Considering at Christmas people referred to me as a “Kamikaze Pilot”, you may be concerned of my “Copilot” status. But, COPILOT I am!
So, maybe it was a seaplane, and I didn’t actually touch anything, but I did sit in the copilot seat and take photos and video of the trip from Vancouver Island to Vancouver.
This is the best way to see the Vancouver skyline!
I made it to Vancouver and the Olympic buzz is buzzing!
On my flight from Newark to Vancouver we had Olympians onboard and the pilot made a big deal about welcoming them and wishing them good luck, which meant that I spent the majority of the flight looking people up and down as they passed me to go to the bathroom to see if they had “Olympian” potential.
It was so exciting when we arrived at the Vancouver airport because all of the airport staff were wearing Olympic clothing, there was a special Olympian customs area, and so many people had the Olympic lanyards. When I walked into the main terminal greeting area where there were welcome groups, signs, people in matching Olympic outfits, etc, it made me realize that when you don’t have anyone waiting for you there, it’s kind of lonely. And, it reminded me of the time when I traveled with friends, and to prevent the lonely “we’re not greeted by anyone” feeling, we took turns running ahead of each other so there was someone (ourselves) to greet us. Lame I know, but it worked.
So after leaving the east coast where there were constant blizzard warnings and below freezing temperatures and the fact that I had been taking photos of snow-capped mountains during the flight, you can imagine my surprise when I looked out the window as we were descending into Vancouver and saw nothing but lush green landscape. There’s no snow here, and I actually saw people walking around in flip flops. Whoops, I’m definitely overdressed and apparently I have forgotten myVancouver roots – we don’t get snow here and the appropriate attire is a waterproof jacket and a scarf for decoration only!
Welcome to Vancouver!
A review of my ‘Things To Do’ List for 2009:
– See a Presidential Inauguration √
– Attend the AVN afterparty at LAX in Las Vegas √
– Go scuba diving in Mexico and inadvertently act like a dying fish to attract a barracuda √
– Learn how to sail without falling overboard √
– Live in New York City for 4 months of the year √
– Pet dolphins
As of December 30, 2009, I had one more item to check off my list – Pet Dolphins. The original plan was to spend the last few days of 2009 in Corpus Christi, TX on a sailboat amid waters full of frolicking dolphins – THIS WAS MY CHANCE!!
After one afternoon of sailing, and one night sleeping in the V Berth (note to self: my habit of sleeping diagonally does not work in a v berth), the weather turned and it was cold and rainy so we all packed up and headed to warmer climates. The closest I got to dolphins was watching them follow our ferry, feeding on the fish it churned up.
But I am nothing if not determined to reach the goals that I set for myself. And since we ended up in San Antonio, TX for Dec. 31st – SEAWORLD here we come!
A whole pool full of dolphins frolicking and just waiting for me to come by and pet them (and perhaps toss them a few fish as well). I was ready to go with 8 fish, ready to feed and pet at least 4 different dolphins. Well, someone had a different plan for me. This chubby dolphin (the biggest one in the pool) picked me to be his meal ticket and would not let me go. I fed him a couple of fish, just barely skimmed my fingertips on his forehead, and tried to move down the pool side to see other dolphins. Not only did he follow me, but he got mad at me and flicked water at me. Seriously, I got told off by a dolphin! But, I did reach my goal and checked off that last item on my list.
Not only did we spend time with the dolphins at Seaworld but we fed the sealions, and saw the Seamore & Clyde show and Shamu!
Before the holidays we spent a week in LA and had a chance to hit some famous landmarks. You may think Disney Land, Seaworld, Knott’s Berry Farm, The Kodak Theater, the Hollywood Stars, etc.
But, if you have been following this blog as closely as I think you have been, you’ll have realized that the iconic/famous landmarks that are usually visited during these travels follow a different theme.
You guessed it…..FOOD!
