Neighborhoods to the north

Not too much to report here over the last few days. I left Olympia Friday at about noon, missing all the good weather of the day, and tried to bird in the rain in Seattle. I gave up quickly. So I checked out a coffee shop in Pioneer Square, then met up with my cousin Max at her house in town. We had some Vietnamese food in the International District, then had some ice cream, then stayed at her boyfriend's house.


Saturday morning, we hung out at the house for awhile, then headed back to her's to get my car. I too off for north, getting money, gas, and my phone situation settled and crossed the border in Blair. The border patrol guy gave me some grief, and seemed to very much think my explanations painted me as the scum of the Earth. Regardless, he let me through, and I was in Vancouver at about 5pm.

Arriving in Vancouver, I realized that my couchsurfing host Evan lived in a pretty awesome neighborhood. When I got to the house, a disheveled character named Nick answered the door, and let me get settled in. He was a neighbor that was hung over. Eventually Evan and his girlfriend came home, and within a bit, headed to see Lights, the band. Within 10 minutes, Evan's roommates Kim and Greg got home, and we hung out for the rest of the night. These two are New Zealanders who have been travelling for quite some time, but are settling in Vancouver for a bit to work for a bit. It sounds like those commonwealth (Britain, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand) passports can let you do pretty much anything between those countries. Anyway, we hit a bar nearby and chatted the night away.


This morning at about 8:30, they came with me to check out a birdy area in Richmond. There had been reports of a SHARP-TAILED SANDPIPER and an EMPORER GOOSE here recently. We saw about 25 species, but neither of those two.