...eh?

Canada rocks.

Vancouver is where it all began. The first night, we pulled up to the lovely Patricia Budget Inn on Hastings and Main. Aside from the seemingly never-ending mob of charming northeast side residents lining the sidewalks & smoking and/or shooting up most of anything they could get their hands on, there was also a woman eating one of the two shrubberies decorating the front entrance. Luckily, the room was very clean (although the bed was most likely original to the 1914 establishment...and the toilet was in the shower...) and we made it out alive.
The next two nights we spent Couchsurfing with 4 lovely ladies on the more southeast part of town in their very cool basement apartment. They were warm & welcoming, and we may be seeing Maude and Julie from Quebec when we make it over there in September!
Vancouver is by far the most multicultural city either of us have ever been in...when you stop at a traffic light, there will not be more than 2 pedestrians of the same race waiting to cross. Its bizarre. Also, its surprisingly small...with a population of around 2 million, we spent a day walking from one border of the town to the other & back. Its a crazy little place, not at all what we expected, and it was gorgeous.
On Canada Day (July 1st), we headed to Kamloops just to crash before we made it the next day into the Canadian Rockies and Banff. Turns out it was pretty much the awesomest place we've been so far...we walked into the Noble Pig to have a beer and the staff decided to show us what Canada Day was all about. Two days later, we're still hungover.
Moving on (with difficulty) from Kamloops, the Rockies were absolutely stunning. Banff and the drive to it are sprinkled with turquoise lakes, glaciers, and snow-caped peaks, sparkling till the sun goes down around 9:30 pm. Definitely want to spend some more time in that area in the future.
And here we are in Edmonton, awaiting the 4th of July (Alberta-style) and Dale's bungee jump in the West Edmonton Mall (look up Burt the Conqueror in Edmonton...you'll get the idea). Here's some pictures, with more to come: