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Today was a nice easy day for the most part. We had packed up last night so this morning was quick and easy. We vacated our room around 7:30 and hung out for about an hour and a half before we could meet up at our predetermined spot to disembark. They apparently were ahead of schedule because we disembarked around 9, 15 minutes early. We then went through Canadian customs, which was fairly quick and painless. We then worked our way to our hotel. Of course, we had no map and had no idea where we were going. All I knew is that the hotel was nearby. I wanted to do the sensible thing and call the hotel, but Chris thought it would be a good idea to use our phone to get GPS directions. One problem; the GPS is for the US only. However, we were able to get a map. We wandered (with our luggage) for about 20 minutes before I was about to call the hotel until a nice middle-aged woman stopped to ask us if we needed help. I asked if she knew where the hotel was and we were only one block off.
One thing I noticed about this city is that the people are very nice. They remind me of how people are in Seattle. Anyways, we get to the hotel and since we're so early, the room's not ready yet. So, they stored our luggage and we walked around a bit. We stopped at an Americanized food court for lunch and then worked our way back to the hotel. It is a very nice hotel. Part of the building is a business building, another is high-end residential and the other part is the hotel. The nice thing is that on each floor, there's only 10-12 rooms and they're all huge. Our room is like a suite, but is not considered one. It has a very nice queen sized bed, a sink with a cabinet with dishes, a mini fridge and microwave. The best part is the room is a corner room and at the corner of the room there is a table with floor-to-floor windows. So, we started the afternoon by enjoying the room by taking a 2-hour nap. We only slept for about 4 hours last night, so we really needed it.
Afterwards we walked around some more and went to dinner at Morton's-THE steakhouse, Chicago. This was quite the dining experience. We got there right when it opened. My first impression was that it was kind of dark inside, but looked nice. We were seated and the presentation began. They don't give you a menu right away. They bring out 3 large platters of food to show you what is on the menu. On one platter, they have all the different types of seafood that is available-crab legs, lobster, and tuna steak. There was another platter with all their cuts of steak-porterhouse, double porterhouse (48 oz steak!), NY strip, and filet. On the other plate were all the sides-baked potatoes, asparagus, green beans, stuff like that. It's the best presentation of food I've ever seen. Then they give you the menu to look at.
We started by enjoying the warm onion bread, which was excellent. Next, Chris ordered the salad and I ordered the lobster bisque soup. They were both excellent. Chris's salad consisted of 1/4 head of iceberg lettuce that was still in the form of the head of lettuce. There was also egg, tomato and bacon, topped with thousand island dressing. My soup was absolutely magnificant and the best lobster bisque I have ever had.
Following that, we both had the double filet mignon. There was only $5 difference between the double and the smaller, so we went with the bigger one, which was 20 oz. each. We had that with garlic mashed potatoes. The meat was so tender you could cut it with a spoon-seriously, I did it! We both agreed it was quite possibly the best steak we had ever had.
Vancouver reminded me of a smaller, cleaner and newer version of Chicago. You can tell they're very environmentally conscious here. The city buses are run partially with engines, partially as cable cars. The city taxis are Toyota Priuses or something similar-all small, econimical vehicles. Almost all the buildings look newer and in very good shape. The mountains and being on the coast are just an added bonus. I probably would never come back here, but it is a nice city.
Between the awesome room and the excellent dinner, we had a perfect ending to a wonderful trip. The thing neither of us are particularly looking forward to about returning home is the weather. We see it's been very hot in Illinois. In Alaska, our weather was consistently in the 50's and today in Vancouver, it was in the low 60's. Tomorrow we'll be in 90 degree heat. However, we are looking forward to getting back into a routine, seeing our kitty and eating normal, more healthy meals. Oh, and we're looking forward to seeing all of you and sharing our trip with you in person!
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