Day Five - The Journey East

Our last day in Vancouver dawned with fairly good weather - still kind of cloudy, but no rain, and a bit warmer than our last few days. I finally got to go for a ride with Phil and his bike, Dolly - yay! :) It was quite amazing to be zooming along with the mountains beside us .... well, actually all of the zooming in general was a lot of fun! Apparently we hit the speed of 200 km/hr at one point... good girl, Dolly. I was mildly concerned when we got on the highway that my helmet, which was a little bit loose might flip off somehow, but didn't really think that it was a likely outcome.

Then a final flurry of activity as we said our goodbyes, gathered our things and made our way over to the SkyTrain ... a little later than we'd planned, so it was a bit of a rush to get to the airport. Due to a navigational error (mine) we had to walk a little bit to catch the airport bus, but in the end we made it to the check in counter with a few minutes to spare, and got that taken care of. Because we were late, and the flight we were on was overbooked, and a flight after us being cancelled, there weren't any seats together, although we were able to get ones that were one in front of the other. Sadly, they were in the middle row of seats (the seats were in groups of two, aisle, three, aisle, two, and we were in the middle of the middle group), which was a bit confining, but what can you do. I was sitting between a married couple, who were rather annoyed (mostly the wife) that their seats had been split up, but by the same token, the wife didn't want to switch seats to sit in the middle herself (I would have been happy to!). Both the husband and flight attendent asked me directly if I would, but before I could answer, the wife would cut in that she didn't want the middle seat. Oooooookay.

No free meals served on this flight, but I decided to buy a (overpriced) sandwich anyways, as I'd kind of skipped breakfast and knew I'd regret it if I didn't eat something. The movie choice sucked - 'Legend of Zorro' or some nonsense, so I napped for most of the flight, then did some Sudoku. I was kind of disappointed that I didn't have a window seat, as I'd never flown at night before, and was looking forward to seeing the lights of Toronto, but so it goes. We landed, got baggage etc with no troubles, and back to our everyday lives.

I started out the trip as a tourist, but over the course of the stay fell in love with the city, the mix of urban and natural settings. I can definitely see the allure of moving out there, and may consider doing it myself for a short period of time in the future .. we shall see. Not long after our plane home left the ground, I felt myself longing to be back in Vancouver again, I missed it and we had barely left.

Many thanks again to our hosts, Big Phil, Braden and Chris, for showing us around and taking care of us, and making the trip lots of fun! Also to Natalie, it was great meeting you and hanging out with you - hopefully we can do it again sometime.

Until we meet again ....

Many thanks again to our wonderful hosts, Big Phil and his roomies Braden and Chris, for showing us around and

Day Four - Day of rest

Today was mostly just a lazy day for hanging out, and whatnot. Phil & Kailey went to church for a little bit in the afternoon, and I just read and watched TV, a bit of the closing Olympic ceremonies.

Kailey & I (well, mostly Kailey) were planning to make a big dinner for the boys & a few others as a thank you for being our hosts, so we went grocery shopping with Braden & Phil, stopping at a food court for lunch (and for Phil & Kailey to try on some different hats). Just as we got back from shopping, Natalie arrived, and Kailey got busy getting things ready in the kitchen. I wasn't much help in the preparations department (no surprise there!), but was happy to do the clean up afterwards. Pot roast, mashed potatoes, grilled veggies, yorkshire pudding, bread, meatballs in spicy Thai sauce... yummy! And chocolate cake for dessert. One of Phil's co-workers, Ben, also joined us for dinner (he looked really familiar to me - I finally realized that he kind of resembled Sean Astin/Sawise Gamgee), and Jason Hay was in town from Seattle for the night (en route to Toronto), so he stopped by for a visit too. I think the boys are still picking away at the roast, 4 days later ... Kailey was worried about feeding 4 full grown boys, so she made sure to get a big one, but then some of them filled up on sausage rolls before dinner (and on all the other dishes). Still, always good to leave your hosts with a full fridge, right?

After dinner, we played some rounds of Asshole - I hadn't played that since OAC. And I'm not even sure that its the same version that I played then, as none of the rules seemed familiar, but oh well. They're easy enough to pick up on in any case, although I never did wind up doing too well.

