An early morning start, 4:00AM. We landed in Vancouver around 9:30AM and ran outside to put our bikes together. Mine went as smooth as Michael Jackson but Heidi's and especially George's were shaky. Poor George had to take a taxi and miss out on the first day's ride because the person who packed his bike forgot his quick release, meaning he couldn't attach his front wheel. We met up with him at the hostel.
The ride from the airport had many lows and highs. The highway we were on had me holding my breath the whole with the cars coming inches from us. But the view from UBC and the seashore trail made up for it all. The hostel is nice too, built in an old military base and everyone seems very nice. There is someone down in the cafe right now playing some great Paul Desmond while being accompanied by a bongo.
Getting into Canada feels just like driving into the next town over. No one here really speaks French and English is the primary mode of communication. It is fun walking into Safeway and seeing French under English instead of Spanish though. We had lunch at this small pizzaria and I made note of the public transportation. There was not two minutes that went by without a bus stopping at the bus stop. Great infrastructure for public transportation.
My thoughts of Vancouver are definitely biased because UBC, University of British Columbia, is so beautiful. It overlooks that one bay, river whatever it is--George and Heidi are taking care of the directions :)--and it is absolutely gorgeous. I now understand why Heidi seriously considered transferring here.
Tomorrow will be a bit tough because we have to ride quick to catch a ferry. Also it'll be the first time any of us have gone camping! Wooooo! That'll be fun. But we got a ton of food, SPAM and pasta. I'll try to find a nice place to sit down tomorrow and update a few.
