Taylor Swift has been a significant character in the portion of my life that includes a daughter. It seems that throughout Chrissy's teen years, there has been a Taylor Swift song that is at least somewhat relevant. "The Best Day" is pretty much a description of our relationship, and it makes us both cry, especially on the day we dropped her off at college, but still to this day. It's no surprise that both Chrissy and I are Swifties. She's a die-hard Swifty. She's also loved going to concerts since before she was able to drive. I used to take her to small venue outlets when she was growing up. I took her and her best friends (my honorary daughters) to music festivals regularly. She still goes to concerts regularly. So, it's no surprise that when Taylor Swift announced her new concert dates in Vancouver, Canada (driving distance for us), she wanted to go. It wasn's surprising even though she saw the Eras Tour when it was in Seattle. For that one, she actually had floor seats, just off the stage. But that was before The Tortured Poets Department album came out.
So, a little over a year ago, Chrissy got registered for presale of the tickets, got her code, and was given the time and date she could log in to try to purchase tickets. It fell right smack-dab in the middle of one of her sessions. So, what did she do? "Mom! Get me two tickets, straight on to the stage, not floor level!" Having not purchased concert tickets for decades and hearing horror stories about how the process has changed, I was really nervous! I had her credit card information, her Ticketmaster information, and her client was good with her watching her text messages during session. I signed in and watched the countdown clock until it finally let me in. I found seats, put them in the basket, and before I could get the credit card info entered, they were swiped out of my cart. So, I found two more seats, put in the credit card information, and the card said they needed a code to continue the transaction. Chrissy sent me the code that was texted to her, but the seats were gone. So, I found two more seats, got the card information in, and the purchase went through. I think it took all of five minutes, but the stress felt like hours! And Chrissy was happy with the seats I got.
The plan was for one of my honorary daughters to come up and go to the concert with her, and while they were in Vancouver, her daughter and boyfriend were going to stay in Washington with me. I was so looking forward to taking that child to the zoo and wildlife park and maybe even to play in the snow on one of the mountains! She is sooo much fun! Unfortunately, hurricane season in Florida had something to say about that, and they weren't able to come. In my disappointment in not being able to see the girls, the wound was soothed a bit when Chrissy asked me if I wanted to go instead. This would be my second Taylor Swift concert. Chrissy took me to the Reputation Tour in Seattle just a little after my shoulder surgery. This time, I was able to use both arms and wasn't nearly so fragile!
So, when the time came, we packed up all the friendship bracelets Chrissy had made and our matching sweatshirts, and off we went, up I-5 to the Peace Arch US/Canada border. We left plenty early, knowing that rooms in Vancouver were so tight that people were actually staying in Washington (some as far as Seattle, but most in Bellingham) because they couldn't get rooms any closer to the venue. We seemed to time it right, and there wasn't much of a wait to cross the border.
Canadian border guards got a helping hand from this Western Gull who appeared to be patrolling the line of vehicles, checking our lane
and then the other lane before one driver bribed him with a muffin.
While I was getting ready to leave, I was listening to the news, and heard that they had put a friendship bracelet on the Capilano Suspension Bridge, se we decided we had to go see it! When we got there, we learned that it was also "Canyon Lights", the annual winter lights festival at the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park.
For those who haven't been to the Pacific Northwest in winter, these lights were nice and bright. It was just around noon. In most places, you have to wait till night to be able to see winter lights. Here, you can often see them all day long! This is also why people who live in this area are routinely told to take Vitamin D supplements by their doctors (to make up for the lack of sunshine) and why seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a problem up here.
It wasn't just a friendship bracelent on the bridge, though. The park had integrated an "everything Taylor" approach to Canyon Lights this weekend!
These little heart hands were on several barrels in this part of the park for trading bracelets for those who didn't want to talk to other people - and those who did.
The suspension bridge, itself, was sparkly all the way across. The last time I was there, it was pretty packed, and with so many people on the bridge, it wasn't that hard to walk. This time, early on a Friday afternoon, when most people were at work or school, it was a bit bouncy and wiggly. I declined having hot chocolate until we made it back across!
Plaques with Taylor lyrics were scattered throughout.
Even without the Taylor Swift additions, Canyon Lights is beautiful and worth the admission to the park. The Taylor additions made it even better.
Nods to her song titles in many places throughout the park
And the Cliffwalk had been renamed to the Swiftwalk!
From the Swiftwalk, we could look over at the suspension bridge to see the friendship bracelet.
And at the end of the Swiftwalk was a picture frame. After trading some bracelets with several people, we had our picture made in the frame.
We stopped at Chrissy's favorite pho place and drove around a little bit looking for a place to park near our hotel. After getting checked in to our little, waaaay overpriced room, we thought about going back out. But, we decided to stay in. I had some salad that I had brought with us because it would go bad over the weekend if it didn't get eaten, and Chrissy streamed Friday's concert. The surprise song was a night early. She did a medley that included "The Best Day", and we both cried, like we do just about every time we hear it.
