Vacation Withdrawal

23 08 2010

Vacations are interesting things.   Sometimes one of the most exciting parts of them is the build up, that anticipation that you feel during those first few hours.   You’re officially on vacation and off of work, but you haven’t reached your vacation destination yet.  Those moments, when you feel all of that potential, have such a revitalizing effect.

I read in a magazine once that taking several long weekend holidays were more beneficial than taking a two week holiday because the anticipation of a holiday is just as important as the actual holiday.  I can believe that.

When you’re away for two weeks, it’s just enough time to adjust to a different way of life, before you realize that you have to go back to work again.  And then, those last few days go by achingly fast and you almost feel desperate to hold onto your vacation.  As you drive down the same roads that you did at the beginning of your trip you remember all of the excitement and adrenaline you felt that first time down the road when your vacation was nothing but a ‘To Do’ list, and you realize that the clock has kept ticking and your time is almost up.

You can probably guess that I’m feeling a bit of vacation withdrawal.  It’s hard to leave the Westcoast in general, but after a couple of weeks in Vancouver and Vancouver Island, I admit that it was a little emotional having to cross over the border, leaving Canada and returning to the US.  And even though it’s only been a week, the vacation is becoming a distant memory.  But as I flip through the photos and look at everything we ‘checked off our list’, I get those warm fuzzy feelings that you can only get from a fantastic vacation.


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Categories : Vancouver

48 Hours with the Seattlites

1 08 2010

It’s great to be back in the Pacific Northwest, and I can’t help but keep thinking that I’m in Vancouver, and Canada in general because I associate the mild weather, ferry rides, salty sea air and abundance of seafood with Vancouver.

But, Seattle’s looking pretty good to me.  Ferry rides, Pike’s Public Market, Mt. Rainier, and seafood.  I think we’ve made a pretty good stab at seeing some of the Seattle highlights in our 48 hours.  I even had my own Grey’s Anatomy (Seattle Grace experience).

We haven’t stopped eating since we got here, and I’m starting to realize that the Westcoast is a photographer’s “happy place”.

Are you hungry yet?


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California’s Bread Basket

24 07 2010

Driving through all of the windy roads (away from the coast) in California really opened my eyes up to the different terrain in sunny California.  Here I thought it was all palm trees, sandy beaches and celebrity sightings.   Turns out there’s not much of anything shiny and sparkly away from the water.

But, I do have to admit, I spent a good amount of time with my nose pressed up to the window looking at the scenery.  I’m thinking back to one particular time when a truck with 2 trailers of lemons passed by.  Only in California.  That was the first of many trucks full of lemons, garlic, and onions.  And then there were the trucks full of some sort of red produce.  We watched as truck after truck passed by us.  First we thought cherries. Then strawberries.  Then red onion.  We finally decided that they were ‘not yet ripe tomatoes’.  That’s our final answer.

Then there was the time I was looking at the farm animals:  bulls, cows, horses, mini horses…or baby horses….or ponies, and then all of a sudden, GOOOOOAAAAAATTTTT.  Don’t ask me why I was so excited.  I don’t even think I was, it just came out in this mournful, longing tone.

I was pretty impressed with the variety of scenery.  We saw the infamous California Sand Dunes – it was a quick stop though since it was 112 degrees outside.

And then on our drive through the California breadbasket we saw all of the crops, fruit trees, grape vines, etc.  And all of a sudden it started smelling very savoury, like it was dinner time.  I opened the window and the smell of garlic hit me in the face.  We were in the midst of the garlic fields and the home of Gilroy Garlic.

And where there are fruit trees there are fruit stands.  We just so happened to stop at the most elaborate one there – Casa de Fruta it’s seriously a little village now:  complete with restaurant, winery and deli, fresh fruit, dried fruit, nut and chocolate stand.

Yes.  Those are chocolates that look like martini green olives.

And…..there was an area to pan for gold!  Did I mention I used to have a rock collection?  Let’s just say I could have stayed there for a lot longer if someone hadn’t pulled me away.  I did find a little crystal point and what I swear is a gold flake.

So although there were no celebrity sightings, it was still a pretty sight to see.


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Check Chicago off the List

17 07 2010

Have you ever seen someone get attacked by a bird….for no good reason?  Now, I’m not saying it happened to me, but who would have thought that the little black birds would divebomb someone and peck at their head.

Really, it didn’t happen to me, and I didn’t actually even see it (although I WISH that I had, because how ridiculous would that have looked).  But, it did happen to Nathan.  (Cue hysterical laughter).  Now picture it in your head, Nathan minding his own business, looking up at the ferris wheel at Navy Pier in Chicago, trying to take some cool early morning photos, and WHAM.  Pecked in the head.  (Cue more hysterical laughter).

