Canada (Vancouver) Trip | June 11-12, 2011
I drove up to Vancouver this past weekend to see milk_of_lime and kurot. =)
As I'm currently renting an older car from the people I'm staying with, I didn't want to risk the car breaking down on me. So, I got an economy car from Thrifty car rental, which turned out to be a bright red Chevy Aveo:
SATURDAY
I woke up at the same time I usually wake up for my internship work (around 6:15-6:30am), and was at the rental place just before 8am. Transaction went smoothly; I made sure to ask if it was okay to take the rental on an international drive (yes). I also requested GPS, but turns out it didn't work for inputting Canadian addresses. However, I had written down the directions beforehand, and since the GPS still showed streets, I was able to get to my destination pretty easily.
The actual drive through Washington to the US/Canadian border wasn't too eventful. Lots of nature, farms, orchards, etc. Eventually, I got to the border:
The inspector I got was pretty thorough about asking questions. ^^;
Just beyond the checkpoint:
Driving in Canada didn't feel any different compared to in the States. Just that it was kilometers instead of miles. Good thing there's a km reader on the speedometer.
I stopped here for lunch, got lost in the mall as well as in the underground parking...
Did you know? The Chapters bookstore (equivalent to our Borders or Barnes & Noble) has a designated section (ON THE WALL) for manga!
Seeing that was pretty cool. =)
When everyone was ready to go (around 3pm-ish), our group took the train to the Vancouver Convention Centre,
where Eat Vancouver was going on for the weekend. Inside was pretty much like any other convention's Exhibit Hall, except about food and such:
Lots of booths gave out free samples. But in order to try any bigger prepared foods, you had to buy sampler tickets ($0.50 each):
I bought 20 of them for $10 CAD.
I got this one twice, as the taste and quality was good for the price (5 tickets for the sandwich + 1 ticket for the drink):
They also dropped dry ice in the drink to make it do this:
-salmon BLT
My camera's (salad dressing-affected) lens make this look better than it tasted XD:
-pulled meat soft tacos with salsa
We stayed until closing, which was 9pm, and upon leaving, I couldn't help but do this:
Outside one of the McDonalds:
We ended up walking through Davie Village on the way to the beach, and also saw a few of these places on the way...
And what looked like a haunted (just an abandoned restaurant?) house, or at least it was a bit spooky:
We finally got to the beach, feet tired:
We stayed there for a while, and then waited a long time for the bus to start up and take us to the nearest train station. Then off to sleep (at least for me) after reading a little bit of Loveless v.1! XD
SUNDAY
Spent the morning catching up on shows I had missed since Fanime. (still not caught up!!)
Was wondering where Caim went (he's really people-friendly!):
as well as Nowe (not as people-friendly, except for when equipped with a certain tool XD):
Ku and KL took me to a nearby restaurant for lunch, and... I can't remember what I ordered, but it was good enough =9:
Then it was time to head out. Heading to the border was not very eventful, except for the announcement that the main crossing was closed for 5 hours, and that I had to take an alternative route. D= Luckily with the GPS, I just punched the "Take Me Home" button, and let the guidance help me the rest of the way. Thus, rather than take the BC-99, I ended up on the 15:
... And waited 1 hour before getting to the actual border. The signboard said 15 MINUTES! (I even went into the duty-free store to buy something for work and the people I'm staying with, just so I could bypass a small section of the waiting line, LOL.)
I did see these while I was waiting, and though of banjocatbanjo:
I don't remember what they're called. The name starts with an 'A.'
And finally!
