Drove from Seattle up to Vancouver on Sunday (about 3 hours) to visit with Andrew and his family, here from Hong Kong to vacation during Chinese New Year -- Kung Hey Fat Choy! The city of Vancouver seems to be enjoying hosting the Winter Olympics: big crowds of tourists; lots of media; police from all over Canada on every corner; a variety of protests -- First Nations issues, Homeless issues, Women's issues, Don't Use Fur (see photo above).

The weather was warm (yes warm) and sunny -- are we sure this is a Winter olympics? Dorothy did a 14 mile bike ride through town with Clara -- lots of great bike lanes and trails in Vancouver. I had a great walk in Stanley Park with Andrew. We've missed Andrew's family since leaving HK and it was wonderful to spend some time (mostly laughing) with them.

There's an outdoors gear store in Vancouver called Mountain Equipment Coop, along the lines of REI. The Seattle REI "mother-ship" store is much larger, but I did notice that the MEC store had a larger selectrion of bicycle parts and accessories, as well as backpacks.

Starting to research the possibility of doing the BC West Coast Trail during summer 2011; I know it's a long way off... A spectacularly interesting trail on the west coast of Vancouver Island; very challenging too -- only 47 miles, but recommended to take 7 days to complete!

Finished my last midterm this morning. Going hands on now (versus theory) in the refrigeration course. Dorothy getting into NMEA in her electronic nav class now; about time someone aboard DE understood that technology.