Canada, eh?

So we left the country for the weekend (you know, since we're jet-setters like that). Rico, Shane, Amanda and I drove to Vancouver, BC for the weekend.  I was the Canada virgin - Shane is a native Canadian, Rico and Amanda have both been before.

Vancouver is only a 3 hour drive from home so it was a perfect short vacation.  We were interrogated at the border - the dude wanted to know everything from where we were staying to how much Shane and Amanda paid for hockey tickets to the game they were going to see and since Rico and I weren't going the game, what could we possibly be doing while Shane and Amanda were at the game (uh, duh, hello...we can entertain ourselves - you know there's a whole city to see in 24 hrs!).  And after all that, we didn't even get a stamp for our passports!

Anyway, we had relatively good weather - only sprinkled on us a few time, though true to form of the Northwest, it poured on us on the way out of town.  Saturday afternoon, we walked miles around the city with our tour guides, Carl and Stacy - Shane's friends.

We walked around the waterfront and saw the Olympic Cauldrons (for the unobstructed view - you know without the fence everyone was making a big deal about - we had to wait in line for about an hour - we chose not to do that).

Apparently, after the regular Olympics, all of the Mounties left the city.  But we did find one for Amanda to pose with...

On Sunday, we ventured around town on our own.  We ended up on in China Town for breakfast (no I did not order the chicken fingers - I didn't want anything that looked like chicken claws!) After China Town, we went over to Granville Island.

The Public Market was very much like Pike Place Market here in Seattle, with vendors galore and a multitude of fresh fruits, vegetables, meats and cheeses.

The Peace Arch is at the border.  We didn't get out and see it because of the rain...