Trip to Vancouver
Wed, 11 Apr 2007.
UPDATE: Photos are here.
So yes, my parents and I spent the weekend in Vancouver as part of a tour. It was not a fabulous holiday weekend because it seems Seattle’s trademark gloomy weather had migrated north. It was overcast with light patches of rain all day long. It is hard not to have your mood affected by that. Seattle, on the other hand, was bathed in golden rays of syrupy sunshine and was just a thing of beauty. We spent the afternoon of Friday in Seattle checking out the Ballard Locks, before going to Vancouver, sleeping over for two nights and coming back to Seattle some time on Sunday afternoon.
The thing that really gets my goat about driving to Canada is that we’re only driving between two and three hours to a place on the same continent, with very similar customs and speaks the same language but we are expected to decide exactly how much we want to spend and exchange it all over to colorful Canadian dollars. I can see why people would be surprised Canada has its own currency.
After being hit with a battery of questions from the immigration people at the border, the tour guide drove us out to Richmond which is just a short trip south of Vancouver. There is a very large Hong Kong population living in Richmond. The downtown area is thoroughly Asian and we found a huge shopping center called Aberdeen that was like on of our regular shopping centers expect the stores were really spacious and set further apart and everything was Asian. Lots of places to buy fobby fashions, bubble tea and cheap plastic crap with a sticker price of 35¢.
We checked into the Comfort Inn. It was lame. But eh, all we needed somewhere to sleep and that was more than enough. I am just spoiled so I’ll shut up.
On Saturday, we caught a big ol’ ferry to Vancouver Island. Our first stop on the island was the Butchart Gardens which is essentially a huge flower garden. While the majority of it is certainly pretty there were times where it felt over-done; it could feel like you were on a golf course with flowers and that somewhere along the way they managed to separate gardening from being environmentally conscious.
After that we stopped off in the city of Victoria, took pictures of the harbor, ate dim sum (they don’t called it yum cha) and caught the ferry home again. On the last morning, we drove casually around Vancouver and Stanley Park but didn’t do much with all the rain about. When we got back to Seattle, I googled up a seafood restaurant and the three of us ate at the Crab Pot on Pier 57 (they were selling a t-shirt that said ‘got crabs?’).
I would write more but the blogging is weak in me at the moment. I have uploaded all the photos now, they are here
trademark gloomy weather in Seattle…leaving there must be like going back in time to Melbourne…..the old day when it rained for at least half the year….not its like sunny for most of the year….its weird…..oh btw ST Kilda beach on a nice 28 degree day in the middle of a work day is awesome!
Too bad about the hand in that black and white photo. Would have been a masterpiece otherwise…i guesss not taking photos with hands in them is what seperates the pros from the rest of us
Cool.. Nice pics Jack. :)
I’ve heard about those salmon bridges before… it’s a pretty cool idea. That cannon looks like a good American solution to an environmental problem. :)
I’ve heard (from some biased Canadians) that you can tell the difference when you cross the border… apparently it’s much cleaner or something. Is it true? Or are those Canadians a bunch of liars? ;-)
Dude here’s a solution to the problem of exchanging all your money at once: don’t carry around $3000 in cash. They’re called ATM’s. Besides, they’ll take American in Canada. Plus, Canadian money is clearly superior to American money.
How can you be so US-centric already? You’re making me cry. You’re almost as bad as the guy who asked if they used the euro in Canada.
The photos are awesome though.
We only swapped like… US$130 to Canadian. That was more than enough for a weekend (I still have something like 25 moose dollars stuffed in a drawer somewhere.
Thanks. I like to think that these photos came out really well. :D
Damn… you noticed the hand too, huh? :(