As some of you may remember, Animated Meat first came to life in 2008 as a way to document some sights that managed to slip through the cracks of most popular travel websites. You may also remember that the original website was built on Apple's now defunct iWeb. From there, it migrated over to WordPress where it met an untimely demise at the hands of Russian hackers. Many of those old, pre-2012 entries have found a new home here in the Before the Now section. I would consider these posts as my starting place as a writer, probably comparable to a musician's first demo tapes. They are very rough, but I took them all seriously and wrote each one with passion. While I would like to believe that I have matured in my abilities as a writer, it is my hope that I carry this same blind passion into all of my new efforts.

Granville Island - Originally Published 2009

June 22, 2018

There is part of me that will never be completely settled. Even when I am completely content and happy, there is a wonder about what lies on the other side of the mountain.

Whenever I visit a city, I find myself asking the eternal question, “Could I live here?” I have found that there is usually a distinct moment when I get my answer. Granville Island was the instant when I found myself saying, “Yes, I could live in Vancouver.”

Granville Island sits just south of the city. The Island is a collection of shopping and a marketplace.

The Granville Island Public Market is like Pike Place Market’s less congested, more sophisticated cousin. This is an amazing place to start the day and take in some of the sights that should not be missed in a visit to Vancouver.