It is obligatory to read the above title in a Canadian accent or its impact is diminished. With the prospect of being summoned back to the airlines on short-ish notice, we are only able to go on short-ish trips. Vancouver is about three hours from Los Angeles. Generally speaking the weather up there is quite bad — either rainy or cold or a combination of the two.
Fortunately for us, and perhaps unfortunately for people used to more mild climates, British Columbia is going through a bit of a heat wave with temps approaching 90ºF. This is the first time we jointly used American Airlines in several years, but the experience is about the same as I remember it. On top of the usual stuff, we had to provide proof of vaccine and a QR code that we generated in order to complete check-in. For whatever reason, our TSA Pre-check was not honored on our tickets, so we had to bite our tongue and endure condescending remarks from TSA on why we didn’t take our electronics out of our bags.
We were a bit late departing LAX. I have been away from flying for so long, and basically missed the entire summer rush, so it was a bit jarring to see a lineup of around 12 aircraft waiting to takeoff. The remainder of the flight was uneventful. We touched down smoothly in Vancouver and had a relatively smooth process going through customs as well. It took just 30 seconds to get our car keys after we entered the rental car office, which made up for the lack of TSA pre-check earlier.
We were in fairly heavy traffic while cutting across the city, but after about 45 minutes, we made a short detour at Lynn Canyon to check out a suspension bridge. There is a much more famous one in North Vancouver at Capilano, but that costs over $50 per person. Free is much better. The bridge wasn’t far from the parking lot, so we weren’t there more than 20 minutes. It was about another 50 minutes of driving north before we got to our Air BnB in Squamish. It was a last minute booking with a very understanding host. We had to explain our standby situation, and didn’t confirm until after 10am. The place is more than adequate, clean, and came with a bar of chocolate and a bottle of local wine. Not too shabby.
Having missed lunch today, we were eager to get some food. We went down the hill from our place to an establishment called Lil’ Chef’s Bistro. I had a massive schnitzel sandwich accompanied with an equally large salad, which for whatever reason included bacon. Not kosher. We ate outdoors, which I feel is not a popular choice during these times. It didn’t bother Bricole (everyone’s favorite celebrity couple) all that much, but it seemed that the heat was too much for others. We next decided to go for a drive down by the river.
The Squamish area is heavily featured in a Netflix show called Virgin River. It is actually supposed to be set in Northern California near Eureka. Having been to Eureka, there are some substantial differences. For one, the fictional town of Virgin River is three parts Hallmark movie, five parts soap opera, and two parts cabin porn. Eureka, in stark contrast, is eight parts meth, and two parts black tar heroin. It has often been discussed how Virgin River seems so quaint and lovely, but such a place doesn’t exist in the United States. One must go to Canada to experience idyllic small town America.
This walking path by the river is near the location of one of the main character’s bars (Jack’s Bar to be specific). It is a real life working bar under a different name. In the show, it is described as the only place in town to get food after 5 pm. Luckily for Squamish, there are other suitable options, and even a Subway!
We walked a bit along the river and even spotted a few seals (or maybe sea lions). The path certainly offered some nice vistas. The lighting wasn’t great, but it was still an impressive sight in both directions. We made a stop at Wal•Mart on our way back to the Air BnB where we stocked up on Canadian snacks like whippets and ketchup-flavored crisps. We restrained ourselves from also picking up some May Wests as we didn’t want to overdo it on Canadian snacks. Maybe we will compare and contrast them all later. That’s all for now.
passports & pepto bismol 