Back from Vancouver

Yes, I visited our friends to the north. They're not quite as friendly as I thought... Oh, of course they were plenty friendly to me - I've got $$$ to spend. I was surprised about how many homeless there were around my hotel. Granted, I think that the location of my hotel (on the water, near Gastown) had something to do with it - Gastown seems to be going through a transition period between being a pit and being an upscale hangout for the tourists. But I thought that the Canadians took better care of their citizens than we do. Since they provide health care for all, I just assumed they would care for the poorest citizens, but there they were - bumming cigarettes and asking for dough. It was sad - I think it bothered me more because I was sorta idolizing Canada for being the "nice" Americans.

Anyways, we drove up there through the rain (it's been unseasonally rainy lately in Seattle - it's usually very dry in August), and as soon as we crossed the border into Canada, it was sunny. Really! We did lots of sightseeing - I realized I wasn't so interested in the "city" type stuff as I was in the nature stuff. The nice thing about Vancouver is there is plenty of both. We did hit the Monet to Dali exhibit at the Vancouver Gallery (it's actually a museum) which was excellent. It did a great job of explaining how and why the Impressionists evolved from more realistic type painting and then how post-Impressionism, Cubism and Surrealism evolved from there. I really enjoyed it.

We drove up to Whistler, which is where the 2010 winter Olympics are being held (Whistler & Vancouver). It was about a 2 hour drive up the coast. Absolutely stunning views of the water, and mountains. We hung out at the ski resort for a few hours before driving back (turns out the views are even better driving south). I saw a bear there - it was just sorta walking across the path of the mountain bikers that were careening down the mountain.

At the aquarium, I saw four baby skunks. There were adorable. They weren't actually in the aquarium - they lived under a dumpster outside the aquarium, but that didn't make me love them any less. They have Beluga whales at the aquarium, which were gorgeous.

I'll be posting pix shortly, so watch this space...