Vacation Recapt - Part Uno

Hola bloggies!

I'm feeling much better and as promised all ready to begin my vacation review. I'm excited to show you where I went and what I got up to. I can only hope that the pictures begin to remotely do justice to the places I visited.

I doubt they will but I will try my very best! :o)

But first let's take care of some business!


Running Towards a Half - Update

Thursday, June 11th

Woo! This one hurt peeps. :o(

Today's workout called for a 2 mile run and strength training. Needless to say this was my first run in a long time and I could tell. My legs were killing me! Everything was tight! 'Twas terrible.

In fact my exchange with the fiance at the beginning of our run went something like this:

Me: OW!

Fiance: What's wrong?

Me: My legs!!! They feel like they weigh a ton!

Fiance: Ummm . . .

Me: Must be 'cause they're full of tacos!

LOL That's right. I attribute the pain in my legs to the tacos I ate! :oP In all seriousness I didn't consume many tacos. I think it was just that I hadn't properly stretched in so long even my shins managed to hurt.

As a result I ended up walking part of my run tonight and I substituted strength training with stretching instead. I figure I can catch up on the strength stuff tomorrow.


Vacation Recap - Part Uno

Okay - here's the beginning of the long awaited vacation review. :o)

On the Wednesday before my vacation I got to cut out of work early. You see I was there to help with a particular court matter but it didn't end up going ahead. So I got leave! I was a very happy camper especially since that meant we got an early start on our 10 hour drive from the Rocky Mountains to Vancouver via the United States.

We drove and drove on that day! Alright - so the fiance drove and I dozed in and out of consciousness. :oP But it was still exhausting!

The fiance was particularly happy to be heading to Van mostly because he had not returned to the West Coast in one whole year!! That's a long time for a guy who was born and raised in a beautiful island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. You should have seen his face when we hit Seattle. It started to look familiar and he was just about giddy.

That night we slept right near the U.S. - Canada border. The next morning we woke up early and drove straight to the airport where we met my mom! :o) It had been a long time since I'd hung out with my madre and I was thrilled to see her again.

I was also thrilled to show my mother the beautiful city of Vancouver:


Just about the first thing we did after arriving in (well right after checking into our awesome hotel) was to take my mom on a walk/drive through Vancouver's Crown Jewel - Stanley Park. This park is what I consider to be the very life blood of the city. It's a huge and fantastic place full of restaurants, stunning totem poles, jogging trails, old growth Red Woods, and beautiful gardens.

As expected my mom was suitably impressed. But she was also hungry! After some searching we settled on takeout from Raincity Grill on nearby Denman Street:


For $10 we got a beautiful meal in recycled takeout containers. All ready for a beach picnic! We feasted on halibut, yummy chips, coleslaw, tartar sauce, and an ice cold bottle of water.

It was seriously yummy and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this take-out fish and chips window. Especially since it was such a ridiculously good deal for such yummy high quality eats!

After our lunch we continued exploring Stanley Park before heading back to our hotel and relaxing for a bit. My mom had traveled all the way from Toronto on an early flight and the fiance and I were still tired from our road trip of the previous day. There may or may not have been a bit of a nap.

It felt utterly fantastic! I'm a HUGE fan of Westin's Heavenly Beds. In fact I'm liable to book only Westin hotels from now as long as they have those beds. Eventually I may give in and buy one for my home. lol

After our nap we headed out to meet the fiance's parents. They'd traveled from Vancouver Island to meet up with us and were thrilled to see their son again. :o)

The boy and his family love nothing more than to go on really lengthy walks near the waterfront. And that's what we did . . . the walk provided us with a great opportunity to play catch up with our parents. All the while taking in the wonderful sights of the bustling Vancouver harbour:


For dinner I thought it was high time I introduce the fiance's parents and my mom to the wonders of Korean cuisine. I was successful in luring them to the restaurant by promising "it's just bbq!" :oP

Shortly after our arrival we were provided with the usual free side dishes that are served in Korean restaurants:


For the main course I chose a spicy stew. It was good but not as good as the one I had on my last visit to Vancouver:


Having said that my mom's grilled beef was out of this world!!! Clearly every restaurant has their specialty and this particular place specialized in delicious bbq!

Dinner turned out be a huge success! In fact even the fiance's father loved the food - something which I frankly never intended! :o)

After dinner we walked a bit more and then headed back to our respective hotels. It was time to rest up and look forward to the reason for the whole trip - my Call to the Bar Ceremony the next day!


To be Continued . . . .