Category: vacations

Whenever you go somewhere new you should always go up the tallest building and go on a boat ride (I’m pretty sure that is an unwritten rule/law).

Having ploughed my way through the longest airport security line in the whole history of airports and security, jumped in a taxi to the hotel and checked in, I thought I had better go up one of the tallest buildings in the world before it went dark. I set off on the short walk to CN tower and found myself at the back of another very long queue. Why these people weren’t at work I don’t know.

After probably 45 minutes or so of waiting I had my ticket and caught the elevator to the highest point I’ve ever been inside a building. The elevator goes at 15mph and takes 58 seconds to get to the observation deck at 1,136 ft. It made my legs go funny. There was another observation pod even higher (1,465 ft) but fortunately there was another long queue so I didn’t bother with that! But it doesn’t stop there, the actual tower itself stretches all the way up to 1,815 ft which I think is pretty much 3 times the height of the Space Needle. But size isn’t everything. The views from the Space Needle are so much more super awesome – on a clear day anyway. I’m not saying that Toronto isn’t nice but it’s quite flat all around the outskirts of the city – which I suppose is to be expected considering half of it borders Lake Ontario!

The other benefit the Space Needle has is that you can take proper photo’s. Up the CN Tower you’re either blocked behind glass windows or lots of netting type stuff. Which I suppose makes sense when you’re that high up but it doesn’t help me take fabulous photo’s which is somewhat selfish of the architects.

Some additional interesting facts about the tower … it opened to the public in June 1976 and was the tallest tower in the world for over three decades. On a clear day you can see over 100 miles (including as far as Niagara Falls). Lightening strikes the tower an average of 75 times a year.

Any finally, it was the highest the little boy in front of me in the queue to come back down in the elevator had ever wee’d at! Fact.

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This post is categorized under “vacations” but I want to make it clear that it was actually a work trip – I just don’t have a work category to file it under!

I arrived in San Francisco at midday on Monday and the weather was beautiful. I hadn’t thought about packing the sun glasses but I should have. After checking in at the Holiday Inn at Fisherman’s Wharf I went round to the Argonaut hotel for an afternoon of meetings. See – definitely a work trip!

That evening a social gathering for dinner was planned, so being the anti-social person I am I decided to go for a walk instead! Seemed silly to go to San Francisco and spend my time being sociable and missing out on the sights. The first stop on the walk was Pier 39 to see whether the noisey, stinky sea lions where still there – and they were:

httpv://youtu.be/91dpwIGR2KY

Good job smelly vision videos haven’t been invented – they stink! After leaving Pier 39 I set off to find Lombard Street and, more specifically, the really curvy bit. When we were here on our honeymoon it was the curviest street in the world – not sure if it still is but it’s pretty bendy nonetheless. Once I reached the bottom of the curvy street I had a right sweat on! I’d forgotten how steep the hills of San Francisco are!

I then walked back to the hotel, stopping to get a burrito from Chipotle on the way. I ate rubbish the whole time I was in San Francisco. I had breakfast from Starbucks twice, went to Chipotle, Burger King and Subway. The best food I ate was singapore rice at the airport! It was a bit of a waste but I thought I would save the good food for the next time we come down here with Tracy and the boys!

On Tuesday morning I got up early and went for a walk along the front towards the Golden Gate bridge. I then walked out on the harbor arm and watched the sun rise over the city. It was quite amazing how many people were swimming out in the Bay. Joggers I expected but not swimmers. Still it was a gorgeous morning so I don’t blame them.

Tuesday was another day of meetings, plus a couple of hours walking the streets of San Francisco again. It is a very lovely city, with the hills, trams, views of the bay and the sunshine but there are also some very ugly buildings right slap in the middle of it all. The planning authority clearly either had no taste at times or took some back-handers.

On Tuesday evening I had to be slightly sociable as everyone was off to watch the Golden State Warriors play Miami Heat at basketball. The traffic was a nightmare but we made it over to Oakland eventually – the rough part of town.

