Beyond My Wildest Dreams

Let's see, when I left you last, I was "Sleepless in Seattle" at SeaTac Airport. (SeattleTacoma). I just couldn't find a dark enouogh corner, or a quiet enough one to even attempt to try and get a few hours of sleep before the Amtrak left for Vancouver the next morning. So I improvised. And by "improvise", I mean I picked up a courtesy phone and called for a local motels courtesy shuttle to come and get me. 10 mintes later I was checked in, and shortly after, fast asleep. Keep in mind, by this time of the morning, it was 2:00 AM (4:00 AM Minnesota time!) I left a wakeup call for 5:30 am and was up and back at it a few hours later. The motel shuttle left just after 6:00 am. The shuttle dropped me off back at the airport, where I hopped on the Light Rail system. That eventually got me to the Amtrak Station in downtown Seattle about 40 minutes later. It was still dark out, but you could certainly tell it was milder than Minnesota temperature wise. The pilot had announced 45 degrees as the local temp whwen we had landed the previous night so it was somewhere in that neighborhood. Oh and did I mention it was raining?! In a little over 5 hours, I learned..IT RAINS A LOT HERE! The Light Rail station was only about a 3 block walk to the Amtrak Station. The Amtrak Station in Seattle is literally in the shadows of Safeco Field, home of the Mariners. Since we would be crossing from the USA into Canada, after checking my luggage, I had to go through Customs. That wasn't that big of a deal. Show them your passport and they issued you your seat number. The Amtrak Cascades pulled out promptly at 7:40 am as promised. I tried to doze a little bit, but I was afraid of missing scenery. Lucky, my seat was on the side of the train facing the water. The other side of the train's windows looked out at....well not too much. It was really gray and overcast, low hanging clouds and so forth...but even with the weather conditions, the scenery was, at times, spectacular! Tons of sea birds, pelicans, ducks, LOTS of eagles, geese, herons....Occasionally big ships, not cruise ships, but cargo ships....Even a few old Navy destroyers, but it looked they had been retired. I was struck by the amount of driftwood piled up the coastline, scattered among the massive granite boulders! It was a quiet 4 hour train ride. They featured the movie "Cool Runnings"..I'm sure because of the Olympic theme! As we crossed over into Canada, we were handed Customs Declaration forms to fill out. Being a snobby American, I announced loudly to the whole trains "Let me show you how an American signs a declaration!" and promptly laid down my big, looping signature...Ok, not really..but I thought it...plus, I didn't even pack a pen...I had to borrow one from the guy across the aisle. So finally we pull into Vancouver, and they tell us that the wasy Canada does Customs is that they require each train car to disembark and go through customs before the next car can continue. I was in train car #5, so I sat there for an hour! Finally, I got to the Customs agent and showed my passport, and I was keenly aware that they asked several pointed questions looking for very specific answers, and they were very good about maintaining eye contact with you. I suppose their trained in detecting "shiftiness". There were also several WELL armed guards and drug sniffing dogs to go by. But I passed with flying colors, and finally, it felt like I had arrived! First thing I did was go to the currency exchange and trade in somme of my American money for Canadien currency. I think most Americans are familiar with the Canadian quartters, dimes and nickles. But they have two other coins. They are in $1 and $2 denominations. The $1 coin is gold colored and called a "Loonie" The $2 coin is actually 2 colors! It has a gold center and a silver outer ring. It's called a "Twoonie". They don't have any paper $1 bills. And all of their paper money is a different color for each denomination so it's very easy to tell by sight what you have in your wallet. Once that was accomplished I was thirsty...so what else could I have to quench the thirst but a can of Canada Dry Ginger Ale of course!

My next mission was to find the place where I needed to pick up my tickets for Opening Ceremonies and two other events. So I stepped outside the train station and took my first picture in Vancouver. The picture of the Station at the beginning of this entry is that pic.


To find the office where my tickets were required another trip on a light rail system, this time Vancouver's. It was very efficient and easy to understand.


I got to the correct station to get of the rail, but I took wrong turn walking and ended up going quite a bit further than I needed to. But I didn't call it "being lost", I called it "exploring". Oh the people that ar ein the city for the Games! I can't begin to tell you how many different accents and dialiects I detected. Clothing from all sorts of nations... I kind of figured it would be that way, but until I actually heard it and saw it, I couldn't even imagine! I got my Opening Ceremony Tickets, and up until this point I didn't know what my seat would be at BC Place. But I know now. I go in Gate E, and I'm seated in section 439, row EE, seat 109. LOOK FOR ME! I can't wait.


This is getting quite long and there are several things I haven't even begun to tell you about my day today yet, but my mind is turning to jello. In a nutshell, I had to jump on another light rail ride, transfer to an Express bus for a 40 minute ride north of Vancouver to the Horseshow Bay Ferry Terminal, and then hop aboard the ferry for a 40 minute ride across the open water to the Langdale Ferry Station. That is located about 5 miles from where ny hosts live, in a small oceanside, artistic community of apporoximately 3,500 population. The name of the town is called Gibsons. If you get a chance and want to find out more, just Google The Sunshine Coast, British Columbia and you can read all about it. The Sunshine Coast is the nickname of this area of the mainland of Canada.





Before I forget, here's one other picture that I took during my "walk-about" (yes struck up a conversation with a woman from Australia!) It's of the Vancouver Art Gallery and it was pretty nice looking...









The couple I am staying with picked up at the ferry terminal, drove me to their home, and fed me delicious spaghetti for dinner! They are an incredibly nice couple and we had a great, hour long conversation on all kinds of wide ranging topics. They were incredibly generous to open their home to a complete stranger and it is a great situation for me! Of course all this happened while it was dark outside, so I couldn't see anything as far as scenery goes from the ferry, so that's why there are no pictures of that! But I promise, there will be. I'll also show you just what the inside of one of these massive ships looks like! I had no idea!

I think I'll sign off now and get some sleep. I won't sleep in too late though...Too much to see and do and too little time to accomplish it in! I think the doors open for Opening Ceremonies at 3:00 pm so I'll be back downtown by mid to late morning I would guess.

My two closing thoughts for tonight.. I made myself a promise after walking around downtown Vancouver "exploring". There's NO WAY I'm going to eat lunch or dinner at a chain restaurant like we have around home. There are just too many different varieties and styles of places to eat to sit down for a dinner of McNuggets!

And lastly, I'll admit I got a little choked up when I stopped on the street in downtown Vancouver and just tried to take it all in, to realize that this was all real. So I can only imagine the emotions at Opening Ceremonies tomorrow night!

Talk at you tomorrow!

Rick