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Nanaimo, British Columbia
Until it falls all around like a cold, steady rain, just stay in when it's looking this way
My continuing program of random work travel took me to Nanaimo (pronounced Nah-Nye-Moe), on Vancouver Island (pronounced Van-Coo-Ver-Eye-Land) in British Columbia (pronounced Brit-Ish-Co-Lum-Bee-Ah). My goal here was ambitious. A drive all the way out to Long Beach at Pacific Rim National Park, a four hour drive (each way) from Nanaimo. I decided to turn around after I got about halfway there, primarily after the weather (rain, fog and freezing temperatures) started to worsen considerably with each passing mile. I may not have made it to Long Beach, but I did at least make it to MacMillan Provinicial Park instead, a roadside park with some all too short hiking trails through some old growth forests. Beautiful.
Vancouver is an alarmingly short flight away from Vancouver Island, which allowed me some time to explore in the city before flying back to the east coast. These quick pictures include a close up of the Olympic Cauldron from last year's games and- Aaaah! - here's a Lego looking land adapted killer whale about to crush Vancouver! Run! Run for your lives!
Two months later I was back in Vancouver and safe from any Lego looking land adapted killer whale, although there was nothing to protect me from the banana slug statue at Capilano Bridge, a touristy but fun Vancouver attraction with bridges and trees and bridges and trees and bridges and trees and, well, not all that much else actually.
I was in Vancouver the first time this year for work, but in Vancouver the second time this year to take my father to a hockey game, part of an annual birthday tradition that may eventually take us to every NHL home arena, even the awful ones. Luckily Vancouver’s Rogers Arena is not an awful one, a nice arena in a nice city led to an overall nice time, even if the hometown Canucks didn’t bother to show up in a 3-1 loss to the Phoenix Coyotes.
We flew into SeaTac, rented a car, drove past Seattle and up to Vancouver, then doubled back to Seattle on the way back. With not all that much time to see the city, we kept it to a nothing but the classics trip, starting at the Space Needle just like everyone else.
On the way up to Vancouver, we stopped by the Boeing Future of Flight to go on their amazing factory tour, where photos are prohibited. We stayed in nearby Mukileto, ate at the local (and highly rated) Z’s Burgers, stopped by Lighthouse Park and headed on our way. The next day I didn’t feel well, and while I can’t directly blame Z’s Burgers for a hellaciously bad round of food poisoning, they are most definitely a prime suspect. Three days later I was standing outside on Stewart Street in Seattle, still sick, vomiting on the street in front of a convenience store, doing my best to remember everything good about Mukileto and glossing over the bad parts. Like the vomiting on the street parts.
