Bike Ride to Chinatown

Catching up... We've been neglecting our blog for the last few months, so I'm going to play catch up with some posts at varying levels of detail...

Back in early July we took a beautiful ride to Chinatown, an area of Vancouver we haven't really spent much time. We biked there along the south side of False Creek on a lovely sunny day (but not yet too hot for comfort) and did a bit of shopping. This first photo is Rob's favourite park area on this side of the False Creek.

Took a picture right by the gate to enter into Chinatown and found an electronic bus sign displaying arrival times (like the SkyTrain, or like in Europe...never seen it with Vancouver buses). Looked around the little markets, checked out some of the deals on sandals, trinkets, etc...and in the end, I think we only bought some Pocky to share between the two of us.

We did find this beautiful Chinese garden maintained by the City of Vancouver in a nice little walled-off area. I'd definitely go back and spend some more time there.

As we started working up an appetite, neither of us were feeling adventurous enough to try one of the authentic Chinese restaurants...so we started biking towards home along the north side of False Creek to check out a different area. After stopping to watch some dragonboat races in progress (the dome you see in the back of the picture is Telus Science World), we found a nice area overlooking the water and stopped at a cute little cafe for sandwich & salad. Sure hit the spot!

Successful trip to Chinatown, I'd say...more to come about why you won't be seeing more posts about other exploratory bike rides this summer...

-Sara

Lynn Canyon Hike

A good friend of mine from high school moved out to Vancouver to go to university and has been living here ever since.  Every now and then she will take me (and sometimes Rob) to do something fun in and around the city.  She lives in North Van, which gives us convenient access to all sorts of interesting mountains, forests, and hiking trails.

Last weekend, Jen and her boyfriend Kristian took us hiking from their house along the Baden Powell Trail through Lynn Canyon Park.  We were headed towards some nice waterfall, but didn't quite make it there before we had to get back to the city.  We hiked for over 4 hours that day and thoroughly enjoyed our time with our friends!  Thanks guys!!! :)

Kristian, Jen, and Rob - All smiles early in the day

Just getting warmed up... We found a nice river crossing to take a photo break.

Found a really old trailer along the side of the trail and thought we'd check it out (no wonder we never made it to the falls with all those photo breaks and exciting things to explore along the way!)

Rob had his first chance to go across the Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge and was pretty excited about it.  It was busy with tourists, but we made it across anyways.  One more thing checked off the list of things to do in Vancouver! (By the way, for anyone visiting the area, this is a great FREE alternative to the Capilano Suspension Bridge and it's way closer to the city too).

Can't wait for the next hike!
-Sara


Rob adds:
As if the weekend couldn't get any better, Sara and I cleaned our rugs with a brand new vacuum.  Look at all that dust sucked out of our one little rug!

Vancouver Aquarium

So after living here for 9 months, we finally made a trip to the highly acclaimed Vancouver Aquarium in Stanley Park.  We learned about the local harbour seals that we've seen from our beach, watched the dolphin show, and also enjoyed watching the sea otters play.  We also learned the difference between seals and sea lions - seals don't have ear flaps.

-Rob

Visitors

It's been awhile since we've blogged.  Lately we've been guilty of not bringing our camera with us, so as a result, I've inserted some clipart below where we should have, but didn't, take a picture.

Last weekend, Kim was in Vancouver for a conference and stayed with us for a few nights.  She had just flown in from Singapore and was glad to be back in Canada.  I showed her our kickass front yard (i.e. Kits Beach), we took a walk to Granville Island, and Kim cooked Sara and me a delicious dinner and dessert (mmm pie-ish graham cracker custard goodness).

The same weekend, we met up with Val (from Ottawa too) who we hadn't seen for a couple years.  She met us at our place and we walked with her (and best friend Edith, and Heather) to Granville Island (twice in one day - but luckily there's always more to see at Granville Island).

We didn't get up to anything too exciting for May 2-4 Weekend.  We went to my coworker's daughter's 1 yr birthday party at Trout Lake (in Vancouver). She is one cute kid, 1 year seems like a pretty great age.


On Sunday (tonight), we took an evening walk around our beautiful neighbourhood.  Picked up a chocolate milkshake at Triple-O's, and walked along Kits Beach and saw a totem pole, a seal-looking animal in the water, and a big blue heron perched on the rocks at the edge of the beach. We slowly walked closer to the heron and got within 10 feet of it, watched it for awhile, and left.  

Ski Vacation

As part of Rob's spring break, I took a few days off of work right after the Easter long weekend and we drove north to explore a bit more of BC and get in our last skiing of the season at Whistler/Blackcomb.

We drove off at about 10 am on Monday morning, headed for Shannon Falls and the Chief mountain. The Chief is close to Squamish, which is about half way between Vancouver and Whistler. We stopped and looked up at the Falls before hiking halfway up the Chief for some great views of a beautiful river, rocks, trees etc. We were there for about 2 hours (including a little break for a picnic lunch) and loved what we saw. I'd be up for more exploring in that area another time. Rob was obsessed with the green, stringy moss that was growing over everything (hence the picture).

We continued driving from there to spend the night in Whistler Village at the Summit Lodge for 1 night (a HotWire find just for the 1 night before moving over to Club Intrawest right at the base of Blackcomb for the rest of our stay). We got there early enough to get all checked in, go pick up our lift passes for the next few days, explore the village, and try out a pizza place close by for dinner. Here are some pics from our Village exploration.

