Footnotes: North America 2011 - Vancouver, May 7.

The net connection we're getting down here has started to become an exercise in frustration for me. The download speeds are wonderful and browsing speed's just fine, but Plurk takes forever to load anything. I'm getting through due to sheer bullheadedness on my part.

The lot of us woke up 'late' by my parents' standards - that is, 7:30 in the morning. Had breakfast in Denny's, a restaurant that I've had a soft spot for because of my trip to LA last year. Peter's still getting used to American servings; I was just happy to have some real bacon. After that, we all drove down to Stanley park to visit Vancouver Aquarium.

There are a number of place that my mom used to take me to when I was younger: Stanley Park, the Sea Wall, Dundarave, Ambleside, Vancouver Library and Vancouver Aquarium. My memories of most of the places are hazy but fond - Vancouver Aquarium, though, is nice and sharp. It's because of that place that I grew up loving nature, and dreaming about becoming a marine biologist. Dad even bought me this educational computer program all about sea life and the world's oceans because I wouldn't shut up about fish and dolphins and killer whales. My elementary school also brought us on a field trip when I was in Grade Three, where we all slept over at the aquarium. We were up near the beluga whales, who made it a point to show off and distract us kids from sleeping by being absolutely adorable.

Going back to the aquarium was a different experience altogether. I've always loved visiting zoos and such, and couple that with the emotional attachment that I have with this particular place and... well, let's just say that I felt like a kid again, dragging my parents around to see this or that fish and gawking at all the cool exhibits they had. We burned away the rest of our morning and a good part of our afternoon just wandering through the area, then we took a turn around Stanley Park. We got lucky; the rain had stopped by the time we stepped out of the aquarium. The wind was nice, the sun was out and the trees were just beautiful. Oh, and Peter finally got to see his squirrel. I got to see my Canadian geese, plus babies.

The next leg down memory lane involved eating at the White Spot branch that my family used to frequent, then attending mass at our old church, then driving down Dundarave before hitting up the lodge for a quick nap. Had dinner at mom's friend's place again, although this time all of her OTHER friends came around to join us. They were all amazed at how my bro and I had grown up, and honestly? It was really fun talking to them. You never really know the friends of your parents and your own aunts and uncles until you're old enough to listen in on their conversations and really speak to them.

Got three more days until we leave Vancouver. We're all hoping that we'll get to see everything we want to see before we're off. It shouldn't be too difficult, though; we'll be flying back here a little before the end of our entire trip.

Something not entirely related: managed to do a lot of thinking about things, and talking it all through with my parents and bro have given me a better sense of where to go next. I think I'm going to be okay.

Footnotes: North America 2011 - Vancouver, May 8.

Writing this after a surprise 3-hour nap and a good shower. Most of my morning was actually spent chilling out in bed, catching up with some folks on the Plurk end of town and doing a bit of writing. I was waiting for my parents and my brother to wake up; they did just a bit before noon. Not exactly as we all planned, but perhaps it was for the best. We've been moving at light speed these days.

Dad drove us down to Horsehoe Bay, which is a part of this lovely sea area called Howe Sound. We rented out a boat to take a look around - part of the attraction of the place, beyond the awesome scenery, are the seals, since they have a haul-out around 15-30 minutes away from the cove. It felt a bit like being in a Discovery channel show, looking at them chilling out on their rocks, under the sun. There were a lot of pretty birds too!

We took our time after that, circling through the area and checking up on interesting places marked down on the map that the personnel at Sewell's Marina gave us. Good thing too, because we were lucky enough to stumble upon a whole pod of dolphins on our way back! The lot of them stayed with us for a good ten minutes, and mom and my bro were busy snapping photos and taking videos of them leaping up into the air and swimming around. Our luck stayed with us on the next detour, since we spotted a heron in flight and we got to get up close and personal with five deers that were grazing close to the shoreline.

No worries: I have pictures for later.

Since it was too late to go to Capilano Suspension Bridge, we just ended up wandering around town as soon as we landed. There was this adorable family of Canadian Geese on the beach - the male goose was all vigilant and stuff, eying the people who got a little too close (like me) while his wife and kids shuffled around for food. We then ate dinner at this restaurant that's apparently been there for the past twenty or so years (mom recognized the place; excellent lamb, it has), then topped it off with dessert at Baskin & Robbins (chocolate chip cookie dough + red velvet cake ice cream = best).

The more I go around here, the more I realize that it's Vancouver's scenery that I've been looking for my entire life. Everything about it, from the general landscape to the finer details, touches me in ways that nothing else has before.