Vancouver, you sure are pretty from the sky. Gotta love traveling by heli-jet.
Wheels up!
It was my work’s 3 day annual conference. This year, it took place in Victoria, as opposed to last year in Whistler and next year in Kelowna.
Such a fangirl! Head of Twitter Canada, Kirstine Stewart, was the keynote for my work’s conference. I got to meet her afterwards her presentation. Such an inspiration. And so nice! Totally made my day.
Why take a selfie when you can take a selfie with an elephant?
That’s what we did and more at the Woodland Zoo in Seattle. I adore elephants and I’ve always wanted to see one in real life. Like the panda base in Chengdu, the Woodland Zoo is huge at 92 acres, scenic and offered canopies of trees to shield visitors from the hot sun, throughout the entire grounds.
I hate the commute, but man, can’t beat the view of downtown Vancouver from my office window.
Given my dislike for crowds and line-ups, I tend to shy away from places or events that would draw a ridiculous amount of people in one place. However, with the Game of Thrones exhibit coming to PNE this year, I had to make concessions. (yes, it can be done!)
The HBO exhibit has travelled all around the world, with stops in New York City, Mexico City, Austin, Rio, Oslo, Toronto, Belfast, before rounding up the tour with its final stop, Vancouver.
What’s that they sing?
I left my heart in San Francisco….
It’s been a slice and I had hella fun spending time with family and getting to see some sights I never saw in my previous trips there. Until next time, city by the bay.
View more photos of my San Francisco trip on my Flickr album. For Clarion Alley street art pics, view them here. Enjoy!
As jammed packed as my trip to California this time around, I had really hoped that I would be able to go off on my own to see the James Dean Memorial, after seeing Hearst Castle with my cousins.
Unfortunately, it was an hour out drive from San Simeon, which means there and back would be two hours and then add the time to drive up Highway 1 to Monterey. (another 2+ hours) and we had already drove 3.5 hours from San Leandro down to San Simeon.
That’s a lot of driving.
And as disappointed as I was, I knew I had overshot in my estimation, not only in time but energy levels, of what it would take to include this side trip. Argh.
*Shakes fists to sky*
Big Sur. 17 mile drive. James Dean Memorial Site, including the crash site, Blackwell’s Corner and the Jack Ranch Cafe.
Just another reason I’ll have to go back to California.
If you like street art and graffiti, a visit to San Francisco’s Mission District is a must.
The area is colourful, to put it mildly. Some people may say it borders on grungy, shady and seedy, but hey, Vancouver’s downtown east side is way worse. It actually reminded me a little of Commercial Drive – albeit a little rougher.