An Epic Vancouver Tale!
Aug. 15th, 2005 10:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jamesqI had been planning a flight with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
hislittlekitty (K) for about a month, and it finally happened this weekend. Just four days and three nights, Friday to Monday. Just a quick little trip to see the fireworks and to see if I could spend large amounts of time with K. In this regard, the trip was a success.
K and I met friday morning after my latest trip to the therapist (wherin my lack of practice with a car has been linked to my anxiety problems. Now my homework is to rent a car and go driving). We went back to my place so I could get my backpack and wait for a cab. Then it was off to the airport for a quick hop over the mountains to Vancouver.
While waiting at Westjet to get our boarding pass, some woman went to the head of the line and asked the person there if she could go ahead of him. The guy said "no", so she waited behind him - in front of us.
The flight was uneventful and we ended up in Vancouver as planned. A quick bus ride to the Jolly Taxpayer and we checked into our room. We quickly discovered that, while the Jolly Taxpayer is a decent enough hotel the rest of the year, it's not a good choice during high summer. The rooms don't have air conditioning - it was stinking hot in there!
We hung around for a bit, then went to meetchris9871 at The Clubhouse. A quick ride on the Skytrain, and a short walk to the restaurant and we were there. Afterwards, we walked to Granville Island (which was closer than I thought) for Theatre Sports. It was a little more risque than I would have predicted, owing to the emcee having a higher tolerance for questionable material than I would. Not that I didn't enjoy it mind you - I was surprised, not disappointed. The game was a tie, which I disagree with (I thought the Burquitlam Lions were the funnier team - especially their captain, who looked like a human version of Squidbert.
Afterwards, we cabbed it back to the hotel and tried to get some sleep in the 40 degree heat. I've always wanted to end up in bed with a woman, sweaty, naked and exhausted. In my imagination it wasn't because of heat stroke though.
Saturday was the day that K and I just hung around. We woke up exhausted from the stupid heat, went outside and immediately relaxed because it was a normal temperature. This was when I got my bright (but dishonest) idea.
The idea was to go to Future Shop and buy an air conditioner, use it in the room for the next two days, then return it under their thirty day return plan. I hated it when this happened to me at Office Depot, but desperate times call for desperate actions. I got the AC and muscled it back to the hotel. Climbed the 50 stairs (I counted) to the top. K and I spent about 1/2 an hour getting it installed. Then the room cooled down and we collapsed into a much needed 2 hour nap. Ahhh.
Suitably rested, we went window shopping up Granville and Robson. We stopped off at the Virgin Store (which is closing out - I'm saddened by this, but not surprised). We took the ferry over to Granville Island, where we spent a couple of hours hanging out. I bought a CD and K bought a dragon. Of course, taking K to DragonSpace is like taking a alcoholic to Octoberfest. She did alk away from the store for a few hours between the falling in love and the paying gobs of cash.
After much wandering about the so-called island, we settled in to Sammy J. Peppers for supper. As usual, it was a combination of decent food and discriminatory hiring practices. We took the ferry back across to downtown and wandered towards the fireworks display.
We didn't get as close to the fireworks as I would have liked, but we still had a decent enough view. We waited a few hours for them to start and scandalized everyone within earshot with our adult talk. It was fun, thought he kids nearby probably needed to ask their parents for some new definitions.
The fireworks were good - I saw several new types that I had not seen before, and that's also a treat. Someone nearby had a radio so we could hear the music that the fireworks were allegedly in time to.
The fireworks we saw were the final showing, consisting of 10 minute displays by each of the three countries that competed. it was sort of a medley of the previous three shows. Canada had a technically good display to the songs of Louis Armstrong. Sweden had an OK presentation to a medley of ABBA and China had what I thought was the most enjoyable and innovative show to some classical Chinese music that I've never heard before. Why Sweden won is beyond me, maybe all the judges were gay.
Afterwards we walked across downtown to the hotel. It was a nice walk, but marred somewhat by the distance combined with the need to urinate. First we tried a supermarket on Burrard.
