O Canada!

What an adventure that was!

Aaron and I decided to take a trip to Canada during our visit and see what our neighbors up north had to offer. Aside from the signs being bigger because they measure things in kilometers & meters, Canada is a lot like the US of A. We took Aaron's big Dodge Ram truck (very American - it's even red!) and drove into Vancouver. BIG mistake. The lanes are teeny tiny and the parking garages barely have a 6 foot clearance (I don't know how many meters that is...). We definitely stood out like a sore thumb while we were navigating our way through the city. Once we parked, we took a ferry, called the SeaBus, to North Vancouver and were not impressed. It was a quiet part of the city without a lot of anything going on. We walked through a market and looked around a bit, but didn't find much, so we made our way back to the regular Vancouver and had some dinner at the Transcontinental, a former train station. It was pretty nice and instead of saying "eh" after everything our waiter said "cheers" every time he left our table.

Once we finished eating, we decided to get out of the city and find a nice little town to spend the night and we arrived in White Rock. A very cute and quaint tourist town that is a hot spot during the summer and a main player in the transcontinental railroad movement. We visited all two bars that were open and retired for the night at the Oceanside Promenade with an ocean view room. (The hotel was like a little condo, and even had a fireplace!) The next day was Aaron's birthday!!! So we spent it walking around the town and walking out on the bridge to get as close to the ocean as possible. After soaking up the little bit of sunshine that came out that day, we had lunch at an irish restuarant and headed back to the states.

Next time I go Canada, I plan to go to a town called Whistler. Apparently it's where the 2010 Winter Olympics are going to be held and its little tourist town surrounded by mountains with lots of skiing/snowboarding opportunities - heck yes!!



Left: The arch on the USA - Canada border

Right: Me and the Vancouver skyline






Here I am in White Rock, Canada enjoying the partial sunshine near the ocean. And in the background, that land to the right is the United States!










Right: Me expressing my inner photographer

Left: Aaron took and re-took an Asain couple's picture at least 10 times for them so they returned the favor, but we only had them take 3. Silly tourists.




Here are some other interesting facts I learned while visiting our neighbor to the north:

Blinking traffic lights. Definitely caught me off guard. When the light turns green it blinks until it turns yellow, and then red. If it’s a green arrow, there’s usually a solid green light above it and the a green arrow below it that blinks until the light above it turns yellow and then red. Somehow, this is not a hazard. Must be a Canadian thing.

Unpasteurized Milk. Tastes like regular milk but a bit warmer and a bit thicker. Not quite vitamin D thick, but thicker than 2% milk.

Lots of women walking around. Not just the normal amount, but it might have been 10 to every 1 guy walking around the city and a majority of those women were Asain or Native American.

Skytrain and seabus. Not just a plane ride, not just a ferry ride, but cool Canadian public transportation.

Washrooms. Anytime you need to relieve yourself, you use a thing called the washroom; not restroom.

Canadians used to oppress the Asians too. In the late 1800s, the Aanadians were building a railroad to the west and passed the the Asiatic Exclusion Act to keep jobs in Canada and not have a bunch of immigrants take their jobs. Cool, eh?

I'll be back, Canada - don't you worry. There are more adventures to be had up north! Until next time friends...