Visiting Vancouver

This weekend, Tom and I caught a flight out to Vancouver to do some visiting. Tom's brother, Andrew, moved out to Burnaby in April to do a 12-14 month field rotation at his company's pipeline terminal. We stayed with Andrew at his condo near SFU and did some sightseeing. We arrived late on Thursday, and decided to start fresh on Friday afternoon.

First we took the gondola up Grouse Mountain. The weather wasn't exactly cooperating, so it rained continuously while we were on the mountain.

Grouse Mountain Gondola Tower.

View off the mountain.

Andrew texting Ashley, while taking in the rainy view.

Grouse Mountain resident, "Grinder" the grizzly bear.

We had sushi for dinner, and let me tell you, it was DELICIOUS! Salmon sashimi was fantastic! And it was so cheap compared to at home! The three of us ate until we were completely full, and it was only $55!!

On Saturday I made a batch of blueberry lemon muffins to fuel us for the day. Then we drove down to Gastown to meet up with Heather for lunch. A jazz festival was going on outside the restaurant, so we were able to hear some live music while we ate and caught up on the latest gossip.

Later in the afternoon the clouds cleared up and we headed into Stanley Park. We walked down to the beach and came across a family of geese. This dumbass kid (pictured below) kept trying to sneak up on the geese. I'm not exactly sure what his ultimate goal was (maybe to touch the goslings?), but he got close enough that on two occasions the geese hissed at him in warning. He really didn't seem to be taking the hint, and I secretly hoped that one of the geese would peck at him.

A family of geese harassed by a dumb child.

Geese with their three goslings.

We also saw a sea otter during our walk through Stanley Park. Prior to that, I had only seen otters at the zoo!

After Stanley Park we headed to Granville Island for a seafood dinner at the Sandbar Restaurant. Tom and Andrew had salmon, and I had scallops. We also stopped at a swanky Gelato restaurant for some dessert.

Our final stop on Sunday was at Tom and Andrew's aunt and uncle's house in Richmond. Tom's Uncle Bob BBQ'd up some burgers, and despite a large amount of smoke, managed to keep his small BBQ fire contained. Their Aunt Corinne also made one mean strawberry rhubarb crips! We also visited with Tom's great aunt Marg, and his cousin (once removed) Lorraine.

Me and Peanut enjoying the backyard patio.

Peanut, circa 2008.

I had a very pleasant romp in the backyard with Peanut, a pug/mini Pincher mix. He's pretty much the silliest looking dog I've ever seen, but very sweet. He has long spindly legs and sometimes his jowls don't quite cover all his teeth, so you can see his underbite. I think if Peanut were in a children's movie where dogs talked, he would have a mobster-style accent.

And after a very satisfying weekend, we jetted back to Calgary. Thanks for hosting us, Andrew! Your condo is great!

Now it's only a three day work-week until the Canada Day long weekend.

Woo-hooooo!