Vancouver, BC is the best choice for the 2010 Winter Olympics (and the sushi ain't bad either)

February 13, 10:17 PMMinneapolis Outdoor Recreation ExaminerMarie Malinowski

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Oh, Canada!

If I was in charge of the world, and frankly you could do worse, I would make it mandatory for everyone to make a pilgrimage to Vancouver.

I’m here in beautiful Vancouver, BC, the jewel of Canada, a coastal city with a backdrop of snowy peaks. Indeed, it’s the best place in the world for the Minneapolis Outdoor Recreation Examiner to spend her…um…ah…fortieth birthday.

We arrived today and, after we got settled in our hotel, two blocks from Burrard Inlet, walked down to see a real live ocean. On the slate-colored water, an ocean freighter was in the process of being loaded (or unloaded?). DeHavilland Beavers and Twin Otter float planes took off and landed. Sailboats and yachts dotted the port. Fishing boats chugged in from Howe Sound. Sea gulls dive-bombed us for our Starbuck’s. Across the inlet, mountains sprouted out of the water.

Vancouver is home to ancient temperate rain forests, mild year-round climate, and a healthy outdoor lifestyle. That’s why I’m really digging this place. Even though it was thirty-five degrees today, scads of Vancouverites ran along the waterfront paths in shorts with happy dogs galloping beside them.

Tourists and natives alike camped on the waterfront benches reading books, sipping lattes, and just kind of gazing out across the water to the mountains in deep deliberation. We also did our own share of gawking and deliberating. The combination of mountains and oceans in the same field of vision has a tendency to do that to us.

Downtown Vancouver is a must-see in and of itself. It’s organized, clean, and purposeful. The Canadian species, I have discovered, are both the friendliest people in the world and by far the worst drivers. They stop on dimes and peel out at green lights with screeching tires. If you’re in a crosswalk, they won’t run you over, but they will come to a last-second stop just three hairs from your hip. If you like Chinese food or sushi, you’ll find Vancouver to be a veritable smorgasbord with a baker's dozen of Chinese and sushi bars on every block. Canada's national food must be Asian, eh?

But, the major attraction, and the reason for which we came, is the world class skiing at Whistler-Blackcomb, ninety minutes away. Schwing!

Boundaries will be pushed. Memories will be made. It’ll be a place of unparalleled freedom and Olympic proportions. Whistler Blackcomb is also the official Alpine Skiing venue for the 2010 Winter Olympics and the Paralympic Winter Games. We plan to ski Saturday only. Sunday, we’re going to the Capilano Suspension Bridge (Naturally thrilling since 1889) and the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden. Monday? Flying home.

This is the winter to come to Vancouver; it’ll be bat-**** crazy with Olympic fury and chaos this time next year.