travelogue babble - Vancouver

[salixbabylon]

1) It's cold up here. Like, knee socks and hat and scarf and gloves are NOT OPTIONAL. WTF, man? I'm from California, this is weird.

2) I saw a pond in a Chinese garden today that was ICE. Thin ice, but still. Never have I seen such a thing.

3) Yummy dim sum. However, I think Chinatowns are all kind of the same no matter what city they are in. Which makes sense, as they are a bit of home-away-from-home for the immigrants. The gate was pretty, although I forgot to take a picture. Need to get better at that.

4) One hat I brought was trashed (20 years oldish, lots of wear and washing), the other hat was too big and kept falling down to my nose, so I bought a hat today. Dithering between two, husband pushed for the furry one. Later he confessed it made him want to quote COmmunity - "I have the weirdest boner right now" - not quite, but a confusing twitch down below. After 18 years together, I'll take any twitch that comes by. Furry hat FTW!

5) Next December vacation, we are going somewhere WARM. Jamaica, maybe, with ladykatiewench. :)

5) We saw beluga whales! And a narwhal model (only one of two n-mammals), and an anaconda, and a sloth, and frogs, and electric eels, and marmosets, and huge butterflies, and giant sea tutrles, and and and. I ♥ aquariums. We forgot to get postcards or gifts though, so we have to go back tomrorow. (There was also an info person at the electric eels who sounded exactly like bitofaspaz when she gets excited.)

6) Tomorrow = ferry ride to Victoria. I have a stupid love for ferry rides.

7) People/men in Canada are so polite, I can't tell if they're flirting with me or not. Either way, it's lovely.

8) OMG smoked salmon! so much yum! :)

Comments

[rosi-smaabu.livejournal.com]

:D Come to Norway! We have ferries and all the smoked salmon you can eat, and right now? ICE. On ponds, on the pavements.. ALL TOO MUCH OF IT. So, how about it? Let's switch, I'd happily go to California. :D

[salixbabylon.livejournal.com]

No freaking way. You can come visit in calif, but I'd freeze solid in Norway. ;)

[violetlemon47.livejournal.com]

Sounds like fun, despite the cold.

[salixbabylon.livejournal.com]

definitely - and the cold is weird, but not dreaful or anything. ;)

[violetlemon47.livejournal.com]

I was trying to find a picture for you, but haven't had any luck. I grew up in Cadillac, MI. The city is built around two lakes, Lake Cadillac and Lake Mitchell, and connected by a canal. Every year both lakes freeze over. It's really pretty.

[violetlemon47.livejournal.com]

Ha! I was determined to find one! Here is the link that shows Lake Cadillac: http://www.aerialgraphics.com/lakes/Cadillac/5611/5611cadillac.html
and here is Lake Mitchell: http://www.aerialgraphics.com/lakes/Mitchell/5612/5612mitchell.html

[salixbabylon.livejournal.com]

Pretty! Those seem like awfully huge lakes to freeze over. I bet the ice skating is fun though! :)

[deathbymutation.livejournal.com]

We're just super polite! Seriously when I was in the states, people looked at me like I was an alien when I held the door open for an elderly women. I just nodded at them, smiled and say "I'm Canadian" and they just sort of 'ah'.

[salixbabylon.livejournal.com]

Damn, I was hoping for bieng flirted with. ;)

[bitofaspaz.livejournal.com]

I just love the Vancouver aquarium. I got kissed by a beluga there. Also electric eels are awesome!

[salixbabylon.livejournal.com]

whooo! We missed the beluga show but saw the dolphin one. Good fun all around. If you decide to switch careers, you could definitely be a zoo announcer. :)

[andolinn.livejournal.com]

Cold?! Don't head for Calgary!

Canadians are the nicest people on the planet. I swear we kept having these 45 minute discussions with park rangers and random strangers. Really friendly people.

The thing I noticed about the Asian food in Vancouver was that there were a lot of noodle bars. We don't have those down here; not like that. They're all over Robson.

Have a great trip!

[salixbabylon.livejournal.com]

Husband has been thrilled about the noodle bars, you're right about how abundant they are. We're having a great time so far. :)

[hammil77.livejournal.com]

*lol* I love reading reports of warm living people venturing into the colder climates. :P

That aquarium sounds amazing! :O

I've always wanted to go to Vancouver so I'm enjoying this travelogue. I'll be looking forward to any more of your snippets from there. ;)

[salixbabylon.livejournal.com]

I know, I'm a wuss. ;)

It's definitely worth a trip, even just an overnight if you're in Seattle. We're having a great time.

[gladsomemind.livejournal.com]

It's not really cold over in the UK. And people can be polite here as well (as long as you aren't in London!)

But I suppose if you are coming in June I'll let you off :D

[salixbabylon.livejournal.com]

It's about as cold as it was in London in 2008, maybe a bit colder, actually... It's possible I've forgotten how cold i was then. ;)

June for sure!