The basketball was fun with the highlight being the acrobatic entertainers:

httpv://youtu.be/tCULyCwjIME

Golden State eventually won the game 111 – 106. The final 36 seconds of the game took over 10 minutes! They certainly know how to drag a game out and include non stop entertainment. In all, I think 1 hours worth of basketball took 3 hours! It was fun though.

httpv://youtu.be/Vo0sCExArkw

Wednesday was the final day and there was no time for walking and exploring – it was just meetings. After giving my presentation in the afternoon I caught a cab back to the airport and the flying visit was over. Almost 10 years after our one and only trip to San Francisco it had been nice to be back. It definitely won’t be 10 years before we go back!

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Day 3 of our vacation was a day on a boat! How exciting! We woke early and got all our stuff together ready for the day ahead. We had the drink, a cool box filled with ice, crisps, DS’s, towels, swimming shorts, cameras, driving licence, sun glasses and kindle. What else do you need for a day on the lake? Other than a boat. We went down to the boatyard, picked up our life jackets and had 5 minutes of instructions on how to start it, drive it, stop it exploding when refueling, empty the bilge, fasten the tube, avoid driftwood and other stuff that didn’t really sink in!

Lake Chelan is just over 55 miles long and we probably made it about a third of the way along across the day. Once we’d gone a little way up, and past the likes of Manson, we decided it was time to try the out the tube. I thought I’d have a go first. I shouldn’t have. I don’t think I am a water baby! As it eventually turned out, later in the day, the bit being dragged along behind a speeding boat holding onto a rubber tube is actually really easy. The bit getting into the tube is not so easy. In fact it’s almost impossible – for me. After belly flopping into the lake I swam over to the tube and tried to haul myself in. I couldn’t. I had another go and pulled the tube over on top of me. Under the water I went again. Oh dear. The life jacket which was helpfully keeping me afloat was, at the same time trying to climb off over my head. It was clearly embarrassed about the whole situation it was involved in. Never mind. I looked to the boat for encouragement and saw Tracy bent double having hysterics. At this point I decided that it would be much easier to get in the tube from off of the boat. I swam over, climbed the ladder and attempted to climb into the middle of the tube. One foot went into the middle, one foot stayed on the boat. The tube then started going one way and the boat the other. It wasn’t pretty. But apparently it was very funny.

I got fed up with the tube and decided not to bother! We moved the boat a bit further up the lake – just in case it was that particular piece of water that was the problem, rather than my flooping about like a floopy thing. After stopping the boat again Tracy decided to take a swim and clearly she is a lot more graceful (and fish like) than me:

httpv://youtu.be/1tg0ZaZfctE

After the short swim Tracy decided that she was going to try the tube. Fortunately the water was much less choppy here, the under currents a lot weaker, the driftwood wasn’t crashing in to her and the giant salmon few and far between. I’m not saying it was an easier set of conditions for Tracy to work with, I’m just highlighting a few differences!

Anyway, Tracy put me to shame and was in the tube within a couple of minutes and only a handful of squeals! And then we were off:

httpv://youtu.be/kj7oJFZJbqY

Basking in the glory of tubing success, Tracy asked Harry to join her on the tube. Although a little reluctant Harry plucked up the courage and climbed on board. With considerably more ease than his Dad. With them both settled in the tube, we were off again:

httpv://youtu.be/2SnsRPkKtTk

Now just at the end of that short clip you may have heard a cry along the lines of “stop the boat” and a bit of a squeal from Tracy. Maybe tubing wasn’t meant to be! Once the tears, coughing, shock and laughter from Toby had subsided the analysis began, including, “Mummy pushed me off”. “No I didn’t”. Anyway, similar to the snorkel incident a couple of days earlier, Harry wasn’t going tubing again! Although to be fair he did sit in it a couple of times a bob about.

I suppose I should point out that despite how it sounds, we were having a lovely time! The sun was hot, the lake was beautifully clear, and, the temperature of it didn’t cause any of us to reference Jesus Christ on the way in. As we all relaxed again and continued up the lake, the first wine bottle was opened at about 11:15am. I’ve no doubt the early start was due to the relaxing nature of the day rather than the stress of it.

After bobbing about for a bit Tracy suggested that I try the tube again. I’m sure this suggestion was made because she was sure I would enjoy it rather than anticipating more ridiculous escapades from me trying to get into it. So, with a change of life jacket and a wary step, I lowered myself across and into the middle of the tube. Hurrah! The technique is to lie across the top of the tube, holding onto the handles and letting your legs hang over the water at the back. Trouble is my legs were now stuck in the middle of the tube and I couldn’t get them to hang over the back for fear of falling out and having to start all over again. But with a bit of a wiggle and plenty of encouraging laughter from the boat I managed it and we were good to go. I clung on and hoped to god it was worth all this hassle!

Tracy steered the boat and increased speed. We went fast and slow, turned corners, bounced around in the wake, I knelt up, waved to the boys and generally turned into a tubing expert! Unbeknown to me as I enjoyed myself on the tube, Tracy was busy driving, trying to calm Toby down who was crying because we were going to fast with Daddy on the back and helping Harry wee into an empty wine bottle because he was bursting! God job I wasn’t on the boat with Tracy on the tube – it would have been a disaster!

Having moments earlier been an expert tuber, it suddenly all went wrong! My arms were beginning to ache and my body slipped a bit further back over the tube. The waves from the boat were starting to pound against my private areas and it hurt! Tracy looked back and checked I was still there, I shouted to her to slow down – forgetting that we had pre-arranged hand signals to communicate slow down, speed up and stop. The boat kept going. The water kept smashing into me and it was really starting to hurt! Tracy looked round again. I shouted “ssttttooooopppppp”. The boat carried on. At this point my shorts started falling down, (could this get any worse?!) and so I gave up and let go of the tube, hoping that someone on the boat would notice. I’m assuming someone did because once i’d finished cartwheeling through the water with my shorts round my ankles my head popped out from under the water and I saw the boat coming back towards me! I hooked my shorts on and swam over to the boat. Wow. Tubing was fun!

After lounging around in the sun drying off we started going back down the lake again. Harry and Toby took it in turns to drive the boat, which they both enjoyed:

httpv://youtu.be/qsyKch4-TlY

The rest of the afternoon was spent swimming, bobbing about, tubing and asking random swimmers to come on board and start the boat when it wouldn’t and was on the verge of crashing. Oh what fun we had. Harry filled up about 6 mini wine bottles worth of wee – check the photo’s out carefully! Toby refused to go on the tube – the only sensible one amongst us – but he did go for a swim in the lake at Willow Point. Tracy laughed herself silly at her ridiculous husband and I had a brilliant time.

I think I’d like a boat!

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I can’t remember the last time we went on vacation so it definitely felt like we were due one! Because we hadn’t been on vacation for so long we’d forgotten all about being prepared, so Wednesday morning involved getting up, having holiday haircuts (for Harry, Toby and I) and packing.

Fortunately the weather forecast was hot, hot, hot, so t-shirts and shorts were all that was required. With the car loaded we set off on our exciting adventure. I think it was exciting because we were finally going to see what was over the other side of the mountains that we look at everyday out of the bedroom window! There are rumours of deserts, vineyards, lakes and guaranteed sunshine! Everybody raves about Lake Chelan so here’s hoping.

Before the sunshine we have to drive up the mountains, into the cloud and past the ski resorts – all within the first 45 minutes of leaving home! The temperature dropped from the high 60’s back at home to a chilly 52 at the peak. We passed lakes up in the mountains and then came down the other side into rolling, little house on the prairie type countryside with little white churches surrounded by lush green grass.

