Vancouver – A Secret Trip & Weather Wishes

I was born and raised in Vancouver.  And, although I may be partial, I truly believe it is one of the most beautiful cities in the world — certainly of the candidates I have seen.  In my humble opinion, only Cape Town rivals Vancouver’s in terms of sheer natural beauty.

Without telling any of my friends or family, I made a secret trip into Vancouver today (for a weekend Laminated Dough course), without telling anyone — except Howard — who only knows because I needed a ride to the ferry.

It’s a secret because I wanted some time on my own.  That’s not so bad, is it?  Especially just after the holidays?  I know someone is going to be peeved with me because of it…but it’s not personal…I just wanted to enjoy a bit of “old” Vancouver on my own, before the Olympics…

I’ve got some photos of the ferry ride, which was a bit longer than usual today because first I took a ferry to Victoria, where I connected with another, much larger ferry to Vancouver.  Here’s my ride to Victoria, The Queen of Cumberland, pulling in to Otter Bay:

And here we are en-route to Victoria (Swartz Bay)…

And look what was waiting for us…our ride to Vancouver…all decked out for the Winter Olympics coming to Vancouver in February…

And then it got dark rather quickly, as it tends to do in the winter, so you’ll have to wait to see some photos of Active Pass, the route between Victoria and Vancouver.

The sun in these pictures draws the season into doubt, but trust me:  it’s Winter 2010, and Vancouver is hosting the Olympics in less than 1 month.  It’s well above freezing at the moment.

Generally, very few people ask for more winter weather in the middle of January.  However, at this point I think pretty much everyone in BC (even us Olympic naysayers) are hoping to see some SERIOUS cold, clouds and snow.  Lend us your positive thoughts, please — they could come in handy…