Sorry about the lack of updates, I kind of got frustrated with the shaky wireless connection. I'm back home now, with a great connection mere feet from my couch, so here's the update on the last couple of days.

The hockey game was awesome. You haven't lived until you've heard 18,630 Canadians who've been waiting for 16 months for hockey singing O' Canada at the top of their lungs. And it just got better after that. There's nothing like a full stadium of people who are totally into the game and really understand what's going on. Every little thing was met with synchronized cheers, groans, and excited gasps. It was quite a bit of fun after only having seen games in person with far less intense fans in Anaheim, L.A. and San Diego. I sat next to a very excited Canucks fan who was on the edge of his seat the whole game. We had fun talking about the game, and high fiving on goals. I did my best impression of a Canucks fan, and I don't think he suspected a thing :) . Vancouver won, 3-1, which was great because the crowd got what they wanted, but I was secretly rooting for Phoenix to come back at the end for overtime and possibly a shootout. Oh well.

Thursday brought more rain, and more foot/heel/achilies pain. I don't think I was quite prepared for the amount of walking (and mountain climbing) that I did on this vacation, so I paid for it with a little bit of pain. It limited me some, but not completely. Between the rain and the pain on Thursday, I didn't feel like doing much, so I just did a little souvenir shopping and saw a couple of movies. Go For Zucker is a comedy that won a bunch of awards in Germany, so I had high hopes. It was entertaining, but I found it a little hokey, like Meet the Parents in German. Lucid is the only Canadian film I saw, and it kept me interested, but in the end was a little too in love with its shocking twists and turns for me to recommend it.

Friday was my last full day, so I decided to spend most of it in Stanley Park. Since I was still feeling some pain walking, I just stayed around the Lost Lagoon, which is a great place to sit and read. I also walked around the lagoon a couple of times enjoying the wildlife and views. I took a couple of pictures that I like, so I'll post them when my photo album starts working again (its acting funny at the moment, I don't know why).

After coming back from the park, I watched an exciting Angels/Yankees game which the Angels ended up winning. Go Halos!

I ended the night with a final movie, Three Dollars from Australia. I think I liked this one, but I had a bit of a hard time figuring out what was going on sometimes. A large part of the movie was flashbacks, but the main characters didn't really look or act that much different in the past, so there was no real indication about what point in time was being shown in any given scene. That was probably just me though.

So that's it, I caught a plane back to San Diego on saturday morning, and that's where I am now. I had a great time in Vancouver, and already want to go back. Boarding trip to Whistler this year Justin and Dave? ;)

The public transportation system here is really quite good. I took the SeaBus across to North Vancouver, and hopped on the 236 bus which took me to Grouse Mountain. Easy, quick, cheap, very nice.

Grouse Mountain is quite an attraction. There's skiing in the winter, and various other attractions at the top during the rest of the year. There's a gondola to take you to the top...but that's for wimps. I took the other way - the Grouse Grind.

No kidding around here, the Grind is tough. It starts off fairly innocently, like you're walking a giant staircase in the woods, but it quickly gets difficult. There are still steps of some sort the whole way, but the route turns nearly vertical. On the way down they told us that the annual race up the trail had just taken place last week, and a new record of 26 minutes, 26 seconds was set. After 26' 26", I was standing next to a sign telling me I was 1/4 of the way up. I took a picture of that sign, because its just that cruel. I briefly considered turning back, but in the end I decided that since nobody else was turning around, I could make it too. So I pressed onward.

There were quite a few other people on the trail with me, a large group of Japanese tourists, some locals that looked like they did this all the time, and various other tourists. I talked with one guy from Edmonton for awhile until I couldn't keep up with him anymore.

My final time was 1 hour, 25 minutes. Next time I'll do it in 1:15.

The view from the top was somewhat spoiled by clouds, but as they cleared out a little, it was spectacular. I took a bunch of pictures, but they didn't turn out that great because the clouds were still lingering.

