We took the Whistler Mountaineer this morning from Vancouver to Whistler. The trip takes something like two hours by car, but three and a half by train. I thought it was odd that the train took longer, until I realized that they go slow (sometimes stopping) so that you can enjoy the often-spectacular scenery. More on the wonderful train ride another day.

Arriving in Whistler, our "room" at the Four Seasons Whistler was a bit more than we bargained for, having gotten bumped up to a multi-room, aptly-named "Deluxe Executive Suite".

The room is amazing. At 800 sq. ft., it's [...]

On our first full day of our visit to Vancouver, we visited the Vancouver Aquarium. We didn't think it'd be crowded on a Tuesday afternoon, but it was packed, with a long line waiting to get in (to pay – another shock – $25 per person, $18 for kids!) Apparently, Vancouverites are going nuts over a baby whale that was born two weeks ago. Oh well.

It was drizzling most of the day, but it was clear a bit when we left the aquarium, which was near the shore...

We're in Canada for a week, land of slightly odd spellings (e.g. "Centre"), specifically in Vancouver. It's very nice, but very, shockingly expensive... much much more expensive than Japan. It's more expensive by every metric I've noticed, except gasoline. Gasoline is slightly more expensive in Japan.

But it's nice. Pretty. Clean. Safe. We had a nice evening yesterday watching "floatboats" landing (pontoon boats) at the nearby harbor airport. The view when I took the photo above was filled with subtle, wispy deep colors, but they didn't really come out.

In the lower left is the Museum of Art. The stately [...]

Anthony went running with Grandpa again this morning. The first time was a week or so ago, and this was the second.

Last time Anthony just did one lap around the lake – about four-tenths of a mile – but today he did three laps. (My dad does six laps – two and a half miles – most mornings)

I got down there with my camera as they were finishing the first lap. These pictures are just about identical to the ones before, but I love'em anyway. I may be a biased daddy, but Anthony is just so cute when [...]

The other day when Anthony went running with Grandpa, I noticed that the leaves of one tree were almost completely stripped of every last bit of green, I assume by insects.

I'm not sure whether they're actually leaves of a tree, or of some vine intertwined with a tree. In any case, the stripped leaves were intermixed with a different kind of leaf that was not touched.

It was impressive how thoroughly the one kind of leaf in just this one tree were so totally consumed.

I tried to step back to get a picture of the whole tree, but [...]