Just back where we belong.

Well, I'm home! Not for long though, since it looks like I can snag a free ride to St. Ratford on Saturday. This is ultra-convenient since I've not been there in a dog's age, and I was indecisive as to when I'd make the trip. I'm always happy when fate makes decisions for me.

Anyhow, my West Coast extravaganza has come to an end. Yesterday was an exhausting day of travelling from Seattle to Vancouver, and then flying from Vancouver back to Toronto. I spent today catching up on my sleep and ignoring the whole unpleasant task of unpacking and doing laundry. That'll be for tomorrow.

Yesterday while I was sitting in the Vancouver airport waiting for my plane, I took out the little notebook that I'd brought to use as a travel journal but ended up neglecting for the majority of the trip. I made a list of the highlights and
lowlights of my trip as I waited for my plane, and laughed aloud a couple of times as I was doing so, which caused an old man to give me a strange look which incidentally made me chuckle a bit more. I decided that my list would make a fabulous post-trip blog post, so here it is.

Highlights:
1) West Edmonton Mall - This is first since it's really the first thing that we did, plus I'd always wanted to go there when I was a materialistic middle schooler. It was cool.
2) Whyte Ave in Edmonton - Honestly though, I liked the shopping on this funky street in Edmonton much more than the large mall. If I was an Edmontonian, that's totally where I'd shop.
3) Seeing the Rockies for the first time



4) Dinner on Earl's Balcony in Jasper - This restaurant has the best view in Jasper. It's fun dining with the rockies as your back drop.
5) Columbia Icefield - We took the trip out to stand on the ever-shrinking Athabasca glacier outside of Jasper. It was really fun.



6) The town of Jasper - The whole place was super cute. I would compare it to those mini ceramic picturesque houses that people can buy and use to make their own cute little town.



7) Jasper to Edmonton train ride - Even though it was 17.5 hrs, it was relaxing, had some fabulous sights, and I got a good 7 hrs of sleep on the journey.
8) Vancouver Sushi - We ate a lot of sushi in Vancouver. There were three reasons for this: a) Becca T is a sushi nut; b) Vancouver sushi is super cheap (half of what it is in Toronto; and c) sushi is tasty.
9) Biking in Stanley Park - So pretty and so much fun. We were lucky to have great weather on this day.



10) Drinking in Gastown - Definitely my favourite Vancouver neighbourhood.
11) Walking around Victoria - Very pretty city.



12) Whale-watching in Victoria - It was so cold, and we only did see one whale (a grey whale), but I thought it was fun. At least we got to see some bonus sea lions and seals.



13) Renting a car and driving over the Granville St. Bridge in Vancouver
14) Walking up and down the beach in White Rock - That's the lovely little beach town to which I travelled for the wedding.



15)My roommate's wedding - Don't you love it when two lovely people get married? I'm going to miss them since I won't see as much of them.
16) Returning the car safely without having injured self, others, or the car - Did I mention that I'm a nervous driver when I'm driving in places I don't know?
17) Green Tortoise Hostel in Seattle - If you are even in Seattle, stay here. Thanks to a friend at work for this tip.



18) Seattle - I loved the Pike St. Market, visiting the first Starbucks ever, Pioneer Square, the Experience Music Project, and the Waterfront. Great city.



19) Meeting new people - I got to meet a lot of new people on this trip from coworkers of Becca T's who took us in and/or fed us, a super fun blog buddy who showed us around and was brave enough to get into a car with me behind the wheel, and random wedding guests (especially the cute boy who I talked to for most of the wedding). I had a lot of good conversations on this trip.
20) Arriving home safely

Lowlights
I made a list of lowlights not because I'm a negative complainer, but because I think the few random bad things that happened on my trip were actually rather humourous in retrospect.
1) Becca T giving me a nasty ginger candy while waiting in the Toronto airport - I can't believe she likes those things.
2) The really long probably about 5 hour wait in the tiny crappy isolated Edmonton train station. We had to wait the same length of time in Jasper, but we were downtown so we could check our bags and walk around and go for ice cream and what not.
3) Getting hit by a car in Burnaby - Yes, I was actually hit by a freaking car, but not injured in anyway. Let's just say that if you are a pedestrian, you must be very wary of Vancouver drivers. Becca T and I were crossing a street, and the light changed, and I did not see a car who decided that it should try to turn right at the same time I was in the intersection. It turned into me, and only hit my shoulder. Honestly, I felt so lucky it didn't run over my foot. I was in shock, and kind of assumed it was my fault (it totally wasn't), so I didn't react at first, but luckily there was another pedestrian who yelled at the driver. I have never been so rattled in my life. Again, I'm so lucky that I wasn't hurt. That would have ruined the trip.
4) Arrving in sketchy Seattle bus station - I did the Seattle leg of my trip by myself, and ended up taking a bus that got me into Seattle at 11 pm, and during the trip I wondered what the hell was I thinking - how safe can it be to arrive in a strange city, late at night, by yourself? When I saw the sketchiness of the Seattle bus station, I questioned my idea even more, but luckily, that bus station was the worst thing in Seattle; the rest of the city is lovely.
5) The bus trip back from Seattle to Vancouver - I scheduled a lot of time in between my arrival in Vancouver, and my flight, but I'm a worrywart, so I didn't really enjoy the trip. Well, part of that was the fact that I had to go back to the above bus station, and the fact we got held up at customs.

But when one compares the highlights to the lowlights, you can see what a really great trip I had. It's sad that it's done, but I am looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight. :)