I took the gondola back down - walking down is highly discouraged, I can't imagine doing it, it would be pretty dangerous - and got back on the 236 bus, which dropped me off at the Capilano Suspension Bridge. This is a tourist trap, and a ripoff, but I knew that going in. Its just one of those things where I was was there, and its such a well known thing that I had to check it out. Its just a big suspension bridge over a river. You get to walk across it. It was kind of fun, but not remotely worth the price of admission. At the other end of the bridge there are walkways through the forest, including some more bridges between trees about 80 feet off the ground. That also was kind of neat, but still not worth it. Oh well.

Back in town I had dinner, watched the Angels lose game 1 to the Yankees, and picked out another movie. This time I saw Look Both Ways, and it was excellent. Its a comedy about death that somehow works really well. I have no idea if any of these movies will make it to Southern California, but if this one does come to a theater near you, go see it. It comes from Australia - oh, how nice to see a movie in english again...I'm fine with foreign movies, but they lose something when you have to read the dialog.

Today I decided to take it a bit easy because I've developed a bruise of some sort on my right heel that makes walking somewhat painful. It isn't that bad though, so I went over to Granville Island to have a look around. The public market there is awesome, fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, fish, bread, everything was mouth watering. I wished I had somewhere to cook so I could have taken advantage of it, but it was still fun looking around.

There's also a lot of artists and artisans working and displaying their wares on the island, so I walked around for awhile until my heel made it less fun. I'd also seen all I wanted to see, so I headed back. Now I'm in my room watching hockey, and waiting to leave for the Canucks game tonight. Hockey is back and I couldn't be happier. Well, maybe if the Ducks had a better team....

After tonight I'll have done everything I had planned while I was here, so I'll have to be a bit more creative. Suggestions are welcome :) .

Postscript: Awesome! The Barenaked Ladies are singing the Canadian national anthem at the Maple Leafs game.

Death Cab was great.

I'm online trying to figure out the best way to get to Grouse Mountain in the morning...I think I'm going to attempt the Grouse Grind, so if nobody hears from me for a few days...send help :) .

zzzzzzzz

Today was Stanley Park day. I set off in the morning with the intention of thoroughly exploring the park, and I think I accomplished my goal.

The original plan was to grab a sweet roll or donut or something to eat while walking through the city on the way to the park, then a sandwich to take with me and eat somewhere in the park. Like all my detailed plans so far, this one was quickly abandoned. I saw a restaurant with a breakfast menu that included Four Berry French Toast, and I was sold. What's not to like about that? So I had a real breakfast, and since I found the park before a likely looking sandwich shop, the second part of the plan went out the window too.

My first stop was the Vancouver Aquarium. I think I was planning on actually going in, but when I got there, it just felt a little too touristy for me. More Sea World than Birch Aquarium, so I took a pass. Besides, I was having fun walking in the trees. I headed east to find the Brockton Oval, mostly because there were a lot of signs for it, and I had no idea what it could be to deserve that attention. Turns out its the "Home of Vancouver Rugby". Learn something new every day. Basically its a football (er, rugby) field with a track around it. Less than exciting, so I pressed on.

I walked along the seawall at the eastern edge of the park for awhile, then turned back west looking for Beaver Lake. This is where I somehow got completely turned around. I was following along on my little map, thinking I knew where I was going. At one point there was a sign pointing to the lake, but then nothing at the next sign post, so I turned in the direction that it obviously was. Wrong! I ended up making a big circle around the aquarium, thinking I was going in a completely different direction. I couldn't believe it when I popped out of some trees to find the aquarium parking lot again. Oh well, at least it was a pleasant stroll.

So I started all over again trying to find Beaver Lake, and this time I tuned in the direction that it obviously wasn't. And of course I found it that way. After I found the Lake, I had no navigational troubles, so my working hypothesis is that there's some kind of strange space-time warping going on around the Vancouver Aquarium. Now I'm really glad I didn't go inside, who knows where I would have ended up?

I walked around Beaver Lake taking several pictures, and finally started heading back toward town, because my feet were getting pretty tired. The way back was very nice and tree filled, and I also got to walk around most of Lost Lagoon.

