It's a Writing Thing

A lovely drive up Cypress Mountain - loads of pics. I even walked up the nature trail a ways to experience the sights, sounds, scents. A *great* place for shapeshifters and other magickal creatures to hang out.

Odd thing: no real scents in the air. V. weird.

Lunch at Splitz Grill (Yummy burgers and pseudo poutine for me); then off to Museum of Anthropology. Last day open for a year as they get ready for their renovation. Loads and loads of people there. We spent a little time, then went to Aberdeen Mall. Contrary to its name, it's primarily Asian. Found VooDoo babies there!

Back to hotel for rest and a quiet dinner later at Gyoza King. Early day tomorrow as we head over to Victoria for the day.

Random observations:
-- the food here has been brilliant, whether a fancy restaurant or a laid back hang out.
-- the people here are truly polite and go out of their way to help (the housekeeping maid assigned to my room leaves me a note each day, thanking me for my tip and wishing me a great day--that's NEVER happened in a US hotel, even though I tip the same amount there - $5/day)
-- the city is CLEAN. No diesel fumes (electric buses); very little trash; even the roadsides are clean
-- traffic is crazy, but evidently Labour Day weekend is known for that
-- the panhandlers are polite, too (a guy walked up to me last night as I made my way back to the hotel. "Miss, would you buy me a coffee?" I declined and he just kept walking down the sidewalk).
-- Most houses (at least in the nicer neighborhoods) seem to have hedges, instead of fences.
-- Many high rise apartment buildings and office buildings have trees/gardens on top
-- There is a fascinating ethnic diversity, so many different cultures
-- Starbucks stores are *every*where. I truly believe the chain is owned by wizards. ::g::

I'm so lucky to be on this trip, seeing this beautiful city and spending time with my family.

...after an OMFG moment this a.m. (woke up at 2:00; then lay back down to await the alarm. After a while, realized it seemed much longer than an hour and 15 minutes. Checked clock - OMFG, it was 4:00 - a full 45 minutes later than I'd planned to sleep. Threw on clothes, grabbed backpack and suitcase and called for my cab. Thank goodness they hang out near my apartment (thanks to the hotels around there). Made it to airport in plenty of time. WHEW).

Flight to Toronto was great. Very nice aircraft and no one beside me. Customs, easy peasy. Flight to Vancouver, nice, but very long. Weirdness of seating, but eventually, I ended up with no one next to me in the 2-seater portion of the 767.

Read a while. Re-watched the first 2 episodes of The Middleman on my iPod. Listened to raitala's recording of Let's Pretend the War is Over (Brilliant!).

Taxi driver eventually got me to my hotel, after asking where on Pender the Ramada was. Uhm, dude--I'm a tourist. After driving a ways down Pender, he pulled into an alley, called the office and asked for the address. you'd'a thunk he'd do that in the first place. ::facepalm:

In any case, I'm here in my room, relaxing and waiting for the rest of the clan to arrive. They were due to touch down about 10 minutes ago, but then they have to go through customs and get to the hotel. I'm tired and starving. Wish this hotel had room service. Oh well, it's nice enough and yay, free wifi!

Hope everyone's having a great Labor/Labour Day weekend!

(one amusing thing--on the way to the Ramada, we passed the Fraser Arms hotel, a manky dive near the airport. We were going too fast for me to take a picture).

From the Vancouver Island travel blog

Travel plans coming along. Thank goodness for a librarian sister! Looks like the best bet is for me to fly to Dallas, the parents to fly to Dallas and then all of us fly to Seattle. Then we'll rent a car and drive to Victoria/Vancouver.

Thanks to those of you that gave me ideas about traveling to BC. Still soliciting suggestions, so feel free to chime in.

TGIF!