LIFE LATELY: Canada, eh?

I drove up to Vancouver last weekend to visit some friends, and oh boy was it a whirlwind couple of days. I'd never actually been to Canada, so I thought it was about time. I've had my passport for a couple years now but my ex never got around to getting his so we never drove up.

Now I had no excuse not to go, so I made the trip.


 Laura, Rachel, and Russ took me on quite the tour of their fair city - including a ghost town, a downtown garage sale for homeless people, Vancouver's own version of Pike Place, and a couple of neat little cafes - one of which we saw some local music.

I asked Laura to take me to this ghost town called Ioco (short for Imperial Oil Company) after seeing a video she made last month. While the place wasn’t necessarily haunted with the ghosts of homicides, it just seemed haunted with the past and what could have been. It was so sad to see these buildings just deserted, but oddly optimistic and beautiful. People once lived here, and now they didn’t. 

After we left Ioco, Laura actually took us to the museum where she works and gave us a full tour of the Irving House, which ended up being way more fun than I thought it would be. I know quite a lot about Queen Victoria now.

That same night I met some new friends – new Canadian friends – and while I was called a Yankee the night before, I still felt oddly welcomed. Laura and Rachel said that Americans don’t tend to venture across the border, and they were totally confused why the wait to get into Canada was so long when I first came across the border. I got to experience Vancouver’s local music scene, which isn’t all that different from Seattle’s, and it was so lovely. I gave out my business cards and shook a lot of hands, and sang along to the Monster Mash of all songs.

Then was Vancouver's version of Pike Place - Granville Island.



One last thing - my car got towed from Laura's apartment building's parking lot. Apparently the parking people didn't see visitor pass hanging on my rear view mirror and they towed it out of the apartment complex. Needless to say, I was scared out of my mind when we walked out to the parking lot for me to leave and my car wasn't there. It had my passport in the glove box.

Luckily, we were able to call the building maintenance and get a hold of the towing company. The guy working checked my car and sure enough, the visitor pass was hanging inside it, so we were able to go pick up my dear Janice for me to take the 3 hour drive home. Even with that speed bump, it won't keep me from going back. 

Best wishes!

-Abby