Hard work and good times in Vancouver

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It has been a while; I apologise to those who have been checking up on us often. Our time in Vancouver was very busy and did not afford me the time necessary to update this blog. But now we are back on the road and I am finally able to get some more done!

We pulled into Vancouver on Friday night, stored the trailer in Burnaby. We checked into the Carmana Plaza just off of Robson street in downtown Vancouver and got ready for our 9 day stay in Vancouver. Saturday had Geoff working and myself at leisure. Geoff was supervising a market ride blocks away from the hotel on robson, while I had some time to explore Vancouver and the surrounding area. It was a beautiful day and I had to drive the truck a little bit, still beleiving that there was something bogus with the battery... so I drove around town, exploring North Vancouver, the east side, and finally crossing over the Burrard inlet into Kitsilano. I settled there to chill out and watch the world go by and grab some lunch. I stopped at a great restaurant on the beach called Watermark which had a really good seafood chowder. I relished that, eavesdropped on an interesting conversation behind me, and enjoyed the view. Amazingly, the fellow behind me was talking about his mother in Toronto and how she was considering moving to little community north of the city called Ballantrae! I thought this was an amazing cooincidence, because of course, that's where Aunty Marge recently moved to! I almost turned around to mention this, and then I remembered that I was eavesdropping. I continued eating my chowder in silence.

My friend Mike and I met at treeplanting and he is in Vancouver working on his Ph.D. in history at UBC. He's been in Japan teaching English for a year and a half, so I hadn't seen him for quite a while... we made a point of hooking up for some good times some time during our stay in Vancouver. It went down on Saturday night. Geoff and I had some dinner at a very classy establishment called Saltlik... it was basically a restaurant in a massive 50 foot high warehouse, lit by candles and staffed by some beautiful people. A big meal and a couple of drinks later, we left to meet up with Mike and his friends at a place called Two Parrots on Granville at Davie. It was a pub with a relaxed atmosphere, playing some rock hits from the mid nineties (foo fighters, nirvana, pearl jam, etc). Geoff and I met David, Mike's friend from Japan, and Ale (pronounced ah-lay), Mike's lovely girlfriend. Good times and hilarity ensued, and we left for greener pastures shortly before last call... the irish pub was around the corner. Rubbing elbows with the most inebriated people in the cramped bar, we were able to order a few more drinks before last call. Hunger called, and we were soon off down granville in search of some eats. We said farewell at the pizza place on the corner. good times.

The night was one of the best yet and Geoff and I both appreciated the company.. and what a group! We had two straight from Japan (Mike and David), a Mexican (Ale is from Mexico City), an Irishman (Mike's friend John (Did I get that right Mike?)), and two brothers driving across Canada! So worldly! It was a great night... what can I say.

Sunday was reserved for recovery and a little bit of shopping and a quiet night in. Geoff and I had a little walk around downtown. I don't remember much of Sunday 😊 Geoff and I planned our next day, which turned out to be the only day Geoff and I had off together. The plan was to go to Science World and then Granville Island.

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Photos

stupid andy geoff pic
we're goofballs sometimes. i would say geoff is more of a goofball than myself, but Geoff may disagree.

pondering the mysteries of the universe
Andy enjoying the view and thinking a few thoughts on kitsilano beach. Just behind him, out of view, is Watermark, the restaurant with the killer seafood chowder. It was beautiful but chilly. The weekend turned out to be the only sun we saw all week.

a cool tree
these big willow trees were all over the city. this was a particularly nice one, i thought. note the guitar player at its base. he was good.

nice car!
when the weather was nice all of the nice cars came out. i believe this was a ferrari. i followed it all the way from the burrard bridge to the hotel and it was turning heads the whole way. nice.

kit beach
it was a pleasant place to be! what can I say?

chatting to northy
early in our stay in vancouver we found bryan north online in japan. I had a good chat to him before we went out to dinner one evening. that guy's awesome.

david and geoff
this is david and geoff at the two parrots at granville and davie.

mike and andy being crazy!
mike and i trying our best to be crazy. we're crazy!

ale and david
a sample of the great company we shared on our first night out in vancouver

wrestling,,, of the arm variety
geoff takes on a challenger. he won (her over?).