Exhausting day on the road. It's funny, when you're making good time and progressing through landmarks, it's easy to drive for hours. But when you're stopped up in traffic (at the entryway to Banff and for an accident outside of Vancouver) it can feel like you're taking forever to make headway. Lots of ups and downs today in my mood and the topography.

Right out of Calgary, you hit a flat plain with the first range of the Rockies pushing up into the sky on the other side. It's very close. Highway #1 runs through the Bow river valley, where the mountains are roughly cut, less like pyramids than teeth. The rock looks old and wrinkled, like the skin of a rhinoceros. It was the first time I have ever been in the Rockies, and it didn't disappoint. Chlorine blue lakes, rushing rivers the color of toothpaste, surrounded by evergreen forests. Only thing that was missing were snowcapped peaks. Seems like that's a few months away. It's pretty obvious why Banff became the first national park in Canada.

Once you leave the confines of the Bow, you're into British Columbia ("Beautiful" on the license plates, "Super Natural" on the signs). The Columbia River tumbles underneath the highway on its way to the hipsters of Portland. It's hard to know exactly when your overall trajectory is going up and when you're going down, but as soon as you get into BC, you start feeling as though you're headed down to the ocean. If you're unfamiliar with the region (read: me) the topography isn't always that clear. The Rockies seemed to sit on the high central plain of North America. After you fall out of them, you're still headed down through an arid in-between land, which contains the ridiculously named town of Kamloops. The climb into the Cascades doesn't really feel like a climb, merely like you simply stopped falling for a while.

The Cascades are a hugely different experience than the Rockies. This is the wet side of the divide, and immediately upon leaving Kamloops I was pummeled by a thunderstorm. I discovered new settings to my windshield wipers and was immensely relieved when the semi-truck behind me turned off for a "brake check". While the barren peaks of the Rockies are spaced nicely, providing for lush valleys in between, the lumpy foothills of the Cascades are jammed together like passengers on a train. The trees stack on top of each other up cliff faces, and the highway winds its way improbably across ledges. It's a harrowing drive.

But after much white-knuckled driving, I was home free and on the home stretch to Vancouver! Except for the traffic jam in Abbotsford, which held me up for half an hour that felt like a full hour. I caught the last two innings of Braves 4, Phillies 1 on ESPN radio from Bellingham, WA. In my rear view mirror emerged the stunning visage of white-capped Mt. Baker.

Before I got into Vancouver, I kept forgetting that I was still outside of the US. The local radio had snapped something in me, I couldn't break out of the mindset that I was in more familiar ground. Of course, Canada and the US are very similar, and I have made plenty of parallels this whole time. Calgary had reminded me of a consolidated Twin Cities and Regina had reminded me of a Des Moines/Madison type city. But as I approached Vancouver, I couldn't shake the feeling I was in the US.

But Vancouver, Vancouver, Vancouver. It's thrown me for an incredible loop.

Tomorrow is a national Canadian holiday that goes by many names. Everyone has off tomorrow, which means it's a third straight night on the town here. Vancouver's streetlife is nothing I've seen outside of New York. People are walking and biking and stumbling drunkenly everywhere. To make matters more interesting, earlier in the day was the city's Pride parade, which has added the double cocktail of nudity and rainbow clothing to the mix. It's a bit insane.

I don't expect every night is like this in Vancouver, but it's obvious this is a dense and lively city, even without the testimonials from every ranking of city livability, which all put Vancouver near or at the top. Parking is impossible and there is ground level retail on every street and corner. The town's iconic stadium, BC Place (home of the Whitecaps of MLS and the Lions of the CFL) is right in the center of town next to the arena used by the Canucks. There are a forest of luxury condos in the downtown. There is a lot of money, excitement, and optimism here.

Can't wait to explore.