2019 began without urgency. After years shaped by movement and big transitions, the early months of the year settled into something more contained. Life in Vancouver continued to centre around work, friendships, and making the most of being where I already was. Travel still happened, but it was woven into daily life rather than pulling me away from it.
A local tourism challenge pass became an excuse to slow down and explore familiar ground more deliberately. Museums and small attractions filled weekends and quiet days. Time was spent at the Vancouver Museum, the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre, and the Vancouver Maritime Museum, places I had passed by countless times but never really stopped to experience properly. Visits to the Bloedel Conservatory, the UBC Botanical Garden and Greenheart TreeWalk, and even a wander through Castle Fun Park in Abbotsford added moments of lightness and nostalgia. These were not grand adventures, but they grounded the year in curiosity rather than movement.
Spring edged in gradually. A trip to Victoria brought a change of pace, anchored by a casual brewery run and time spent with my family from Texas who were visiting. The return flight to Vancouver on Harbour Air offered one of those small but memorable moments, lifting off from the harbour and skimming back across the water toward the city.
Summer arrived loudly. July included an unexpected highlight, attending the NHL Draft in a corporate suite at Rogers Arena, watching the Vancouver Canucks pick while the building buzzed with anticipation. Live music threaded through the season as well. Seeing The Raconteurs play at Neptoon Records, then spotting Jack White slip out to a waiting limousine directly in front of me, felt surreal in the best way. The Celebration of Light fireworks lit up English Bay once again, marking the peak of summer with crowds, noise, and colour.
August brought a longer escape. A road trip east led back to Banff, with slow stops through the Okanagan on the way. Dry air, vineyards, and lakes gave way to mountains and colder evenings. Time in Banff included white water rafting on the Kicking Horse River, a sharp contrast to the stillness of the surrounding peaks. The return journey passed through Takakkaw Falls and Yoho National Park, landscapes that reminded me how quickly British Columbia and Alberta can shift in scale and mood.
September leaned into music and motion. Death Cab for Cutie at the Malkin Bowl felt perfectly placed, an open-air show tucked into the forest as summer faded. Later that month, another road trip unfolded south toward Portland and Seattle. Portland finally revealed itself properly this time. Downtown was explored more thoroughly, from Powell’s City of Books to neighbourhood streets, food spots, and long walks without an agenda. The city felt unhurried and quietly confident. Coastal air returned briefly at Cannon Beach, followed by a stop in Salem, before the road turned back north. A short hike in Mount Rainier National Park brought towering trees, cool air, and the sense of being very small again.
Autumn continued with smaller punctuations. Nick Cave, performing solo at the Massey Theatre in New Westminster, delivered one of the most powerful live shows I have ever seen, intimate and overwhelming in equal measure. November brought more music closer to home, including Hilltop Hoods at the Commodore Ballroom. Another short Seattle trip followed, and later that month, an unexpected encounter unfolded in a hostel lobby, meeting Misha Collins from Supernatural entirely by chance.
The year closed with one last departure. Just before New Year’s, I headed to Texas for the NHL Winter Classic in Dallas, a fitting way to end the year with sport, family, and spectacle all colliding at once. The game, the atmosphere, and the timing felt symbolic, closing out a year that balanced movement and routine more evenly than any before it.
2019 did not chase distance for its own sake. It unfolded through familiar streets, local discoveries, and well-timed departures. A year shaped by curiosity rather than restlessness, and one that quietly set the stage for what came next.
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