At least he got some good photos.

We headed out to Chicago for a Tourist Weekend.  This was the first time that I had been in Chicago for pleasure, rather than business, and we definitely took advantage of our weekend there.  Up early, we were in the streets before 7am, which was the perfect time to take some photos of the city (without all of those pesky tourists).

My favourite – the infamous Bean.  It’s just so cool.  It seems like it’s made of one seamless piece of material.  And the reflections it gives off are amazing.

It was the last weekend of Taste of Chicago and we wanted to experience this big outdoor food fair.  I don’t know what we were expecting but it turned into a hot mess of battling crowds of hot, sticky people who were running from booth to booth trying to eat as much as they could.  Because you purchase your food with pre-paid tickets, it doesn’t really feel like you’re spending money.  We went around and tried the polish sausage, a slice of pizza, fire-grilled steak tacos, and mango rice pudding before we had had enough and decided to create our own ‘Taste of Chicago’.

After leaving the craziness of the festival crowds, our eating tour started at Flatwater, a cute little bistro on the river, where we had calamari and salads (mixed greens for Nathan, apple and jicama for me).  For dinner we stumbled upon a steak, seafood and pasta place called Phil Stefani’s 437 Rush. So good.  I’ve never had octopus outside of a sushi restaurant, but we ordered a grilled baby octopus appetizer, and it was so tender and delicious.  For entrees, gnocchi with scallops for me, and chilean seabass for Nathan.  On to dessert at The Melting Pot with ying and yang dark chocolate and white chocolate fondue. (you can find the restaurant info on www.eating4sport.wordpress.com)

Sunday morning we found ourselves eating at a little breakfast nook Vines, just down the street from the Garrett Popcorn Shop, which was filling the air with toffee and caramel popcorn scents.   We ended up wandering around the streets until we got to the John Hancock Building.  Instead of paying to go up to the observation deck, we ended up on the 96th floor, drinking bloody mary’s and looking at Chicago from a different angle.

We finished up our Tourist Weekend at Wrigley Field for a Cubs game.  It was a pretty cool experience – sold out game, kettle corn, stadium beer….unfortunately…the Cubs lost…..horribly.

After the game we headed back to Detroit with full bellies and the feeling that we had conquered another city and made the most out of our 48 hours in Chicago.


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Little Italy Meets Chinatown

13 06 2010

We finally made our way out to Little Italy the last time we were in NYC.  Unfortunately we had to choose the hottest, most humid day ever to make the trip.

Even though it was great to walk through the pedestrian streets with the “Welcome to Little Italy” signs, the decorative flowers, the sidewalk patios and little markets with fresh mozzarella and prosciutto, we really made the trip to visit the infamous pizzeria, Lombardi’s.  Which boasts itself as the ‘birthplace of new york style pizza’ with a coal-fired oven.

Very good pizza.  Although, I’m not going to lie, I think I might like Patsy’s better…

On to Chinatown, which pretty much looked like any other Chinatown in any other city.  Lots of sidewalk seafood displays.  Lots of fresh fruit markets (it just happened to be lychee season so I finally got to show Nathan what Lychee look like).

The one thing that stood out.  The chubby ginger cat that sits below the fish display, looking pleasantly full.  And I got a testimonial from a local that this cat eats some crazy stuff!


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Categories : New York City

Ladies Who Lunch

1 06 2010

You spend so much time going to school and growing up and thinking “what do I want to do when I grow up?” and then all of a sudden it’s here – you’re grown up and you think, ‘how did that happen?’

It’s official.  I’m a grown up.  And it’s not because I’ve graduated from university or because I moved out of the family home (that happened at 17), or because I move from city to city and country to country just because I want to or even because somehow I have a 401k and a stock portfolio.  I am a grown up with grown up friends because we have somehow gotten to the point where we can plan a long weekend vacation, fly across the country and CHOOSE to be ridiculous, frivolous teenage girls.  But even BETTER than that – we can be “Ladies who Lunch” with martinis, wine and cocktails and while sitting amongst the actual teenage girls, realize that we are in fact grown ups – and laugh at how ridiculous that is!

Erin and I joined forces in LA as the “Ladies who Lunch”, drinking ‘Martoonies on Tuesday’, as our friend Kyle would say.  With the realization that we’re grown ups and can do whatever we want to do we had to force ourselves to get moving and leave the hotel.  Not because we didn’t want to go out and explore the city, but because when you haven’t seen one of your best friends in 3 months, you have a lot to talk about and 4 days could easily be spent chatting it up poolside.

