Last stand in WA

So I go to Vancouver, BC, Canada one last time to visit relatives and a friend. My friend and I had decided to climb the Grouse Grind, a straight-up trail to the top of Grouse Mountain. Rather than take the lame tram to the top, we decided to walk it. I figured I had done a lot of walking in WA where there's a lot of hills but that was a molehill compared to the Grind. I don't know the distance up the side of the mountain but it seemed to have go on forever. We did it in a little over an hour. What was disheartening was that you can see on a screen inside the chalet what times people have completed it. There were senior citizens who climbed it faster than we did! I partially attributed it to having an upset stomach and lightheadedness part way up. Lame, I know, but hey, gotta have some excuse.! Next time we'll kick its butt instead of the other way around. Anyways, after that we were tired to go out dancing as we had initially planned but rather just had dinner and relaxed at her house.

The following night, my cousin, her boyfriend and mother went to this open market where there plenty of booths selling cheap knock-offs and food stalls. Reminscent of markets in Asia. It was great to see them all, especially since I won't see them again for awhile.

My last week of work...well, it involved trying to orient and mentor the new therapist as much as possible, trying to cook up all the frozen food (to which the staff at the clinic benefited) and visiting with my friends before I head out of town. I met with an ex-CA roommate who is from and now lives again in Seattle, a friend who moved to Portland with her husband and child and was visiting family in Olympia about 45 minutes south of Tacoma and had dinner with one of the therapists at work. It seemed like every night there was something planned, not that I minded, but I still had packing to do! It's a good thing I had started with my clothes the previous week but there's always trying to fit it all into my vehicle. I did have the Friday night off and all day Saturday, wheww, which allowed me to pack up a lot of stuff. But I also had last minute errands...there never seemed to be enough time in the day. Saturday night, a friend and I went to this dueling piano bar/comedy club which was fun. The comedy was funny at all but the piano playing was great.

The next day I hit the road.