There were actually a number of fireworks tourists wandering around. K was wondering if it was a good idea to invade a hotel we weren't staying in. I told her the two rules about invading hotels:
And then disaster struck. We got back to our own hotel and discovered that the air conditioner had broke down sometime during the day! It wasn't quite as hot as the night before, but it was still pretty miserable. Once again we were reduced to a state were the thought of actually touching each other was horrifying because of the stickiness.
On the bright side, I was prevented from committing petty fraud by the fact that the air conditioned was eminently returnable, which I did the next morning after breakfast. We also checked out of the Jolly Taxpayer (and they could have stiffed us for the third night, but didn't - they might not have had air conditioning, but they did have good customer service) and went across downtown to the Howard Johnsons.
Future Shop didn't argue too much, but they did try to get me to exchange the unit. I obviously wasn't interested in another air conditioner that couldn't handle a 100 square foot room, plus i'd already solved the problem.
We went to Bellagio for breakfast on Sunday and it was pretty good - an upscale little bistro on Hornsby and Robson. It had professional servers (as opposed to university students or Australians) and the food was pretty good. Afterwards we checked into the new hotel and crashed for several hours.
Sunday's adventures began with us going to Commercial Drive (notable in that I have never been there - except for one coffee shop years ago - despite the numerous times I've been to Vancouver) to meet slavewench! She told us to meet her at a street artists fair at Commercial and Argyle. We got there and discovered it was wee. So wee that it took all of two minutes to check the place out. Phones were used to track each other down and we retired to Gelato Time for some gelato, natch. I had a cone and K had a cup.
Notable things on Commercial Drive:slavewench and her would-be suitor D. I heard later that D had a bit of a meltdown so it was a pretty short relationship. Ask slavewench if you really must know the details
We were having such a good time that we didn't want it to end, so instead of continuing to sample the culinary fare of Commercial Drive, we went downtown and watched Wedding Crashers, possibly the funniest movie I've seen in a long long time. How funny was it? We couldn't hear some of the lines because the audience couldn't stop laughing! I will be owning this movie when it comes out.
On the way we watched this guy painting pictures. slavewench bought one. So did D. I probably should have bought one, but I couldn't think how to keep from crushing it in my luggage.
Things petered out after the movie, K and I went back to the hotel andslavewench and D went off to the wilds of Burnaby. It was an exhausting day so we crashed upon reaching the hotel. We slept and slept and slept - because it was the first time in days that we were actually comfortable.
The next morning we had to check out at noon, we woke up at ten so that gave us two hours to kill. We did what any young couple in a hotel would do under those circumstances - we watched The Golden Child on TBS.
What followed was a delightful afternoon of hanging out with vRyan,somejauntypolka, and whiggy_one. We did some window shopping, had a round of cosmic burgers at Sophie's Cosmic Cafe. Good food, good friends, good times. Mmm.
It had to end sometime, and the time for us was when we had to catch our flight back to Cowtown. As luck would have it, K tried to pick up one of the flight attendants for me and another one distracted her for half the flight. I love these guys, I might occasionally be able to get a cheaper flight from Air Canada, but this kind of service from Westjet is worth so much more. I should send a letter to the company, but I cannot remember what the guy's name was.
So it was a damn fine trip. I rate it a seven - but it lost a few points due to the heat. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
Oh and I didn't gain any weight, despite eating like a hog. Could it be that my metabolism is higher now? Please?
hislittlekitty (K) for about a month, and it finally happened this weekend. Just four days and three nights, Friday to Monday. Just a quick little trip to see the fireworks and to see if I could spend large amounts of time with K. In this regard, the trip was a success.K and I met friday morning after my latest trip to the therapist (wherin my lack of practice with a car has been linked to my anxiety problems. Now my homework is to rent a car and go driving). We went back to my place so I could get my backpack and wait for a cab. Then it was off to the airport for a quick hop over the mountains to Vancouver.
While waiting at Westjet to get our boarding pass, some woman went to the head of the line and asked the person there if she could go ahead of him. The guy said "no", so she waited behind him - in front of us.
