Anticipation...

Anticipation – We booked our cruise to Alaska over 6 months ago in January and waited half a year for the day that we would set out on our journey. We spent countless hours searching on the Internet for the right cruise, booking excursions, researching port cities and looking for hotels and attractions in Vancouver. We made lists, crossed things off those lists and made more lists again. The excitement simmered until May when it soared off into a feverish pitch until yesterday. July 4, 2008 – the day were on VACATION!

Our trip started off well…on time to the airport, cleared customs (well Dave practically had to strip!!) and boarded the plane.

The flight was long – poor Don’s back gave out after 2 hours…and he had to go 8 hours without a cigarette! I never saw a man collect luggage so fast…could it be that he could see outside just beyond the baggage claim doors and was jones-ing for a fix?? We had so much luggage that we needed to upgrade our car from a teensy Taurus to a Sport Trax (pick up with king cab), which I hate. Well it’s pretty enough (fire engine red with a box thing on the back)…but I am intimidated by the size. I plan to get Dave to drive it from now on!!!

Vancouver is nothing like I imagined looking at maps for 6 months! There is a lot of construction getting ready for the Olympics and it is a busy city! On our first glimpse along Granville Street, it was beautiful. The street is lined with huge evergreen hedges…nothing like the hedges in Ontario. These hedges put privacy fencing to shame…some of them are 2 storey high. You can imagine how old this neighbourhood is to have trees stretching into the sky. As we crossed the bridge into the downtown area, you could see the bay and mountains partially covered in fog. It was gorgeous, how mountains meet the sea. I can’t wait to see it when the fog lifts. Hopefully on Saturday.

Vancouver’s downtown is made up of MANY one-way streets…it is worse that Oshawa…and that’s saying something. We pulled into our hotel on the second time around the block – I missed it on the first try and had to double back!!! Oh, yeah…for those who know and love me…the fur was flying! Since our room was not ready and it was suppertime for us (3pm Vancouver time = 7 pm St. Kitts time), we drove around the downtown core looking for some grub for the “menfolk”. Most downtown restaurants that we found in our online searches were not open for dinner until after 4 – but low and behold…a Denny’s. Good enough…good food, reasonable price, and great service.

Downtown Vancouver is a melting pot of business meets buskers, unemployed mingle happily with the busy working class. Everywhere you looked, there was activity and some more strange than others!!! It’s eclectic meets Wall Street but after dark, it’s not the best neighbourhood to be in. Not a problem for us…since we were all asleep before it was dark here! After 18 hours, the traveling, the excitement turned into exhaustion and we are looking forward to Saturday.

We hope to take in the sights in Stanley Park, cross the Capilano Suspension bridge and find a scrapbook store. Come on…did you think I wouldn’t try to get my fix? All in all…a great start to the trip. Can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings.