With Andrew visiting from Toronto, we decided to take a short trip to Vancouver. We left around 10:30am and arrived around 2:30pm; a quick four hours through the lovely mountains, on the Coquihalla Highway. How can it be that we made it across the entire country just fine, but we get a crack in the windshield during a fun road trip within the province???
We got checked in to the Howard Johnson hotel in Yaletown and relaxed for a bit before heading to Granville Island for a late lunch. 
We walked around and saw the brightly coloured buildings, lots of artsy shops, ate at the Public Market near the pier and bridges and checked out the huge ships. Andrew had his first gelato experience. 
We walked around and saw the brightly coloured buildings, lots of artsy shops, ate at the Public Market near the pier and bridges and checked out the huge ships. Andrew had his first gelato experience. 
During our lovely walk around the island, Andrew stepped in something. Good thing we were near the Waterpark so he could wash it off! Get out of the way, kids!
We went back to the hotel to get freshened up before meeting Andrew's friends Dawn, Curt and Karla at a restaurant called "Me and Julio" (down by the school yard...). We ate some good Mexican food and had some good conversations. We walked around afterwards, but everything was closed, so no dessert. We went back to the hotel and bonne nuit!
Tuesday, August 25
Since our experience at Ed Debevik's in Chicago wasn't painful enough, Curt suggested we visit "The Elbow Room" for breakfast. 
This guy wasn't nearly as mean, but he did try! ("That's where you're sitting!", "What do you pain in the a$$e$ want?") They bring you your first cup of coffee, but if you want any more, GET IT YOURSELF!
There were quite a few rules in this joint. If you don't finish your meal, you pay $3.33, which is donated to a charity. Not a bad idea! Couldn't they say that nicely?
This guy wasn't nearly as mean, but he did try! ("That's where you're sitting!", "What do you pain in the a$$e$ want?") They bring you your first cup of coffee, but if you want any more, GET IT YOURSELF!There were quite a few rules in this joint. If you don't finish your meal, you pay $3.33, which is donated to a charity. Not a bad idea! Couldn't they say that nicely?We weren't sure if the weather was going to cooperate with our outdoors plans, but we hit Stanley Park anyways. 
Our first stop was the totem poles.
As Jeff was capturing the incredible pieces of art, Andrew and I got flagged as tourists and recruited to film some promo piece of art for CTV National News! We were both totally stressed out (cotton mouth!) but managed to answer buddy's questions about why we watch CTV National News, what buzzwords come to mind when we hear "Lloyd Robertson" (can we say caked-on make-up???), why we like to live Canada and how we feel about the Olympics coming to Vancouver. Finally, he wanted us to repeat the following sentence, in unison: "I watch CTV National News". Doesn't seem that hard, does it? Well, after take 14, I think we got it! We're not sure if they'll have enough footage to include us in this promo, but tune in to CTV this September, just in case! All that and a free pin!
Our first stop was the totem poles. As Jeff was capturing the incredible pieces of art, Andrew and I got flagged as tourists and recruited to film some promo piece of art for CTV National News! We were both totally stressed out (cotton mouth!) but managed to answer buddy's questions about why we watch CTV National News, what buzzwords come to mind when we hear "Lloyd Robertson" (can we say caked-on make-up???), why we like to live Canada and how we feel about the Olympics coming to Vancouver. Finally, he wanted us to repeat the following sentence, in unison: "I watch CTV National News". Doesn't seem that hard, does it? Well, after take 14, I think we got it! We're not sure if they'll have enough footage to include us in this promo, but tune in to CTV this September, just in case! All that and a free pin!Jeff took some stills as we were being filmed:
We went to the Aquarium and saw the new baby beluga, along with some other beautiful and strange creatures. 
Nice hat, Ash!
Before leaving Stanley Park, we visited the "Holla!" Tree...
...and felt relieved as we passed this sign:
We dropped Andrew off to visit his friend, while Jeff and I vogued around Robson Street. 
We went back to the hotel to freshen up before meeting my dear friend, Chad Smith and his lovely wife, Carie for dinner at Capone's Restaurant. 
We were entertained by Dawn's beautiful vocals as we ate our delicious pizza and pasta (looks like Chad had the spicy meatball!). Grandma and Grandpa went to bed while young Junior went out on the town.
Wednesday, August 26
After many attempts at connecting, we finally saw Ash's cousin, Keri Lyn, for coffee. She lives in West Van, so we had to cross the Lion's Gate Bridge to get there. Hello, vertigo!!! Thanks for the hug, Ker!
We had a late breakfast at The White Spot before getting back on the road.The ride back was ok except for one point in Chilliwack where the road merged to one lane for construction. The guy behind us, pulling a boat, decided he was going to pull to the right to try and block the last few cars from speeding past and darting in front before the lane ended. The dude behind us managed to pull his little car right up our a$$, whilst having words with the boat guy. At this point, the boat guy started hitting the cones that force the merge, but he needed to get back over, which forced the other dude to move to the shoulder. He gunned it past us and one more car ahead in a cloud of dust. All the while fishing for his phone, we could see once the construction was over (about 500 metres!) that the guy was taking pictures of the boat guy and then chased him off at the next exit. Classic idiot road rage.
With all that behind us, we made one quick stop in Merrit for an ice cream and then back to K-town for the KSS mini reunion.
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