(M&T)2 DO VANCOUVER!
Tuesday July 31st I flew from Toronto to Vancouver with a few extra people - Tom's parents: Tom & Mary! They were here for a 1 week visit and Tom Jr. (will be referred to as Tommy for the rest of this entry) had a lot planned.
Day #1: Day of arrival. Tom & Mary took a hope on/hope off bus tour around the city. They went to Gastown, Chinatown, Stanley Park and Granville Island. Around 6pm they were at our apartment waiting for Tommy to get home for dinner. Once he was home from work, we jumped in the car and headed to Third Beach in Stanley Park for a BBQ dinner of homemade hamburgers and potato salad.
Day #2: Tom & Mary continued on their bus tour in the morning where they ended up going through art galleries in Gastown. After a quick lunch I met them at the Vancouver Art Gallery to see the exhibit "Monet to Dali". The paintings were beautiful, obviously! After the gallery we headed over to Caffe Artigiano for a fancy coffee. That night we treated ourselves and had a wonderful dinner at the Raincity Grill and finished off the evening at English Bay watching the Celebration of Lights fireworks.
Day #3: This was a relaxing day for everyone, it was the calm before the storm...Tom & Mary did some shopping, napping, reading and just plain relaxing. Around 6:30pm they were at our apartment for a quick pesto pasta dinner because by 7:30pm we were off to Bard on the Beach to see Timon of Athens a Shakespeare play rarely put into production.
Day #4: And the storm begins!!!! The storm I like to call: "Tommy drives over 1000kms in 3 days"! Yes. 1000 kms in 3 days. Friday morning we packed up the car and began our 3 day roadtrip. Our first day was Vancouver to Osoyoos which is about 400 kms. We did a few stops along the way: The city of Hope, Manning Park for a hike through alpine meadows, Headley and finally a farmers market. We arrived just in time for dinner in Osoyoos.
Day #5: On this second day of our roadtrip we checked out the Desert Information Center and two wineries: Nk' Mip and Mission Hill. But this day was our most eventful and the most heart pounding of all! When we left Kelown on our way to Merritt the gas tank indicated just over a 1/4 tank of gas was left. With only 100kms to drive, we figured we'd be ok. WRONG! The road in between Kelowna and Merritt is a straight highway that goes over a huge mountain with no off ramps or cities, towns or GAS STATIONS along the way. So when we reached the peak of the mountain Tommy announced: The gas light is on. Great. We frantically checked the map, kept our eyes open for any indication of a gas station but nothing. So we kept driving hoping that we'd make it considering we were driving downhill for the next hour before entered Merritt. Well, we just made it. Mary & I were jumping in our seats and crying for joy when we finally saw a gas station. We ended up putting 59 gallons into the tank...Not much left when the size of the gas tank is only 60 gallons!!!! That night we had a great dinner at a small local diner where we got some gossip about a potential arson at the old hotel from an elderly couple sitting next to us - quite scandalous!
Day #6 - Our last and final day on the road. We off around 9am and drove from Merritt back to Vancouver with stops in 1) Lytton (where the Fraser & the Thompson Rivers meet), 2) Lillooet (where we had lunch), 3) viewpoints to admire the mountains, 4) Joffre Lakes to check out a glacier lake, and then finally 5) Whistler where we took the gondola to the top and went on a hike through some more alpine meadows. After Whistler we headed back to Vancouver for a well deserved sushi dinner.
Day #7 - Tom & Mary's final day in Vancouver. It was a nice relaxing day. We attempted to go to the Van Dusen Botanical Gardens, which were unfortunately on strike, so instead we headed over to UBC where we visited a Japanese garden and then the Museum of Anthropology. In the museum we got to see on of Bill Reid's most famous sculptures, which was fantastic and incredibly beautiful! After some more relaxing we pilled back into the car and headed over to Grouse Mountain. We walked around at the top, took a short chairlift ride (which was weird without skis!) and then went to say hello to the grizzly bears. We ended our day with a wonderful dinner at The Observatory Restaurant at the top of Grouse Mountain.
We had a great time and saw some spectacular mountains, desert and lakes.
Come back soon T & M!!!
