Vancouver Delivers!

Strolling the streets

     Walking the streets of Vancouver helped me understand two things about myself: 1. I love walking around 2. I am somewhat of a city girl. I love the hustle and bustle of city life, but when that gets overwhelming I can always find a nice coffee shop or book store around the corner where I can sit and collect my thoughts. The city can be for me, but I haven't really found one quite as great as Vancouver.  I loved that William and I could walk anywhere and didn't have to depend on a car. Now, if I lived in Vancouver I would still have a car, but I am ok with not having to use it often. William and I could totally survive with just one car in Vancouver, while that would not cut it in Texas. 


      Vancouver is amazing. I feel that everyone was so pretty in Vancouver, yet no one was pretentious. It seemed to have tons of young professionals, all whom were very polite and ready to lend a helping hand. Mostly, everyone just seemed very open-minded and fun. When we walked around Yaletown, people were very pleasant towards one another. Yaletown had tons of cute shops and stores with not such cute price tags, but most importantly, I felt more than welcome inside any store in Vancouver, and I like that. Now, even though I could totally see myself living in a city like Vancouver, I have been a resident of suburbia my whole life, therefore I would still need an escape every once in a while from any concrete jungle. But, that is why Vancouver is so awesome. Just a bus ride away and you are in the hills overlooking the beautiful Pacific Ocean, at a picturesque lighthouse, or in a beautiful, moss-draped fir tree forest.  Can you tell that I totally dig Vancouver?

Cute shop in Chinatown

      We started off our Vancouver trip with a stop in Chinatown. We were starved and were craving some dim sum, and that is what we got! The dim sum was good, but the buns were amazing. We had chicken, veggie, and bbq pork buns and they were delish! Chinatown is relatively the same in every city. This one was way more calm than any Chinatown we've ever seen. It was oddly calm. Everyone just carried on their regular lives and it wasn't very loud. It was a sleepy Chinatown for sure. However, the colorful food markets and trinket shops did not disappoint! One thing I did appreciate about this area was that they had lots of pretty murals depicting the journeys the Chinese population took to get to Vancouver. The street artwork was definitely a treat! 

Womanizer sax player

     One of the coolest things we came across was the Make Music Festival in Gastown. Just a few days before I left Houston, I was reading Vancouver's local news just to see what was going on and came across advertisement for the festival. I was happy to see that it was going on while we were there and in an area I really wanted to visit. Both William and I planned on staying for just a little bit and we ended up spending our entire evening there. The concept of this festival is really cool. Local artists can sign up for one hour blocks and after an hour you pack up your things and a new band/solo artist comes in. Some streets were crazy with all these loud bands playing at the same time and you would just go from crowd to another crowd. Other blocks were better about alternating songs. So, one band would play and then the band across the street would play. This would give the bands a time to take a break, and no one would have to compete for audiences. The variety of this festival was awesome. There were sax players, guitarists, trumpets, soloists, violinists, bongos, cellos, I mean you name it and that instrument was probably in one band or the other. The most eclectic group consisted of 10 people of all ages, but mostly older guys. They wore bright, bold colors and crazy patterns, but all were great at their craft. The sax player came up to me in the crowd and played his solo part right to me. It was very, very awkward. Everyone kept staring at me. William thought it was hilarious, but the old guy was really funny. The festival also allowed us to see Gastown at its best. This area of Vancouver is famous for it's industrial buildings and trendy night life. 

Outside Public Market in front of Granville Bridge and False Creek

     The next morning we slept in. Since there are 16 hours of sunlight during the summers, we weren't in any rush to sight see. We sipped on some coffee, took forever to get dressed, checked our email, and bam it was already 10 am! We grabbed a bus to the train station, took a train to the seabus, and took the seabus to head to Granville. The seabus was so cool! It's a giant boat that takes you across a huge bay to the northern part of Vancouver. Once we arrived we hiked on over to the Granville Public Market. I was immediately entranced by all the yummy food and smells everywhere. Everything was so fresh! Of course, William and I headed straight to the baked goods. I mean I would describe it, but I'd probably sound like a freak. So, just take my word for it: it was tasty. The public market has outdoor seating overlooking False Creek. You can see tons of kayakers, boaters, yachts and the Vancouver skyline. It's a great place to head to if you want to explore and relax, and eat of course. If the market is not your thing, there are tons of cute little shops on the same street. They have cute boutiques, specialty stores, and other fun shops. We walked around this for a bit, then we headed over to west 4th street. This area has more shops.

Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge

     Later, we made our way to the Lynn Canyon Park. I have always wanted to go on a suspension bridge (I am such a child). When we got there, I expected a long hike, but we were greeted with a refreshing river and a waterfall behind some trees. It was fun standing on the bridge. I mean it wasn't one of those roped ones like on Indiana Jones that swings left to right with every step. It swayed gently and it made me want to jump on it, but many girls on the bridge were holding onto the railing for their dear lives. So, I saved myself the evil glares and just admired the view. We hung out on the bridge before we started hiking around. This place looked like the shooting location for the Twilight movies (not a fan, just simply making a comparison). 


     The next morning we started the day with a morning stroll right outside our hotel...at Stanley Park! This sweet outdoor paradise was right next door and we were shocked to find some great views of the city from there. We first came across some totem poles, which William happened to find very fascinating. Though we did not participate in any outdoor activities, it is a great place to people watch, enjoy the weather, and see some gorgeous flora and fauna. It would be a great place to have a romantic picnic to view the sunset and Vancouver skyline. 

Delicious Ukrainian Food!

     We were in the mood for some serious people watching that day and headed on over to the annual Strawberry Festival. We looked around at some cute booths, listened to some live music and grabbed some strawberry shortcake. When we were done looking around, we took a long bus ride to the Lighthouse Park. We enjoyed a good afternoon hike there and returned back to the west end when alerted by our growling tummies. We walked around desperately trying to decide what (amazing) restaurant to try next. When we came in front of a cute Ukrainian restaurant, we decided to try something new. The inside was adorable. It was super tiny and had two levels. The restaurant had an orangey tint from the cute mosaic glass lamps which gave the whole restaurant a romantic glow. The simple, but charming place was decorated with tons of Ukrainian family pictures, trinkets, plants and ivy. The waitress had a thick Ukrainian accent and her mother, a large muscular woman, was the star chef of the restaurant. We ordered our food: paprika chicken and vegetable cabbage rolls and were pleasantly surprised to get very generous portions of these homemade treats! Every bite was fantastic and the owners of the restaurant were very proud and greatly appreciated all the compliments we had to give on our experience there. Before we left, we had to try the homemade apple streusel that was cut out of the pan and plated with a scoop of hand churned vanilla ice cream. We left with food babies and great satisfaction. After dinner we lazily walked back to our apartment and relaxed for a bit and went out for coffee at the best cafe ever, Milan. Our friend, the barista, created a yummy concoction for me and put tons of shaved dark chocolate on top. We all continued to (be sort of snobby and) bash the quality of crap coffee from Starbucks, while sipping macchiatos from our giant ceramic mugs. 


     The next day was our last and we decided we should end it doing the things we loved most in Vancouver all over again. We started off getting some good ole American breakfast and headed back to Granville Island to get some more pastries and enjoy the live music at the Vancouver Jazz Music Festival taking place there. Afterwards, we got ourselves some authentic ramen bowls! The art of Japanese ramen houses are fab! The bowls are beautifully put together with thoughtful details for presentation and taste just as good as they look! That night we headed to something I had been waiting for....the Chinatown Night Market!!! We saw tons of interesting things including: grilled whole squids, yummy Nutella filled waffles, and padded panties for the booty-less hehehe. It was a lot of fun and a great way to end our trip to the city of Vancouver. I will definitely be back!

Chinatown Night Market

     


     

Canadian Adventures: Bears, Horses, and Moose!

Tangle Falls

     Driving through Banff was just as breathtaking as visiting all the different lakes. William was such a tolerant driver while traveling through the parks. I would often have him stop, reverse, and put on the emergency lights so I could get out and take a picture of our awesome surroundings. The beauty wasn't limited to closed off parks with signs and trail paths. Most of it could be seen from your car window while driving up a mountain or driving through the valley. You would often drive by streams, or bustling rivers flowing with crystal blue glacial waters. It was common to see little water falls, and sometimes larger ones like Tangle Falls. Driving through the park included shorter trips (Lake Minnewanka was about 5 minutes from our hotel) to much longer trips such as the Columbia Glacier (which was the same distance as Houston to Austin). I don't think either one of us realized how much we'd cherish those drives through the Canadian Rockies. After not seeing each other for weeks, we did most of our chatting and catching up on those drives. It was some good QT, not to mention fantastic sight seeing and wild life spotting.


