Recap of my Trip to Canada

Phew, what a day. I woke up 7 minutes ahead of my alarm at 8:08 AM. No idea why but I always wake up ahead of my alarm clock unless I didn't sleep much the night before. The view from our room at the Holiday Inn seemed to forecast another nice day.

Since we didn't explore much of downtown Vancouver outside of Stanley Park and the Vancouver Lookout Tower yesterday, we decided to visit Granville Island, a nice little "island" peninsula just south of our hotel.

Granville Island's Public Market was supposed to be pretty cool, so we decided to go check it out. It seemed pretty empty around since it was Monday morning. No holiday for Canadians--Presidents Day in the US only. :P

It seemed like a cleaner, indoor version of Seattle's Pike Place Market, although I have to say the multicultural blend in just this corner of the Public Market was pretty awesome. The view across False Creek from outside the Public Market was pretty awesome though.

I particularly like the view to the west.

After walking around the island a bit more though and enjoying some delicious doughnuts, we headed toward the construction site for Olympic Village for next year's Winter Olympics on the southeast edge of False Creek. Pretty neat, huh?

Then we headed to the other side of False Creek where we took a few pictures from a small children's center on the edge of the water in Yaletown.

After exploring most of downtown Vancouver, we decided to head back to Richmond for delicious Asian food again and then hit the road to go home.

In Richmond, we had dim sum near Yaohan Center. It was pretty good, although the service wasn't the best. Oh well, still delicious.Once we finished eating, we went to buy some groceries at Yaohan Center. I ended up buying some rice, soy milk, and instant spicy noodles, among other items. I love grocery shopping.

After that, it was around 3 PM and time to drive home, so toward the border we went. When we arrived, I thought it'd be quick, but we waited for over an hour before the border guard asked, "What were you doing in Canada?" My reply of "oh, just for fun" prompted an "ok, here you go" as he returned our passports.

10 seconds. Literally, it took 10 seconds to cross the border, but we waited for over an hour. You can lots of pictures while waiting, so it was fun.

Anyway, it was a great trip, and I enjoyed hanging out with my sister and Fredolyn. I hadn't been up to Vancouver since around first grade, so it was a fun chance to go and visit the city again.

In other news, I just booked my hotel for Denver, so I'll blog again later this week after I arrive in Colorado. Can't wait!