The 'Couve

A couple Sundays ago, after 15 hours of traveling (which included a tragically brief, 1-hour layover in Phoenix), I arrived in Vancouver.

I hopped in a cab...


And this is pretty much what I saw for the next 8 days:


My hotel was nice though - I really just enjoy being in a room eight times the size of my own, with my own bathroom, and maid/room services.


And the lovely sitting area.


Here's a better picture through my window on a somewhat sunny day:


I mostly worked all week with Maury and the clients in a post facility that was located in a strip mall. However, one evening I did walk around downtown, on Robson Street.


I saw a well-decorated CD store:



And a thrift shop that had some cool steps.


The best part of the trip was my day at the aquarium. While Maury was rough cutting, he told me to get out of his face and see the town, so I went to the beautiful Vancouver Aquarium. I could really spend days looking at this sort of thing.


All of these bizarre animals we never even think about existing.


And sea turtles!


This weird eel eventually dug itself out of the sand and swam around, and I, amazed at the length of it, remembered the time in my life that I wanted to be an underwater cinematographer or a marine biologist (I couldn't decide which. So I became an editor).


They had animals large...




... and small.


Even tropical birds in a simulated rainforest.


I am pretty sure this is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.


This scene looked so still to me, until you get very close up and then you see a thousand things going on, including itsy-bitsy, nearly transparent fish and starfish so thin and wispy they look like spiderwebs strung across the rock. At least I think it was a rock.


Things that look so inanimate or at least plant-like, but are just slow-moving animals.




I watched this starfish move across the glass wall, each tiny tentacle suctioning and unsuctioning itself to move the whole body across, and entangle itself with the arms of another starfish on the other side.


I cannot get enough of sea anemones. They are so gorgeous and delicate and varied, they take my breath away.


Especially these "strawberry" anemones.


Don't even get me started on the jellyfish.


They had examples of each stage of life of the jellyfish, from fertilized egg spores to teeeeeeny tiny li'l jellies, all the way to these full-grown deadly beauties.






I caught the dolphin show from the underground observation window.




... and went to see some cute otters.




And my favorite sea animal of all, the beluga whale.


They had four of them in a gigantic tank, and I watched them swim around for about an hour.


They are so enormous, and so fat and blubbery, but they have the cutest faces and move themselves in this delicate, graceful way that is very calming to watch.






After that, I tried to think of other things that might be fun to do alone in a city, so I went to the top of one of the tallest buildings, the Harbor Centre. To get to the top, you ride in one of those glass elevators on the side of the building.

Right around this part, my stomach dropped and I thought in a panic, "OH MY GOD, why did I do this????? I'm afraid of elevators AND heights!!"


But I made it to the top and got a nice view of The 'Couve.



Later in the week, we drove around town with our clients, past some boats...


Across a bridge...


And got to see the city a little bit more.


The trip went well, business-wise, and I kept it all under control. Success! Although it was wonderful to get a change of scenery for a week, I have to say, I don't love Vancouver nearly as much as all of their own residents do. But then again, many people probably say the same thing as New York.

Now I'm just waitin' for Thursday night, when I get to go home to the big AZ, for family fun, weddings, time with Grandma, and the Channel 8-stravaganza! Not to mention my reunion with 2 out of my 3 best friends.

love,
*jenna*