This Year’s Love, Part One of Two
Last Thursday, Sept. 18th, Chris and I set out on I-5, headed north toward a destination Chris had pre-selected for our one year! anniversary festivities, a destination that I was left to guess with the help of a CD Chris created laden with “hints,” as he called them.
It should herein be stated for the record that Chris is the musical genius in our relationship, and he also rests easily at the musical helm with regard to overwhelming and uncanny knowledge that will ensure we will beat you at the music portion of Trivial Pursuit without me ever needing to answer a single question. I say that only to illustrate that his idea of “hints,” musically speaking, means that nine times out of ten he will be sitting there smugly, laughing while I continue to have no idea as to what these carefully selected songs and artists are supposed to be alluding.
“Um. What does the song Constant Craving have to do with our anniversary? Are we going to the vampire city?”
More smug smiles. “Maybe.”
“No, that’s not it. It’s probably something completely obscure, like all of the artists are from the same city, and of course I will never guess that.”
“Do you want me to tell you?”
“No, not yet. Let me see if I can figure it out. I totally won’t, but I’m not giving up yet.”
An hour later and I still had no idea where we were going, save for that we were surely headed toward Seattle, or through Seattle, or toward the general vicinity of Seattle.
When Chris finally caved, he cheerfully exclaimed that all of the artists on the CD were from (Yep! I never would have guessed it!) CANADA! And that’s where we were headed. Vancouver first, and then on to visit Angella D. & family, at which point in the declaring I nearly passed out from the sheer and unexpected awesomeness.
It turns out, Chris and Angella are quite skilled in the art of covert trip-planning, and I had NO idea they had been working together for weeks and weeks to plan a trip that quickly and ultimately became our all-time favorite, ever.
Having left Portland at 5:00pm, around 11:00pm we ended the first portion of our Canadian road trip in downtown Vancouver, and about five minutes after arriving at The Fairmont we were sure we weren’t going to be able to leave without being forcibly removed from the premises.
In addition to everyone we came into contact with both associated with the hotel and indifferent to it being insanely cordial and welcoming, our room was incredible, with a view of the Vancouver Art Gallery and the downtown streets beyond, and our bed was so comfortable it would have made leaving our room difficult had we not been clamoring to see the sights and sounds of Vancouver during our two-day stay.
That first night we wandered around the hotel for a few minutes until we found Joey’s, a lively bar & restaurant that was still serving food and drinks, and where I fell a little bit in love with a B.C. brew called “Pinup Pudding.”
We spent all of Friday wandering about downtown Vancouver, after breakfast at The Elbow Room Cafe stopping at a vintage shop called Retro Rock, where apparently Michael Madsen had been a week prior, and meeting and talking to a street artist who was in the middle of finishing a fantastic mural in an alley off Davie, ultimately making our way to Stanley Park where we spent the rest of the afternoon traipsing about the 1,000 acres of wooded parkland, making pit-stops at the Vancouver Aquarium and a cozy restaurant in the middle of the park to warm up with coffee and seafood chowder, with myriad stops for photo-ops along the way.
This is my favorite shot of that Friday, taken just a few minutes after we entered Stanley Park, looking out over part of the channel, waterfront Vancouver reflected in a busy marina:
When we started to lose the light we reluctantly finished meandering around Stanley Park and headed back to the hotel to relax and freshen up before our final night out in Vancouver. Around 8:30pm, after many a wardrobe change on my part, we finally made it down to one of two restaurants in the lobby of the hotel to have a glass of wine and a cheese & fruit plate. Our friendly server (Hi! Grace) chatted with us, asking us where we were from and why we were visiting, ultimately suggesting Bin 941 for a continuation of drinks and dinner when Chris asked for her recommendation on an authentic Vancouver wine bar.
We took a cab and found an eclectic hole-in-the-wall tapas restaurant that would be easily missed from the street if you weren’t looking for it. Packed when we first arrived, we waited thirty minutes for a table, and didn’t regret it for a minute of that thirty, their food being absolutely incredible and their atmosphere boasting small and large groups who sat around for hours, laughing and talking, their voices easily becoming lost in music pumping loud enough so as to vibrate every seat in the house.
The next morning we slept in and made it out of the hotel by noon, the streets drenched in rain that had started to fall earlier that morning, apparently the first rainfall Vancouver had experienced in months. After acquiring friendly directions as to the easiest way to catch Highway 1 in our intended direction, we left the rain and our new favorite city behind, headed toward warmer Summerland.
(Part two of the anniversary trip recap coming soon and very soon. Until then, here is my photoset from the trip, and Chris’ is here.)
We spent our first wedding anniversary in Vancouver, too! We only stayed one night, but I remember LOVING the city much more than I thought I would. The highlight of our trip was watching World Cup soccer (this was two years ago) in some random pub on Robson surrounded by people from all the over the world. Vancouver is much more international than, say, Seattle or Portland, and I hope to visit again soon.
So glad you guys had such an awesome trip! Both of your sets of pictures on Flickr are lovely.
I am printing this post out and mailing it anonymously to Bill.
Yay Vancouver! And yay you guys :)
So glad you had an awesome time! That picture of downtown made me miss it so much!
What a cool husband! I want someone to make me a cd of hints as to where I’m going someday! That is right up my alley. I’ve been dying to visit Vancouver. I’ve heard nothing but good things about it!
Are you quoting a David Gray song in the title?
What an awesome surprise. As if I wasn’t already convinced of Chris’s fabulousness, this seals it.
And now I want to visit Vancouver. I haven’t been in AGES.
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I am indeed! quoting a David Gray song in the title. One of my all-time favorites. :)