Vancouver, B.C.

Interesting Fact
Vancouver is one of the few North American cities with no freeways downtown. Any attempt to build one has met with fierce opposition.

Best Thing To Do
Whale watching worked out awfully well for us

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May 23, 2008

Vancouver was sort of a grab-bag as far as North American cities go. Kayakers, hippies, bankers all co-existing in a relatively dense area. Likewise, the geography had a little bit of everything. Huge mountains dropped right into the harbor surrounding the flat little island full of skyscrapers that is Vancouver's downtown. It felt exactly like every other city yet completely unique at the same time. Now, the biggest knock against the Pacific Northwest is undoubtedly the weather. Winters are mild but that really only means it rains everyday instead of snowing much. Luckily for us, we were out on two of the eighty-odd days of full on sunshine they get per year.

Vancouver has plenty of sights and sounds to offer, even though the city itself is pretty young (1885). It's preparing for the Olympics in 2010 so construction is booming. Gentrification is also in full bloom in some areas though not all of the addicts have gotten the memo yet. There are "tourist" areas, to be sure, but I think they've done a nice job of creating them so that locals have a reason to go to. As always, it is amazing to see the amount of people out walking around when there's something to walk for (cough cough, Dallas). That really made it feel like a smaller city than it was.

By far the coolest thing we did while there was go on a whale-watching tour. Now we had the option to have a covered boat or an open boat and survival suits. Maggie hinted at possible litigation so we took the covered boat (it was the better choice). Now I must caveat this by saying had we been on the boat for the six hours that we were, without seeing what we saw, it would have been an awful experience. We jet-boated roughly half-way to Hawaii (see map) I think before we caught up with the local pod. We had a marine biologist on board and during the trip we got a fascinating lecture on these animals. Here are some highlights in case you didn't know. Crazy stuff.

Most orcas travel in pods and have a distinct culture (a term used with no other species besides humans and orca) that can be passed along from parent to off-spring. This includes a local dialect that is taught to the young orcas.
All the jumping and splashing we saw (see video) is a part of their communcation process. They often poke their head up to have a look around at their surroundings because they use that to travel.
Orcas can be identified by their dorsal fin shapes and marking and they are as unique as fingerprints.

Besides the orcas, we also saw lots of wildlife just having a good time on a warm summer day. It was a remarkably short day considering the time and distance covered but the results were spectacular.

All in all, our visit to the Great White North was fantastic. Killer whales, giant Nutella crepes, and easy flights are the hat-trick of Memorial Day trips. If only the exchange rate would cooperate. I hate it when the Canadians look down at my dollar and laugh.