Early start the next morning, as we needed to be on our way by 9am or so to make our noon flight... Kailey is exhausted, but I was still wired. So I was up and awake until around 1.30/2, doing Sudoku puzzles and trying to relax.

Day Three - No more sunshine

We got lucky in that we got sunny days for our first couple of days, but now time for the real West Coast weather - kind of grey and rainy. Still, half and half isn't bad, no complaints (although I'm not sure if I could live with the grey and rain full time - it seems it would get depressing after awhile). Anyways.

No one had to work today, so we all set out for North Vancouver, taking the Sea Bus ferry across. We wandered around the marketplace at Lonsdale Quay, where the ferry docks, and met up with Natalie and her (guy) friend Lindsay. We then headed up into the mountains to Lynn Valley Canyon - after a slight delay, in which Natalie's character filled car, Tawanga, wouldn't start, due to being low on gas and parked on an uphill angle. The boys saved the day, though, driving in Lindsay's car to go get us gas so that we could get going. When we reached Lynn Valley, we were greeted with falling snow, and a large sign depicting dangers in the park, and the many different ways that people have died there. Charming. Down to the suspension bridge, where we took pictures and bounced around, then hiking along some of the trails (and off some as well). Phil found a part of trail that had been partly washed away by a landslide, and then delighted in climbing partway up the slide and throwing things further down the valley. He also did a 'danger dance', which Kailey was unable to capture on film (as well as many other dances that he wouldn't let her catch, much to her frustration). We eventually made it down to another bridge crossing over water, and then started the long trek back up the canyon.

Natalie had to get to work then, so she & Lindsay dropped us off back at the Quay, where after wandering around the market again for awhile we eventually figured out that we would head back downtown, then figure out something for dinner. Much to Kailey's delight, she managed to capture the 'waiting for the ferry' dance on video, and even better, it was a team dance, as Phil, Braden & Chris all moved in unison.

It had started to rain, although not too hard, so when we disembarked back in Vancouver, we decided to just walk along Granville Street for awhile, as Phil had a particular restaurant in mind. I took some photos along the way, and we stopped in an arcade so that Phil could play a guitar playing game, and Kailey played Tetris for 25 cents. I played one of those car racing games before we left, then back out into the rain. Phil had had a specific Greek restaurant in mind to go to, but it turned out to be a about 8 blocks away from where we were, and at that point we were all tired and ready for food (poor Braden was sick with a cold, and we did a lot of walking that day), so we decided to go to the Two Parrots instead, which was right there. Our waitress wasn't the most attentive, as another girl had called in sick and she was covering, but oh well. The restaurant had a bit of a jungle theme going, and these really pretty dragonfly shaped lights in the windows (kind of like those strings of chili pepper lights? but white, light Christmas twinkle lights). The meal ended with an epic fry fight, mainly between Kailey & Phil, although we were all caught in the crossfire at some point. Then back out into the rain (lesser at this point), back to the SkyTrain.

Bit of excitement/drama at the station where we transferred lines ... the stations are all open, with an honour system of payment, so you can leave them and reenter if needed. We we taking a break to stop at a drug store near the station on the way home, and the guys insisted on accompanying us, as apparently it wasn't the greatest place to be alone at night. In any case, Kailey, Braden & I were a bit behind Phil & Chris, and didn't hear/see anything, until we got up to the street and saw Chris running away across it, towards a crowd of people. A guy on a bicycle had just been hit by a van, and was lying in the street. Emergency crews showed up pretty quickly, and it seems like the guy was lucky, in that only his leg was broken. Still, kind of scary.

So ends another fun filled, busy day - we left the house at noon, and returned home at 10pm. While I'm adjusted to the time change, I'm still splitting it in my mind ... realizing what time it is back in Ontario throughout the day, and how different it is from where I am. The whole time/space displacement thing is weird, and I still have trouble wrapping my head around it sometimes. On our first day in Vancouver, while taking the bus from the airport into downtown, my mind wandered and rambled around the idea of time as something rather theoretical and arbitrary. Perhaps it was only the jet lag talking (or a glimpse of future jet lag induced delusions to come!).

