Even though I am Canadian, I had never been to Vancouver or any place in Canada west of Toronto. I only lived in Canada until I was about 2 and a half but I did go back almost every summer as a kid to visit my family in both Quebec and Ontario and for some winter breaks. There's some feeling that I get inside when I'm in Canada that I can't quite explain . It sounds really cheesy but it does feel like I'm home and I get this warm fuzzy feeling inside. I think about happy times growing up as a child and I love to just soak everything in.
Vancouver was awesome. It was so clean and absolutely beautiful. I loved being able to be downtown... over looking water... and seeing mountains in the background. Everyone was so friendly and nice to us and it just reminded me how much I love being Canadian.
We stayed and the Westin on the Harbor and this was the view from our hotel room...
We had a lovely lunch at a place called Dockside Brewery where we overlooked the city and the water.
After that we walked around the Granville Island area and visited some breweries. My favorite beer was the Raspbeery Beer at Granville Island Brewery... I wish they sold it in the US!
One morning after eating some doughnuts at Tim Horton's... the Canadian version of Dunkin Doughnuts (but they do have those in Canada too) we decided to go up Grouse Mountain per my Dad's suggestion. We took the Gondola to the top (though they do have this challenge called "The Climb" where you can hike/race to the top and they time you) and got to enjoy some gorgeous views of the city and see/touch snow! My favorite!
Here I am with Jim and Amy and my Pre-K class moose named Marty (He goes on adventures with me and with the kids over the weekends and holidays during the year and they take pictures and send it back in to talk about).
Amy & Ryan
Some gorgeous wood carvings.
Me and Jim
The lumberjack show. There were also 2 real bears that lived in a pen that was a few acres large which was cool to see as well.
Enjoying some raspberry Granville Island beer and some Poutine... topped with pulled pork!? So poutine is something that I grew up with on the ski slopes in Quebec. It is traditionally french fries with fresh cheese curds and gravy.... but this one had the pulled pork on top which I hadn't seen before. Relaxing on the top of the mountain was one of my favorite memories from this trip. It was hard to imagine it as a bustling ski slope in the winter!
One of my other favorite things from this trip was the Harbor Dinner Cruise that we went on. We had our own 4 person table on the boat and we enjoyed about a 2 hour ride. We enjoyed lots of wine, food, and live music. Amy even got the guitar player to sing a Happy Birthday song for Jim. Too funny.
Oh Canada..... I love you. I wish I could go back more often and I'm so glad that I got to be with Jim, Amy, and Ryan for this trip back! It was so much fun. We are really lucky to have such awesome travel friends who are always up for an adventure! Maybe our next Canadian adventure can be to Quebec City or Montreal?! :) I'm in!
