Sunday to Wednesday
I decided to head someplace different for my first Christmas without my sweetie and ended up in Birch Bay Washington. I am staying in a nice 2-bedroom condo.
Christmas was very quiet and peaceful, which is exactly what I needed. The 26th was another low-key day. All I did was drive south to Bellingham to go to a movie. I saw The Color Purple and enjoyed it very much.
Today (Wednesday) I took a day trip to Vancouver. I’d never been there before and even though it was a bit rainy in the morning it was still a nice day. I spent some time in the Granville Island Public Market before heading across the street to the Net Loft, a small mall filled with artisan shops.
This was outside the market, next to the bay.
After a little window shopping, I got back in the car and headed to Gastown, the historic district of Vancouver. There I saw the only steam operated clock in the world.
I also found Victory Park with its war memorial.
I wandered some more trying to find the millennium arch. I didn’t find that, but I did stumble into Chinatown.
I stopped for lunch at one of the only restaurants I found open and had dim sum. Apparently, Vancouver’s Chinatown is famous for their dim sum. I had pork in steamed buns which were delicious and then some beef, which I didn’t like as well.
After lunch I had a pretty long walk back to the car and then headed to Stanley Park. I originally planned to visit the Aquarium, but by this time I had walked over 6700 steps, which is the longest I’d walked on my new knee. Since it felt good in spite of the steps, I decided not to push my luck. I only drove around the park for a few minutes before heading out.
On my way out of town, I found the city’s Christmas tree. I was stopped at a light, and this was the best pic I was able to get. Not bad given that I took it out of the front window of the car. I’m sure it’s very pretty at night with all the lights.
The backup to cross the border back into the US was crazy long, but luckily, I had my global entry card. I was still in line for more than an hour before I realized that the lane going to the duty-free store split into two…one of which was for global entry. So, that’s 75 minutes of my life I’ll never get back, but it could have been much worse. Given that I only moved about 100 yards in that amount of time, and I was still 1km from the crossing, I would have been waiting at least 2-2 1/2 hours to get through the border. So, I guess I shouldn’t complain too much.
Tomorrow, I head back into Canada (crossing that way is much easier) and take a ferry to Vancouver Island where I’ll spend the night in Victoria. I’ve heard from so many people that it’s a beautiful city so I’m looking forward to it. I’ll let you know how it goes.