Vancouver, British Columbia: part 1

Friday, May 08, 2009
I woke up this morning at about 3:00 to take the two hour drive to the McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas for my flight to Vancouver, British Columbia.

The flight was about three hours and it went alright.

I arrived in Vancouver at about noon. The airport was packed because today was the first day of cruise season.

I met some girls from Australia in the customs line who have been traveling all over the States and made their way up into Canada.

I was met in the passenger pick up area by Karl’s driver, Vinod. He’s from India and probably one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met. I felt kind of like the president, getting in this shiny black Lincoln with my super cool driver.

Vancouver bears a striking resemblance to northern Minnesotan cites like Duluth. It’s very green and not nearly as cold as I suspected. In fact, today was extremely nice out.

Vinod drove me to Karl’s office, and I have to say that walking around that place is a surreal experience. The offices double as sets for studios. So when we went to see the people from the Sports Broadcasting Department across the parking lot, we went into a place that looks like a pizza parlor, it even said “Joe’s Pizza” (or something to that effect on the front). Karl pointed out that all of the different office buildings are for different sets. There’s a court house, a bank, a New England style neighborhood street, contemporary condos, etc. It’s all really cool.

I met with some of the broadcasting people. I found out that my assignment had been moved from Cypress Mountain to the Stadium for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies and other events that will take place there. I’m actually more excited about that than I was about Snowboarding and Aerials.

Karl took the rest of the day off and we walked around downtown Vancouver. I saw where the IBC (international broadcast center) will be and some other really cool stuff as well. There are alot of hippie types here, and someone is singing and playing a guitar on just about every corner. Lots of people walking, and everyone seems to be from different countries, it’s a very culturally diverse city.

We went to Stanley Park and walked around there for a bit, that place is awesome.

Then we came home. We originally planned on watching Nacho Libre, but I’m exhausted.

Saturday, May 09, 2009
Today we woke up and drove to Granville Island. It was awesome, such a rad place. While we were walking around the harbor we saw some kids playing big xylophones and stopped to watch. A group from Africa that is touring Canada was also watching and they spontanteously started performing with the kids, doing dances and drumming, it was so cool. The whole place turned into the big festival with people dancing and clapping. It put me in the best mood, it was so cool just to see all these people from different cultures and countries hanging out and dancing. It was a very moving experience. Everyone that I have met up here has been awesome and way nice.

We went to Karl’s co-worker/friend’s house tonight for dinner, and it was a nice little get together. We had grilled prawns, scallops, and salmon all as fresh as you can get them.

We also went for a hike to try and see a bear, but to no avail. However, the place we went hiking was absolutely beautiful, and it was also the place where they shot the camp scene for X-men 3, so no complaints.

Tomorrow morning we’re going deep sea fishing and crabbing, and I’m super excited for that.

Sunday, May 10, 2009
We went fishing in the ocean today! The first time I’ve ever gone in my life, and I was awesome, despite the fact that we didn’t get to bring home any fish. I did catch one fish though, it was a coho salmon. It was funny because it was the biggest fish I’ve ever caught (about 10 lbs), but it was too small to keep by law. We had a few others on the line, but we also had a damn harbor seal following us the whole day that kept snatching them from us. One thing cool about the boat that we chartered though, is that they set crab pots when we first went out. So just incase we didn’t catch and fish, we got to bring home some crab at least. Which incidently, was exactly the case. I personally thought the crabbing was awesome, and more exciting than the fishing. Also, I like crab more than I like fish.

When we got back to the dock the guide showed us how to clean and prepare the crab, and Karl got to try his hand at it. It was an awesome trip and well worth the price. I suppose it’s easier for me to say that, since Karl is the one who paid, but I’m pretty certain he would agree.
We got home at about 1 pm and we were all exhausted and took a nap and haven’t really done anything else. Couldn’t ask for a better day really.