West Coast Sanitorium Time Begins

Hi ho, Mabel the Frog here, reporting from the West Coast!

So after staying up all night--le sigh--I went to catch my first flight. Because my dad worked for an airline I fly standby. I noticed at 4 AM that the first flight I was going to try was now oversold, so I switched to Toronto instead, and from there there's flights to Vancouver almost every hour. I got on both no problem.

Here is my little dollar store Paris notebook. And I finally chose Nancy Mitford. The books take place around WWI WWII, and since I just watched Downton (WWI) and read Westwood (WWII) and Charing Cross (WWII) it seemed like the right thing. And Downton and Westwood relate to rich people in big houses, as does Mitford. And they're all English. We're on a theme here, people. Ms. Brownlow said she'll try reading hers' too (though it doesn't have a tacky 70s cover like mine, and she has some eye problems that flared up again.)

 

Waiting in Toronto. Lovely sun! I usually travel in the afternoon/evening, so this was weird.

It was so bright out I had my shade closed most of the time. Watched the new Arthur movie (not great, but lots of silliness and good lines.) When I opened for a peak we were over the Rockies! It's fantastic when there's no clouds and you can see them! But I couldn't get my camera in time, and the clouds returned.

Here is clouds.

Here we is descending into the clouds.

And got our mountains then. 

Floating logs down the river, like the Log Drivers' Waltz! (Pleases girls completely.)

Downtown Vancouver.

You know you're on the West Coast when...

You can see why students from BC were surprised at how little aboriginal issues are A Thing in Montreal. (Well, they were A Thing in 1990 but not in a good way.) I believe it's because (a) the Oppressed Peoples dialogue all gets taken up by language issues; (b) there isn't as big a population as in some provinces (Quebec 3%, Manitoba 10%); and (c) West Coast tribes have a very different history in terms of politics and assimilation. In one respect that's reflected in how much art there is--when you weren't not fighting off winter to survive, you had time to carve stuff!

 

After hours in a plane, standing there watching a carousel kills the soul. Luckily standby bags go on last, so come out first.

Waiting for a lift not so bad, especially when it's 9 degrees (48F) and sunny! 

But still boring so I took pics. Look what happened to my suitcase! Lol. Looks like it fell into salty water or snow (salt for de-icing) and then dried. It's ok, the suitcase is cruddy and old.

Look at this bag. I bought it over a year ago on my last Employee Discount shopping trip at the bookstore, and it doesn't get dirty! Look at those clean handles!

Only one smudge of dirt on the bottom, even though it fell on the wet pavement when I was leaving my building!

Isn't it cute? In case I forget my alphabet.

 

My lug bag for my computer. It was 75% and then I got my 30% off discount too. Paid about $5.

Hair baubles from a Japanese dollar store, to identify the luggage.

 Waiting for the ferry (I didn't bother trying for a flight they were all oversold.) Last bit of sun before clouds came. You can also fly over by float plane, which is beeeoootiful, but $60 as opposed to $14. And I enjoy the ferry ride, it's scenic and peaceful.

Out the ferry window.

It's very cold to stand on the deck once the ferry picks up speed, even in summer. But for the last 10 minutes I put on my mittens and hat and scarf and braved it. And then froze my hands off taking you some pics! They turned out rather well--the lighting as the sun went down was perfect.

Two of the many islands we passed.

 

Coming up to the Nanaimo coast.

 

 (Nanaimo's on Vancouver Island. ...Vancouver, however, is not on Vancouver Island.) 

 There's some gated community condos up top, but they are picturesque from afar.

Despite the cold, it was so beautiful and so peaceful I took a few deep breaths as we came in, and had my exhale moment.

Departure Bay by Diana Krall

Someone's video of the ferry ride (though leaving from a different port.)