I like the Pacific Northwest, and I hope that it wasn't just because the weather was great while I was there.

Last I wrote, I was in Seattle, enjoying what that fine city had to offer in coffee, good food and friends. Christy and I then drove up to Bellingham, a little town north of Seattle that would be quaint if not for the bustling local tourism that has changed the face of the town. We were there to see a wedding, that would be Todd and Julia's for those familiar. A good time was had by all, including myself.

The day after all the festivities, we loaded up the car again and headed north into Canada to visit Vancouver. The town has sort of an west-meets-east atmosphere, perhaps a Hong Kong light, but with English as the dominate language. This is due in part to the large Asian population, one of the largest in North America (third, if I recall correctly from my travel book), a British vibe that comes with being part of the Commonwealth and an unique urban planing called Vancouverism that fills downtown with spaced-apart skyrise loft buildings.

We walked a lot in Vancouver, seeing most of the city proper. It's a pretty clean and nice place, with oddly safe crosswalks, and just like Seattle, super polite locals. I dare say that New York makes you a bit more suspicious of people's intentions, so the ultra-niceness to strangers put me a bit off guard. They also have a huge park that absolutely makes the place.

The only bad part of the trip was walking through two blocks of the most amazingly sketchy street, with white-faced druggies selling stolen goods next to the dodgiest, tricks-being-made-and-much-worse alley I've ever seen in my life. This was one block north of the historic Gastown, a utlra-safe tourist trap and historic district. Guess the police there like to keep all the riff-raf concentrated in one area. At least I didn't have to worry about being shot.

The highlight of this leg of the trip was a meal that Christy arraigned for us. For those of you who watch Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations, we ate at Tojo's an amazing Japanese restaurant, where we got the omakase. It was the best sushi I've ever had. If you get the chance, you should get this meal. It is indescribably good.

That's about it for the trip. Thanks to everyone who came out to see us, congrads to Todd and Julie, and may I soon come back to the great Pacific Northwest.