Vancouver

Today was a pretty relaxed day. I enjoyed it immensely and needed a day that was unplanned. I woke up late and spent some time sitting around my room. I then headed outside to find something to do. To my delight when I stepped outside it was cool, about 55 degrees, cloudy, somewhat foggy, and with a light drizzle. This is what I expected to encounter much of the trip. I’ve been happy with the weather but it was nice to enjoy crisp, fresh, cool weather. I was prepared with a good shirt with a hood and my vest. I took a different route to one side of the island that faced the ocean and the Olympic mountains in Washington.

When I got there I was amazed by the beauty. I was able to watch the cloud and fog as they approached Washington then could see where it was raining. Some of the pictures above are from this. I just stood or sat there for a few hours watching this. I explored the rocky beach area during this time as well. This gave me a great chance to do some exploring and mild bouldering. It was great to just be able to sit down and think about things for awhile. While I was down there it started to rain a little bit. The ocean also started churning more and more which was cool.

At one point I was just sitting there and out of nowhere this harbor seal pops it’s head out of the water and looks at me. He couldn’t have been more than 25 feet from me. By the time I grabbed my camera and got it started he had gone under and come back up a little further away but it was still cool. After my time on the beach I checked out Beacon Hill Park. This park has great views, was the start of the Trans-Canadian Railway ( I think it was that or the highway, one of the two.) It also had a flower garden area, tons of various birds and ducks, and these crazy colored turkeys.

After Beacon Hill I went to the Cross Street neighborhood with it’s little shops. It was a neat little area but I didn’t find anything I wanted to buy. Then I went back to the downtown area and checked out the Munro’s Bookstore which was in a historic building. Given all the hype I’d heard I thought it would have an amazing selection or something really unique. It did not live up to my expectations. That’s not to say it was bad just that I’ve been to several bookstores and really like them and this one didn’t really add anything to the experience other than the fact it was in an old building. It wasn’t even that big a bookstore, which in a way is a good thing, but I think I’ve found more interesting books at Half Price Books in Highland Park.

Finally set out to find some food and headed for Red Fish Blue Fish. It was still raining and I found the restaurant to be closed. I have no idea why it was closed as there was no sign up and it was only 5:30 pm. I ate later there yesterday. So I headed to Fisherman’s Wharf by my hotel and ate at Barb’s. I had a Halibut and a Haddock Fish ‘n Chips. It was good but my goodness overpriced for fried food. Then I went back to the hotel and have relaxing since. Tomorrow I’m up early and head to Nanaimo. I haven’t been super excited for this part of my trip but now that I’m looking for things to do and checking out the train route I’m excited. There are some cool mountains to see, islands to ferry to, and a lagoon.

This trip is wrapping up quicker than expected, at least it feels that way. I will be happy to be home and appreciative of everything I have at home. This includes food, lots of clothes, internet, friends and family. My main companion so far this trip has been: prayer time, sermon podcasts, my music (especially Ferris, Misty Edwards, Shane and Shane, All Weather Human, David Crowder Band, O.A.R., Newcomers Home, Mat Kearney, and Lecrae), and this taking notes so I can update this blog. I look forward to all those things when I get home and so much more. Oh dang I just remembered I have school when I get back. I better get in proper thinking mode for that. Peace.

Okay so today was an amazing day! I went on a whale watching tour and I thought it would be cool but it was better than that. Our guide, Vanessa, greeted me at the counter and told me I picked the perfect day to go see some whales. I thought this was just a sales line because to them any day is a perfect day to take some money. But she explained the time of year was perfect, there’d already been several reported sightings, and the weather was nice. Even though the weather was nice and I brought a jacket I was still strongly advised to wear the provided jacket for warmth. I also had come prepared by wearing long underwear and my REI shirt with long sleeves and thumb holes and a hood. I am really glad I wore all of those things. Once we were out of the harbor and cleared the breakwater wall we shot through the water at 60 miles per hour. We did slow down along the way to see some harbor seals, some crazy black birds that can dive 200 feet into the ocean, and a kelp forest.

The first sighting of the Orcas, killer whales, was about an hour into the trip or 60 miles away near Pender Island. I was amazed by how they moved and they took my breath away. I was not scared of them at all but was truly awestruck by them. It is so cool the creativity that God has in His creation. The tour guides were calling out names of the whales as they surfaced because they have known and studied the whales for many years, about 21 between them I believe. The Orcas have been identified and named by markings on their dorsal fins and the surrounding area. They each have a scientific name and also a more personal name like Blueberry.

