I took a three day weekend for a trip to Canada, on a kayaking trip organized by one of Alex’s friends. Basically, it was awesome. We drove up Friday morning, and spent the day in Vancouver. Had dinner in Chinatown, and looked at the Chinese menu after we’d ordered from the you-guys-are-so-obviously-white menu. Didn’t know you could add fried jellyfish to your meal… Met up with a friend of Alex’s friend, who had some interesting stories to tell about being a firefighter in BC and the Yukon.

In the morning we drove to Deep Cove, got kayaks and headed up Indian Arm. Indian Arm is a fjord, with mostly cliff walls coming down (few places to beach and have lunch, a little less fortunately), and lots of harbor seals hanging around.

We paddled up to Granite Falls, about 12 miles up. When we got there the waterfall didn’t have a lot of water, but it did have a lot of tents already set up, and power boats, one of which was blasting music with some serious bass. So we turned around and went back down to a campsite we had passed earlier, which we had to ourselves, and which got morning sun, being on the west side.

After dinner, every separate party pulled out a different sort of chocolate bar they had brought to share with the group, and a bottle of port wine was produced as well. We watched the moon come up, and the stars come out, and counted sattelites passing overhead. The water was still, and everything was serene.

In the morning, no one woke up until eightish, so we didn’t get the early start we had hoped for, but no one seemed to mind particularly. The day breeze kicked up, but we were heading into it, so the farther along we got, the less fetch it had to build any water up, and it provided a good excuse to hug the coastline and watch for seals, which we saw quite a few of. One rock I passed had three seals – a mama and pup, and a third who jumped in the water to join a fourth as I came up.

I decided I’d like to be a seal. My daily itinerary would include sleeping on a rock in the sun, eating fish, hanging out on a sunny rock, floating around, watching kayaks, sleeping on a rock in the sun, and maybe a little playing with other seals.

When we got back to civilization, I asked Alex, mainly in jest, to carry me back to the car. Since he has previously refused to carry me up mountains when we’re hiking, or tow me when we biking to Portland, or even to tow me when we were kayaking back, I was quite surprised when he said, ‘Okay,’ and picked me up. Several yards later I realized he was heading back towards the beach rather than the parking lot. He claimed that since I had said I was a seal, he was just trying to return me to my natural habitat.

On the way back to the US, we stopped for some duty free shopping. In lieu of liquor, I bought a litre of maple syrup. We got a pop quiz in the third degree by a border guard, but they let us back in eventually. The second car apparently was asked if they were bringing any Cubans — Cuban cigars, that is.

Now it’s back to work. I was worried that Elliott Bay would seem overly industrialized and ugly by comparison, but it is still a nice body of water. Still, I’d rather be a seal in a fjord somewhere…