The day after our Seattle adventure, we headed north of the border. I don't know about Chris, but I was pretending I was a fugitive trying to slip over the border undetected. It must have showed because the rather stern Canadienne at the border gave us a small yellow piece of paper and ordered us into the customs building. When 20 minutes of sitting in hard plastic chairs and being stared down by border agents didn't crack us, they decided to let us go.
For those of you who have never been to Canada, everything is slightly different. For instance, they are not quite sure how to spell the word "center".
Instead of dollar bills, they have a weird coin and they have an even weirder coin for a $2 denomination (loonies and toonies to we seasoned world travelers). I realized that the reason they do this is to make you look cheap if you're not generous with tips.
They still have American icons, but they have given them a unique Canadian twist.
The most difficult part? All those km/h speed limit signs. I have no sense for metric measurements and the metric dial on our American rental car was super hard to see. That difficulty quickly resolved itself when I realized that all I had to do was multiply the number on the sign by 3/5 to get the mph. Easy as pie! Canadian apple pie, that is.
Vancouver was different than I had imagined. Although the population is similar to Denver, it somehow feels much more crowded. Maybe because of all the clueless American tourists.
The highlight of our visit to Vancouver was the stunning Stanley park. We had our first sea level run ever along the seawall there. It was AMAZING. I'm pretty sure I would be a lot better runner if I could have my own seawall. Alas, I must make my treadmill do and be consoled by the fact that at least I don't have to change in my car in order to run on it.
That day in Vancouver was full of firsts because it ended with a trip on a ferry. I tried to act cool, like it was the most natural thing in the world to drive a parking lot full of cars into the belly of a giant ship, but the act ended as we started to drive into the Spirit of Vancouver and I whipped out my camera to document the boarding process.
My cool image was totally shattered when I had to be king of the world on the bow of the ferry. I don't care. It was my first time on a ferry, my first time on the ocean (I'm pretty sure a strait counts), and my first time on a mode of public transport that has its own cafeteria and gift shop. The moment demanded embracing and embrace I did.
Our trip on the ferry ended in Sidney on Vancouver Island. Stay tuned for the next chapter of our Canadian adventure in Victoria.
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