Vancouver in the summer

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I'm writing this on a train ride to Florence from Rome where we've just had a beautiful vacation for the weekend that I'll write about...after this. We visited Canada for a quick 10 days but well worth it considering the visit to family and friends in the beautiful Vancouver summer. We started out after a relatively painfree flight by going home and having a great night of sushi and gyoza, fulfilling the tradition to have sushi as soon as we get home. It was nice because we got to eat at home and go to bed straight away afterwards which was needed given the time difference! We woke up at a fairly early hour the next day and headed to downtown Vancouver. We rented bikes and rode around the seawall, making sure to stop at both Vancouver's "little Mermaid" and the kids dryer at the water park. It was a gorgeous day, sun shining and a light breeze which made it perfect for a stop at English bay to enjoy a cheese dog on the beach. We were waaaay too full to go to the ice cream place so we rode our bikes back and then began on foot up Robson street, shopping along the way. We eventually made our way to Davie and met Magda and Ben to have sushi at Kadoya. They had just renovated so it was beautiful inside although the tables to seat ratio is a bit weird, someone should tell them! We had the best roll - it was the Canadian roll. Bacon on the inside, mustard on top and bacon bits scattered on and around it. We also indulged in the tuna tatayki, seared tuna in sauce! We went for drinks at Goldfish (where Ben bought the first round since he was so mean to Magda :P ) in yaletown and headed home.

I think we shopped the next day, we shopped a lot; Dzl had asked me to show him around the places I had spent time when I was in Canada and after the seawall, that left shopping malls. So we shopped. 😊 We went to the night market on Saturday night, and had a feast it was fantastic, all the tasty Asian food and dimsum I had missed. We left for the island the next morning with my parents in my dad's new gigantic pickup truck. It was a great trip. We started off by going on the Ferry and it was so great to see the mountains surrounding us; its one of the things I miss most in Denmark, its so flat! We went to Coombes and went to a great place called Goats on the Roof, where as you might expect, there are goats on the roof. Its half restaurant, half shop selling everything from spices to handmade crafts. They had great yam fries and we ate them while watching the goats on the roof standing on their hind legs to try and reach the leaves offered to them by the caretakers. We headed off again and had a long, windy, bumpy drive to Tofino. It took forever because the road was under construction and would have been horrible (and probably was for my parents) but Dzl and I passed out asleep in the backseat and slept through the whole thing. We got to Ucluelet (you-clue-let) and drove back and forth about 3 times trying to figure out where we could buy some salmon. My mom found a dock and went down there where there was a big blue box of salmon sitting out in the open with "free" scrawled across it. Knowing my mother I fully expected her to come running back a fish in each hand and a crazed look in her eye. However, she disappointed us and came back empty handed - for the better since we realized later at the fish store that free meant the type of fish. We saw a couple guys unloading the fish on to scales from that same box so we quietly left, crabs in hand, our choice for the evening. We went to the resort which was beautiful, it was right on the water, and had a huge window in the livingroom and bedroom so you could always see the water. We had a really relaxing night just watching the water, enjoying the jacuzzi, and eating our fantastic crabs.

The next day we went for a few different walks, one through a bog, one along a beach. The bog was interesting, very distinctive vegetation and short trees. I was the tour guide, reading from a brochure as we walked and we contorted ourselves to resemble each gnarled tree we encountered and taking a photo. 😊 We then took a long walk along the beach, looking at the pools of sea creatures left behind by the tide and avoiding stepping on strange things like algae and dead seals on the beach. Yes, dead seal. I thought it was a log and Dzl was about to step on it (since it looked like a log) when I realized the log had teeth and I screamed. It was a dead seal washed up on shore. Sad and horrific. We continued our walk, and went to another beach where we climed on a big rock to look out over the ocean. It was so beautiful reminded me of the Oregan coast with all the rock formations and the waves splashing up against the rocks.

That night we had another fantastic dinner and watched the sunset from our window. We rented a movie and a game but never got to playing since we were all exahusted. We went to bed and woke up super early to avoid the construction on the way home. On our drive back, Dzl used his newly purchased Nintendo Wii remote to gauge the g-force while we were driving. It was a fun game seeing how each bump impacted us.

We spent the next couple days at home, going out to see shops, visit my Grandma, and Magda came to visit one night. We went to Senses at White Rock beach, (now called some combination of numbers I guess its the address) it was just as good as I remembered, right across from the pier, and amazing food, tapas, shoestring fries with balsamic reduction, portobello with goat cheese, chicken curry, it was so good. I used to go there a lot so that was a good place to show Dzl where I had been. We also met up with Shannon and Michael and got to go to a fantastic En Vogue come back concert at the PNE and see all the stalls and games and eat some tasty perogies and other fair food. It was great to see Shannon and finally introduce her and Dzl and to show him the PNE which is something that I love going to in the summer and I haven't been in such a long time.

Tricia and her son Callum came to visit after that and we got to see how Callum was, so much bigger than when I met him, a day old, last Christmas. My dad delighted in drinking beer with him while he drank his milk. It was quite the sight.

On the Friday we spent the day shopping with Magda, and I found all the high heels I had been searching for. A black patent leather zip up pair, a black and gold snakeskin pair. We finally found our new luggage, zebra print! Its awesome and no one will grab our luggage by mistake that's for sure. Its a nice combination to go with my beautiful teal colored Hey's luggage. I think luggage is becoming like handbags for me. :P

We went back to Magda's and cooked shishkabobs and Nick, Viv and Ben came over. We all went out on the new Skytrain from Richmond to downtown and went to our favorite, Republic. It was exactly as we remembered, though more expensive to get in, and a terrible DJ who we determined must have been an emergency replacement since he was playing something akin to a wedding playlist, all the old favorites, with no creativity. That was a bit sad but we got some fun photos and tasty drinks. As an happy addition, my friends Tamie, Jasmine and Tiger were able to join us there. We danced like crazy people and it was so good to see everyone again. (Thank you Tamie for all your kind words, I know you're reading this and it was so good to see you! Take care of yourself and good luck with the PhD!) We headed home care of Nick and his new car. (Side note, we also met Ben's new car, which is beautiful!) The next morning we made a huge breakfast with traditional Danish crepes which everyone loved. We then went helicopter shopping and Nick and Ben both bought one after having played with Dzl's newest purchase, a sexy metal body helicopter. My dad even ended up getting one (and has since bought more!) they're way too much fun.

We spent Saturday night at home and relaxed with family. On Sunday we went to see Courtney and Ben's new house in Vancouver and then went for one last sushi meal at Samurai Jack's. It was tasty and we got a nice family photo outside the restaurant. We went to the airport and got a drink with my parents before heading home again. It was a really nice visit, action packed and quick but fantastic to see everyone, especially my family, and in the summer too! I thank everyone for a wonderful trip. We had a wonderful time on the island, learning how to say Ucluelet, and it was so nice to see all my friends, you are all wonderful. It was great to see my Grandma and sister and her fiance, Ben. It was just nice to visit home quickly and say hi and to have the luxury of being able to do that. (THANK YOU FOR THE TRIP!)

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