Day Two

Phil had to work again today, so Chris was our guide for the day - he took us to the marketplace at New Westminster, then we walked along the Boardwalk, where Kailey fell in love with all of the residences along the Fraser River (and I got some cool photos). We found a playground which had a decommissioned submarine as one of the play structures, as well as a rope climber-thing that I could hang upside down from (the video of this should be entertaining). Kailey filmed many of our outings, in bits and pieces, and I'm kind of scared to see myself on camera so much - I'll likely sound horrible to myself, while perfectly normal to everyone else to watches it. Oh well .... it should be a hilarious tape in any case, and I am looking forward to seeing it and remembering. We also saw tugboats and barges (bringing to mind a memory of a childhood book called 'Timmy & the Whales' which is about a tugboat named Timmy, his killer whale friends, and how they help him move a barge in a storm .. which yes, is also set in BC), and some paddlewheel type boats. I tried to capture the mountains on film, but its tricky, especially from so far away ... ah well.

Vancouver - Day One

And the adventure begins! After getting up at 5am to head off to the airport, Kailey & I found and boarded our flight with no troubles. The plane was one of the newer ones, that frequently showed on its tv screens updated maps on the flight's progress across the country, as well as speed/altitude/arrival times, etc. Breakfast was served, which I wasn't expecting (never sure these days if you're going to get fed on flights or not), but it turned out to be very yummy. There was a choice of waffles or omelets, so we got one of each then shared them. Also a fruit cup, juice, and a bread like pastry with chocolate inside. Mmmm. One of our flight attendants bore a striking resemblance to Belinda Stronach. The movie shown was 'Walk the Line', which is pretty cool, seeing as its still out in a lot of theaters! I'd always thought that inflight movies were of the subpar/mediocre variety (which was proved correct on the flight home). So with that, the music of Johnny Cash provided much of the soundtrack for the trip, with 'Folsom Prison Blues' being sung frequently. I'm partial to the song 'Jackson', myself.

Anyways. We arrived, and with little trouble picked up our bags, and asked for guidance to find the shuttle buses, and then were on our way. Everyone we asked for help was so friendly and helpful (not always the case in Toronto). Got our first glimpse of the mountain scenery, first from the plane as we taxied to the terminal, and then on the bus ride into downtown. We didn't get lost at all, and found Phil's house out in Burnaby with no trouble ... enjoying the mountain views from the SkyTrain along the way.

Chris met us and let us into the compound, then Braden came home and decided to join us on our trip to the aquarium, as he had never been there before. After a bit of confusion as to where we would find the bus that we needed to take to get there, we arrived in Stanley Park, where we saw lots of starfish and anemones, a 6 ft octopus named Howie, sharks, sea otters, dolphins, belugas, and sea lions (I think they were sea lions...). Natalie came and picked us up in Stanley Park, and we went off to dinner, exposing Kailey to the joys of Japanese food. We parked by English Bay, with a spectacular view of the sunset across the ocean, with the sun going down behind mountains in the distance, and more city lights twinkling from across the bay. Impossible to properly capture on film, but I etched it into my memory. Phil met up with us at the restaurant, and then everyone but me proceeded to order mass amounts of food (all you can eat deals tend to not be worth the money for me, so I just ordered a few things, then sampled a bit of the others stuff). We were sitting in a large corner booth overlooking the bay, although it was a bit alarming at first, as there was a dangling street sign blowing around and hitting wires only a few feet away ... but that was removed soon after we got there. Natalie professed to be bad at remembering names, and in trying to recall mine she came up with 'Anne Marie' ... which was rather random, but also funny. :)

Got home again, then we wound up sitting and chatting with Phil for awhile ... all in all, we didn't get to bed until 11.30pm local time (2.30 am to our bodies ... and up since 5am! Yikes). Luckily, we were sleeping on the softest, squishiest, most wonderful couches ever, so we had a good place to crash.

Saf!!

It's somebody's birthday today ....

Happy, happy, happy birthday to the fabulous Saf!

Have a great day. Try to slow down a bit today, if you can ... take some deep breaths, relax and enjoy it! I hope that this year is a good one for you. :)

Love you, miss you, hope to see you soon!

