The highlight of the Vancouver Aquarium today was visiting the two baby belugas. The first, Tiqa, was born last year. The second was born about five weeks ago.

If you want to see them, you have to wait in a line and then you are allowed five quiet minutes of underwater observation in one viewing spot and five minutes in a second spot. Then you have to go back up. You can watch them all you want from above the water.

The rest of the aquarium was too busy for my taste although I ran into a great old friend from YMCA summer camp (Hi Kim!)

After two days of touristy activities, I am burned out. I am tired of paying for water (my own fault!) and I’m tired of buying three and four and five dollar hotdogs for lunch. I’m tired of the expensive admissions that cost half as much as yearly passes. I’m tired of bumping into people no matter which way I turn.

Okay. Ranting complete. So it reminds me that for our trip, I don’t want to do these touristy things – at least not most of the time. I want to enjoy nature and the natural wonders wherever we go. I want to meet the local people. I want the best parts of our days to be unplanned surprises.

Figuring out that you hate something is a step towards discovering what you might like.

Yesterday we went to Lonsdale Quay and as we passed a kid’s hairdresser, I thought about the morning I’d just had. Morgane had complained about washing her hair, complained about the conditioner and complained a lot about me brushing out all the tangles.

Her long hair ends up looking like a bird’s nest after a few days, so I said to Morgane, would you like to get your hair cut here? You can sit in the pink car and watch TV. She nodded, yes. We agreed on a shoulder-length cut.

Whether or not she knew what that meant, we were both pleased with the result. Before leaving though, she asked if she could bring some of the long hairs that were lying on the salon floor home with her.

M grabbed a fistful and the lady gave us an envelope to keep them in. Those beautiful golden locks. Now we can keep them to admire, but I don’t have to brush them anymore.

Janet and Jennifer are my highschool buds. Now they like wine, but I don’t. Strawberry margs are better. Having dinner without our kids is luxurious. Afterwards, we sit on the beach at Ambleside and eat Rocky Mountain Co. caramel popcorn. Yum!

It’s great to see old friends, friends who knew you before… degrees, real jobs, husbands, mortgages and kids. They know that part of you that doesn’t really change over time.

Suddenly it seems real. We’re leaving in ten days for our big trip. Here in Vancouver Morgane and I have had our own beds, but soon we’ll be truly on the road.

It scares me a little. People keep telling us that we’re brave. Now I think maybe they’re right.

But when I talk to people who’ve been on a long trip, their eyes light up and they look so happy for us.

Anyway, I’m still in Vancouver and promised to take M to Lonsdale Quay. She can play in the colourful balls while I read. It’s ANOTHER beautiful, sunny day and I don’t even care anymore. How crazy is that?

Today Morgane and I went to the Vancouver Folk Fest. The weather was great AGAIN! We took the seabus over to downtown and then took the bus to Jericho Park.

We played in the kids area a bit. Morgane made giant bubbles and a paper crown. She ate a hot dog and bubble gum ice cream and proved that she is much better at hula-hooping than I am.

She lost her temper with a five-year old who wanted the toy Morgane was playing with and who said she knew everything and had super powers, too. Morgane was appalled at the girl’s lack of respect for her elders (Morgane being almost two year older).

Just over a week left of vacationing in Vancouver. It’s great, but now I have to schedule my time or else I won’t do half the things I still want to do. The forecast for the next week: Hot and sunny.

Today we attended Janet and Lance’s yearly BBQ. Janet is a long-time friend – since early highschool, at least. Every year I seem to time my visit to Vancouver so I don’t miss the BBQ.

The food was much better than the picture demonstrates – great burgers and salads and brownies and cupcakes without mulch-style toppings.

Tomorrow is supposed to be ANOTHER sunny day. We are heading to the Vancouver Folk Music Festival. I went to the first one over thirty years ago. We will be taking the official folkfest blanket with us – the SAME one we took back then.

It’s great to sit outside on a blanket and listen to music in a park. Kids are free and there’s lots for them to do in the kid’s area. I hope they have the giant hula-hoops from last year. They are easier to keep up than the little ones that always slide off my hips and fall to the ground.

Yesterday Morgane and I hung out at Jennifer’s. Jennifer is my bestest friend from highschool and even before. She claims that she walked me to my locker and all my classes for half of grade eight. It’s true that I probably would have gotten lost. We met playing ringette when we were eleven. When Jennifer joined, she spent her first practices learning to skate. Also, she was small and they refused to believe her age! Luckily for us, we got to meet.

Jennifer lives just four blocks from my parents, in the upstairs of her parents’ house with her family. Her twin girls are just one year older than Morgane and her oldest daughter is a couple of year older than that. She also has a daycare with the most well-behaved children. Jennifer’s favourite line is, “Ha ha! Do your parents fall for that?” I got to see their brand-new renovations which include a huge two-story deck. It’s excellent and her parents have a little outdoor living room set up in the shade on the lower deck. They also have a trampoline. Morgane and are happy to hang out at Jennifer’s anytime. It’s one thing we always agree on!

Today was her last day of gymnastics at Flicka so now we’ll be free to go visit the aquarium, science world, Stanley Park, the beach, etc.

finished my course yesterday and woke up today thinking – this is the beginning of a huge chunk of unstructured time. Morgane and I have another twelve days in Vancouver. Then we’ll fly back to Montreal and spend a few days with Ghis’s family before leaving on our trip.

It’s a bit disconcerting to have so little structure. I want to keep writing, but I know it’s easy to let days pass without accomplishing much. So, my goal is to write for an hour or two most days. I also want to make exercise a routine. I want to do something to work up a sweat every day or two. We are planning on bringing our tennis racquets and doing gardening or farmwork should help. All of us will need time on our own as well. I seem to need a lot of this. Often it feels good just to concentrate on something whether it’s taking photographs or trying to capture my memories on paper or even doing a crossword puzzle.

Now that I’m done school, I do solemnly swear to try to write more complete blog entries. But for now, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

I did it. I finished my outline. Tomorrow is the last day of my course and we are going to look at everyone’s revised work.

Today we learned about dialogue. Dialogue is not the same as conversation. Dialogue has to show who your characters are and move the story forward. There actually isn’t much dialogue in movies, especially compared to plays. Plays are mostly dialogue.

We also learned about subtext. This means what the characters are really saying as opposed to the words they are using. For example, at the end of When Harry Met Sally, she says she really hates him, but what she means is she really loves him.

Grandpa has a new rule for Morgane at bedtime. You may not come out of your room if you spot a monster. You may only come out if the monter bites you and you are bleeding! I understand the need for rules because Morgane is very dramatic and creative and tries to find many ways to not go to sleep.

One more day of school and then vacation starts. I want to go to Stanley Park and the Aquarium and so many places. I want to see my friends! And I even want to get started on my many writing projects. I think it will be very important to get into the habit of writing every day while I am on the road. Otherwise I’ll get caught up in seeing new things and meeting new people and eating breakfast, lunch and dinner and finding somewhere to sleep and the days will zoom by. But there will be rainy days when we may hunker down in a cafe and those will be good writing days.