Although not as eventful as my last trip to Vegas during the Adult Film Industry awards, Las Vegas + Traci Lee + Erin Tramble = tons of poolside festivities, taking advantage of the free drinks at the Manager’s Reception, tickets to The Lion King, partying it up at the Hoot Loot slot machine at Planet Hollywood, yummy buffets AND more pink jam-filled meringues than you should ever eat.
Oh, Canada, it’s good to be home!
The westcoast at its finest is a mixture of mountains, waterfront views, seafood and good friends. And that is exactly what was in store for us during our 96 hour stay in Vancouver.
From the minute our plane touched the ground we had every minute of our trip accounted for, not that I’m complaining since our plans consisted of ‘all-u-can-eat sushi’, ferry rides, drinking on patios overlooking sea planes, dim sum, wedding festivities, and all in all good times.
During our side trip to Vancouver Island we took the ferry over and saw the gorgeous views and I got to revisit my old stomping grounds and just had to visit the beach where I used to go clam digging. Just our luck – we even saw some seals out in the water!
On the island we spent the afternoon with old friends, catching up on a patio overlooking the seaplanes and finished off our evening at The Dinghy Dock Pub, which you can only get to by boat. All in all a great way to spend a day on Vancouver Island (even if we didn’t get to see any killer whales).
Friday brought on a lot of family time and fancy dressing for my cousin’s wedding, which took place at a golf course with panoramic views of the city. As expected, the evening was filled with LOTS of family photos, jokes about the infamous chicken dance and a race to the cupcake table for dessert (FYI – I won, however, I may have been the only one racing…)
After filling ourselves up with way too much good dim sum with my family Saturday morning, we spent our afternoon and evening hanging out by the water with friends. It was very interesting coming back to a place that I called home for so long and introducing it to someone else. Like in a lot of cases, what seems normal to you is weird and unexpected to another. This trip made me realize that maybe the comings and goings of Vancouverites are a little weirder than I thought.
While we were walking along the downtown waterfront Nathan commented that he felt like there were no rules in Vancouver, no presence of authority and people could do whatever they wanted. Just as I was firmly objecting to this observation, we passed by a garden of lounge pillows in the middle of a grassy area. How considerate that there are pillowy napping areas on the grass, just in case you get tired………..weird. Ten minutes later we hear music and then a parade of bicycles ride past us. This wouldn’t be so strange on the bike path of the seawall, except that in this parade was a women singing and playing the guitar as she was being pushed in a carriage. It was like a parade of roving musicians. I didn’t have anything left to say after that.
After walking along the seawall, checking out the starfish in the water below, we ended our day hopping from waterfront patio to waterfront patio.
And to cap off our busy day, we took in the final rays of a beautiful Vancouver sunset.
One year older and many adventures wiser. True to form as nomad travelers, Nathan and I spent our birthdays with two very different adventures during our coast to coast travels.
AUGUST 21ST: DALLAS, TX
“Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you……” and with an extra ‘cha cha cha’, my birthday festivities began. A leisurely morning spent with family and chick-fil-a specials, and an afternoon of pampering was topped off with an evening in downtown Dallas. To mark the occasion we traveled 560 ft into the sky to experience Dallas at Wolfgang Puck’s restaurant, five-sixty, Dallas’ only rotating restaurant. We took up prime real estate at the bar, right where all of the action was near the entrance, and much to our surprise, when we looked back we were no longer by the entrance, but looking into the kitchen. Very cool way to experience Dallas, with the skyline constantly changing.
After a walk on the observation deck, the museum of the Dallas skyline’s history and watching a spraypaint artist create an intergallactic masterpiece, it was off to bed, another year older.
SEPTEMBER 5TH: MOAB, UT
During our travels we often come across hidden gourmet treasures, and this time would be no exception. Walking along the streets of Moab, Utah passing jeep after jeep ready for a day of off-roading, kayaks and white water rafting equipment, and lots of European tourists ready to battle with nature, we were very suprised to come across a little restaurant in an old ranch house called The Desert Bistro. Even more surprising, we were able to eat on a candlelit patio (with the resident cat I tried to befriend) and enjoy a meal of seared ahi tuna, braised antelope, poached duck and a blackberry napolean. With the views of the towering canyons and a full moon, it was a great night.
