Day 1 - Wed Jun 24
Got up at 6am after a few hours of sleep. I had ignored my boy's warning that the melatonin he gave me was long lasting, 7+ hours. I didn't get nearly that so was still in full zombie mode. My bro-in-law was nice enough to drive us to the airport for our flight to Vancouver.
Why did we spend an extra day there? Well, the first flight we booked, which also had a transfer in Vancouver, failed on checkout. So, we hastily booked another flight also with a transfer in "Vancouver". But in that case "Vancouver" translated to the "Abbotsford Airport", an entirely different city. Darn you skyscanner.com! Needless to say, that would have been a very long walk. But the Tokyo leg could not be cancelled. The Abbotsford flight could be cancelled, but all the Vancouver connecting flights were already booked that day. Hence, we booked the day before. I really hate air travel. :(
We rented a car to get around in Vancouver and got upgraded to a cherry red Dodge Charger. This is a big change to the mini-van. Very cool. Although some of the cool factor was lost packing it with a family of 5 so sadly, I needed to put the kids in the trunk which was huge. It could easily fit 5 bodies, which being built in Detroit I am sure is a high demand feature there. And before you get too excited. Don't worry, I'm not an animal. I left them with their electronics. Which reminds me, their batteries are probably getting really low by now, so I should go and let them out.
Went to prospectors point which has a great view of Lion's Gate Bridge. They've got some fancy plants growing there which I'm unfamiliar with, growing up in winter-land. They are much unlike the healthy crop of mountain rocks in my yard. I asked some locals the technical term for these mutant colorful vegetative beasts and they said the term was "flowers". What will they think of next.
In the evening my bro and sister-in-law cooked us a brilliant meal and showed us the new place they are in the middle of building. A co-housing dwelling called Compass. The project was covered on the front of the Vancouver Sun.
Good to hear those full size rental can fit a couple bodies in the back…for future reference. Have a great trip boonstra clan, we live vicariously through you, make us proud.
ReplyDelete