Daylia...So glad you got some positive input. I visited my stepdaughter in Vancouver (B.C.) about 5 years ago and compared with California's major cities it is a dream...beautiful location, lots of great parks, interesting, multicultural downtown areas, fewer widespread beggars and panhandlers, and, in general, a much calmer vibe. I was a little disappointed in many of the neihborhoods, as population influx a few years ago tended to wipe out older individually styled houses, replaced by lot line to lot line huge featureless boxes. But the parks and wild areas more than make up for that. And the islands are only a ferry ride away...   If I had a son Eric's age I'd feel a lot safer with him in Vancouver than just about any US city of that size I can think of.