Larger-than-life wildlife: Vancouver, WA

Vancouver's artistic surprise: the life-size Digital Orca sculpture breaching vertically from Jack Poole Plaza, a triangular slice on the waterfront. And no, the whale isn't fuzzy; it's pixelated into Lego-like blocks. Also on the plaza is the Olympic cauldron—where the flame burned during the 2010 Winter Games—now on display permanently.

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