As the miles passed the temperature rose, going from the low of 52 back up to 78. This is what we wanted. As we got closer to Chelan however the skies turned grey and the road turned wet! Puddles! What!? We drive over the mountains, leaving the sunshine of the last 3+ weeks and so called rainy Washington behind to find even hotter weather in the deserts of the East and we get rain!? What’s that all about? Don’t they know we’re on vacation?

Fortunately the rain had gone through ahead of us and by the time we arrived at Campbell’s Resort the sun was out again. We checked in, settled in and then, because we were all starving, went for something to eat. After lunch we walked through Chelan (one real street) and checked the shops out. Vacation or not some things never change! Harry decided that he really, really wanted a snorkel set for swimming in the lake so we got him one. After going back to our room and getting changed it was time to hit the pool. After much “oo’ing” and “aah’ing” the snorkel was finally in position on Harry’s head. After some brief instructions on how to use it Harry hit the pool. Despite some instructions and having the gift of knowing everything, Harry swam down under water and then got the shock of his tube filling up with water. He emerged from below very quickly, spluttering, choking and swimming to the side. The snorkel came off, and if I were a betting man, I would suggest it will never go on his head again!

After the trauma of the snorkel, it was decided that some plain old swimming was probably the best bet. And so, Day 1 of the vacation ended with a nice swim and some relaxing in the evening sun. A very well deserved holiday – even if I do say so myself!

Day 2 started with clear blue skies and bright sunshine. After breakfast we went to the boat rental yard next door to our resort and arranged to pick up a speed boat for the day at 9:30am the following day. We then decided to explore a little bit and went up the east side of the lake to the next town called Manson. There wasn’t a whole lot to see other than lots of orchards so we carried on through and arrived at a place called Willow Point. This was just a quiet beach area by the side of the lake and it was beautiful. The water looked amazing and we stopped for a quick paddle. The water had a slight chill to it which made Toby shout “oh Jesus Christ” every time he dipped his toes in and out. Fortunately no-one else was around – so classy. As none of us had our swimwear with us we decided we would bring the boat by here the next day to have a swim in the beautiful water.

Next stop was Walmart! We stocked up on drink for the boat, some of Harry’s school supplies which we hadn’t been able to find in Bellevue and purchased a couple of water slides for when we got home. Then it was back to Campbell’s for a the rest of the day down on the beach. It’s a tough life!

httpv://youtu.be/3h_IibxucGo

Check out the swimming, dragging out the water and jumping in the lake:

httpv://youtu.be/0vFSk3mrTyU

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Before dinner Toby took a quick power nap. The swimming, sunshine and fresh air had clearly worn him out. However, fully recovered, he set about his dinner in the restaurant pretending it was a “Man vs Food” challenge (this is one of our favorite TV programs over here). Both Harry and Toby completely demolished their food and left not a scrap on the plate. Drinks were also taken care off and “Man” was declared the winner! The waiter was very impressed and asked them if they wanted dessert. The insisted they didn’t but the waiter reckoned if he put a chocolate cookie mousse with cream in front of them they would eat it. They assured him they wouldn’t. He put one on the table. They ate it. Two little boys with barrel shaped bellies left the restaurant that night. Just like their father!

Day 3 of the vacation was spent on the boat. Possibly the most important thing to note from the day was that Tracy said she’d like a boat like this! There may have been some sort of “if we lived here permanently” caveat mentioned but I didn’t hear that!

After a long day on the boat food was required. We went to a lovely little Italian restaurant in town and demolished a plate load of pasta each. Just as we were waiting for the bill some friendly Americans sat down on the table next to us. As is their way, they started talking to us and before you know it they are 1) offering us a day on their boat the next day, and, 2) offering to talk to their friend at Campbell’s to see if we can stay an extra night. As nice as these offers were I signed the bill, grabbed Toby and started off out the restaurant just as the “woman” was asking Dean (I think) whether they had our cell phone number. They didn’t. And they weren’t getting it! It was bad enough that they intended to come down and get us the next day!

After an exhausting day we got back to our room and put TV on as the Seahawks were playing. Tracy fell asleep first, followed soon after by Toby. As it turns out, I was next and Harry last. He turned the TV off once the match had finished and put himself to bed!!

The final day of the vacation started with a mix of excitement because it was my birthday and a desire to pack up and check out before the people from last night arrived to take us out on the boat for the day. Now I’m sure they probably have a very nice boat to go with their house in Mukilteo (where you catch the ferry for Whidbey Island) and their other house in Chelan, however, I didn’t want to spend my birthday with them because I am anti-social! Fortunately Tracy is too. And the boys!

After opening all my lovely presents and cards, we loaded the car and set off for Leavenworth, which is about 45 minutes back towards the mountains. Leavenworth is a Bavarian town. Yes, you read that correctly, a Bavarian town. It used to be a logging town back in the day, but then that industry died a death and someone decided, quite logically, that what they should do is change the whole look of the town to a Bavarian one. So they did. Literally everything has been changed, the hotels, shops, restaurants, band stands, everything. It’s quite odd but rather nice!

Before hitting the shops, we went for a walk along (and in) the Wenatchee river. It was very beautiful – quite like a mini Yosemite in its own way. After managing to keep their shorts dry, we then went for a walk round the town. There were lots of sweet shops, crafty shops, Christmas shops and the odd horrible doll shop.

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Lunch was taken in a Mexican restaurant (what else would you have in a Bavarian town!?) and then we continued our journey home. The boys watched DVDs in the back while we drove through valleys, along side stunning rivers, up mountains, over Stevens Pass, past ski resorts and back down to civilization on the other side. Nothing is wasted on those two!

And so, by mid afternoon, we were home. Fully relaxed and happy in the knowledge that it was a bank holiday weekend so could relax in the sun for a little while longer.

Tracy and Sally were in charge of this post. It was meant to describe their few days of fun in the sun and give all of us an insight into what it is like.

Apart from all the photo’s below all they want to say is:

“Hot, hot, hot” and “socks is worse”. Glad to see that a trip to exotic climes are not wasted on them.

On a positive note, this rubbish effort (not sure it even qualifies as an effort), at least means that I will have to go to Hawaii in order complete a proper update on it all.

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San Diego – where the sun always shines. Apart from the 3 days I was there! But then that is ok, because I was there for work not a holiday (don’t be fooled by the fact that I am filing this post under Vacations, that is only because I don’t have a work one!). I arrived at the Dana Hotel on Wednesday evening after the short flight down from Seattle (about 2 hours 15 minutes) and although this was a work trip I managed to see and do quite a bit across the next few days! I think a list may be in order, so without further a-do, while I was in San Diego I:

1. Went to the Seattle Seahawks v San Diego Chargers pre-season game – my first ever NFL game – it was fun!
2. Went to old town San Diego – which was a bit like a wild west town
3. Hired a boat round Mission Bay for a couple of hours
4. Ate a fab mexican meal
5. Went to Coronado Island
6. Drove all around the suburbs and saw some huge houses – there is a lot of money in San Diego!
7. Visited a bunch of different beaches – mostly north of downtown in places like La Jolla (pronounced La Hoya) (which is where leopard sharks and stingray will swim in the shallow water with people)
8. Crossed Coronado bridge onto the Island
9. Took a quick look round the famous Hotel del Coronado (which is like the Grand Floridian at Disney)
10. Saw Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery – quite an amazing site
11. Saw lots of pelicans – I like pelicans – and seals
12. Did some work! Honest!

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A Seahawks touchdown is in here somewhere – I think!

httpv://youtu.be/bruTvQQGfxg

I’m not really sure what I think of San Diego. It’s nice when you are near the coast but it is a very expensive place and I’m not sure that it deserves the hype it gets. Although I did see the place when it was mostly overcast – I would imagine when the sun is out and the sky is blue then it is a very different place. Maybe a short vacation is required and then I can double check whether or not I like it!

