Date: Sun, 3 May 2009 17:06:16 -0700
Reply-To: Roger Whittaker <rogerwhitt1@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Roger Whittaker <rogerwhitt1@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: trip report ... very short journey
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Dear fellow vanagonians
headed down to the big smoke in vancouver thursday night and caught the
ferry at still water at 6:30 PM
it was the new ferry and looked a lot like a supersized texada ferry ...
nice ferry but i was disapointed to see the plate border wall paper
in the dining area (which is more like a food court) ... advertising Soda
along with the other food items ...
Soda is an american term for pop ... indeed i have heard it said that it is
particular to the southern usa ...
hmmm the president and ceo of the bc ferries is a texan ... so maybe that is
why it passed muster ...
I wbegan to imagine that if the rest of the ship was american in every way
then it would be a night mare for canadian marine engineers
what with the metric system not allowing for direct conversions ... the nuts
and bolts would play havoc on wrench and spanner ...
anyway ... we spent the night at the dock at langdale which is just outside
gibsons on the shechelt penninsula ...
very crowded busy place... not the dock ... highway 101 from roberts creek
to gisbons ...
this was our first night in the westie in sometime and it was welcomed even
though a little cold ... had to put the espar heater on to keep the
dampness out ...
arrived in vancouver so early the homeless were not even out on the streets
yet ...
tried to check into the hotel we had picked across from the one we were
going to later the next day ...
the greenbrier on robson (more on that place later)
they let us park the westie in the secure parking and we set out n foot ...
Fount the central bistro on denman .. really wonderful food served by
freindly happy staff...
as the sign says its where the locals eat ...
those famiar with the area will know that the locals are mostly extra green
or extra pretty girls ...
of both sexes ...
fabulous food and the waiteress gave us a coupon that allowed for 30%
discount if we returned with in 7 days ...
needless to say saturday morning found us there as well ... :)
friday around lunch time we drove out to meet with a book manufacture
(friesens)
once my wife is able to legally work in canada this is one of the things she
is trained to do ...
design books .. she is also an editor ... which really excited the book guy
we met with
anyway that will come into its own over the coming year or so ...
friday night we once again got into our trusty westie for the trip up
hastings ...
this time our desitnation was Antons Pasta
http://www.antonspastabar.com/history.htm
wow ... of course ... ;) ...
also on friday i went looking for a filter and alternator belt for our 89
1.9 diesel ...
ent to Blitzkrieg Autowerks on franklin ... wich i founf totally by accident
while doing a complex u turn ...
the owner used to race Porshe and came out to look at the van and the motor
... like most he found it
incredioulous that i had an 89 with OEM diesel ...
got the spare belt there ... cause N. A . belts are slightly wider on the
top so i need a longer one of those ...
the proper eurpeon version is now in the cupbaord as a spare ... :)
(he is really smart on audi too :)
our reason to be in vancouver was to attend the BCATW bc association of
travel writers
a well spent 5 hours indeed ... some good contacts as well ...
got to meet a few editors who i have been courting for sometime ...
looks promising ...
after the travel writers symposium ended we scooted for the ferry and
headed north along 101 again
home again by 10 pm ...
the westie flew along the road with out complaint or waver ... aside from a
little click in the speedo cable .. (asking for lubrication)
i gots nice new oil and filter for change in the coming weeks ...
and we spent a very nice night in the sleeping quarters fo the van ...
my wife really likes the van sleep overs ;)
oh yes the greenbrier hotel on robson in vancouver...
very freindly staff .. ... indeed knock themselves out staff
but the photos on the website do not match the rooms
they gave us a suite for the price of a room .... ????
across the street where the symposium was the rooms are more than double the
price but likely cleaner
and the wireless at the green brier was dismall ...
took 20 minutes for google maps to load and once loaded you could not drill
down for more precise directions ...time out and all that....
there was also an annoying tool bar that the internet wireless company
installed on every page viewed ... grrr
... the front desk was alarmed by this as they said they had just spent 5K$
on a wireless installation and upgrade ...
hmmm 5K$ ... i could have put a modem in every room for that much $$ ...
good work if you can get it ...
happy to be home ...
yours
--
roger w
From Proverbs:
Under three things the earth trembles, under four it cannot bear up: a
servant who becomes king ...
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