The city of Vancouver went all out for these last three of Taylor's Eras Tour concerts. There was a map of a lot of special signs they put up for the Swifties who were descending on the city. Chrissy had looked at them all and decided she wanted to get pictures at the Swiftcouver sign, so after breakfast, we headed down to the waterfront. I loved these polar bears of colored lights.
And this mobile with wheels that spins around, not just the wheels spinning.
We stood in line for the Switcouver sign. It was so large that we are only tiny dots in front of the "T". We traded some friendship bracelets while waiting.
Instead of taking the car out of the parking garage and searching for the other signs, we decided to take in the Christmas market that was just upstairs.
We got some schnitzel and spaetzel for lunch which we ate on these giant chairs. It was one of the better Christmas markets I've been to since leaving Europe. It was nice, but it didn't really compare to the pictures my friend in France was posting the same weekend!
After lunch, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the concert. Chrissy had gotten us matching sweatshirts. Hers said, "Here's to my mama," and mine said, "Had to listen to all this drama." It's a nod to the song, "This is Why We Can't Have Nice Things" from the Reputation Era. As with many Taylor Swift lyrics, the words are no less true just because they were put in a song! We walked down to the venue (BC Place) with a mother/daughter pair from Saskatchewan. When we got in, Chrissy got me settled in our seats, got us a picture, and headed for the merch line. Some people behind us took this pic with Chrissy's phone. My Lumix wasn't allowed in the venue, so everything was phone cameras.
I traded a few friendship bracelets and had a good time talking with people around me. One group brought hospital bracelets from The Tortured Poets Department with the tagline, "The Asylum Where They Raised Me", which is also a line in the song, "Who's Afraid of Little Old Me". My bracelet was upside down when I took the picture, so I just turned the pic upside down for this.
During the break between Gracie Abrams and Taylor Swift, I decided I should probably run to the bathroom. Oh Geez! What a line! I ran into Chrissy on her way back from the merch line, where she was picking up pizza for us. The line to the bathroom was so long, I had to text her to remind me what door to go back into the stadium for because I lost count! I made it back in, just as Taylor was getting started. It took me three songs to eat my slice of cheese pizza, and I really don't even remember tasting it! Taylor was just that good! Or maybe the pizza was that bland? Who cares. I was nourished.
I have to admit, it was nice having a phone with a decent camera! Thanks, Bruce, for talking me into updating our phones!
In Gelsenkirchen, Germany, a group of Swifties created orange orbs, which were blown up balloons backlit by their phone flashlights. The trend continued all the way through to the end of the tour, showing up for the song "Willow" from Gelsenkirchen to Vancouver.
While I mostly just enjoyed the show, dancing and sitting and shouting and singing, I did do some recording. There were signs posted around the venue saying that by being there you consented to your image being used by her and her crew, and there were drones, crane cameras, and jibs that you could see that apparently weren't normally at the concerts. Many said it was reminiscent of the venue where she shot the Eras Tour Movie last year. I don't know what it was, but I enjoyed watching the cameramen following her around and trying to stay out of her way but close enough to get the shots! You can also see the 360 jib aerial camera in both of these clips!
For the acoustic/surprise song set, she brought Gracie Abrams back out and did a medley with her. It was a wonderful show. I spent most of my time enjoying it, but was glad to have a decent camera in my phone so I could capture pieces to remember it by!
Since our hotel wasn't far from the venue, we walked back, still trading bracelets while walking out of the venue grounds. It was only sprinkling, and the train had a line that was super long. We passed by a couple of girls who were trying to get an uber while still walking. When the one with the app noticed an Uber close by, they turned and ran back to where she had initially ordered it. I hope they got it! But, there wasn't much reason for us to try to get one. By the time a driver got there, we could have been back to the hotel.
After sleeping in just a touch, we had breakfast at the hotel, and while I checked us out, Chrissy went to get the car and pull it around. We loaded up and headed out, stopping at duty free before reaching the border. We got a jerk border guard, but it wasn't a big deal. He asked if we had anything to declare. I knew that for most things, you can have up to $500 before needing to declare it, so I just said no. His come back was, "You didn't buy anything all weekend?" Instead of schooling him that we knew about the $500 rule and the difference between purchasing something and bringing it across the border (We bought lots of food that we didn't bring back with us!), we just said a couple of sweatshirts. We didn't want to get pulled into secondary inspection. We just didn't feel like going through that nonsense. It was a fantastic weekend and didn't need to end on a low note.
The drive home was uneventful, being just like the PNW, drive a few minutes needing headlights, alternating with a few brief moments of sun glare, going back to needing headlights. I dropped Chrissy off at her house, then came on home and crashed.
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