It's only been a week and a half since we left for our world trip, but we've done so much already and yet have so much to go. Here's a quick summary of our time in Canada:

6 March - Lunch in Christchurch. Saw Boobs on Bikes roll past while we were eating lunch, we never even knew it was going to be on that day. Flew to Auckland, saw Millie at the airport (she was on her way to Los Angeles). Slept on plane.

6 March (second time around) - Arrived in Vancouver just after lunch. Unexpectedly met Amy's mom in the Canadian immigration line (our plane was late, hers was early). There was a cold front coming in and the air was crisp and clear. Standing on the beach at Boundary Bay showed a panorama of mountains that was unusually clear.

7 March - Went to the Vancouver Aquarium and saw dolphins, sea otters, a baby beluga whale, seals and sea lions, and many other marine animals. Always a good time there.

8 March - Big family get together day. Neither Amy nor I had seen any of our family since we got married two years ago, so Amy had a chance to meet a lot of both sides of my extended family. My friend Scott who I worked with years ago in California even came up from Seattle for the day. Amy and I left from there and went to Squamish to see my grandmother who celebrated her 100th birthday a few months ago. Stayed in Squamish with relatives.

9 March - Had breakfast with grandmother, drove back to Vancouver. It had snowed overnight and we got word that the roads were a mess. But it was fine by the time we got there, the snow on the roads had gone. Stopped to visit more relatives on the way to the ferry, made it on time with about 5 minutes to spare!

10 March - Went to the Royal BC Museum and spent a couple of hours there with my mom and Amy's mom. My mom worked there as a volunteer for something over 25 years, so we got a personal tour. Some parts of it I hadn't seen for many years, which was great. Had dinner with friends.

11 March - Up bright and early to take Amy's mom back to the ferry on her way to the airport. Amy and I browsed yarn shops in Victoria, and other shops in Chinatown. Had dinner with more friends.

12 March - Our flight to Dallas was leaving the next day at 7am, so we planned to take the ferry to Vancouver after lunch. But before that, my mom wanted to go for a short hike with us. Well, my mom's idea of a "short hike" ended up being a full 5 hours of up and down in the snow, which was fantastic but tiring since we had expected just a couple of hours. We got to the ferry with about 10 minutes to spare (we're getting better), and navigated the Vancouver public bus system to the airport hotel. Vancouver's bus system seems archaic, with buses requiring exact coin change and not stopping along the road we wanted even though there were bus stops.

13 March - Up well before the sun to catch our flight. Cleared US immigration and customs before getting on the flight in Vancouver, which made our flight a domestic arrival in Denver which is a truly excellent idea. Got another flight which took us to Dallas, where it was raining (didn't expect that).

More to come soon, and hopefully I'll get some pictures uploaded too!