural beauty. There's also a lot of water, more like Seattle, even wetter. We are in the main part of the city, within two blocks of a bridge to the south, and the bridge across to the north is only about 20 blocks away.
The other characteristic is the mountains -- they really come down close to the water on several sides, making you feel enclosed. And those mountains have snow visible on them, in case you were feeling summer warmth (it was 70 F in town today). There are mountains near Seattle, but they don't push down to the water like this; it reminds me somewhat of Zihuatanejo, with evergreens and grass.
Clearly our highlight here today (for sightseeing purposes) was Stanley Park. As a fan of things Native, I found this exhibit in the park truly impressive:
We suspect it's the largest exhibit of totems anywhere. One website says it's the number one tourist attraction here (making this cliche tourist photo #3 in a row), and rightly so. But I'm not sure that's well known.
We also visited the Sun Yat-Sen Chinese Garden. Saw three turtles, one frog, one koi, one heron. Failed to meditate appropriately. Who knew?
Now, for dinner. The best meal so far, as all agreed. Friday night's "phenomenal" was true of tonight. The place was the Blue Water, which one site said is the best seafood restaurant in Vancouver. Not sure if that's true (tough life if you got to try the competitors to find out), but it's got to be right up there. Tonight's special was halibut (pictured) which were told came off the boat about an hour and a half before we ate it. The chimi sauce was great & the ratatouille was excellent. Go there if you are in Vancouver. (here's my pic after having taken a bite -- as there was no lunch we were all starving).
There was no movie tonight. Fatigue has set in some and we have a big day, with the longest driving journey (here to Portland) with a stop at Rainier (if it stands still long enough for us to visit it) on the way & predictions of some rain. I hear it rains in the northwest, though this isn't the season. Knock wood (for Beth) we've seen none in four days.
Apologies for the lack of comic relief here -- I hear even the big guy took an off day on Sunday. Just imagine if I'd tried to use this proffered tag line: "there's a scout badge for that" (seen on a sign for the Canadian Boy Scouts as we entered Canada). I'm sure there's comic potential, but...eh.
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