May 4 - Canada: Vancouver, British Columbia

Today was cold and rainy, but that didn't stop us from heading into the city to see Stanley Park.  We'd considered the idea of going to Vancouver Island, but wanted to stay closer to the city.  Jon didn't want to do much walking because he wants his legs comfortable for tomorrow.

Stanley Park

Stanley Park is a very large park on the east side of Vancouver City; apparently it is the "third largest city park in North America" as the tourism industry proudly states.  We drove around for an hour or two and stopped for a lot for pictures.  

The Stanley Park Lagoon

It rained lightly through most of the drive, but we still got some lovely views of the surrounding areas.  There were tour buses full of Japanese tourists, which reminded us of Cairns.

One of The Vancouver Beaches

Lunch At A Bistro

We took a wrong turn out of the park and ended up in a little Vancouver neighborhood.  This suited us just fine because it was long past lunch and we were starving.  We ended up in a little bistro with coffee and toasted sandwiches.  They were showing the Yankees-Mariners game on TV so we watched it through the eighth inning.  Then we went to an Internet Cafe for a half-hour or so.

The Marathon Sign

Back in the hotel later that day, I spent a good two hours working on my masterpiece marathon sign.  I can't take total credit for it, as the design was my father's idea after Jon's first marathon.  We'd spent four hours standing in the cold holding up posterboard signs with our hands.  Naturally, our arms got really tired and the wind made it even harder to hold up the signs.  But they were important so Jon could find us in the crowds.  (When hundreds of people are running by you, you can't tell one runner from the other so it's up to the runner to find you.)

So Dad's brilliant idea was to create a sign like the tall, thin signs you see during the Democratic and Republican Conventions.  This is the way I designed my florescent yellow sign.  It was three-sided, supported with cardboard on the inside, and held up by a wooden dowel.  Each of the three sides said something different: (1) "Yeah Jon!"  (2) "Around the World + 26 Miles!" and (3) "Yankees!!!".  The latter is a joke of ours that relates to Mike Iovino and batting helmets.  (see April 13)  Then we taped it completely with clear packing tape since tomorrow's forecast calls for rain.  It looks like a great little sign, and Jon should have no problem picking me out in the crowd.

Dinner at Moxie's 

For dinner, we went to the grill next door to the Travelodge.  It's a great place that has some very good food.  Jon, of course, got the chicken pasta in order to carb-up for tomorrow's run.  No beer or dessert for us, though.  Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel and got all our stuff packed up for tomorrow.  Then we went to bed nice and early.