Leaving Vancouver

We're leaving this morning, the conference is over, I bought way more than our allowed 5 pounds of books, might need to buy a new suitcase to haul them home! The boys bought a new camera because we left ours at home. My phone takes pretty good pictures, but not on the run or in the dark. So anyway, here are some more pictures of Vancouver.

One day, we had lunch at the Teahouse in Stanley Park. It was really good. Here is dessert. Richard had pistachio creme brulee, with peach ice cream. I had a vanilla bean pavlova.


The convention center is on the water. There were seaplanes taking off and landing all day long. There is the Chevron station that you probably remember from the Olympics.


The boys went to the aquarium in Stanley Park. There was a 4D movie about the ocean. They missed the 10:30 SpongeBob movie but this one was good. What makes it 4D? It's an ordinary 3D movie with special effects from the seats, like puffs of air and spray when the whales come on, and things that poke you (gently) when the snakes come on. Reminded me of the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids attraction at Disney World. They also had a cool tank that the kids could go into via a bubble.


Aren't these gorgeous?


I could not live here.


The kids found a water park.


And an iguana.


The boys went for a final walk down the waterfront. Here's the Vancouver Convention Center in the distance. They grow grass on the roof.


The giant Lego orca by day. It's not really made of Legos.


A cool picture of the orca reflected in the window. They didn't know it, but I was at a talk (on the Statistics Without Borders recent efforts in Haiti) just on the other side of those windows.


The boys keep trying to take the art home. This one was called The Drop.


We went for one last drive around Stanley Park. Here are the totem poles.


Lots of statues, plaques, and monuments (and a virtual cache named that as well). You can also once again see how amazingly urban Vancouver is. That's a lot of people, all living in those highrises.


We are looking forward to getting out into the countryside. North to Alaska!