Re-posted from July 15, 2010
i've been wanting to update for a while now but haven't had a chance and now we're on vacation!
we're visiting some friends (the sauchuks) that we met in korea who live in vancouver, b.c., canada and it's been really fun! the first couple days we just hung out and then we started siteseeing. we've been to the imax theater, granville island which has a huge, amazing local market, chinatown, gastown (historic district), stanley park, we biked along the seawall as huge waves were crashing up against the wall, saw some amazing views of the mountains, city and water, went to the aquarium, deep cove for swimming (very cold!), art gallery, a bit of shopping, eating out at awesome little restaurants (japanese, chinese, fancy seafood, ukranian, fish and chips, etc.), we've cooked out a few times and hung out with 3 other friends we met in korea too! it's been a little mini reunion :o)
vancouver is AWESOME! i absolutely love it! the only things i don't like about it are it's way more expensive than texas and it can get pretty cold even in july! it was really sunny and warm the first few days but then it got really chilly for a few days! i had to wear the hoodie i brought and i actually would have been fine wearing a winter sweater! lol so weird! but most days have been really nice. it's great to get away from the scorching texan summer!
but if not for those two things i would totally live here. it's my ideal city. there are tons of things to do and see, the natural scenery is gorgeous, you can see mountains in the distance all around, there are some really interesting and fun neighborhoods, lots of ethnic restaurants, great shopping, great public transit (trains, buses, etc.), people biking and walking everywhere, great bike parking, you can take bikes on trains and buses, there are huge parks right in the middle of the city where you feel like you're not even IN the city!, etc. it just really easy to get around the city without a car and there are tons of areas people actually WANT to walk around. it's like a different planet than arlington, texas!
not to mention there's recycling, farmer's markets, local produce and eco-friendly stuff all over the city!!! I LOVE IT!
i'm hoping portland is just as cool but less expensive cuz jens and i really wanna move there. from what i've heard it's like a mini vancouver and somewhat cheaper. so we're anxious to visit!
tomorrow we're going with the sauchuks to abby's mom's condo on vancouver island. should be really nice! our friend alex is gonna meet us out there too which will be fun. i actually took over his job our last year in korea. unfortunately his wife can't come too but maybe we can at least call her or something while we're there. after a few days jens and i are gonna train down to seattle and stay with one of his old high school friends and her husband there.
we flew into seattle and then bused up to vancouver at the beginning of our trip and we were able to spend a few hours there so we were already able to see that it's a pretty cool city. only reason we aren't really thinking of living there though is it's further north. portland is far south enough and inland enough that it doesn't get too cold or snowy.
so we'll spend a few days on vancouver island, a few in seattle and then we'll train down to portland and spend about 5 days there. can't wait!
we'll return to arlington july 29th! then it's back to "real life" lol
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