Vancouver, BC

We decided to take a semi-last minute trip to Vancouver, BC to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary.  We left Seattle on Jan. 1st and had an uneventful 3 hour drive to Vancouver.  We were able to check in to our hotel early and get settled in.  We stayed at Hotel Le Soleil.  It was our first time there and we were really impressed.  

photos from Hotels.com 

The hotel was beautiful and the bed was SO comfortable!  It reminded me of why you NEED super soft sheets and also why it can be so darn hard to get out of bed sometimes!

After getting settled we took a walk down Robson Street and checked out the stores that were open.  Gess jumped on the chance to have sushi, so we had lunch at a place called Tsunami Sushi which is like the Blue C conveyor belt sushi place we have in Seattle, except this was water and boats.  It was okay, I am not crazy about sushi, but I eat it since Gess loves it so much.

Nothing too exciting that day, just wandering around and then relaxing in the hotel room.  We watched Burn After Reading on pay-per-view and ordered pasta.  It was nice to just relax.  

The next day, I slept in, which was so nice.  Gess eventually got me out of bed and we decided to have breakfast.  We ended up at a Crepe place and had a nice, simple breakfast and discussed what we wanted to do.  We did a bit of shopping and then decided to explore some places outside of downtown Vancouver.  This is really the first time we have ventured very far out.

We first drove to Lighthouse Beach and took a short hike out to see the Lighthouse.  It was a beautiful day and was nice to see the lighthouse.  I was completely unprepared for hiking and looked like one of those stupid girly girls that goes hiking carrying a purse!  Gess said the only thing that could have made me look sillier was if I had been wearing high heels instead of my danskos.  I felt silly, but enjoyed the view anyway.

It was an adventure getting out of the park as it was really snowy in the parking lot and people can't seem to drive...but we made it.

We had about 45 minutes until sunset and wanted to get to Horseshoe Bay to watch it.  Luckily we made it in plenty of time and were able to take some good pictures.  I don't know what I am doing and only click away at my point-and-shoot, while Gess has a more fancy camera and has some skill.  I will try to post some of his photos if he gets them uploaded, but for now, here are a few of mine.

It was really beautiful!

After that we went back to the hotel, changed, and then went out to dinner at a great place--The Shore Club.  Great atmosphere and delicious food!  Gess had filet and lobster and I had short ribs and some wonderful roasted beets.  A very nice dinner!

We decided to call it a night after that and went back to the hotel, watched a movie, and relaxed.  I also got quite a bit of reading done (which I will talk about in another post).

On Saturday we woke up to snow.  We decided that we would venture out for breakfast and then decide what to do.  We wandered around a bit, as Gess was looking for a place to have lunch (since we slept in).  We ended up at a tapas bar/grill called the Cactus Club.  Gess had a pasta dish and I had a very delicious cheeseburger.  Yummmm...makes me hungry just thinking about it!  The only thing that I didn't like about the place was the way the waitresses were dressed and the sleazy manager flirting with all of them!  

We decided to just walk around, so we wandered up Robson, finally ending up at a Starbucks to warm up.  After that we kept walking down Robson and then headed over to Davie Street, and walked down there, looking at shops, etc.  The snow kept getting worse and by that time we were wet and cold!  We finally made it back to the hotel and I decided to take a nap while Gess did something.  Most just lots of walking and then relaxing that day.  We had planned to go to Stanley Park and Granville Island, but alas, the snow won!

We headed back into town today--and guess what?  More frickin' snow!  Seriously! :)