"Hey lady, you didn't ask to butt in front of me."I did go ahead of her, but I should have responded with this:
"Oh, well if you're in a hurray, I'll let you go ahead of me."
"First, you're not letting me do anything - you butted ahead of me in line and I'm not letting you get away with it. Second, did you ask everyone else in line if they wanted to be later because of your rudeness."The best comebacks always come too late.
The flight was uneventful and we ended up in Vancouver as planned. A quick bus ride to the Jolly Taxpayer and we checked into our room. We quickly discovered that, while the Jolly Taxpayer is a decent enough hotel the rest of the year, it's not a good choice during high summer. The rooms don't have air conditioning - it was stinking hot in there!
We hung around for a bit, then went to meet
chris9871 at The Clubhouse. A quick ride on the Skytrain, and a short walk to the restaurant and we were there. Afterwards, we walked to Granville Island (which was closer than I thought) for Theatre Sports. It was a little more risque than I would have predicted, owing to the emcee having a higher tolerance for questionable material than I would. Not that I didn't enjoy it mind you - I was surprised, not disappointed. The game was a tie, which I disagree with (I thought the Burquitlam Lions were the funnier team - especially their captain, who looked like a human version of Squidbert.Afterwards, we cabbed it back to the hotel and tried to get some sleep in the 40 degree heat. I've always wanted to end up in bed with a woman, sweaty, naked and exhausted. In my imagination it wasn't because of heat stroke though.
Saturday was the day that K and I just hung around. We woke up exhausted from the stupid heat, went outside and immediately relaxed because it was a normal temperature. This was when I got my bright (but dishonest) idea.
The idea was to go to Future Shop and buy an air conditioner, use it in the room for the next two days, then return it under their thirty day return plan. I hated it when this happened to me at Office Depot, but desperate times call for desperate actions. I got the AC and muscled it back to the hotel. Climbed the 50 stairs (I counted) to the top. K and I spent about 1/2 an hour getting it installed. Then the room cooled down and we collapsed into a much needed 2 hour nap. Ahhh.
Suitably rested, we went window shopping up Granville and Robson. We stopped off at the Virgin Store (which is closing out - I'm saddened by this, but not surprised). We took the ferry over to Granville Island, where we spent a couple of hours hanging out. I bought a CD and K bought a dragon. Of course, taking K to DragonSpace is like taking a alcoholic to Octoberfest. She did alk away from the store for a few hours between the falling in love and the paying gobs of cash.
After much wandering about the so-called island, we settled in to Sammy J. Peppers for supper. As usual, it was a combination of decent food and discriminatory hiring practices. We took the ferry back across to downtown and wandered towards the fireworks display.
We didn't get as close to the fireworks as I would have liked, but we still had a decent enough view. We waited a few hours for them to start and scandalized everyone within earshot with our adult talk. It was fun, thought he kids nearby probably needed to ask their parents for some new definitions.
The fireworks were good - I saw several new types that I had not seen before, and that's also a treat. Someone nearby had a radio so we could hear the music that the fireworks were allegedly in time to.
The fireworks we saw were the final showing, consisting of 10 minute displays by each of the three countries that competed. it was sort of a medley of the previous three shows. Canada had a technically good display to the songs of Louis Armstrong. Sweden had an OK presentation to a medley of ABBA and China had what I thought was the most enjoyable and innovative show to some classical Chinese music that I've never heard before. Why Sweden won is beyond me, maybe all the judges were gay.
Afterwards we walked across downtown to the hotel. It was a nice walk, but marred somewhat by the distance combined with the need to urinate. First we tried a supermarket on Burrard.
"Where's the washrooms"So we went to the high end hotel next door.
"They're out of order"
"Suuuuuure they are. Do they get any less out of order if you buy something?"
"They're locked - did you think they'd be open with a quarter million people downtown?"
There were actually a number of fireworks tourists wandering around. K was wondering if it was a good idea to invade a hotel we weren't staying in. I told her the two rules about invading hotels:
1) Look like you belong.Thus we ended up in the middle of Mike and Mariah's wedding. We found some washrooms (cloth towels - fancy!) and then we were on our way.
