Whistler

I woke up early on Sunday and make the 2 hour drive on the Sea To Sky Highway to make my way to Whistler mountain.  Whistler and Blackcomb mountains are both located in the town of Whistler, BC.  It’s one of the top ski locations in North America.  Everyone told me I had to make the trip, and since it was my last weekend here in Vancouver, I figured I better go check it out.

 The drive alone makes the trip worthwhile.  Once up in Whistler the views were beautiful.  I did some basic trail walking and toured around the village.  In the upper village there was a farmer’s market where I grabbed some breakfast.  In the summer mountain biking is the big draw on the mountain.  It was pretty cool to watch riders coming down the trails. 

I took a few pictures, enjoy. 

Sorting It All Out

Last night I had to itemize and value everything in my apartment that is being shipped back east.  It’s all part of my customs/insurance forms and procedures to get my stuff across the border. 

Since I am driving back this time not all of my belongings are going in the air shipment.  So last night I had to sort though everything and decide which was being shipped and which was coming in the car with me. 

This weekend I’ll need to finish eating any remaining food in my fridge, do laundry, pack up my bedding and get my computer ready.  The movers arrive on Wednesday morning, and after that I’ll be living out of my suitcases again for about 2-3 weeks until I settle back into NY. 

Here we go moving back home…

Dip Party!

Last night I had a few of the girls from work over for some wine and some food.  We all seem to sit around the office and talk about the different dips we like to make and eat, so we limited our food options to homemade guacamole, brie/garlic/pepper wheel, spinach dip, and buffalo chicken dip.  Yummy!

 

With Rapports!

I finally found a video from the Celebration of Lights that I like which includes both the fireworks and the music.  Enjoy! 

 Here is a view of the beginning of Span’s show:

Here is how Canada get’s the party started:

“Pride In The City”

On Sunday I went to Vancouver’s annual Pride Parade.  The theme this year was ‘Pride In The City’.  It was a lot of fun and a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.  I think around 300,000 people attending, and the parade took around 2 hrs.  I took a bunch of pictures while I was there.  Enjoy! 

 

Screen Suggestions

In the past 3 days I’ve encountered a few different films that tackle the subject of war and politics.  They have all appeared to be really interesting, so I thought I’d pass them along

 THE GROUND TRUTH - This is a documentary that aired on CBC television here, and I was able to watch most of it.  It’s a documentary protesting the war in Iraq. It tells the story of U.S. soldiers who are speaking out against the war.  It’s very interesting and they certainly challenge what they think it means to “Support the Troops”. 

CROSSING THE LINE - During the Korean War, 4 American soldiers defected and crossed heavilty fortified war zones into N. Korea.  Today, only one of those Americans remains in N. Korea.  ‘Crossing the Line’ is a documentary that is highly political and supposedly gives the world a inside look at the N. Korean system.  This film debuted last year in S. Korea, but opens for the first time in New York City next week. 

LIONS FOR LAMBS - There might be trailers for this new Tom Cruise movie in the states already, but I just got my first glimpse of it yesterday on tv here.  Talk about highly political!  It looks like the film juxtaposes opposing views on the war in Afghanistan and Iraq through two separate story lines (which I assume cross at some point).  The link sends you to the trailer. 

Strike Update

It’s been about a week since some of Vancouver’s city workers went on strike.  Garbage workers, librarians and a few others still have no resolution. 

So how dirty is the city?  Actually not so bad.  We have had two huge firework shows downtown and the beach has been spotless before and after.  People are being very careful to ‘pack out’ anything they bring in.  Anything left behind has been taken care of by city managemetn and a few nice neighbors. 

And in a move that is oh so un-American, many people here  have started to composte.  All the major stores here can’t keep stock on composters.  (I’m not making this up, it’s all over the news).

Instead of complaining these people adapt.  Imagine that.