Sea to Sky
The ferry from Nanaimo to the mainland was yet another nice and scenic ride. They even have a playground and pretty decent food onboard as well. Instead of heading straight to Vancouver, we made arrangements to Couchsurf in Squamish. Squamish is one of those ‘undiscovered’ towns that majors in outdoor recreation: climbing, mountain biking, rafting, hiking, fishing, etc. A town that’s obviously undergoing some growing pains, as it’s half-way to Whistler and the recent Sea-to-Sky highway improvements for the Olympics make it a thrilling hour commute to Vancouver (think CA Hwy 1.) The sunsets around here have been amazing – but don’t take your eyes off the road.
We pulled into Kiva’s place and he was a very welcoming and interesting guy. Hosting fellow travelers seems to be a serious interest, as there were two other folks there and one more arriving in the morning. One British chap was riding his bike around the world. He was 18 months into his trip and he was nearly finished – just a brisk bike ride across North America remaining. His favorite routes were through Kazakhstan and Laos. According to him, Vietnam was ‘too touristy.’
The other guest was making her way to California. She coincidentally worked for a bike touring company and was headed down for a reunion of sorts. The German guy that arrived in the morning was headed to Chile next. Nice folks – the world is full of them.
After crashing at Kivas, we checked out Squamish briefly and then headed for Vancouver proper.
We decided to stay downtown and proceeded to check out the sights and diverse dining. Japadog was delicious. A hot dog with seaweed tastes way better than it sounds. The first bite just tastes like bratwurst, the second like an Alaskan Roll (must be the Japanese mayo), the rest like a weird mix of the two that’s oddly delicious.
Exercising your taste buds is one of the main things to enjoy in Vancouver. Random Indian food – worked well for us. Sushi a few blocks away – yum! Italian – just as good as anywhere. Dim sum… yes indeed – if only we can find you everywhere else in the world. Poutine? Tastes way better than it looks.
It wasn’t all about eating. Bode loved the Science museum. He liked riding the water taxi over to Granville Island, but the market, brewery, and ‘kids only’ thing was otherwise pretty forgettable. Stanley Park was nice, but it was cold and there were no other kids around. We had been moving around a bit recently, so we planned on being here a few days so everyone could have some down-time and lounge around. We’re not going to see it all, so we may as well relax and save some stuff for next time.
I am not believing that Miss Spaghetti-O’s ate Japadog! How about Bode… any Seaweed allergies?
Hello. I’m so glad you found weelife! And then I could find you. You have the cutest blog ever. I can’t wait to browse around and get an idea of where you’ve been and where you are going. It sounds like you are doing up our region well. I wish I could make more recommendations. How long are you in Vancouver? What kinds of things do you like to do? How old is your little guy? [cute!]. What does he love?
I’m in the process of writing up some parent friendly places to eat with their little ones. And Japadog is on my list! So you’ve got one tick there. Here’s another one that’s great if you are looking for a modern-belgian-brunchy-experience:
“MEDINA
Belgian Cuisine | Brunch
http://www.medinacafe.com/
556 Beatty Street
604 879 3114
Kiddie fare = ordering individual waffles with choice of carefully
gourmet-concocted toppings. There are plenty of delicious reasons for mom and dad to enjoy this restaurant as well. My favourite is the Fricassée: eggs, short ribs, potatoes and apples elegantly dolloped with applewood smoked cheddar, all served on a don’t-let-the-kiddies-get-near-this-sizzling-hot pan. This is a very popular meeting place and line ups can get pretty long. We’ve noticed that line ups in places like this tend to surge on the hour, when people typically meet; we’ve had good success avoiding long line ups by showing up 15 minutes before popular meeting times (eg 10:45 am instead of 11 am for brunch).”
I’d be happy to give you more if you let me know what you guys are into. Happy travels!
jackie.
bode + 25 years is just wayyyyyyyyyyy too creepy!
I LOVE poutine. Trying to make it with U.S.-made cheese curds and gravy just isn’t the same.
Julie – did you see Bode at 70 years? That’s even wackier! He won’t even have gray hair. Way to go Bode!
Actually, now I’m dying with curiosity to know whether Ang and Jason dared to look into the future, too…come on guys, post your pics!
I can’t put my finger on it, but Bode looks like someone else at 25. I thought it was Willie Aames, but I can’t find a photo that resembles him.
Yes, I did the age-inator too, but luckily my photo of it didn’t come out. Rest assured, it was horrible.
Karen- you got me. No Japadog for me, but I did finish off the Poutine!
bode at 25 …. hhhmmm, let me think. who does he look like. scratching my head. oh, yes – it’s JASON at 25!!!!!!!!!!! shocking.
I think Gary and Evelyn got it….William Katt from Greatest American Hero
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Katt
OMG – yes!
http://epguides.com/GreatestAmericanHero/cast.jpg
but i still think it’s more fun to think that bode looks like nick nolte.
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/mugshots/nolte1.html
Just rejoined the convo finally and am laughing my arse off! Thanks Gary & Evelyn!
Oh, and Julie, too, of course!