I went to Highgate at Vancouver. It was very nice. It's an older area, but it was very well kept up. I talked to Michael there, and he gave us a very good rundown of the facility. It's rather small. I think there are only 60 independent living, then they have assisted living, and they also have memory care there. It's a kind of small community, and it's very nice. What was interesting and fun is that they have what I call little cottages (They called them villas). They're little two-bedroom houses so that all the independent living people have their own home as far as that goes. We didn't get to go into one, but we saw a little map of what one looked like. It's two bedrooms and it's really cute, so that was nice. The only drawback we could see to that is that in the winter when it's nasty outside, you've got to cross the whole darn parking lot to get to the building. They also took us through assisted living. When you moved to the assisted living, it was a one-bedroom apartment and that was very nice. There's a little lady living there, and she let us come in and look at her apartment, and it was very nice. It had an apartment garage sitting on the outskirts of the building. The maintenance looked wonderful and looked very nice. The dining area was very nice. We did not eat there, but it has a nice big patio out there with lots of light. The staff was very pleasant. Like in most places, everyone seemed to know everyone. The community is nestled in a nice little area there that is all fenced in. Right outside were several shopping areas on a busy street, but it was quiet in the little compound there. I would only give it a 4 for that. It was too close to too many businesses.

Highgate at Vancouver was more expensive than where my parents are. You had to eat breakfast at 8:00, and the rooms were a little darker. It was really close to where they lived before, that's why we looked at it. Everything was nice about Highgate, the staff, the looks of it, everything. It's just that you had to eat breakfast at 8:00, you had to eat lunch at a certain time, and dinner at a certain time. That makes it really hard for my parents because they have so much to do in the morning with getting ready and everything, that it would be hard for them to get down there at 8:00. It was just too regimented for them and their lifestyle. We didn't really get to see but one room that a lady was already living in, so it was hard to tell, but the view outside there wasn't as nice as the views where my parents are. It was darker. We really liked the person that gave us the tour. He was very nice and very friendly, saying hi to people in the hallway, knew everybody's name, just very personable and likable. There were some people in the hallways sitting in chairs doing exercises.