Vancouver May 2011

Day 1,
Landing in Vancouver was uneventful.  The airport is very large and spread out.  Which slowly reveals you have landed in an area with lots of space versus a cramped rock like Hawaii.  My sister in-law picked us up at the airport which was great especially with only an hour of sleep on a nine hour end to end flight.  As we drove into Vancouver with the assistance of GPS we saw the area become more dense, houses and buildings closer together.  Then the landscape of skyscrapers emerged in the distance as central Vancouver came into sight.

During the trip to the city there was a mix of new and older development; homes and businesses but there was something not quite right.  As I tried to figure out what was awry it came to me that there was an order to even the run down areas of town.  It is hard to describe what an organized run down area looks and feels like but there are no abandoned cars or piles of trash normally associated with less desirable areas.  Even vacant properties seemed to have trash or scrap organized in orderly piles.  It seemed there must be laws or policing of making sure your property new or old was presentable.  After a long nap and some dinner we toured the downtown area near our hotel, Yaletown.  Even in the city I got the same feeling of disorder that I was unfamiliar with.  Friendly and orderly homeless, folks in an orderly rush, generally polite and friendly folks that seemed that they really wanted to be here.

downtown Vancouver, stadium under construction, Japadog and street at night