Enjoy the PICTURES
Tuesday July 31st I flew from Toronto to Vancouver with a few extra people - Tom's parents: Tom & Mary! They were here for a 1 week visit and Tom Jr. (will be referred to as Tommy for the rest of this entry) had a lot planned.
Day #1: Day of arrival. Tom & Mary took a hope on/hope off bus tour around the city. They went to Gastown, Chinatown, Stanley Park and Granville Island. Around 6pm they were at our apartment waiting for Tommy to get home for dinner. Once he was home from work, we jumped in the car and headed to Third Beach in Stanley Park for a BBQ dinner of homemade hamburgers and potato salad.
Day #2: Tom & Mary continued on their bus tour in the morning where they ended up going through art galleries in Gastown. After a quick lunch I met them at the Vancouver Art Gallery to see the exhibit "Monet to Dali". The paintings were beautiful, obviously! After the gallery we headed over to Caffe Artigiano for a fancy coffee. That night we treated ourselves and had a wonderful dinner at the Raincity Grill and finished off the evening at English Bay watching the Celebration of Lights fireworks.
Day #3: This was a relaxing day for everyone, it was the calm before the storm...Tom & Mary did some shopping, napping, reading and just plain relaxing. Around 6:30pm they were at our apartment for a quick pesto pasta dinner because by 7:30pm we were off to Bard on the Beach to see Timon of Athens a Shakespeare play rarely put into production.
Day #4: And the storm begins!!!! The storm I like to call: "Tommy drives over 1000kms in 3 days"! Yes. 1000 kms in 3 days. Friday morning we packed up the car and began our 3 day roadtrip. Our first day was Vancouver to Osoyoos which is about 400 kms. We did a few stops along the way: The city of Hope, Manning Park for a hike through alpine meadows, Headley and finally a farmers market. We arrived just in time for dinner in Osoyoos.
Day #5: On this second day of our roadtrip we checked out the Desert Information Center and two wineries: Nk' Mip and Mission Hill. But this day was our most eventful and the most heart pounding of all! When we left Kelown on our way to Merritt the gas tank indicated just over a 1/4 tank of gas was left. With only 100kms to drive, we figured we'd be ok. WRONG! The road in between Kelowna and Merritt is a straight highway that goes over a huge mountain with no off ramps or cities, towns or GAS STATIONS along the way. So when we reached the peak of the mountain Tommy announced: The gas light is on. Great. We frantically checked the map, kept our eyes open for any indication of a gas station but nothing. So we kept driving hoping that we'd make it considering we were driving downhill for the next hour before entered Merritt. Well, we just made it. Mary & I were jumping in our seats and crying for joy when we finally saw a gas station. We ended up putting 59 gallons into the tank...Not much left when the size of the gas tank is only 60 gallons!!!! That night we had a great dinner at a small local diner where we got some gossip about a potential arson at the old hotel from an elderly couple sitting next to us - quite scandalous!
Day #6 - Our last and final day on the road. We off around 9am and drove from Merritt back to Vancouver with stops in 1) Lytton (where the Fraser & the Thompson Rivers meet), 2) Lillooet (where we had lunch), 3) viewpoints to admire the mountains, 4) Joffre Lakes to check out a glacier lake, and then finally 5) Whistler where we took the gondola to the top and went on a hike through some more alpine meadows. After Whistler we headed back to Vancouver for a well deserved sushi dinner.
Day #7 - Tom & Mary's final day in Vancouver. It was a nice relaxing day. We attempted to go to the Van Dusen Botanical Gardens, which were unfortunately on strike, so instead we headed over to UBC where we visited a Japanese garden and then the Museum of Anthropology. In the museum we got to see on of Bill Reid's most famous sculptures, which was fantastic and incredibly beautiful! After some more relaxing we pilled back into the car and headed over to Grouse Mountain. We walked around at the top, took a short chairlift ride (which was weird without skis!) and then went to say hello to the grizzly bears. We ended our day with a wonderful dinner at The Observatory Restaurant at the top of Grouse Mountain.
We had a great time and saw some spectacular mountains, desert and lakes.
Come back soon T & M!!!
Enjoy the PICTURES