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.
Adventures On the Road 