Today we woke at 4 to get to our early morning flight homw. We opted for a day flight rather than a redeye.. whihc takes a whole day, but doesnt mess up your body as much.
beutiful sunrise, beutiful view of the city as we took off.
Goodbye BC>.. We’ve really enjoyed our visit !
nite all, nite sam
-me
Diane and I had a great day visiting the good folks of Abbotsford B.C (aka “Abby”). I gave a talk there to a bunch of teachers and school administrators. It was really fun. Our host Tracy took really good care of us !
Diane took a walk during my talk.. then we all met up and had lunch with Tracy and some of the administrators and teachers from the Abby schools. It was great gettign to hear their perspective on hands on learning. AI in the classroom.. and all sorts of things. Tracy even made me soem grilled cheese sandwiches (I never take an honorarium.. but will always take a grilled cheese !).
After lunch we said otur goodbyes and headed back to Vancouver. . We spent the reast of the time explorign the beutiful city. We walked out to Stanly park.. it was really nice/. and had such great views of the city !
We got to see the famed ‘sulfer pile’ and the ‘woman in a wetsuit’.. whcih is a copy of the little mermaid sculture in Copenhagen..
We had a great sushi dinner.. then headed back tot he hotel for an early bedtime.. Our flight was at the crack of dawn
Nite all, nite sam
-me
DIane and I started the day in Vancouver with a run along the seawall of one of the inlet bays of the city
From there we drove about 45 minutes outside of town to visit the Coquitlam, BC. I was there to meet witht he Coquitlam School District Administrators and lead a discussion around recent progress and risks of AI. Our host has Stephen W, the Assistant Superintendent for the District and the leader of its (very impressive) IT group. Heather and Deepak from IBM were there for morale and logistical support. They were both so great to hang out with ..
The talk went pretty well, The high point for me was the short mini-panel that Stephen and I did after the talk. . After that, Stephen drove us around the town of Coquitlam which is surrounded by high mountains and has a beautiful harbor. We were able to visit one of the High school middle school campuses. where we got a very good sense of the student focused teaching and the STEAM initiatives they had for the students.
Afterwards we had a lovely dinner hosted by Stephen, His wife Jen ..the school district Numeracy lead, Patricia the District Superintendent and her husband Steve. The setting was beautiful, the dinner was great.. and the conversation was even better. We felt so at ease with all of them. We had great conversations about education, travel, kids.. .. it was a memorable evening.
AFter dinner, DIane and I drove another 45 miinutes south to the town of Abbotsford, BC in prep for the next days talks.
Nite all, nite sma
-me
Today was Valentines Day.. VD which also stands for Vancouver day. It was time to leave portland after this really nice visit. .. Before we left today, I ran two of Jens mugs full of chocolates over to Gabe’s house for him and Sam.. I left them by the back door because it was too early for them to be up.
Then we were off to the airport for the short hop to Vancouver… It was such a short ride that we were in a DASH 8 propeller plane. We have not been inside a propeller plane in along time (which is odd because I help make them now 🙂
We got to Vancouver, rented a car and headed down own to our hotel .
We then went oput to explore the city.. Its a big city.. but still very nice place.. The people are really great. too !
Our first stop was Japadog.. a famous Japanese hot-dog franchise thats really famous here.
From tehre we went on a fast hike to explore this beautiful city. the setting is stunning.. the bay and ocean are our favorite part. The architecture is very cool too. We went down to the ater and watched the seaplanes land and take off.. We hiked out to Stanely park and then came back to a Poke place near the hotel.. very good !
We like this place !
nite all nite sam
-me