Differences between Des Moines and Vancouver

Stephen and I've been at home with parents in Des Moines, Iowa, since Wednesday night. Some differences I noticed after two years of living in Vancouver

- a lot of white (read: fair skinned) people
- a lot of overweight people (seeing an overweight person in Van is rarer than citing a coyote)
- large parking lots (compared to Vancouver's minimalist approach in regards to parking lots)
- no bikes, and little public transit (compared with a city that relies exclusively on no-car transport)
- huge superstores on every street corner (as opposed to small Chinese groceries)
- Stephen fits in for a change (size/height/color wise )

And we've certainly worked on complying with the Iowa standards by eating huge meals, getting little exercise and driving to places that we can easily walk to. This afternoon, Stephen visited his first Super Wal-Mart and we enjoyed two hours of rollicking fun walking up and down the aisles. He also purchased a few $5 shirts and a pair of cargo pants.

Tomorrow morning, we're going to take a trip to the Farmer's Market and the Iowa State Fair to eat food on a stick, and possibly get in on the demolition derby action.