     We were ever so fortunate to see bears and moose! We saw 7 bears total, and all on the same day! My favorite bear sighting was definitely the scariest as well. I think we were on our way back from the Columbia Glaciers and driving on Icefields Parkway. We saw two cars pulled over to the side of the road, but no one was out of their car. We knew something was up. Normally, when people saw a bear, they would get out of the car and take a pic. The bears were so distracted from food searching that they didn't care that they were being watched. But this time no one was out of their car. We pulled up and I totally could not believe what I was seeing! A mommy bear and cub! Everyone in Banff will tell you: Never get out of the car if you see a mother and her cub. This can cause the mother to feel threatened and there have been cases of mothers attacking when their cubs are around them. When we were on our White Water Rafting trip, one of the guides told us about a tourist who had rode with them the day before. The tourist taped an incident on his phone and showed the tour guide. Basically, someone got out of their car to take a picture of a bear and her cub. The second the bear saw the guy get out of the car she came running up to the car. The guy was able to get in his car and lock the doors. But the angry bear tore out his headlights.


     So, when we saw the mother bear and her cub, we did NOT get out of the car. We lowered our windows to find the two of them scrummaging to find berries. Then all of a sudden the mother bear walked closer...and closer...and closer to the street, next to our car (across the street from her). Our windows were down and cameras in our hands-we were so shocked to be able to see the bear that closely.. and not in a cage. Then, she came up to the road, looked both ways and froze. She was looking dead straight into our car, right at us. Her cub came and stood next to her and they both began to cross the street.

Being watched

     At this point I was freaking out. The window was all the way down AND they were crossing right in front of OUR car. I told William to reverse. His response included a crisp and sharp, "Be silent. Don't move." While they crossed, the cub peered into our car. We held our breath. What seemed like forever later, they finally reached the other side of our car and continued their search for berries... or honey (hehe). Who knows. All I know is that I had been holding my breath the entire time. We drove off and couldn't believe how close they had come. I asked William why he didn't drive away and he reminded me that we were on a curved road and had a car behind us so we couldn't reverse. My favorite part of his response was, "Yeah, Neeti. Let me just start the engine and have the bear attack our rental car. NBD." That would have been our last vacation ever (like that cruise commercial where they're camping and being attacked by the bear, HAH).

FUZZY antlers!

     After this, we still had about an hour before we got back to town and I was so giddy from our bear encounter that I was talking non-stop and acting like a 5 year old, oozing with delight. Tons of people in Banff had told us that not everyone gets to see bears, so we knew our chances were low, especially since we had that close encounter with the rams at Lake Minnewanka. We were pretty sure that was the extent of our wild life spotting. But then, in my moment of childish behavior and hopefulness I said six simple, magical words, "I hope we see moose next!" TA DAAAA! I could not believe it. Within 15 minutes there we were, pulled up right next to, not one but two, giant, fuzzy, adorable, antler-bearing moose! William asked politely for me to verbally express that he get a good step score. I did. Still hoping for that one. The moose were just as indifferent as the bears. They were over the paparazzi.


     Now for the more domesticated animals. For anyone who goes to the rockies, whether it's in the states or in Canada, I'd highly recommend horse back riding! My horse was named Moonshine and he was gorgeous! When I got on the horse, the cowboy was like..."You get the pretty one. I'll show you what you do with the horse in a sec." What "you do" with the horse? I immediately informed the guy that I was a Texas girl and knew how to get on a horse. I'm brown, but geez. Obviously, assumptions were made.

Looking pro-ish

     On another note, he was such a nice cowboy after that! We went on some great paths, but my favorite were the river crossings. My horse tried to leave everyone and the cowboy told me to "keep him in line" and I did :) I was proud of myself. On the other hand, we had to wait at the other side of the river because one of the Japanese tourists wasn't as familiar with the horsey and his horse went on a joy ride through the forest to eat some fresh green grass. We got to chill and admire the surroundings while the cowboys went to rescue the guy. He was a good sport about it. On our way back, we stopped at a light where there were some bushes and my horse gnawed on some leaves and when I kicked him to start going he managed to break off a branch for a snack later. I wish I could have captured that on camera! We got to see the sun start setting during our horse ride and saw some deer in the forests. Overall, it was a beautiful experience and I'd love to do it again some day. Banff was gorgeous and I plan on going back sometime next year! Next, we moved onto something a little more familiar, city life in Vancouver. Vancouverites did not disappoint!