2016 Road Trip, part 7: Vancouver Adventures

I spent a relaxing couple days in Vancouver, partly to visit folks. Got a B&B on Victoria drive that was rather nice. If you're following around, this is a type 2 (mother-in-law suite rented out to make the mortgage), or so I thought. When I checked in, I met the landlord who was upstairs. She showed me around the place and also gave me a warning about her being a musician who sometimes practiced the piano. Oh, and she had a son who would practice drumming - but they'd make sure to keep it to a minimum, and not do it at all at night. As I don't spend a lot of time in my B&Bs, I wasn't too fussed. A few days later, she contacted me to let me know that three French couples were renting the rest of the house. Where she and her son went during this time I have no idea. The French couples? Loud and boisterous, but never when I was trying to sleep. Vive la France!

I went on a shopping spree at Gourmet Warehouse. I need to remember to actually do something with all those ingredients. Actually, I've already started. Between that, Nelson, and Leavenworth, I bought a lot of food.

Bought a pillow and a light jacket at the thrift store. The jacket was because I had somehow forgotten to pack one, and it being Vancouver, the rain was starting. The pillow? I left it at the B&B.

"Did you forget a pillow here?"
"I didn't forget it. I just thought the suite needed one more pillow."
"Um. Ok."

It really did need one more pillow.

That night I went to see Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates. Ultimately it was a forgettable little bit of summer fluff. If there's a reason to see it, it's Aubrey Plaza and Anna Kendrick, who have some great comic timing by themselves, and are better than the sum of their parts in this movie. Don't let me oversell it. It's OK with a few funny bits. Wait for Netflix.

Tuesday I had lunch with Ryanzilla, went thrift shopping, because apparently that's how I roll.

That night, I went to see Tickled. At first, it seems to be a weird documentary about a competitive tickling league. Spoilers: there is no league, it's a scam. it's actually about how a sociopath's wealth and kinks ruin lives. Well worth watching, if only for the train of WTFs that arrive at your mental train station as things are revealed.

Wednesday included a visit to FlyOver Canada. Was it good? Mostly. Kind of expensive. There's a pre-show that head-faked me. It's a montage of adorably photogenic folks from around the country. And then it ended, and I thought "did I just pay $22 for this?" And then we went to the main show, which was a fun 15 minute of high-def fly-over footage of my beautiful country, while you're strapped into a chair hanging in the middle of the screen so that it fills your field of view. Also, they spray you with mist at appropriate moments. Worth it? Sure.

That night I visited whiggy_one and somejauntypolka at Storm Crow Prime. Much fun was had.

Thursday morning I took Athena to the ferry terminal, and had a nice wander around Granville island. Bought some ingredients and drive out to Port Wood to socialize with garething and welcome othelianna back to Vancouver. Oh, and to cook dinner. Not my best creation, but no one complained, or even had gut-wrenching nausea.

It occurs to me that I was there when Rosie left Vancouver, and I was there when she came back. *smiles*

Next morning I met her at the Clubhouse for lunch, and then I was on my way back to Calgary, albeit in a leisurely fashion.

All in all, a nice relaxing trip to Van. I didn't get to see everyone I hoped to see, but that's usually the way of these things. There'll be other visits.

( Here are some pictures, behind the cut... )