Friday, May 31- Sunday, June 2

There’s really no escaping the fact that Vancouver is a very cool city. It had also become familiar territory after eight years of visiting. Last November I rode there and back on a train to see Paul McCartney in concert. That was an incredibly memorable trip on many fronts, and I was happy to have familiar surroundings during an event that is not familiar: my first Federation of Canadian Municipalities Conference.

I’ll save everyone the details of what I heard, shared, and learned at the Conference because most of it does not fit in the context of a motorcycle tour journal. I will say this though: I find the ‘sidelines’ at a conference have the most value for me…mostly because I find canned speeches from dry presenters to be far too boring and vanilla to keep

my interest. However…those chats with colleagues from across the country…from cities like mine…having a chance to have frank, open dialogue with people going through the same things is of tremendous value. I actually got a lot out of that, and ended up coming home with some great ideas for both the City and for my work in destination marketing. It was a very motivating experience.

Because I was downtown and the conference was arranged in a way that a delegate had significant freedom in how they spend their time, I was able to do something I did for the first time when I came to see Paul McCartney: visit food trucks!

I actually ate about 5 meals at food trucks. The conference didn’t provide meals for most of the convention so I figured I had better check out the local fare. Many of these trucks I have seen on “Eat Street” on the Food Network…Roaming Dragon, Catch of the Day, Mama’s Grilled Cheese, and Feastro Bistro to name a few. Check out the pictures in my photo album.

During a free evening I was invited to a private reception to meet the new LPC Leader Justin Trudeau. Say what you want about the guy…he is like a god damned rock star wherever he goes. People crowd around him just for a chance to snap a picture. He doesn’t even have to say anything and people go nuts. Cell phone cameras everywhere.

I ducked out of the reception a little early so that I could meet my friend Leanne for dinner. We went to a place called Cardero’s with one purpose in mind: coconut thai mussels. Amazing. We had them when I came west to see McCartney and I could hardly wait to have them again. For a guy who loves seafood Vancouver is definitely the city to be in!

The three days of the convention went by very quickly. By Sunday night when I was packing up my things to leave I found it hard to believe that it was time to go already.

I went to bed early on Sunday night. Greg and I planned to be on the road by 9am and we were taking the scenic route, so I needed my rest for the next two marathon days.