Our guides explained to us that we got extremely lucky today to see what we did. It was a combination of all of the following that made it so amazing. We saw all three pods of Orcas that are resident to the area. Pods are basically family groups and each pod also has smaller groups that hang together. Examples of this would be mothers and their calfs, those mating or courting, or those just playing. There was one Orca we saw today that was born in 1911, that’s right she was 99 years old. How flippin cool is that, a 99 year old granny killer whale still swimming and being active with the pod! As usual the women outlast the men by quite a bit 🙁 In all we saw 87 total Orca today!

Along with seeing so many Orca we also some unusual activity at least as it comes to being able to see it with our own eyes. We saw large groups of Orca swimming and playing together. We saw several full breaches, where the whale basically jumps out of the water, I’m guessing about 15 of them. Those were obviously extremely difficult to capture on camera. I was always a little to slow or didn’t even get the shot off. We also saw some young calfs swimming with their moms. Our Captain also believed we were witnessing the courting of two Orca as we saw them for quite awhile, grown male and grown female swimming alone together. Finally one of the coolest things we saw was when two or three Orca were headed straight at our boat. Seriously it almost looked like a scene from the movies with these fins coming at us. Two of the whales must’ve dove deeper and went under us. The third however unexpectedly came up to us, still under the water, turned his white belly toward us, and “took a look at us” as the captain explained how the whale turned so he’d be able to see us. I was standing ready to snap a picture if he came up next to our boat but he didn’t. However just seeing him that close and turning under the water was exhilarating.

Unfortunately this is where my camera definitely showed it’s lack of features. I did what I could to change certain settings to be able to capture the moments but I won’t know how I really did until I get home. The battery died after about 180 pictures. This might sound like a lot but when it was a moment like this that seemed pretty unacceptable to me. I conserved batteries down the stretch to make sure that if something amazing happened I would be able to capture it. Another problem with the camera is it’s zoom. I just wasn’t able to get in as close to the Orcas as I would have liked. Finally, the camera seemed a little bit “laggy” when both snapping the picture and also in saving the file to disk. I have a high speed card but I still had to wait a couple seconds between shots. Again this probably sounds like nitpicking but during an activity like this you really notice the shortcomings. I am looking forward to being home to see just how things turned out. Maybe I’ll have more positive things to say about the camera after that.

So the whales were obviously the highlight of the day and of the trip so far and I think they will be for the entirety of the trip and for trips to come. However,just being outside, on the ocean, in the sun, speeding along at 60 miles per hour passing islands and wildlife was just so fun! Feeling the breeze in my hair, what’s left of it at least, the sun on my face, and smelling everything was refreshing. I have come to like my sunglasses a lot. I’ve told many people after I bought them how annoyed I was at how they fit after hearing so many good reviews about them. Over the last few months they must have either conformed to my head or I’m just used to them now but I really like them now. They kept the sun at bay from blinding me, kept the wind out of my eyes, and have been with me everywhere I go on this trip. So in a short time in my life now I’ve been: on a couple of the most beautiful beaches in the world in Hawaii and Kitsilano in vancouver, I’ve seen an active volcano through the air and walked on fairly fresh lava rock, I’ve gone snorkeling in one of the most the premium snorkeling areas of the ocean, flown alongside one of the tallest waterfalls in North America, seen the Grand Canyon multiple times, hiked Whistler and Blackcomb mountains, explored a ton of Colorado and it’s mountains, and went to Niagara Falls. This whale watching adventure tops all of them and I would do it again in a heartbeat, even though I’ve already done it.

For dinner I took Vanessa’s advice and headed to Red Fish Blue Fish. It’s a seafood, fish and chips kind of place right on the harbour. It’s in a converted cargo container and lookes very simple. In fact it took me awhile to find it because it was so unassuming. I go two spicy fish tacones. They are fish tacos that are folded like a cone so they are easy to eat and don’t fall apart. They were amazing! I will be going back tomorrow night for sure. Best part was they were $9 plus another $1.50 for a Coke. What a deal.