The inspector here was much more lax, and ask if I was up in Canada visiting my boyfriend (LOL, what?). *facepalm*
The drive back went pretty well, I passed more nature:
And due to some traffic that the GPS warned me of, I took some local roads back, and somehow managed to drive under a bridge and away from what appeared to be downtown Seattle?:
I got the car back to the rental place about 1 hour past the time I had originally specified, but it doesn't appear that they charge you any late fees. I just hope that no one was waiting on it to rent it next. ^^;
And that was my weekend! =D
As I'm currently renting an older car from the people I'm staying with, I didn't want to risk the car breaking down on me. So, I got an economy car from Thrifty car rental, which turned out to be a bright red Chevy Aveo:
SATURDAY
I woke up at the same time I usually wake up for my internship work (around 6:15-6:30am), and was at the rental place just before 8am. Transaction went smoothly; I made sure to ask if it was okay to take the rental on an international drive (yes). I also requested GPS, but turns out it didn't work for inputting Canadian addresses. However, I had written down the directions beforehand, and since the GPS still showed streets, I was able to get to my destination pretty easily.
The actual drive through Washington to the US/Canadian border wasn't too eventful. Lots of nature, farms, orchards, etc. Eventually, I got to the border:
The inspector I got was pretty thorough about asking questions. ^^;
Just beyond the checkpoint:
Driving in Canada didn't feel any different compared to in the States. Just that it was kilometers instead of miles. Good thing there's a km reader on the speedometer.
I stopped here for lunch, got lost in the mall as well as in the underground parking...
Did you know? The Chapters bookstore (equivalent to our Borders or Barnes & Noble) has a designated section (ON THE WALL) for manga!
Seeing that was pretty cool. =)
When everyone was ready to go (around 3pm-ish), our group took the train to the Vancouver Convention Centre,
where Eat Vancouver was going on for the weekend. Inside was pretty much like any other convention's Exhibit Hall, except about food and such:
Lots of booths gave out free samples. But in order to try any bigger prepared foods, you had to buy sampler tickets ($0.50 each):
I bought 20 of them for $10 CAD.
I got this one twice, as the taste and quality was good for the price (5 tickets for the sandwich + 1 ticket for the drink):
They also dropped dry ice in the drink to make it do this:
-salmon BLT
My camera's (salad dressing-affected) lens make this look better than it tasted XD:
-pulled meat soft tacos with salsa
We stayed until closing, which was 9pm, and upon leaving, I couldn't help but do this:
Outside one of the McDonalds:
We ended up walking through Davie Village on the way to the beach, and also saw a few of these places on the way...
And what looked like a haunted (just an abandoned restaurant?) house, or at least it was a bit spooky:
We finally got to the beach, feet tired:
We stayed there for a while, and then waited a long time for the bus to start up and take us to the nearest train station. Then off to sleep (at least for me) after reading a little bit of Loveless v.1! XD
SUNDAY
Spent the morning catching up on shows I had missed since Fanime. (still not caught up!!)
Was wondering where Caim went (he's really people-friendly!):
as well as Nowe (not as people-friendly, except for when equipped with a certain tool XD):
Ku and KL took me to a nearby restaurant for lunch, and... I can't remember what I ordered, but it was good enough =9:
Then it was time to head out. Heading to the border was not very eventful, except for the announcement that the main crossing was closed for 5 hours, and that I had to take an alternative route. D= Luckily with the GPS, I just punched the "Take Me Home" button, and let the guidance help me the rest of the way. Thus, rather than take the BC-99, I ended up on the 15:
... And waited 1 hour before getting to the actual border. The signboard said 15 MINUTES! (I even went into the duty-free store to buy something for work and the people I'm staying with, just so I could bypass a small section of the waiting line, LOL.)
I did see these while I was waiting, and though of banjocatbanjo:
I don't remember what they're called. The name starts with an 'A.'
And finally!
The inspector here was much more lax, and ask if I was up in Canada visiting my boyfriend (LOL, what?). *facepalm*
The drive back went pretty well, I passed more nature:
And due to some traffic that the GPS warned me of, I took some local roads back, and somehow managed to drive under a bridge and away from what appeared to be downtown Seattle?:
I got the car back to the rental place about 1 hour past the time I had originally specified, but it doesn't appear that they charge you any late fees. I just hope that no one was waiting on it to rent it next. ^^;
And that was my weekend! =D