When I hit city streets, I really started to feel it in my legs. I'd been walking for about 3-3.5 hours at this point, and my feet and legs weren't very happy about it. I made it back to the hotel though, and took about a 40 minute nap.

My late lunch/early dinner was at the Yaletown Brewing Company. Got to sample the local beer :) . Verdict - pretty good.

And that takes me to the present, sitting in my room, recuperating from walking and watching Monday Night Football. I'll be leaving for the Death Cab for Cutie concert in a few minutes. The venue is supposed to be very small and intimate, so it should be a great show.

I want to thank Richard and Mathew for leaving comments directing me to the VIFF theaters and a Japanese restaurant that's now at the top of my list of places to try. I have no idea how people are finding this blog (except the people I emailed about it of course), but it just shows how cool the internet is that two people have not only found it, but took the time to leave helpful comments. Also, somehow I have WordPress set so that I have to approve comments before they're posted. I tried changing that, but I don't think what I did worked. So if you post a comment and it doesn't show up right away, that's why, sorry about that, I'm working on it. Its tough when I have to balance my laptop on the TV to reach a wireless network.

Ok, got to upload this and some pictures before I have to leave for the concert.

Yesterday started with a mission: finding somewhere to watch the Chargers game. In my wanderings yesterday, I found a pub down by Stanley Park that had NFL schedules posted outside. Figuring that was a good bet, I headed out there. But when I got there at a few minutes before 10, they were closed. Apparently they open at 11. Sigh. So I checked my guide book to find a sports bar and headed off to the Shark Club Bar and Grill. They were open, and showing all the games, including the Chargers game on the big screen. Score! I had a veggie omelet, and watched the game. There was a die hard Chargers fan sitting near me, and we had a great time whooping it up as the Bolts crushed the Patriots.

After such a great start to the day I decided to go explore Stanley Park a little, so I headed outside to find...rain. Well, it actually wasn't raining that hard, and I did have both a raincoat and an umbrella in my backpack (how's that for foresight?), so why let a little water spoil my day?

So I walked around the park for awhile, and it is all its cracked up to be, even in the rain. In fact, walking around in the rain was a lot of fun. I only got a very little way into it, about as far as the Lost Lagoon, but I'm already planning on going back today to explore more. One thing I didn't realize is just how BIG it is. I thought I'd walked quite a ways into it, but when I looked at a map I realized I had only scratched the surface.

By this time I was pretty wet and a little tired from walking, so I headed back into the center of town to find another movie. I found another theater, one with more than one screen, so my choices expanded considerably. When I got there, Souls of Naples was about to start, so I grabbed a ticket. I actually quite enjoyed this one. I guess you'd call it sort of a documentary. Basically its a study of Naples, featuring mostly the poorer parts and people of the city. Take a look if you see it playing somewhere.

I felt like Japanese for dinner, so I consulted by book to find a couple of likely places and headed off to find one. No luck. I still think they're out there, but I couldn't find either of them after walking up and down the street they're both supposed to be on. Maybe I should have brought the book out with me, but I was trying to travel light for the evening. Oh well, there were plenty of other places to try, so I just picked one near the movie theater that looked good. I had a very good smoked salmon roll, and a rice bowl/egg/chicken concoction that was just ok.

How about another movie? This one was called Crash Test Dummies. Its about a Romanian couple that goes to Austria (?) to drive a stolen car back to Romania. Of course things end up going wrong, and the story just basically follows four characters around in their various meetings and trials. I'm not describing it well. It was interesting, but not a must see by any means.

So a pretty relaxed day, some walking in the rain, a couple of movies to stay out of the rain, and a great Chargers win :) .

Today I think I'm going to go back to the park, maybe try to find the aquarium that's supposed to be in there somewhere. Then the Death Cab for Cutie concert is tonight, I'm looking forward to that. My weather report says its only going to rain on wednesday, so here's hoping for some dry days this week.