Duke’s Malibu: www.hulapie.com
Perched between the Malibu surf and the Malibu hills, Duke’s was a perfect place for lunch. With a view of the water, we watched surfers, pelicans diving from 40 ft in the air and, best of all DOLPHINS. I saw my first wild dolphins while we ate Opa fish and Mahi Mahi.
And, we couldn’t leave without their specialty – Hula Pie
Here are some photos we took while we walked on the beach after lunch:
Our second iconic stop: Pink’s Hot Dogs: www.pinkshollywood.com
Pink’s has been around for 70 years and is a fixture in Hollywood. After 45 minutes in their line up, at 1:30am, we enjoyed their specialty Chili Cheese Dogs and Polish Sausages. There is ALWAYS a line up.
Next Stop: In-N-Our Burger: www.in-n-out.com
For those fans out there you’ll know that this burger joint is really only on the WestCoast (California to be specific), however it has started easing its way out to Arizona, etc. They are known for their fresh ingredients and their simple menu. Single Hamburger, Single Cheeseburger, and Double Meat/Double Cheese. With Onions OR Without. Well, simple menu no more. We found out that there is a secret menu to order from and although it is not posted anywhere, if you know what to order your receipt will show these secret menu items. To name a few: Animal Style, Flying Dutchman, Protein Style, 4 x 4, etc. You’ll have to look it up for more info.
Last Stop: Diddy Riese Cookies: www.diddyreise.com
A line draws a line. This is what we know. While waiting in the car while Nathan was picking up a few goodies from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, a friend and I saw a line forming outside a store. Once we discovered that this store was in fact a place to buy custom homemade Cookie & Ice Cream Sandwiches, I called Nathan and said ‘If you haven’t paid yet DON’T BUY ANYTHING. We found something else – homemade cookies and ice cream. We have to get in the line”. And then abruptly hung up. Well, the ladies at the chocolate store overheard this conversation and guess what, they asked Nathan if we were part of a TV show doing an episode on desserts. They had never seen anyone come in with such passion over these tasty little treats. Now, this is after Nathan stopped everyone in their tracks at the chocolate store to ask them to recommend their favourite treat – which just so happened to be a Cinnamon and Brown Sugar Caramel Apple – which tasted exactly like a Dutch Apple Pie.
Dressed up for the holiday season, New York City was decked out in all of its glittery refinement during my visit last week. The annual Rockefeller Christmas Tree Lighting took place on Wednesday, December 2nd, and although I didn’t watch the lighting itself (because it was pouring down rain) I did catch a glimpse of it as I drove past at 11pm that same evening. Surprise, surprise – the streets were still bustling with people.
It was a treat to experience New York during the holiday season and as I should have expected; the city definitely dressed to impress. I couldn’t help but notice that not only does the city string lights on the trees that line the streets, but every single branch and twig of these trees is lighted up so it does in fact look like a tree made of lights, rather than a tree with lights on it.
Even though I’ve been to New York more times than I can count during the past year, it seems like every time I go the city renews itself in my eyes. There are so many different neighbourhoods to explore with such different vibes. This trip was all about Chelsea (The Meatpacking District) and Tribeca. We made our ritual jaunt back to Wolfgang’s Steakhouse in Tribeca to visit our favourite bartender, Ralph. We couldn’t stay away from the wine, or the thick slabs of Canadian Bacon, and ended up back there for lunch a few days later. As we explored The Meatpacking District, and watched the drunken revelry that ensues each weekend, we found a tiny little restaurant (just steps away from our friend’s apt) called Pad Thai (www.padthaibox.com). In this little restaurant on 8th ave & W 16th street we found a tasty little treat of homemade coconut ice cream with sticky rice. This treat was so tasty with its blend of flavours and textures that we ordered a second one as soon as we finished the first. Talk about gluttony.
On our most recent trip to New York City Nathan and I decided to be real tourists. We felt like it was time to take that Grey Line tourbus, sit on the upper deck and listen to the rehearsed stories of the tourbus operator, take photos of all of the New York sights, bond with other tourists and talk about how much trash there is in the city!
