Ahhh the Canadian's! Wonderfully happy and content people, living it up in the frozen north! Did you know that 90% of all Canadian's live within 100 miles of the US border? I don't think it has anything to do with us (they would rather be far away from us, I think) but the weather factor. Vancouver, Canada is actually Andrew's first taste of freedom from American soil! This posting is all about our frozen adventures with our friendly northern neighbors.
If you take out a map of North America, you will see that Seattle is only a mere 2 1/2 hours away from the Canadian border. Andy, up until Christmas 2004 had NEVER left Uncle Sam's back yard. As a girl who had her passport years before a credit card or checkbook, I decided his lack of travel needed to change. Although deep down inside, Canada doesn't really count as "foreign territory", it was a good (and cheap) place to start. We drove up in the morning, with tasty Starbucks Christmas Peppermint Mocha's in hand, commenting on the beautiful “Seattle” weather (crappy and overcast) and traffic (bumper to bumper all the way up to Everett). But, we did take a detour, just south of Bellingham (about ½ hour from the border) there's a scenic road worth taking, which winds up Puget Sound's coastline, presenting beautiful views...
Andrew took the time to shoot photos of me with the great backdrop, but more importantly...
The snaking roads that only a car enthusiast would care to take pictures of. Not that I'm jealous or anything, of inanimate, man-made constructions... =)
So we make it to the border, and are disappointed with the lack of Canadian Mounties. Only grumpy boarder guards, who grumps are surpassed only by the American ones on the way home.
I've been to Vancouver many times, but never during Christmas... How beautiful it was! The lights among the trees, the garlands affixed on every streetlamp... The crazy street performers in their full regalia…
(Exhibit A: Gold man with Santa Hat - moved like a robot when money is dropped in gold box).
We went to Canada initially for Andy's sake, but also to get away from the American Christmas Craze. We didn't do so well; we ended up buying nothing but a pair of flannel pajama pants from Old Navy. Could have gone down the street and saved a bunch of money on gas, and tax (Canada has a 14% sales tax). But those crazy Canadians know how to enjoy their shopping around Christmas time! There were garlands and wreaths along the walkways, lights among the trees and plenty of entertainment along the way. One of the malls hosted life-sized toys, which moved when a donation is made to the box for the children’s hospital.
Below is a toy soldier, one of the many toys found strewn across the mall. There were also Ballerinas, Geishas and Cowboys.
The Starbucks was also an interesting phenomena. Notice the one ACROSS THE STREET in downtown, busy Vancouver. The scariest thing about it, I believe, is the fact that Starbucks can afford to keep both open. In Seattle alone, there are close to 500 Starbucks Stores within the city limits. Watch out Mc Donald’s! 
Across the street was a department store which also joined in to the Crazy Christmas Spirit. Andy and I spotted this cool chick at a cosmetics counter. How Las Vegas Show Girls ended up in the frozen north I don’t know… But they were getting all the boy’s attention. And you know how much makeup boys like to buy.
Andy and I also found some pretty cool backgrounds for photos - among them a giant red spring and a multi-colored playground apparatus. There are some of my fave pictures that Andy took.