Well, I made it here. Our plane was a little late arriving in San Diego but we made up for that with a super fast boarding and apparently turning on the turbo jets in the air. We actually arrived in Vancouver at 12:48, 4 minutes early. I count that as bonus vacation time.

The customs line was fairly long, but it moved pretty quickly. I was a bit worried they weren't going to let me into the country when I came up with some pretty lame answers to the agent's questions.

"So, what are you going to do in Vancouver?"
"Uh, I don't know, just wander around downtown, maybe go to the park."
"For a week?"
"Uh, yeeeaaaah."
"Welcome to Canada."
"Whew"

I rounded out my visit to Vancouver International Airport by getting ripped off at the currency exchange (though, I'm sure its still better than whatever fees Wells Fargo is going to charge me when I eventually use an ATM here). My cab driver spent most of the ride to the hotel trying to get his brand new GPS system up and working. And when I say new, I'm not screwing around. He was just taking it out of the box and reading the yellow card saying it would take 15 minutes to start up the first time. He was fairly disturbed by that news, as he wondered how he was going to hold the power button down for 15 minutes, but after he handed me the yellow card, I assured him that he only had to hold it down for 2 seconds to turn it on. I've only been in the country for about an hour and I'm already helping out the locals! They're going to beg me to stay.

I got the guy at the hotel desk to move me from the second floor to the first floor, because apparently the wireless access point is located in the office (below the first floor). Unfortunately, even with the move, I'm having quite a time getting a signal in here. I finally got something to work by putting my computer right next to the open window. I suspect I'm actually using a signal from the building next door, but its not password protected, so its good enough.

After getting settled in my room (which is humble, but it works, and has a view...of sorts), I realized that it was about 3:00 and all I'd eaten was a Jamba Juice at about 7, and the little packet of...of...stuff they give you on the plane. What the hell happened to the peanuts? I haven't had nuts on a plane in a few years, and frankly I'm sick of...of...whatever that stuff they give you now is. Anyway. I asked the desk guy which direction to walk to find food, he pointed, I started walking. I was having such a good time walking that I suddenly realized I had walked all the way to the edge of Stanley Park, which, it turns out, is about a 20 minute walk from the hotel. The park looked beautiful, so I decided to retrace my steps, find a sandwich shop and get some lunch to eat in the park. Well, apparently I'm not a very attentive walker, because I soon found myself back where I had started. By this point I was getting really hungry, so I abandoned the park plan for another day and stopped at what looked like a sports pub.

I quickly ordered a beer, and some fish and chips, and settled in to watch some baseball highlights. I think my first clue that I was actually in a gay bar was the rather lurid message on the coaster. I looked around a little and started noticing that almost all the waiters were wearing tight black shirts and earrings. Then of course, there were the paintings of naked men on the walls. I think that's what sealed it for me. To be fair, there was one painting of a naked woman, though, sadly, she was mostly hidden behind a TV. Final verdict on the place who's name I forget: good beer, decent fish, good fries, atmosphere not my cup of tea.

After eating I decided to see if I could find one of the theaters involved in the Vancouver International Film Festival. It proved easier than I expected, as it was just 3 blocks down Granville from my hotel. Neat. I got a ticket for the 9:30 show of Duelist, and also became a proud member of the VIFF club. Interestingly, they aren't allowed to show movies to the public, just to their members, so you have to join the club to see a movie. I think the reason is that they aren't rated by the BC Film Board, so you have to make some kind of gesture that says you are enough of an adult to watch a movie that the government hasn't declared sanitized enough for consumption by the masses. I'm excited.

So that brings me to the present. I'm sitting in my room watching soccer (after failing to find the Canucks preseason game on the TV), and resting up from all the walking I ended up doing.

Random Canada observation for the day: Sometimes the traffic lights flash green. I have no idea why they do this. At first I thought it was the equivalent of our flashing red I'm-out-of-order signal, but I was quickly proved wrong there. Then I thought that that's just the way they all are. Wrong again, some are solid green, some flash. I'm fresh out of ideas, but I've got a week here, I'll get to the bottom of this mystery.

(I promise better pictures later.)