dolari | Aug. 17th, 2007

Tuesday, August 7th

After so many days of great weather...blue skies, weather in the 60s...the combined forces of Washington and British Columbia couldn't hold back the onslaught any longer. The overcast, the mist. The famed PAcific Northwest weather was HERE.

And frankly...it wasn't that bad. A lot like Texas winter weather...according to the really friendly Enterprise shuttle driver, it's like this for days and days. Especially in the winter. If this is all it is, I can definately handle it. I love that weather. And I lived in Pennsylvania for five years. Same weather there.

We got up, showered, cleaned ourselves up, and went out to explore Vancouver. At this point in the vacation I was totally lost - I can take you to the most obscure stuff in Texas, but Canada was just out of my league. The only thing I knew to visit was Granville Island, which

gwenners and

erinlefey had recommended.

I wasn't dissapointed, it literally had something for everyone. The island was once a gigantic industrial complex on the river. Over the years, the industry had moved on, and the buildings were turned into shops. There're still a few little area on the island used to make cement, but any real other industry is more of an artsy kind of thing than industrial. Emily was fascinated by all the rail tracks in the roadway, which helped lead us on a tour around the island, and even an ancient remodeled Pontiac.

From there, we headed off to see Stanley Park, although because of the weather, we didn't get out, and simply drove around in it. Stanley park is a gigantic forested park on the tip of Vancouver, a lot like the Austin Zilker Greenbelt ,only more compact and taller. I could easily find myself getting lost in there, and I think there was someone who was actually living in there. Definately AWFW background plate fodder, but the weather was just too bad.

Austin has Hyde Park. Hyde Park is a nice little area that I wished I still lived in...an artists colony kind of area. Everything in Hyde Park has a certain kind of flair to it. Even the folks who live there are usually more art minded. It's the closest thing, also, to a concentrated LGBT area in town.

Austin isn't even worthy of shining the shoes of Davie Villiage in Vancouver. They're not only out of the closet, they're in the streets, the shops, the food, the air, they're EVERYWHERE. My god - that was NICE. I've never seen so many rainbow flags in one spot anywhere in my life. Maybe even more than I've ever SEEN in my life. We stopped by some record stores for Emily, walked by Rainbow Brite all grown up, checked out Lil Sister's bookstore and then had a bite to eat at a local Indian place (Emily's first Indian food! awwwwww...they grow up so quickly).

Canada in general has been very nice to me. No one pointing out the freak, no one laughing behind our backs, no one even doing a double take. Here on Davie Street was one of the first places I really felt like I was community. Canada has been great at minding their own business. Davie was the first place I felt like I was really welcomed.

We checked out downtown Vancouver proper, and One Canada Place, although we didn't stay for long as Parking was incredibly expensive for such little time. Knowing we had to catch the first ferry out of Vancouver at an ungodly hour, we came home early, packed up our stuff, had a long evening with JEan discussing the Jenn View of American Politics, and finally headed to bed. Next stop, Victoria.