After dinner I headed into the downtown area and checked out shops. I didn’t get to the bookstores because I want more time in them so I’ll tackle them today. Oh, I forgot to mention that I extended my stay here. This is the first time on this trip I feel truly relaxed. During my hike I felt relaxed but it’s always like I’ve got somewhere else to go. I felt differently right when I got to town. I set about changing my plans and making sure my hotel would be okay the the extension. I head to Nanaimo on Wednesday now. I also booked my first Airbnb reservation at a families home in South Vancouver. They seem nice as I’ve emailed back and forth. I’ll be there on the 3-5th when I leave. The night of the 2nd is still up in the air. I have requested to stay in a home on gabriola island that night but haven’t heard back. The island is a 20 minute ferry ride off Nanaimo so it’s fairly close. It’s supposed to be beautiful and very peaceful which would be nice.

Well I should hit the sack. I want to get breakfast at the place I did today, the Blue Fox. It was recommended by the front desk as a great place locals like. She was right. The french toast was perfect, think baguette style even. I sat next to four young cops. They seriously talked just like in Fargo or Northern Exposure. They sounded so Canadian I was laughing on the inside quite a bit, eh. By the time I left there was a line out the door that could have filled the restaurant at least once over. So by my estimate I better get up early. Peace.

The first two are the views from my hotel room. The the next one is fisherman’s wharf. The next three are from the seabreaker wall. The lit up building is the Province Capitol. The other building is the Empress Hotel, a former castle.

Well I don’t have quite as much to say right now, which is a good thing I think. It means it was an easy going, uneventful day. After the last blog entry I grabbed a shuttle to the Link Light Rail line and headed downtown. I did make one stop on the way though. I hopped off and found a post office so I could mail home some stuff. I wanted to trim my load as much as I could and I was able to cut about three pounds of stuff out of my bag. That might not sound like much but it ended up being about what fits inside in one of the large side pockets of my main travel bag, a Tom Bihn Aeronaut. It also takes the extra weight off of my shoulder, which I’ve been starting to noticeably feel.

I didn’t walk as much as the last few days today but I did still walk quite a bit. By the time I got downtown the baseball game was going and I couldn’t find a cheap ticket. There were a couple of people selling, it was the fifth inning, but I was hoping to get a steal of a deal and I didn’t. My luck definitely changed at night though, which I’ll get back to in a bit.

After checking out the game and the outside of the stadium I headed into the downtown area, Pioneer Square and Pike Place Market. I had already checked them out yesterday but I wanted to be able to browse around more. There were some neat shops but nothing that really got my money. That was of course until Starbucks, the original. I’ve been wanting to go there and check it out and it was kinda cool. To be honest I was sad because it was more of a tourist stop than a coffee shop. They’ve tried to keep it looking like the original but there’s no inside seating and the line is usually out the door. I did buy a mug that said “First Starbucks Store” or something to that effect and loaded a Pike Place exclusive gift card for myself. I use gift cards for my purchases anyway because I earn “points” toward perks so there was no reason not to get one.

I then headed down to Seattle Center where the Space Needle is. I snapped a picture, turned around and left. Seriously. I saw no reason to stay there and look and I’m still glad I didn’t. It just would seem weird to go to Seattle and not get a picture of the space needle. Then I walked down to the local REI, which is the flagship REI store and was quite big. I was also quite thrilled about this as I love REI, they were having a sale, and I was bummed I was out of town for it originally. I found a couple of things I was looking for already and bought them. Now I just have to ship those things home on Sunday somehow.

After REI I headed back downtown. I went down to Qwest Field which is where the Seahawks play because there was a Seattle Sounders vs. Chicago Fire game. They were sold out but a guy selling tickets came up to me at the ticket window offering me a deal. I got a ticket for $25 and was 10 rows up from behind one of the goals. The bonus was that it was an all-inclusive ticket, meaning eat all you can. That was perfect because I had planned to eat at the stadium anyway. So for $25 I got a $38 ticket, two hot dogs, two cokes, peanuts, and nachos. Yes, I made sure to make it worth it. So if you consider that food to be free I only spent $6.39 on food today. Coffee is in a different category, always has been for me for budgeting reasons. Yes I know I have a coffee problem. Anyway there were 36,000 people at the game. That’s amazing and they sell out every game! Even better was that everyone stood for the entire game, minus halftime, and most were really into the game, knew the chants, and understood the game. It was really cool to see and be there. Now I want to go to a World Cup or Euro Cup game even more.

That’s all for today folks. Peace.