Vancouver, Canada, eh?

Today we decided to take our day trip up to Canada. I have never been to Vancouver (or anywhere in Canada for that matter) but have heard that it is a pretty awesome city. Tim has been several times but more for the biking part of the city and not so much for exploring. On June 1st we have to have passports to get across the border. Since neither of us have a current passport right now, we decided to take the opportunity to go up there while we still can without a passport (not like getting a passport is the hardest thing in the world, but whatever). So we had our birth certificates and Bella's shot records and we were good to go. Of course it hit me about 30 miles from the border that I didn't have our marriage certificate on me so I was a little bit worried about getting in or out of the US since my birth certificate did not match my ID. But, 2.5 hours later after leaving Seattle, we hit the border and it was no issue getting into Canada. Of course the guy was a total prick but what do you expect from border patrol?

Miss Bella getting comfy for the car ride- she did great!

And on our way out of Seattle... headed north!

I decided to drive first. I made it just across the border and Tim took over. I'm glad, too. There are crazy drivers up there in the city!

And we made it!!

We stopped just across the Canadian border to let Bella pee and to get a map of Vancouver.

Looking down from a hill to the city. It is stunning, actually... people were right!

Bella liked it too... actually she was probably more fascinated with the camera but oh well.

And approaching the city...

So I thought this was funny- "Canada's gourmet burgers & spirits?" Do I not know something about Red Robin? I thought it was an American chain. Hmm.

Entering Chinatown! Apparently it's the 3rd largest Chinatown in North America following San Francisco and New York. I had no idea but after visiting, I would believe it!

And leaving Chinatown. We also visited several other districts in downtown Vancouver but I don't have pictures. There was a lot of construction going on, presumably to prepare the city for the 2010 Olympics. The Chinatown district was the most impressive.

Headed out of Vancouver, we stopped at Stanley Park for a picnic lunch. This park was HUGE and beautiful. Not to mention, it was about 70 degrees and sunny in Vancouver. We got so lucky given that it was 50 and rainy in Seattle! It was awesome just sitting out in the sun. Definitely a perfect day.

Walking around a little trail after lunch, we saw a "Calvin squirrel" (aka: black)- something that does not exist in Seattle. We only have brown ones.

And standing by a little swamp/wetland type thing. It was really pretty.

Looking over the bridge that connects Stanley Park to North/West Vancouver.

And crossing that bridge...gorgeous mountains!

A view of Vancouver as we were crossing the bridge.

The km/h signs cracked me up. Obviously I KNOW we are in a different country, it's just one of those things little differences from the States that amuse me.

We were going to go to this thing called Capilstrano bridge, which basically just looked like a bridge you cross in the middle of the forest. We got there though and it was a huge tourist trap. So we drove up the road further and found this little park and giant dam- gorgeous, same views and so much less of a cluster than the tourist trap!

Standing at the fence looking up at a huge waterfall caused by the dam.

Self portrait. Lovely!

And looking down from above on the waterfall.

A view of a little lake a mountains. Beautiful!

Miss Bella loves being a world class traveler!

After a day full of exploring, we decided to head back down to the states. We were tired and traffic was starting to get crappy from rush hour. So we headed back not knowing if the US guys would let us in (with my whole birth certificate not matching ID situation coupled with the US being much more stringent than Canada on who they let in/out). While we were waiting in line at the border we snapped a shot of the peace arch which we didn't get on the way in.

We also got a picture of the inspection sign... and luckily, they let me back in! This guy was even more of a jerk than the Canada guy. Unbelievable!

On the way back down, we had a great view of Mount Baker. I think Mount Baker is 10,000 feet (in contrast Rainer is 14,000) so when you're driving in Seattle you can see Rainer down south and Baker to the north plus all of the ranges in between... on clear days, of course. Once we got this shot of Baker and continued to head further south, it kept getting cloudier and cloudier. By the time we were back in Seattle it was raining. We were glad we left town for a day in the sun!

On the way home, Winston hit 66,666 miles old. This is very impressive since I have basically only driven 16,000 miles since I have been up in Seattle. In contrast, in my few years in Phoenix, I put on 45,000.

We wore the puppy out. She decided to cuddle and pass out with Mr. Monkey on the way home and proceeded to sleep the whole night. It was way too cute. The day up in Vancouver was perfect and I'd definitely recommend that people check it out- it would be fun to spend more than a day up there as well which is on our agenda for sometime in the future. Also on the agenda for explorations north of us are Victoria, San Juan Islands, and Whistler. I guess we'll be needing those passports fairly soon after all!