Vancouver - a brief trip report

So we left Beaverton at about 7:30 Saturday morning and headed north. The trip itself didn't take very long, maybe 5 hours if you don't include stopping to pee/smoke/get more coffee, and if you don't include sitting at the border going in to Canada for about an hour. Maybe less. Maybe it was more like 30 minutes. Vancouver/Whistler is the site of the 2010 Winter Olympics, so there is some construction - and Google Maps kinda sucks outside of the US. Check in time for our hotel - the Days Inn Vancouver Metro - was at 3pm - we made it there at 2:40pm.

The room was fine. It was. But for the price, good Lord. Things are expensive north of the border. But it was centrally located and had parking and really, we didn't spend any time there. We freshened up and drove east on Kingsway to that Mexico Way's neck of the woods, about a 20 minute drive depending on traffic, weather and driver skill.

Her apartment flipping rocks! She's been in there like a week or something and it is practically finished - fully furnished, stuff on the walls, maybe one or two boxes that need storing away, but I didn't even notice them, she had to point them out. A very cute place, and the kits and doggin seem to be acclimating quite nicely. Oh and the human, too. Like that matters.

We had some hard cider and chatted and shit and then went for some sushi (sin queso), then headed out to meet her brother and his fiance and some other folks at a place called Joey's in what wasn't downtown but I thought was, until later, when I saw what downtown really was. It was bitchin - big open ceiling, outdoor-ish seating, Stella. Got to spend some quality time with her brother (a hoot) and some character that immediately intended to impress us by talking about the $100K exhaust system he put on his Lamborghini (I had forgotten that shit like that doesn't impress me but remembered immediately - thanks Tate or whatever your name was!). He was kind of funny, though. Then a couple of Elizabeth's friends came and we drank some shots and stuff and I think we got home around 1:30, I wasn't smashed drunk or anything, I just don't remember. It was a long day - good, but long.

Sunday we went to Granville Island - there is a huge public market there. It was raining like a big fat son of a bitch, but that's cool, I mean, we all live in this area. So what if it's August? Here's a picture from the market looking at some downtown condos etc.
Pretty much hit the whole dang market (it is HUGE and way bitchin, I have other photos, I will do more on a separate post because, you know, I don't want this one to be really long or anything), and then stopped and had a coffee at Starbucks (imagine). Marsha and I had wanted to try Vij's, as seen on the Travel Channel, and so at some point we set out to find it. We did find it, at like 5pm, and had huge parking karma and the line of people waiting for it to open (no reservations) looked about as nice as we did after a day of walking around in the rain, so we decided to plug the meter and stay. It opened at 5:30 - the line was half way up the block by the time it did open, but we were seated right away.

The waitress said, "You can't come to Vij's without trying the lamb popsicles" so we did. All of us. Huge food situation. But you know, how do you know? I mean, it had all these write ups and everything and you figure you may get like little mini-foods and leave starving. Wrong. Here are our three main courses.
We also had an appy. The ambiance was a bit run down, but the food was specTACular. Seriously, if you are ever in Vancouver, go there. It flipping rocked.

This is getting really long. Monday was park day, and actually sunny. Liz picked us up and we drove around the water front and then over to Stanley Park. Beautiful. Huge. Amazing park. I have pictures, you'll see them soon. We spent some good time there, and then went to lunch downtown on Robson, I bought a sweatshirt at Roots, and then swung over to her dad's gelato shop/factory. We met her aunt and dad and took a little mini tour but the best part bar none was the ice cream. Mother. That was some good shit.

From there we took a little driving tour of Liz's past and then on up to Queen Elizabeth Park. Stanley Park was big and grand and pretty and all that, Queen Elizabeth Park was absolutely gorgeous. Teaser.

We spent good time there too, and Liz even went rock-climbing. Kinda.

Lots of walking and sunshine and fresh air later, we stopped at home to freshen, then went down to her mom's house for dinner. LOVED her house. She cooked the hell out of a home cooked meal, I never have those, and we chatted and chilled and looked at pictures and stuff, very nice evening. Slept really hard that night.

Tuesday (um, I'm losing it), Marsha and I went sola and hit the Metrotown Mall (it's like 3 in one, it's huge, but the parking was free and it was on the Skytrain) and got some waxing done (I actually got my eyebrows and lip threaded - didn't know much about it, now I do). Took the Skytrain downtown and realized how fabulous Liz is as a tourguide, bought the farm at the Bay (a department store), bumbled around some, and then came back to Burnaby and got the car. It started to rain just as we got to the hotel, and continued all night. Deana was in town briefly from Cancun, we all four had dinner at a nice little restaurant, and got home in enough time to get some quality sleep.

Wednesday, up and at 'em, hit the road after breakfast at like 10am, got OUT of Canada at like 1:45 in time to hit the obviously never ending traffic in Seattle, and got back to Beaverton at around 6:30.

So there you have it.

I'll post more pics later. I can't believe I have been sitting here this long.