This was the plan, that is until we realized that it would cost us $90 a person to see many of the same sights that we had already seen and listen to the tour operator tell us stories of the city that may or may not be true (we know that Jay Z doesn’t really live in that building….)
So, instead we decided to take an “EATING TOUR OF NYC”. And if you think about it, is there any better tour to be taking??
We unofficially started our tour at Wolfgang’s Steakhouse (www.wolfgangssteakhouse.com) in Tribeca having dinner with friends. The best appetizer that I’ve ever had is their specialty of thick-sliced Canadian Bacon. It’s like a bacon steak! After this savoury appetizer we also indulged in a tomato and fresh mozzarella salad (Caprese Salad), Rib Eye steaks to share with German Potatoes and Creamed Spinach as sides. And, to make this an authentic New York local dinner, in the city that never sleeps, this ‘dinner’ took place at about 9:00 at night and was accompanied with glass after glass of complimentary red wine.
The next day we decided to get really serious about our eating tour. After listening to a live version of Frank Sinatra’s My Way, we knew we had found our first stop – Patsy’s Pizzeria (www.patsyspizzeriany.com). Frank Sinatra mentioned this pizzeria in his song, and after some research we found out that this place was the founder of the New York Style thin crust pizza. After walking from the Port Authority to 60th St & 3rd Ave, our stomachs were growling and we were not disappointed when we walked into the rustic, family-style pizzeria with the coal-burning oven. One large original Margherita pizza coming up! When it arrived, the crust was thin and crispy, but chewy at the same time; the sauce was hot and the fresh mozzarella was melting off of the pie. The flavours were infused with a few basil leaves. Possibly THE best pizza I’ve ever had.
After taking a walk through Central Park to walk off the pizza and prepare for our next eating destination, we went back to 60th street to try out the famous Frozen Hot Chocolate at Serendipity (www.serendipity3.com), a restaurant that was featured in the movie Serendipity with Kate Beckinsale and John Kusack, and a beverage that has been featured on Oprah Winfrey’s Favourite Things list. As New York City’s first coffee house boutique, with Tiffany lamps, pink walls, old fashioned chandeliers, cake top decorations, etc, the interior of this place is the definition of “kitsch”. The infamous Frozen Hot Chocolate is created with a mixture of 7 different chocolates and blended with ice, cream and topped with whipped cream and chocolate shavings.
As we made our way back through the city streets, we took a detour to Crumbs (www.crumbs.com), a bakery specializing in designer cupcakes. Of course we had to pick up a couple of cupcakes to go. You just can’t leave red velvet cupcakes behind!
Our final stop for the day was our local sushi restaurant in Times Square, Aoki (www.aokinyc.com) that, despite the constant traffic of tourists and locals, knows us when we stop by.
The next few days of our visit we were in Brooklyn, but this didn’t stop us from continuing on our eating tour. Lenny’s Clam Bar (www.lennysclambar.com). A small, family-owned restaurant, specializing in all things shellfish and pasta, among other things. We loved it so much that we went there 2 days in a row and enjoyed the house specialty of Baked Littleneck Clams, Seafood Salad, which was chock-full of scungilli (conch), calamari, and shrimp and traditional pastas.
We also had the opportunity to explore downtown Brooklyn with an old friend and went to a quaint French Bistro called Le Petit March (www.bkbistro.com) where we met the owner and enjoyed fresh mussles and crunchy oysters. And for dessert, we were taken to Cake Man Raven (www.cakemanraven.com), a place famous for its Red Velvet Cake.
For our last day in the city we had an opportunity to meet up with a friend for brunch and a broadway musical, In the Heights. For brunch we continued our eating tour and enjoyed pumpkin bread and lobster eggs benedict at Blue Fin (www.brguestrestaurants.com), a restaurant located at the W Hotel in Times Square. After brunch and the musical, we decided to bookend our eating tour by returning to Patsy’s Pizzeria and Crumbs Bakery to repeat our initial visits.
Finally, after 6 days and 9 restaurants, our eating tour is DONE!
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…
Adventures On the Road 
