Yesterday MB and DS, The Boy, NH, and I set out for a bike ride along the seawall after DS made us this amazing french toast and bacon breakfast. We biked to The Naam restaurant on 4th at McDonald, this "Vancouver institution" that serves all vegetarian and vegan meals and that has "crazy sketchy service", "a long lineup", and "amazing food." I loved my meal.. the maui maui platter, and our service was really quite good, AND it wasn't that busy in there! we got a table right away. The food didn't sit well with at least four of my companions though. KAW met up with us over there before her paddle boarding lesson at Jericho beach.
It was so great to see everyone. While I was lucky enough to meet up with NH in Australia last January, i hadn't seen her for years before that.. and i haven't seen KAW since she moved away from Ottawa last summer, and THEN announced she probably wouldn't be coming back.
After lunch, we biked to Jericho beach, but it was too windy to set our stuff down and lie in the beach (sandstorm!) so we kept biking up to Spanish Banks, and then back along the seawall to Amato Gelato Cafe, a quick stop on a friend of MB's C's sailboat (no sailing trip for me yet) and finally back to the bike shop to return my rented bike and NH went home.
We were still full from gelato, so we cruised around historic gastown and had drinks at Six Acres, where I'm pretty sure The Boy's empty stomach started to absorb his fancy beers too quickly!! Hahahah.. KAW and C met up with us again and then we all tried to go to Guu for dinner, but it was crazy packed with Japanese people yelling at the top of their lungs and chanting something that made people laugh. not us, it was an hour and a half wait for a table for all of us, so we went to Steamworks, this great little Zagat-rated brewpub where The Boy had a sampler and KAW, DS, and I each had our own fishbowls of sangria. Amazing. so were the shrimp corn dogs.. but not my overcooked chicken and house salad. still, 2/3 ain't bad.
It was a fantastic night but made for kind of a rough morning. This morning we woke up super early and went to Deep Cove because we had reserved kayaks for 10 AM! We got our kayaks and went out for a beautiful and peaceful paddle out on Indian Arm. MB had gone on a Seal Experience kayak in New Zealand and was telling me about this on our paddle. I joked about this being a Seal Experience as well but was surprised when we actually ran into a pile of seals sunning themselves on a log. I got up super close.. about 6 metres.. but then freaked out had had to paddle away. Other paddlers just went around us.. I don't think they knew what we were looking at. one of the seals was totally looking at me! Even when I was on the other side of the log, he turned and looked right at me! Soul mates!
AFter paddling, we went to Honey Doughnuts for honey doughnuts and turkey cranberry sandwiches. The Boy got into a huge fight in the dining area over the last doughnut and ended up with a black eye!!! Ok, not really. He was taking his camera off and somehow it slammed him in the eye. he actually bled for a few minutes and will likely end up with a nasty bruise. He's ok though, and we had a nice little post-kayak snack. The Boy said that the honey doughnuts were dense and heavy but the other three of us thought they were light and fluffy. THey were the perfect treat and all the energy we needed to hike the Baden Powell trail, where a huge sign said to keep dogs on their leashes, but only 3/45 dogs were actually on-leash. jerks. MB attributes this to the west coast lifestyle and accuses me of not assimilating to the culture.
We hiked to the top, me at the back of the pack, of course, because DS and MB climb hills every live long day. The main lookout was packed, but the other lookout wasn't. The Boy and DS helped clean up litter left by other jerk hikers and MB and I lay in the sun. We hiked down, where I rolled my gd ankle and then had to walk up the steepest hill of the day to where the car was parked. MB wants me to talk about how lovely the hike smelled - the way the creeks bubbled and trees opened up to the world. But me, I want to tell you about how out of breath I freaking was, and how every step reminded me that I'm still not fully recovered from the freaking Grouse Grind. OW.
We rewarded ourselves with a pub visit, only every turn was wrong and MB received the most horrfying fake margarita, even after she asked for it to be made with real lime. We also had "orange habanero" wings which actually caused literal pain in my body and made my face tingle even 40 minutes later in the shower. I only had a few drops but it was crazy hot adn i kind of wanted to die. i've been trying to make good food decisions but that was definitely not one of them.
We had to retire back to the house for showers and rest time but then made it out again for sushi (YAY!) at a local hole-in-the-wall Sushi place with a cute police officer buying takeout. It was so good! But I forgot that we were eating separately and I ordered stuff for The Boy to eat and then he refused. so full. To make matters worse, we then drove out to The Marble Slab Creamery to try and recreate the magic of my original Marble Slab experience. It didn't work, and we all feel sick. MB asked me not to blog about this part of the night - she wants to forget it ever happened. Ugh. me too.
MB has been super helpful in assisting my checklist of 30 things to do before I'm 30. One of them is to refinish furniture. but we're sort of in a sushi/ice cream coma now and I've lost interest. Plus, she's using a knife. oh, she's now moved on to using a corn cob holder. I really wanted to to help her refinish these chairs... maybe tomorrow, when i'm not so bloated. the truth is, I feel like I'm not going to see the payoff from this project.
having a super great time!!
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