We passed two thousand miles a bit south of the Canadian border, on our way to Vancouver. We would have visited the city regardless, but we were lucky enough to have a place to stay, at the brother of a Canuck friend of ours.
Now, ever since Dim Son's coup took power, Vancouver has been at the top of our list for escape should they start rounding up liberals like us. And it lived up to our highest expectations.
It is of course a beautiful city. But it is also culturally and ethnically diverse, full of myriad neighborhoods, each with its own character, delicious vegetarian restaurants, great hikes and views, and so on.
We saw the Pacific Tribes' totems at the Museum of Anthropology, (amazingly) hung out at the beach, made our way through forest trails, rambled around the city, finally saw The Matrix Reloaded (where better to stomach a dystopian fantasy than in cheery Canada?), and played endless foosball with our host, who kept on cajoling us into staying another day.
A funny moment: At the beach, I was putting something back in the car, when suddenly I heard, "Great car, that Corolla." My LA reaction (thankfully not verbalized): "What the hell? Think you're so damn funny?" Then, the man continued, "Oh, yeah, that was my last car. You can drive them forever." He was serious. Someone was complementing us on a Toyota Corolla. An older one, at that. Gosh, they're sure swell here.
But now, we 're back in Seattle, about to do some long driving days, first to Utah, and then to Missouri by Saturday. And I need to get some sleep. Mostly caught up. Good night.
Miles: 2050
Posted by yozhik at July 14, 2003 02:39 AM