But the Santa Monica Pier is so much better!   Drinking wine and eating antipasta on a heated patio, nothing wrong with that!

Taking the drive along Malibu as the sun sets and ending our night at Duke’s for cocktails and the ‘can’t leave without it’ piece of Hula Pie.

Walking around like VIP’s with our “Front of the Line” passes at Universal Studios and after pressuring Erin to take the Jurassic Park ride with me, laughing hysterically at the look of terror on Erin’s face in the photo they took as we flew down the final crest (unfortunately I have no record of this photo).

Realizing that Hollywood is actually pretty dirty, but feeling compelled to tour the Hollywood Stars and hand and foot prints.

And, the real reason why we hopped on flights from opposite sides of the country.  The Glee Concert. Where we joined the thousands of screaming girls (and the two guys that just so happened to be sitting in front of us).

Let me just say…It was AMAZING.  So much fun!  And it put us in such a good mood that we went on a spending spree – buying flip flops of every colour, random T-shirts, movie posters, CD’s from local up and comers, and all of the Pink Berry and Yogurtland we could eat!  The state of California thanks us.  Really, we got a thank you note.

I think the only thing that I haven’t mentioned that has to happen on every trip to LA is…yes, you guessed it. A celebrity sighting!  Well, wait no more.  Let me tell you about that heart-stopping moment when I set my eyes on him.  The double take.  The elbow to Erin’s side and the whispered words from the side of my mouth, “Is that James Marsden?” Now, if you’re not a girl who loves her romantic comedies and remembers when the unsuccessful series, “Second Noah” came on TV, you may not know who this guy is.  But I do, and for a split second (well, maybe 1o seconds) I thought about jumping right back into the elevator and heading back up, even though we were on our way out.

I spent a solid 10 minutes sitting in the lobby glowing. Erin can confirm, I was speechless.  Although not enough to prevent me from calling and texting people.  And while I was on the phone, all of a sudden I get a kick in the leg and Erin gives me wide eyes and says, “he’s right behind you”.  Now this probably did not look subtle at all since Erin tells me that she accidentally made eye contact with him and then he watched as she kicked me.  But let’s just say, we were the ultimate of cool, as I watched him roll his two suitcases to his car.  I was so overwhelmed that I didn’t think about taking a photo for posterity until after his tail lights were long gone.  The only memory I have is the fading bruise on my leg from Erin kicking me.

Alas, no photo, but there are witnesses to this celebrity sighting, so we can call our “Ladies who Lunch” GROWN UP trip to LA a SUCCESS!


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The Biltmore Estate

25 04 2010

It wasn’t until we visited the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC (famous for being America’s largest home, the ancestral Vanderbilt family home and childhood home of Anderson Cooper) and I witnessed my very first lamb stampede did I realize that I am in love with lambs.  They’re just so cute.

As we drove through the windy farm roads that meandered through the first scientifically managed forest, we came across a field full of lambs and sheep.  I immediately jumped out of the car and only the electric fence could keep me away from running right up to them.  The sheep actually ‘baaaa’ and the lambs answer back ‘yeaaa’ as they run from one direction to another, up and down the hills.  The next day we were touring the estate again and I mentioned that we should just pass by the lambs, but I promised that I wouldn’t get out of the car.  As soon as we came up upon the field and I saw how close they were to the road…..ALL BETS WERE OFF…and I was out of that car while it was still rolling to a stop.  I mean seriously, how can you resist them?

Well, we did see other things besides the lambs while we were there.  We took one afternoon to tour the gardens.  Coincidentally, we arrived the day of the “Festival of the Flowers” and the walled garden was filled with thousands of tulips of all different colours.


After taking photos of every tulip at every different angle we followed the paths to the azalea garden.

After a little detour setting a bad example by running around in the grass, we headed down to the bass pond.

Not only did we find the perfect photo opportunity, but we came across an Asheville, NC local, that after finding out that I was Canadian (and from Vancouver to boot), thanked me for being Canadian because he enjoyed the Olympics, specifically the Opening Ceremonies, so much.  How cool is that?

Just slightly cooler than when we went to the children’s petting zoo and I found a ram with curly shaggy hair.  I put my head up next to his head and yelled out to Nathan to check out the similarity in our lustrous curly locks.  Note: there was a fence between our curly-headed locks.  The petting zoo also had a couple of goats, some odd-looking fancy chickens, one of which started scratching the ground like it was getting ready to charge at me, and these cute fuzzy baby chicks.  If I had had a camera I would have sent photos to a friend who has always mentioned that she wants to frolic with baby chicks.

