Hampton Inn & Suites Vancouver Downtown B.C., Canada

Vancouver, Canada Another early flight. Alarm goes off 4:00am, Information states arrive 2 hours before international flights. Not many other people at the gate. Not many other people on the plane. Wow a whole row for each person if they wanted it I do. I sleep., I haven't flown on this empty of a plane in years. And my newest favorite pastime is to listen to the air traffic control traffic. I am very calmed by knowing when we are handed off to the next controller and where the bumpy air is a...

We woke up and wandered the streets. Found a nice place for brekfast down on the water. False Creek just a few blocks away. I took the Sky Train down to the waterfront station which is on Burrard Inlet where the cruise ships come in and sea planes land. Missed the picture of that though. Lots of fans in for the hockey game though they are serious. They have their Jerseys on and they have their 12 pack of Molsen at the ready. More later when I have some braggin to do. Cathy

Could we play any worse? Could the Ref's make any more calls against the Sharks. The Hockey fans in Canada are very serious and not nearly so nice as the kind people in Minnesota. There were barbs and all kinds of s... talk it called for some drowning in our Granville Island honey beer after the game. At least it was good and cold. I went up to the roof top for some nite views I think you will like them. The US dollar is doing well here so we got that goin for us. $20.00 Canadian is about $15...

Cool, cloudy skies greeted me as I walked across the parking lot to the Espresso Tug-Go hut where I got my early-morning caffeine fix. Chris loaded up the car while I made sandwiches for a picnic on the road. We picked up a couple of sodas at Costco, made last minutes U.S. phone calls, then headed north towards Mt. Baker to cross the border near Abbotsford farm country.

We stopped just shy of the border at Lake Whatcom to eat our sandwiches overlooking the still blue water and forested...

Up at 6:00, a quick bite downstairs, then Paul, Kassidy and I set off for sightseeing, leaving Cyndie to catch up with a longtime friend now living in Vancouver, and Chris to work. We took a free shuttle to Stanley Park where the roses were in glorious full-bloom, then walked the seawall past the marina and the new convention center.

We took a slight detour to marvel at the art deco Marine Building (used as the headquarters for the "Fantastic Four"), then waited for a police-escorted m...

What a whirlwind day of sightseeing! First stop was the hotel shuttle drop-off at the English Bay beach for Inukshuk photos. Then a quick walk through West End to Stanley and the seawall. From there we tromped over the new "green" convention center and to the Cruise Ship Terminal. Along our walk there we parsed hundreds of people lined up along the sidewalk leading from the Pan Pacific hotel, holding Japanese flags. According to the information booth attendant, the Emperor and Empress were du...