We went to sleep early and were all ready for Day 1 of skiing the next day. We got in a few good runs in the morning to get me comfortable on the mountain again. Then met with a free mountain tour group at 11:30 (highly recommend this for anyone heading to Whistler in the future this year or next - meet at the top of the mountain on Whistler and they'll show you all sorts of great runs you might not try on your own. Good fun skiing with the group too!). After a couple of hours on the tour, we stopped for lunch, did a few more runs on our own, and called it a day at around 3pm (mountain closes at 4, but we wanted to get checked in at Intrawest). That night, we had dinner in our room (chili and fresh bread), tried out the outdoor hot tub, and rented a movie. Nice night in to reset before next day of skiing.

Skiing with the tour group at the peak of Whistler, above the tree line.

Giving my left foot a break from my ski boot at lunch time

The victim:

The culprit:

On Day 2 of skiing, I had a half day group lesson scheduled to start at 9:45. Rob and I had a leisurely start to the morning and got me set up with a Level 3 group lesson. I learned a ton (while Rob was off doing moguls and terrain parks), but discovered that next time I'm in a lesson, I should really be in Level 4. Luckily, there were only 2 other students in my group, so I got the personalized tips I needed. I kept practicing the 1 or 2 key things I was taught for the rest of our time skiing and I think I made a lot of progress! Rob managed to find BeaverTails right in the middle of Whistler mountain while he was off on his own too! We skied together in the afternoon and didn't get off the mountain until just before 4 pm.

Dinner that night was Rob's favourite of the trip: The Old Spaghetti Factory!! Mmmm...Meatballs!

On our final day, we got all packed up and checked out before walking over to ski on Blackcomb (we'd mostly stayed on Whistler the other days, besides a quick trip across on the Peak 2 Peak Gondola). We went right up to the peak, which I have skied before on both mountains, but found some pretty windy, cold, poor visibility conditions. We skied down an easy green run from there before finding a beautiful group of runs in the middle of the mountain, all blue squares, and all really fun. So we kept finding new routes to try in that area.

Peak 2 Peak Gondola ride from Day 1:

Some of our favourite Blackcomb runs on ski Day 3:

On the way home, we were both exhausted, but happy that we had been so lucky with weather and snow conditions. And beautiful Sea to Sky views to enjoy on the road. All in all, it was a great, active little vacation that I'm happy we were able to get it in before the ski season ended!

-Sara

Bowen Island - just a hop, skip and jump away!

Okay, well really it was a bus, to another bus, to a ferry...but same idea. Rob and I read about Bowen Island on a great site he found, http://www.findfamilyfun.com/. The site has all kinds of neat ideas for things to do in and around the Vancouver area without spending a ton of money (most of the time). It even describes some of the best activities to do in each of those places. Kind of corny, especially when the kids are doing the writing, but really useful too!

It was supposed to feel like a whole different world, away from the city, without even needing to rent a car ($$$) and drive for hours to get there. Bowen Island is a 20 minute ferry ride from the Horseshoe Bay terminal, in West Vancouver. We could even use our bus passes to get there (45 mins or so by bus). In total, the round trip ferry ride was only $20 for the two of us. A most affordable day away from the city.

The ferry terminal on Bowen Island is in a little community called Snug Cove...perfect name! It's got a kind of old world feel, with all local businesses so far as we could tell. Great old stores and homes, friendly people, lots of trees and nature, some great places to see.

After getting off the ferry, we went by the Snug Cove General Store, saw Smokey the Bear, got some coffee at Snug Cafe, went on a hike past a neat water fall and fish ladder, and even swung by the public library. Rob was determined to get pictures of me doing this silly pose wherever we went! I better practice my yoga...I'm not as flexible as I should have been to doing that on the dam near the waterfall...

We also took the website's suggestion and had some great Fish & Chips and salad (& we don't even like fish...) at Doc Morgan's.

As our last look at the island, with the ferry coming to shore, we took a few more shots that capture how picturesque the island really is (as well as a most interesting sign).

What a great day trip! Really we were only there for about 4 hours, but it was a great escape. I hope your few minute glimpse of the island will make you want to visit too!!

-Sara

A wonderful day in Vancouver

I don't have pictures, but today was so great in a Rob-and-Sara kind of way that I just have to write about it.

We woke up at 4:45 AM and were at Whistler by 8:30.  We skied until 3 PM - the mountain was fantastic.  Our first time up, but regulars were saying it was the best day all season so we really lucked out.  Visibility was clear (most of the time), the temperature was just around 0, the snow was flouffy and plentiful, and the views and surroundings were breathtaking.

Sara did a great job keeping up with our group of fast skiers, and even (unknowingly) skied down a black diamond. We booked a reservation at one of the chalet's restaurant so our lunch was unusually pleasant -replace long lines and awkward carrying-trays-in-ski-boots with peaceful sit-down restaurant with great service, food, and views.

When we got home, we picked up a movie from Rogers and some take-out Thai food.  We ate and watched Up In The Air, good movie - especially for Sara who's lived the consultant lifestyle.  For dessert, we ate strawberries with hot chocolate which Sara had been craving all day.

Another wonderful day in Vancouver!

-Rob