2) Get to the convention areas right away instead of hanging around in the lobby.
And then disaster struck. We got back to our own hotel and discovered that the air conditioner had broke down sometime during the day! It wasn't quite as hot as the night before, but it was still pretty miserable. Once again we were reduced to a state were the thought of actually touching each other was horrifying because of the stickiness.
On the bright side, I was prevented from committing petty fraud by the fact that the air conditioned was eminently returnable, which I did the next morning after breakfast. We also checked out of the Jolly Taxpayer (and they could have stiffed us for the third night, but didn't - they might not have had air conditioning, but they did have good customer service) and went across downtown to the Howard Johnsons.
Future Shop didn't argue too much, but they did try to get me to exchange the unit. I obviously wasn't interested in another air conditioner that couldn't handle a 100 square foot room, plus i'd already solved the problem.
We went to Bellagio for breakfast on Sunday and it was pretty good - an upscale little bistro on Hornsby and Robson. It had professional servers (as opposed to university students or Australians) and the food was pretty good. Afterwards we checked into the new hotel and crashed for several hours.
Sunday's adventures began with us going to Commercial Drive (notable in that I have never been there - except for one coffee shop years ago - despite the numerous times I've been to Vancouver) to meet slavewench! She told us to meet her at a street artists fair at Commercial and Argyle. We got there and discovered it was wee. So wee that it took all of two minutes to check the place out. Phones were used to track each other down and we retired to Gelato Time for some gelato, natch. I had a cone and K had a cup.
Notable things on Commercial Drive:
1) Womyn's Ware - the most wholesome and friendly sex shop ever!In short, we had a great day window shopping with
2) Frenchie's, this great little diner that serves Montreal smoked meat sandwiches and poutine.
3) Many many subversive little shops full of left wing T-shirts. I even bought one that suited me. I'm sure it will go over great at work. I also got one of these! Now I just need a car to put it on.
slavewench and her would-be suitor D. I heard later that D had a bit of a meltdown so it was a pretty short relationship. Ask slavewench if you really must know the detailsWe were having such a good time that we didn't want it to end, so instead of continuing to sample the culinary fare of Commercial Drive, we went downtown and watched Wedding Crashers, possibly the funniest movie I've seen in a long long time. How funny was it? We couldn't hear some of the lines because the audience couldn't stop laughing! I will be owning this movie when it comes out.
On the way we watched this guy painting pictures. slavewench bought one. So did D. I probably should have bought one, but I couldn't think how to keep from crushing it in my luggage.
Things petered out after the movie, K and I went back to the hotel and
slavewench and D went off to the wilds of Burnaby. It was an exhausting day so we crashed upon reaching the hotel. We slept and slept and slept - because it was the first time in days that we were actually comfortable.The next morning we had to check out at noon, we woke up at ten so that gave us two hours to kill. We did what any young couple in a hotel would do under those circumstances - we watched The Golden Child on TBS.
What followed was a delightful afternoon of hanging out with vRyan,
somejauntypolka, and whiggy_one. We did some window shopping, had a round of cosmic burgers at Sophie's Cosmic Cafe. Good food, good friends, good times. Mmm.It had to end sometime, and the time for us was when we had to catch our flight back to Cowtown. As luck would have it, K tried to pick up one of the flight attendants for me and another one distracted her for half the flight. I love these guys, I might occasionally be able to get a cheaper flight from Air Canada, but this kind of service from Westjet is worth so much more. I should send a letter to the company, but I cannot remember what the guy's name was.
So it was a damn fine trip. I rate it a seven - but it lost a few points due to the heat. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
Oh and I didn't gain any weight, despite eating like a hog. Could it be that my metabolism is higher now? Please?
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Nice fish too.
Date: 2005-08-17 01:19 pm (UTC)In my mind it would be nothing but bones and a spine, and the bones would vaguely spell "Jesus"...
yeah, it's a stupid idea that wouldn't look god on a car... sosueme...