Possibly one of the most impressive things on the trip was on the flight back when we were flying over Washington. First, without a cloud around it, we flew past Mount St. Helens. It was glowing orange with the light of the setting sun on the snow and it looked amazing. In fact it would have been one of the best mountain views I have seen however a few moments later we flew past Mount Rainier which looked even more impressive (and probably twice the size) as it stood up through the clouds.

So there we go. San Diego is raved about however the most impressive part of the few days was in Washington! Maybe I just feel more at home here!

Just to the north of Vancouver, over the Burrard Inlet is Grouse Mountain. Across the winter months this is a ski resort for the people of Vancouver but in the summer there are grizzlies, eagles, wolves and views, and so after leaving the hotel this is where we went. We parked at the bottom of the mountain and went to the top via a cable car.

On arrival at the top we went to see the two grizzlies. They are both orphans who were found and have been living on the Mountain for a while. One was enjoying himself throwing lumps of wood in the water and the other spent most of his time digging in the snow that remained in their enclosure. The bit Harry and Toby liked most about the bears was when one walked over to the the watching people, turned around and did a big poo right in front of them! I had been getting jealous that they were going to get some good photo’s but the bear clearly had other ideas!

Next up was a short display of owls and eagles, much to Sally’s bird fearing delight! They were bought out and flew around the crowd from post to post. We had watched them bring the birds of prey out in preparation for the display and I had been hoping to see a bald eagle but that hadn’t bought one out. Much to my pleasure though, they had clearly done this before and had kept the bald eagle out of sight until the very end. Although it is a bit of a cheat, I am rather pleased with the eagle photo’s – they will probably be the best I can get during our time here – unless I treat myself to that Canon lens that is in the Bellevue shopping mall …

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“I-spy with my little eye something begin with P”. “Pavement?”, ” No”, “Pine cones?”, “No”, “Clouds?”, “Yes! Daddy wins!”.

And so began our long weekend in Vancouver, playing i-spy up the I-5, making the miles pass with much hilarity. You can’t beat a game of i-spy with Toby. Whatever he spys has no relation to the letter he suggests and daddy always wins! Brilliant!

The journey up to Vancouver was pretty good, including the border crossing, and we arrived around 2pm in the afternoon. Fortunately our satnav worked in Canada as well as I have no idea how we would have found the hotel – what did people do before satnavs!? After checking into our rooms we had some lunch in the hotel as we were all starving – this is a common feeling in both the US and Canada which is surprising given how much we manage to eat!

After lunch (3pm) we set out to explore the city. Having been overcast most of the day the sun was starting to burn through the clouds and it got quite warm. Much to the delight of the children the initial part of exploring involved shopping on Robson Street – which is the main shopping drag in Vancouver (funny how we ended up staying in a hotel there!). Our wanderings took us down towards the water (the Burrard Inlet/Vancouver Harbor).  We watched the sea planes landing (there were lots of them), looked at the cruise ship that was docked and then set off up the hill, back to the shops and hotel. The following picture credits belong to Harry – this is us down by the Harbor:

The evening involved (quite a large) bite to eat and off to bed for a not very early night but early enough so we were bright-eyed and bushy tailed in the morning.

On Saturday we booked our tickets for the Big Bus tour. It seemed a good way to hop on and off around the city and help us get our bearings. First stop (that we got off at) was the Gastown district because 1) we hadn’t been shopping for hours, and 2) we were all starving! Gastown sorted both of these needs. We took photo’s of Gassy Jack (an old Vancouver whiskey drinker whom Gastown is named after) and then went into the shop behind his statue –  O.K. Boot Corral – because Sally needed some cowgirl boots (and a hat as well as it turns out). It was interesting to see/feel some cowboy boots that were made out of stingray skin – apparently that is the best/longest lasting material to make cowboy boots out of. The other leathers, etc. only last 20 years – stingray lasts much longer. There were also a few pairs made out of sealion skin but they are few and far between as they are not allowed to hunt them anymore.

