Greetings from Vancouver!

Greetings from sunny (yah right...are you kidding?) rainy Vancouver. Oh boy can it rain here! :o) We've been here for almost 48 hours and without exaggeration it has rained the entire time! Where does it all come from...and where is it going? Good news is that the sun is supposed to come out tomorrow! (Hey...that could be a song.) Yeah for the sun! The really nice thing though is that for us, it's warm. 10oC tomorrow. Ahhhh. I even ventured out without a coat today although most normal people would at least wear a jacket. Errr...not always accused of being 'normal.' I realized today that I haven't seen the mountains yet. What's up with that? It's been so cloudy that I'd forgotten Vancouver is graced with beautiful mountains. Oooo...something to look forward to tomorrow for sure!

Our flight was smooth and pleasantly uneventful. I was originally seated in the last row of the plane, in front of the bathroom. Yuck! Not fun for 5 hours. Thankfully they moved me to the front at an exit row. Sat with a great guy and we chatted much of the trip. Uh oh...'Buddy' better watch out! LOL! Watched the movie 'The Queen'. Great movie and an interesting spin on what happened the week of Princess Diana's death.

We've rented a car this trip which is always fun as I have so much more freedom. I've ventured out in buses and using the LRT (light rapid transit) in the past but when I have wheels it's much better.

Yesterday I took Sharon to work then got my feet wet (literally...see pic above) snooping around the hotel and the area. We're staying at a great hotel and have a suite which is really nice. Picked up some groceries and thought about going to the fitness centre in the hotel. Watched TV until that feeling went away!

Grabbed a salad at Boston Pizza for lunch then headed to Starbucks with Sharon's laptop to try and hook up to the internet. Finally found out it's available at one table in the Starbuck's if you sit in the corner, point it towards another building, cross your fingers (which makes it hard to type!) and sometimes stand on your head. After that experience decided it was worth putting out the $55 for a week's worth of internet in the hotel room. Can't stand to be away from my blogging friends or email that long!

Last night we met up with one of Sharon's school friends and her Mom. (L to R - Japhia, Sharon and Ruth) We've gotten together with them the 3 times that we've been in Vancouver in the past 6 years so I've gotten to know them a little bit too. It was great to see them again and get caught up on one another's lives. The last time we'd been together it was just days before I'd begun my adoption journey and they had no idea that it was even happening until last night. It was a fun visit.

Today after dropping Sharon off at work I hit the fitness centre for a bit then headed to the Metrotown Mall. 470 stores just waiting to be explored! Last time we were here we stayed in a hotel right next to the mall so I spent a lot of time there. Boy have they improved it! It's beautiful! There is a large Asian population in this area so they had some neat Asian stores in the mall. I was able to pick up some Chinese New Year treats for my March DTC Secret Pal as January's theme is CNY.

Tonight we headed back to Boston Pizza for supper and are now having a quiet evening in the room. Sharon's working and I'm catching up on some blog writing and reading.

Have spoken to Dawn a couple of times and we're both excited that she'll be flying in tomorrow! Yeah! So far we have plans to visit Chinatown one day and head down into the states to visit a couple of outlet malls and Target on Friday. Not sure what else we'll do during our 4 days together, just know we're both really looking forward to it!

I'll write more and post pics of Dawn and I together. Bloggy friends unite!