Sunday, September 24, 2006

Sunday Morning in Vancouver . . . .

Checked in on the Burrard Bridge web cam overlooking English Bay this morning . . . Looks like another beautiful day in our future home.



Sure wish we were already there on a permanent basis. Getting kind of envious of Nick/Mason and Gito/Juan's journey this week . . . . . Hopefully the rest of us will be following soon!


4 comments:

Tom said...

I am curious. How come you guys chose Vancouver?

Idealistic Pragmatist said...

Fingers crossed!

West End Bob said...

Tom,

As for how we chose Vancouver I think the easiest explanation is from a post we made WAY BACK in April, '06:


We had always enjoyed our visits to Canada over the years. Especially refreshing was the apparently universal belief that Canada did not have to be the world's policeman or force it's values down other peoples' throats - unlike the US. A particularly good quote from a tour guide in Halifax comes to mind: "Americans have money and power. Canadians have heart." Kind of sums it up, doesn't it? Vacations to British Columbia, Victoria, Montreal and Quebec, Halifax and most of Nova Scotia (Where a hurricane named "Juan" followed us Floridians in 2003!) were all great. We always enjoyed the "natives" and their world view.

Along came November, 2004 and the re-election of mr. bush with his supposed "political capital to spend" - Horrors! Things will undoubtedly go from bad to worse with four more years of this crowd running things. We booked a flight to British Columbia for February of 2005. A choice of February was made because after checking online weather records it was typically the "worst" time of the year. The thought was we should experience the bad part of the year to see if these two Florida guys could stand the climate. As it would turn out, however, the weather was cool but gloriously sunny and clear - so much for our plan. The trip included an initial few days in Vancouver - where we had not been previously - a few days in Victoria and then back to Vancouver. A friend recommended we stay somewhere near Stanley Park in Vancouver as we both enjoyed the outdoors and walking. What a great suggestion! We fell in love with Vancouver's West End neighborhood. A real neighborhood of culturally diverse inhabitants, great restaurants, all necessities within a couple of blocks, sandwiched between two bodies of water with a view of the mountains . . . we knew we had found the "promised land". Also, Vancouver lacked the dreaded "3-H's": Heat, Humidity and Hurricanes!



Two other big factors were the moderate climate - compared to the rest of Canada - and the fact that I have family members that migrated from Wisconsin to the Tacoma/Seattle area years ago. Based on our many trips to the city we feel "right" about our choice - We enjoy it more each time we're there. Nova Scotia was our second choice, though. The winters would probably be a little too brutal for our "thin" Southern blood after all these years! (We would love to visit you guys when you're there on a permanent basis, though!)

Tom said...

Thanks for posting your reasons. We considered Vancouver too, but we figured staying on the east coast would make travel back and forth visiting family easier.

We would love to have you come and visit. You guys could show us Vancouver as well!