The next morning, on Nathan’s actual birthday, we woke up bright and early and experienced what Moab is really all about with a 5 hour Jet Boat tour of the Colorado River, looking at ancient petroglyphs and pictographs etched into the cliffs, petrified trees, and using our imagination to turn the oddly shaped stones into plump french chefs named Gaston.
A great birthday adventure before hitting the road to drive through the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, and finally end our day admist the cornfields of Iowa…
There is no need for words….
Who would have thought that a year ago, I had never been to “The Big Apple”, the ‘city that never sleeps’, New York City. Who would have thought that I would be able to walk into a store and see a picture on the wall and know exactly where in NYC that picture was taken. Who would have thought that I could watch an episode of Sex in the City and remember strolling by that very restaurant.
The time has come that I truly feel like a New York Native.
And, like true New York Natives, we avoid Times Square at all costs, and while walking down the streets find ourselves saying ‘keep walking, ugh get these tourists out of here!’
In the cumulative 3+ months that we’ve spent in the city, we’ve been store keepers in Brooklyn, wandered around churches in the Bronx, sipped martinis and eaten at the Spice Market in Manhatten, and rubbed shoulders with Mayor Bloomberg in Harlem. There is only one more boro left to conquer – QUEENS.
Our latest adventure: Vacationing at the Jersey Shores on Long Beach Island (or LBI as the locals call it)
We spent a 24 hour period at our good friends’ beach house in Beach Haven, New Jersey. It was a jam packed day of beach combing, wave jumping, celebrity sighting (only a Real NJ Housewife), crabbing, and drinking with good friends.
And, I’m not sure if you’ve ever crabbed before, but let me tell you that the ghetto way of crabbing works just as well as the real way. The ‘real way’ being with fish as bait. The ‘ghetto way’ being with a raw chicken leg and a can of tuna with holes poked in it.
Overall, a wonderful way to spend a Saturday in August…
Toronto Blue Jays vs Florida Marlins
Sunday Morning Kayak Excursion
Sunday Night Cirque Du Soleil Show
It’s ironic that on Canada Day I am in New York talking about Black American History. But, that is what I am doing.
In honour of Canada Day, I will be using the Canadian spellings (honour vs honor) and am wearing a white skirt and eating red licorice.
Unfortunately there are no fireworks today anywhere around here, but I did make an effort to celebrate Canada Day in the way of Windsorians and Detroitians….on Wednesday June 24th. Since the Detroit River is right in the middle of downtown Detroit and downtown Windsor, it’s only fitting that the celebratory fireworks evening have no favouritism to any country, but to celebrate on its own date.
Nathan and I celebrated June 24th by taking the sailboat out for our maiden voyage all by ourselves. We yelled out “helms allee” and “jibe ho”. I believe those are actual sailing terms, but we could have been making it up as we were going, nonetheless, we survived, had a great sail and proved that we could actually handle the sailboat by ourselves.
After our sail we made our way to a parking garage in downtown Detroit to a VIP fireworks party that we had been invited to. It turns out we were more VIP than we thought. On our way down we got caught going back and forth between police barricades in a 2 block strip. In the end we ended up getting a police escort to the event. It didn’t look as cool as it sounds: 1. We were in a mini van 2. Our police escort was a police officer on a bike.
But, this is what our Canada Day/Independence Day Celebration looked like:
We found ourselves crossing borders and venturing into the familiar territory of Toronto last weekend. Let’s just say, in comparison to Detroit, Toronto is a whole different world.
I think this was one of the first times I really looked at Toronto and saw the great city that it is. Driving into the city skyline, I could feel the excitement of the city, the buzz in the air, and the taste of Spicy Caesars and steaks from the Keg on my tongue.
We stayed in a hotel downtown in the Entertainment District and there was this little alley club right beside the hotel that I had a strange sense of deja vu every time we walked by. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I feel like I’ve danced the night away in this little alley club in the past.
As always, we had no plans, but a very busy schedule. Within 30 minutes of walking out of the doors of our hotel, I had a hair appointment booked, we had tickets to a Toronto Blue Jays game, we investigated an event marketing program and we had plans to watch free cirque du soleil shows all weekend.