Busy busy - but having fun!

Busy busy busy - and it just keeps going. Which is good, though, as I've spent too much time lately just sitting around doing nothing. Although its making me tired, its nice to have a steady stream of things to do and people/places to see (good to be tired for a reason, rather than being tired from doing nothing!).

This past weekend involved - 2 dinner parties downtown with some lovely Annesley ladies, one at a Japanese restaurant on Charles St West called 'Masa', and the other a delicious home cooked dinner and surprise birthday party. Both of which spawned many entertaining moments, such as "Thats not tea, its soup", "Me. ME! What's my name?", and the counterpart to He-Man being She-Woman (temporarily, at least). And He-Man being identifed as only 'it's a guy, he has a sword'. (I realize these anecdotes are only funny to the people who read this blog who were actually there, but hopefully it will make them laugh, at least).

Also included was a trip to Body Worlds 2 as well as some other Science Centre exhibits, most of which I hadn't seen for several years, as well as many new ones. Cool. And some shopping, and going to see the movie 'Eight Below', which I really enjoyed (which is surprising, considering that I generally don't like animal adventure/rescue type stories).

Oh! And the news that one of my best (and oldest) friends is getting married - I'm so happy for her. :) As she's trying to plan it long distance, I'll be doing what I can to help her out, so I guess I get to learn about planning a wedding too. Which may come in handy someday, you never know.

More tales of adventure to come, as Kailey & I pack up and head off to Vancouver this week for an extended long weekend ... are you ready for us, Big Phil? I'm looking forward to seeing the sights and doing some new things - and taking lots and lots of (hopefully) cool photographs.

Poke the blog with a stick to see if it moves...

I've heard the comparison made that the more interesting your life is, the less you write in your blog, and vice versa .... although I wouldn't say that fits where I'm at right now. Nothing much of interest has been going on with me lately - generally just continuing the search for employment. Watching bits & pieces of the Olympics. And 6 Feet Under dvds (thanks, Kailey).

Another thing to thank Kailey for - thanks to her, I do have something interesting coming up on the horizon, in that we are going to Vancouver for a five days! It'll be nice to have a change of scenery, see some new things. Technically, I've been there once before - but since I was only 2 at the time, I don't think it really counts. Have lots of pictures of it though (ah, the good old days of being an only child ;). Plan to take lots of pictures this time around too.

Went on a bit of an unintentional shopping spree this evening ... went to the mall with my mom so she could do a few errands, and wound up purchasing a bit of a 'work' wardrobe myself in the process. Who knew that button down shirts could look so snazzy? So now I'm all dressed up, but so far no place (interviews or jobs) to go ... I shall persevere, though. Something will come along. :)

Watching a Chinese pair of figure skaters do their long program to music from Phantom today reminded me again of how much I love the song "Music of the Night" (especially if being sung by Colm Wilkinson ...sigh). I would love to be serenaded with that song someday. Then I found an online clip of a deleted scene from the movie version of Rent, for the song "Goodbye Love", which is another great song ... and yesterday I found some online clips of the play Wicked. All of which combined *really* make me want to go see a musical, right about ...now. Particularly Rent onstage (I can't believe that the dvd will be out next week - Feb 21!), although anything really. Actually, I'm going to see "Hair" in March, so that will be fun. I should start looking at "Lord of the Rings" tickets too, although I'm still holding out some hope that my dad will take me to go see it with the tickets he got for Christmas, instead of my mom ... (it could happen, she's suggested it to him! lol). We'll see.

So, in summary, this was an entry about nothing. Kind of like a Seinfeld episode, I guess ... but I never really liked Seinfeld, so maybe thats not the best comparison to make about myself. How about its all about Kailey? I like that idea better. Particularly since I started writing about things that involved her, then we chatted on MSN during the writing (via voice from her, which was very entertaining for me!). So yes, its decided. This is the entry of KAILEY! (of which I'm sure there will be more to come, documenting the BC adventure and whatnot.)

ps - oh yeah. I have guess who to thank for showing me the hilarious link that is Ultimate Showdown ...

Done now. I promise.