July 23, 2019
We just came back from a fun vacation in Seattle, Vancouver, and Whistler this past week. It was a fun, relaxing trip and we were able to visit some scenic spots both in the cities and out.
We spent the first two days at the Whistler/Blackcomb ski resort about an hour north of Vancouver. It is customary for ski resorts to offer mountain biking and hiking in the non-skiing (summer) season, so the typical thing for non-mountain-bikers like us to do is to take a gondola (apparently not pronounced gun-Daa-laa) up to the top of the mountain. Interestingly, the ski resort is made up of both Whistler and Blackcomb mountains (just as the name suggests), so we were able to take what is advertised as the longest free-hanging ski lift in the world (the Peak 2 Peak Gondola) between ... the two peaks. At the top of one of the mountains, we went on a short hike and then went back down the gondolas.
After Whistler, we went to Vancouver, where we spent most of our trip. We stayed right by Chinatown, Gastown, Yaletown, and BC Place in an Airbnb (the ethics of operating such a venture in a big city is another story for another post). One of the most memorable spots in Vancouver is Granville Island, a touristy district with a farmers' market, tons of artist shops, and a bustling food truck area. The island reminded me very much of Copenhagen, though that might be because my sample size of food truck markets numbers two.
On the back end of our trip, we drove back across the border and visited the Boeing factory in Everett, Washington. We took an hour-and-a-half-long tour of the factory and learned about the different things the company does. All visitors were required to turn over all phones, cameras, etc. before the beginning of the tour (probably a precautionary measure against Airbus espionage operatives). The tour was very fun, and I enjoyed learning about the assembly process of several of their airplanes. That evening, we walked around Seattle's Pike Place, another farmers' market located on Elliott Bay, where we saw lots of interesting things like fish being thrown in the air.
Overall, it rained a little bit, but the weather was much nicer than "Texas Summer." It was consistently much cooler and breezier than San Antonio, and I enjoyed being able to walk around the town without burning up (thanks Dallas).
No one said "sorry, eh" to me when I was in Canada, but I did hear someone curse at the owner of a 7-11 in Vancouver.