We sat 6 rows up behind third base. We had great seats. So great, that we were in the middle of all of the heckling. Baseball fans are really original with their heckling insults. These fans had a great dislike for the players shoes. The heckling went something like this, “Porter, Porter, over here. Nice shoes Porter! I like your shoes, where did get them? Nice bum Porter“. Very creative.
We attempted to go kayaking in the harbour one morning, only to find out that all of the kayaks had been donated to Paddlefest, and there were none available. This conversation just so happened to be right beside probably 50 kayak slips…..that were full. But, apparently there were no kayaks available.
All in all, a great weekend. Dinners with my sister and her boyfriend, and a special brunch of homemade crepes. An afternoon on a waterfront patio with friends and ice cream for dessert. And waiting with hundreds of other people to see the Luminato Cirque du Soleil finale at an outdoor stage with the CN tower in the background.
After leaving Mexico and being inspired by a potential Mexican beachfront lifestyle, Nathan and I decided it was time to really learn how to speak Spanish. We need to know more than the traditional “hola, uno mas cervesa por favor, de nada’ if we’re going to spend more time in Mexico.
So, we invested in the Levels 1, 2 and 3 of Rosetta Stone – each level is supposed to be the equivalent of 2 semesters of university spanish. BIG expectations!
They believe in total immersion, so there is no english translation, instead you learn through pictures, hearing native speakers and general intuition. You learn pronunciation, grammer, reading, writing and vocabulary. The software is a lot of fun, and I flew through the first unit. So, all of a sudden, I’m at the first Milestone, which essentially tests what you’ve learned. This Milestone was a series of pictures, and from these pictures I was supposed to know what to say!! All I have to say, is there were 12 questions (phrases that I was supposed to know how to say) and the only one that I got right was “hola” and that’s only because they said it first and I was just repeating it!!!
So, maybe it’s not quite so easy, maybe I need to focus a little bit more. I feel like I’m back in school and the pressure is on! I’m finding that the pronunciation is tough! They do not let you slack off and if you don’t say it exactly right, you don’t get to pass. I swear I spent 10 minutes trying to say “tres” despite the fact that that’s pretty much my name.
Anyway, I haven’t been sure awhat I’ve been retaining. Nathan and I just keep saying “manzanas” (apples), “caballo” (horse) and other random spanish words at each other. And apparently, my favourite phrase, my “go-to” phrase, is “La bicicleta es amarilla.” The bicycle is yellow. I don’t think that this is going to come in handy in too many conversations.
I was seriously doubting the success of the software and my learning capacity UNTIL this weekend when we were standing in a crowd watching a show in Toronto and I was easvesdropping on conversations, I picked up “camisa es roha” There was a couple standing beside me and they were talking about someone in a red shirt, or someone beside someone in a red shirt. Either way, I recognized that they were talking about something about a red shirt. SUCCESS!
Below you see blue skies, almost turquoise lakewater, fluffy white clouds and sails full of wind. Looks like a dream doesn’t it?
Read the title of this blog once again!
If I was a nail biter, my nails would have been bitten. While Nathan was scrambling around the boat in his bare feet, taking photos and loving life, I was sitting a little nervously, sussing out the situation. Let’s remind everyone that I don’t know how to swim, so sailing on this 25 foot boat is definitely out of the ordinary.
We put the boat to the test and kept sailing it into the wind to see how far the boat would keel over, how much wind would fill the sail, and how constant the boat’s safety is – when the boat has had too much, the sails will dump the wind and the boat will right itself.
We spent 6 hours out on the water, and just as we were heading back in and taking down the sails, well… let’s just say we put on a show for the fisherman. Somehow we were all on one side of the boat. Somehow we had both the jib sheet and the main sheet pulled tight as we steered into the wind. Somehow we were broadsided and the boat tipped so far over that the rails were in the water. Loyd was up front laughing and yelling instructions (he didn’t seem too worried and thought this was an excellent teachable moment), Lynn was staring right into the water in disbelief, Nathan jumped to the other side of the boat to try to balance some of the weight and get control of the helm, and I found myself sitting on the floor in the middle of the boat thinking ‘where is my life jacket?!!’
All in all, we loosened the sails, the boat righted itself, we brought the sails in, and we spent another 2 hours on the boat while we were parked in the marina, going over the day’s events and relaxing with a cold drink and some m&ms.
A very challenging first sail.
Adventures On the Road 