Although I’m sure the boys weren’t overly enthused about being in another shop it turned out that they did enjoy themselves as the disappeared up the back of the shop and were trying on cowboy hats, striking poses and taking photo’s of each other! Toby took the one on the left, Harry the one of the stingray boots on the right:

 

After making the necessary purchases we went for brunch at Smart Mouth Cafe which was just down the road. The coffee, ham stuffed croissants and fruit were very, very nice – to the point that we spent most of the weekend talking about it! After this it was time to hop on the bus again and head for Granville Island, which is where the local market is held. On the way we saw a steam clock – one of only two in the world (the other is in Japan) – and we timed it to perfection because it was just in the process of steaming something o’clock. At Granville Island we had to first allow Harry to discreetly take a wee in a car park as he was bursting – even though it was only 15 minutes since his previous one! Then we walked down into the market and park area. There were some lovely shops with strange shaped wood carvings that would have looked lovely in our house however the price was somewhat prohibitive, even though I’m sure he was just making prices up off the top of his head. After a splash around in the water park area we then jumped on the bus again. Next step was the hotel and a quick drop off of the earlier purchases and then it was back out on the bus and Stanley Park.

During our time on the bus we went near, in or around Stanley Park around 3 or 4 times, so I should be able to give you a brief run down of the park but I can’t actually remember so for more info check this out. We got on a separate bus that took us on a 50 minute tour of the park, stopping a couple of times to allow us to check out the totem poles, bridges and the views of North Vancouver. By the time we’d finished this is was time to go back to the hotel and have a well earned drink. Being the adventurous types we are, we asked the waiter for recommendations for where to eat and the feedback was to try some Japanese or Korean places just down from the hotel. Now this would definitely have not been our first choice but we decided to give it a go and as it turned out it was pretty darn good! Possibly even more impressive was 1) the amount of food Harry and Toby ate, and 2) Harry and his chopstick skills:

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During dinner we had watched a steady stream of people walking down towards English Bay in readiness for the firework display that was happening later. We hadn’t originally intended to go and watch them however as we finished dinner we decided we would walk in the general direction and see what all the fuss was about. On the way we, 1) realized that every other person in Vancouver walks around smelling of weed, 2) saw a skunk running down the street and in peoples front yards, 3) saw a really nice fire station! Eventually we reached the bay and decided that even though is was another 45 minutes before the display would begin we should stay and see what all the fuss was about. As it turns out, the fuss was clearly worth it. The Celebration of Light display lasted 25 minutes and was pretty darn impressive! Check out the fireworks here.

The following morning we checked out from the hotel and set off for Grouse Mountain. We spent a fun day there watching the grizzlies, eagles and wolves before deciding it was time to set off back for Bellevue. As we were naturally starving, we stopped just before the US border in a place called White Rock. It was a lovely “seaside” town and with that in mind we parked up and went for fish ‘n’ chips (washed down with a lovely drink which was pink cream soda mixed with vanilla ice-cream – good job I wasn’t sick on the way home!). With our stomachs full, we arrived at the border. Having sat in the car waiting for our turn to reach the border guard, we had discussed that we should tell the guard that we had just been visiting Vancouver and not mention the shopping. However, this didn’t take in to account the guilt that border guards create in me – even when I’ve done nothing wrong – so as soon as I was asked what we had been up to I just said we’d been visiting Vancouver, doing shopping! Still never mind, he let us through without wishing to go through the contents of the trunk and without much waiting we were back in the US of A.

The journey home was fairly uneventful other than more i-spy and we arrived home at about 8:30pm. It had been a lovely weekend. I think the boys had enjoyed themselves too although when they were asked what they enjoyed most they responded with “playing on the DS in the hotel”.

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