Trip to Vancouver
We just returned from a wonderful week in Vancouver, pics to be posted soon, details below:
Day 1: pack in a rush, drop Hobbes off at kitty resort and head to airport. Flight and rental car acquisition went fine. Arrived in a rain storm, got lost on the way to the University of B.C. Hours later, using our handy google print-out and rental car map we manage to make it to our destination in time for a wonderful dinner. We were staying at a friend’s place with her two little boys who were very excited to see us. Spent the evening catching up until someone knocked on our door and said they hit our rental car…fortunately, no damage. Bedtime snack of Mexican hot chocolate and toast with jam then off to bed.
Day 2: slept in then off to the UBC Museum of Anthropology. Still raining! This museum is famous for its northwest first nations collection. The main lobby is full of a variety of totem poles and bent wood boxes that are visually impressive. Also, there is a beautiful and enormous wood sculpture by Bill Reid called “The Raven and First Men.” Overall, the museum was good. Our general feeling was that it was more contemporary than we expected and guessed that the cause was that the medium (wood) degrades over time. We were told that none of the northwest first nations used pottery, only wood. Personally, I didn’t think the museum provided enough information but have ventured on-line since for some answers. After museum, we went grocery shopping and had dessert at a cafe. Our friend made her special pesto sauce for our dinner and then to bed.
Day 3: we got to sleep in again, so nice. Unfortunately, raining again so we headed off to the Bloedel Floral Conservatory at Queen Elizabeth Park. The conservatory is a large triodectic dome. It was warm, full of birds and flowers, I loved it. They had a wonderful orchid collection. Back out into the rain and off to China town to see Dr. Sun Yat-Sen’s Classical Chinese Garden. We wondered around the main garden but realized that you have to pay a hefty price to see the classical part of it and decided maybe next time when it’s not raining. Spent the rest of the day wandering around China Town, enjoyed steamed buns and then went home. The evening was spent at an Alfred Brendel (classical pianist) concert at UBC. We got very cheap seats in the chorale section and they turned out to be amazing. Great concert, my favorite was Beethoven’s Sonata no. 31 in A flat major.
Day 4: did not sleep in, no rain! We were planning on going to Victoria but worried about the weather so we instead decided to go to Science World with the two boys. The afternoon included all sorts of sweets, games, magic schoolbus movie and so much more. When we left, all four of us were exhausted. We stopped at a store for vegetarian taco stuff and enjoyed tacos after the two boys were in bed. As thanks for taking the boys out for the day, we also came home to a delicious home-made cake and flan.
Day 5: we had planned to all go to Victoria but realized that the weather may still be bad and it was not that kid friendly, so instead we took it easy around the house. We had a lazy long breakfast and the two boys played outside with their neighborhood friends. While one napped and the other played, we sat down to lunch. While we were toasting hard taco shells, the toaster oven became full of fire and the house full of smoke. We managed to get it outside before it damaged anything in the house. It was then retired to the local dumpster. After we recovered from that, finished lunch, we had a raucous game of pass the volleyball while watching the boys play outside. We did some story telling and read the requisite two magic school bus stories before they fell asleep. Wanted to go see a movie but decided last minute to go out to dinner instead. Ended up at a great 24 hour vegetarian restaurant, Naam.
Day 6: sunny day! Breakfast at a cafe, then spent the day in town, visited Yaletown, Gastown and shopped on Robson Street. Enjoyed a lunch/dinner in front of a fire place at a brewery. Then went to a movie, Shark Water, a documentary. The movie was very sad, about how shark hunters are exploiting the population mainly for their fins that are used to make a popular soup. I would recommend seeing it because it is really beautiful and informative. The massive corruption that is going on over this issue was astonishing and it showed the immense damage that long-line fishing is currently causing. It also encouraged me to think of surfing again, which I have been avoiding because of the thought of sharks.
Day 7: Started packing and getting ready to leave. Breakfast at a cafe, wandered around a portion of UBC and then went shopping for a replacement toaster oven. Since it was our last evening, we made pizza and cookies and spent the night talking over wine. Went to bed late.
Day 8: got up around 5:30 a.m. for our early flight. Returned the car and back to Alaskan Airlines. Flight was good, returned to santa cruz, picked up Hobbes from his resort and headed home to take a long nap. Hobbes has a cold…hoping he gets better soon.
- N.
