Vancouver Day 1: The Arrival

Early on the morning of the 21st, I met Tonya at her house after dropping off the dogs at work. I was five minutes early for once, but Tonya was still struggling to cram everything into her suitcases. We left on time. I drove, and we parked in the cheap parking lot in the airport's back 40 then took a bus to the terminal.

The flight was long, but smooth. We landed in Seattle just before lunchtime, and after collecting our bags we were picked up by Theresa in her Mitsubishi Spider (AKA the world's SMALLEST CONVERTIBLE). She drove us (top down, cold Seattle air in our faces) to the car rental a few miles away. At Enterprise, our choices were a minivan, a huge black suburban, or a Kia Sorrento. It was such a hard choice. They all sucked. But a minivan and a gangster bus sucked worse, so we were handed the keys to a brand new economy-sized Kia.



To thank Theresa for saving us a taxi fare, we took her to lunch at her choice: The Rock. During the short drive, Tonya and I immediately noticed that the car's transmission sounded bad, like it was stuck in first gear, buzzing like a lawnmower. The gear shift was one of those new hybrids that are in the new Chargers: what I thought was an automatic but made to look like a manual to make you feel cool. But there was no button to change it between auto and manual. If we drove fast enough, it would eventually change gears by itself, but still sounded and felt horrible. Why didn't the dorky guy at Enterprise tell us this??

Most of the lunch conversation was spent trying to figure it out (Tonya bitching while I tried to Google the answer on my phone). The food was great. Their specialty was burgers and the music was classic rock. The decor was awesome; we ate in a mock-church, complete with flickering candles and skulls above our heads. I had a Hawaiian burger--a chicken burger with pineapple and BBQ sauce. It was enormous, but very good.



Afterward, back in the parking garage, Theresa tried to help us figure out the transmission but couldn't. Tonya and I headed out anyway, extremely concerned about having to drive a manual for the entire trip, but we accidentally discovered that in order to drive in automatic, the gear shift had to sit on the right side of the 'drive' slot. If it was pushed to the left, it became manual. And this 'drive' slot was like, half an inch wide. What if your dog bumped it while you were driving down the highway?? Just further evidence that Kias are dumb.



The two hour drive to Vancouver went smoothly. Mountains surrounded us, becoming snow-capped as we drove further north. Getting across the Canadian border was disappointingly easy. There were no detection dogs, no car searches or questions about fruit or weapons or drugs or killing people. Just a guy in a booth, asking why we were coming to Canada. He didn't even stamp by passport. :(



Vancouver is massive. There are two bridges to get into the city, and we used the Lion's Gate every time. Aside from slightly different traffic signals, there wasn't much difference from America. Just a massive city surrounded by perfect, Melbournian-type suburbs. Each house was unique, and most front yards were fenced. People were walking and riding bikes and walking dogs. Cafe's and boutiques lined the streets. And the flowers. I've never seen so many flowers in such a perfect state of blooming. In Missouri, all of our flowers have been burnt to a crisp.



Tonya's GPS brought us straight to the North Vancouver Hotel, an arrangement of pinkish-purplish buildings adorned with hanging baskets of blooming annuals. We checked in with an Indian man (the first of many ethnicity's we would see) and immediately unpacked. The room was nice; standard and nondescript. Better than some.

Since it was still early in the afternoon, we decided to get a start on our list of activities. We headed out to Lynn Canyon park, only about a five minute drive from the hotel.

Although crowded with screaming brats (till 2 weeks until school started in B.C.) the scenery was beautiful. It reminded me of the William Rickett's Sanctuary. We walked along a gorgeous platformed path that wound in and out of massive trees and led to beautiful lookout points. One leg led down to a river that looked like it was lifted straight from a National Geographic episode. We passed a few very happy and tired dogs trotting behind their owners, dripping wet. Though there were not any scheduled activities or specific attractions to this park, it was still a perfect place to bring your dog and get some exercise--or, if you could find one--sit in a quiet place and relax.




For dinner that night Tonya and I hit Denny's, just a block down from the hotel. I was less than excited about this particular restaurant chain, but its draw actually has nothing to do with the food. It is in fact, the location where Sam and Dean won the One Millionth Customer award in Bad Day At Black Rock. We sat beside the booth the boys sat in, and near the register hangs a signed picture. It was the most exciting thing about one of the blandest restaurants there is. ;)