Vacation Time!!: Vancouver, BC - Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Wednesday…woke up at a reasonable hour…made ourselves cute again, packed bags and headed north to Canada. We made great time on our road trip and made it over the border without any problems…then the shopping began! I FINALLY found someone that enjoys shopping for workout clothes as much as me…and someone that can spend more money when shopping than me! We hit the boutiques on 10th or 4th or somewhere there abouts and then headed to Robson Street for souvenirs and more shopping. I found an ABSOLUTELY delicious and HEALTHY smoothie at one of the shops made with green tea (and I don’t even like green tea!). Jenny and I power shopped like never before and then raced back to the car.

We headed into Stanley Park…and oh my goodness. No pictures or stories can do this park justice. It was breathtaking…huge…peaceful…and just such a happy place! They had: an aquarium, totem poles, at least 2 beaches, pools, waterpark, bike and hiking trails, look-out points, yacht clubs, horse drawn carriage rides, and many more attractions! So much to see…so little time! We stopped for dinner and purchased two deliciously hand-packed ice cream waffle cones (yes that was our dinner)! Jenny was able to justify eating ice-cream for dinner really quickly. I highly recommend a trip to Vancouver, BC and for sure Stanley Park. A day is good, but not enough to do everything…just enough for a happy taste of what this area has to offer.

A hugely surprising thing is how stinkin nice the Canadians are! The Canadians I am use to dealing with are SO RUDE! I was frightened for how they were going to treat us when we were there….they surprised me! The day was awesome and fun! We cleaned out the car, stopped at the gas station for dinner and then I drove us through customs again.

At the gas station, Jenny grabbed a plastic cup of ice to dump her rockstar in…well for those of you who have seen rockstart or any other energy drink you know the color is a lovely gold color…looks a little like alcohol. Well Jenny and I are tired and know we aren’t supposed to say too much to the customs agent…just answer his questions direct. Jenny leans over me to say something to our border patrol guy and well he notices her drink. We had already answered his questions and were about to be released when he goes: “What ARE YOU drinking?!” The man actually thought we were stupid enough to have an open container of alcohol in the car as we were crossing the border. I stumbled over my words a little and said “A Rockstar energy drink” at the same time Jenny said “Redbull”. Yup we couldn’t even say the same thing. Jenny reaches for the empty can to show him as he winks and chuckles a little at our amused and dumbfounded looks and reactions! We drive on and start laughing uncontrollably. I was laughing so hard my stomach hurt and I had tears in my eyes…check out the pictures and judge for yourself.

Well it was a rather late night and we had a couple hour drive home…Jenny and I got a little slap happy and started belting out to songs on the radio. Then we got a little creative and started taking short videos of our lovely musical productions. Lots of laughter continued and the trip went by really fast!

We stopped at QFC for some ziploc bags for me to pack my stuff in. Got back to the apartment and I packed while Jenny worked on her resume with my occasional guidance. I went to bed a little after 3 and Jenny…well she was so distraught with my leaving that she sat on her BOSU and watched me sleep all night…okay that is creepy and not true…she pretended like she was going to watch me sleep but she went in her bed and may have slept for an hour or two before it was time to head to SEATAC for me to catch the flight home!

Got a little later start to the airport than I had planned…halfway through security I encountered my first complete airport shutdown as I was stranded while the Police officers investigated the security breach and finally announce the “All Clear!”. I race to the tram to get to my gate…board the tram and we made it a short distance before we were stranded. Apparently the All Clear wasn’t really an All Clear! It seemed like an eternity but was only about 15 minutes before about a dozen TSA and Police Officers boarded the Tram and then we were off! Made it to the gate in time for the final boarding call…running I throw my bags in the overhead, sit down and buckle up…then the dreaded announcement about an awful delay. We are de-boarded as we are stuck in Seattle for at least 2 hours. 25 minutes after we are all off the plane, an urgent announcement comes over the airport saying that we have the “All Clear for wheels up if we can board the plane in 8 minutes and have wheels up in 17 minutes”! IMPOSSIBLE! It is a mad rush of about 250+ people to the gate attendant while they continue to page the flight attendants and the captain. After all the rush and excitement we took off from SEATAC 90 minutes late.

Of course during the excitement we had some pretty funny quotes again…between Jenny and myself….mostly Jenny.

“Who needs the civil war when we can reenact customs?!” said Jenny
“Kayla you have to drink twice as much water as you drank pop!” The day I decide to drink pop...In Canada...she BUSTS me!

“Having ice cream for dinner is better than not eating. We ARE getting calcium and protein in our ice cream!” Jenny after we chose hand packed cookie dough ice cream waffle cones for dinner.

“Are you putting this back on?” Kayla asked Jenny while picking up the shirt she just took off. “Maybe….if you are lucky!” replies Jenny.

The GPS continued to surprise us on very scenic routes. I had some fabulous and fun-filled days with Jenny. We didn’t really plan much, just flew by the seat of our pants. We both enjoyed the fact that we just kind of did what we want…when we want…and didn’t feel like we were on such a strict schedule that we didn’t have the time to enjoy ourselves. I don’t know that I could pick one favorite part of the trip. It was a fabulous and much needed vacation. I laughed…I cried…I forgot all the problems and appointments that await me when I return to Minnesota. As I sit on the plane for the final 45 minutes of my flight, I am enjoying the final few moments of me time. Tonight, Abbey, Jake, Diane, and Erik are coming over and we will begin digging the footings for my deck!

I hope you all enjoyed my Washington and Canadian adventures…scroll down for the pictures and of course our music videos!

Jenny and I leaving her apartment in Mercer Island for Vancouver, BC