And, just in case you thought we spent the entire time chasing the farmyard animals, here are some photos of the actual 200+ room, 5 story Biltmore House.


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Spring Time in Chicago

23 03 2010

Last week in Chicago we witnessed a weather phenomenon.  One day it was sunny and 65 degrees and the next day it was snowing and 30 degrees.  We had just left New Jersey after the massive rain storm and on the way out of town we saw flooded houses.  But what really got to me was the sight of 15 deer stranded on a piece of high ground amidst the floodlands!   What is happening with this weather?

Luckily, we took full advantage of our day off in Chicago when it was 65 degrees and sunny.

First off – LUNCH. We came across a place called The Melting Pot – a little fondue place below street level that had a ton of ambiance.  After following the server’s recommendations we enjoyed a spinach and artichoke cheese fondue appetizer with bread, chips and apples to dip.  And in the photo below is our Pacific Fondue entree with duck, beef tenderloin, pork, chicken and shrimp with potatoes, mushrooms and broccoli all to cook in a seasoned fondue broth.  We decided that it’s a great date experience  – but only if you actually like the person because it’s definitely not a quick meal.

After lunch we headed down to Navy Pier and saw this lake view of Lake Michigan, and the reason why people love Chicago so much with 10 miles of lakefront walking trails.

As we walked along the main Navy Pier walkway we decided to hop on a boat tour as a way to see the city.  Turns out we were just in time for an Architecture Tour on the River.  We spent an hour on a riverboat learning about the history of all of the skyscrapers in the downtown Chicago area.  I haven’t heard so much about post modernism (or PoMo as we used to call it) since school.   Below is a photo of the old Sears Tower.


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Hot OR Cold

13 03 2010

I’m way behind on my posts but I wanted to take the time to show off some photos from our trip to Las Vegas in February.

Normally you think Las Vegas and you think “The Strip” – bright lights, vegas show girls, constant casino lights and bells, an unhealthy addiction to slot machines and at least one bachelor/bachelorette party that you just happen to stumble upon.

This time while we were in Vegas we did everything we could to avoid spending time on the Strip.  Instead we took the opportunity to enjoy some offbeat day trips.

Hot or Cold?

That was the deciding factor on our day trips.

HOT:  A trip riding down to Hoover Dam and Willow Beach in a convertible with the top down

COLD:  A trip 35 miles off the strip to Mt. Charleston, NV which had just gotten 4 feet of snow


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Olympic Memories

7 03 2010

After 16 days of checking the CTV Olympic Iphone App every hour, spending every evening falling asleep to speed skating, figure skating, bobsledding and other winter sporting events and pointing out to Nathan that although the US may have more medals in total, Canada has more GOLD medals….the Olympics are over.

Even though I only had a chance to take in the Olympic frenzy for the opening weekend, the memories are definitely going to be lasting.   Where else other than Disneyland do you chase people down the street yelling, “can we take a picture with you?” AND when are they standing around (like Disney characters) waiting to have their picture taken?

When else would I drag myself out of bed (after only 4 hours of sleep) to get on a bus while it’s still dark outside to go to an arena where there “may or may not be athletes present”? Lucky for me, there were athletes present during the pairs figure skating training session, and also lucky for me, I was not the only one that got sucked into paying for tickets to a non-event, with no promise of athletes showing up except for the zamboni man (who, I have to say, lived up to my expectations!).

When else will I ever LOVE the fact that I look exactly like everyone else in Vancouver and exasperate my friends more when I wander off and blend into the crowd – EVERYONE is dressed in a Canada toque, scarf, and red mittens – and the majority of people – Asian!

When else would I be at a Sweden vs Switzerland hockey game yelling my head off and annoying my neighbours while clanging a commemorative cow bell?  Maybe the bigger question is, when else will I ever have another  commemorative cow bell?  And, is there ever going to be another time when I’m running down the streets of Vancouver thinking that I’m running towards Wayne Gretzky only to realize that we’re running in the wrong direction, and then get stopped by the police to make way for Vice President Joe Biden’s motorcade?

All I can say with certainty is that I have never had more Canadian pride than seeing people dressed in red, with Canadian sweatshirts, scarves, toques, red Olympic mittens and Canada Flags draped around their shoulders hosting the world in my favourite Canadian city – Vancouver.

The only true way to experience the Olympic Games is when its in your hometown and you’re in the heart of it.


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