The hotel is nice. We have a two bedroom suite in downtown Vancouver with a view of clouds and glass. If you look really hard, you can kinda see a mountain!
I grew up a few hours inland of Vancouver and I lived in Toronto for a while, but for the last 14 years, I've lived in a town of 2500 and, currently, a wide spot in the road of 160.
I'm surprised by how much this island looks like the valley where I grew up, though on a smaller scale. I was immediately homesick (for the place I grew up, not the place I live now) to the point I almost cried.
This is one of the two cabins we're staying in. They're so beautiful and cozy inside with plenty of bathrooms in case we all manage to have trouble with the seafood.
After doing absolutely nothing yesterday, we did some adventuring today, in the form of going to see goats at the cheese farm, visiting a brewery, a cider place, and a distillery, then lunch and some light shopping.
The goat cheese place had goat gelato too, so we had to try that.
My SIL's husband helped me take this picture of my husband ordering beer, then he edited it up for me. As you've seen previously, I don't know how to take a nice picture.
The brewery had a lovely little bar. There were a ton of stairs up to it, prompting my MIL to wave her cane around and rant about "organising the other gimps."
The whole group at lunch. Left to right, we have our friend Geoff; my mother-in-law, Colleen; my sister-in-law's husband Chris; my sister-in-law, Megan; and my husband, Dave.
We're off to see the ocean shortly. It's been years since I spent any amount of time around the Pacific. Dave never did find tiny hats to give to sea urchins. Maybe next time.
The tide was coming in, so we didn't get to see any pools! But we did see this upside-down jellyfish. The guys figure it's a lion's mane jellyfish. Apparently they've only been found up here recently. It's not their normal territory. There's also some debate as to whether it's alive or not, since it's upside-down. It did seem to be moving independently of the current.
I called my parents to say Merry Christmas. They're watching our small dog. Apparently the dog is done with vacation too. She was howling at 3:00am. She doesn't usually howl. It's been years since I've heard her do it. I feel guilty for leaving the dogs behind. 😢
We're packing up our stuff at the cottage and heading back to Vancouver today. We keep thinking we're done packing then finding something else. I'm starting to think that anything I haven't packed now is staying here.
Dave's brother-in-law is a chef. In a caffeine-induced haze, he insisted Dave buy this can of poutine gravy. We don't know why. But now we have to pack a can of gravy in our already-full suitcase.
Four and a half hours until our flight. We are on the penultimate leg of the trip. This leg, waiting to go to the airport. Next leg, the flight.
We have to pick up the cat, then there's a two hour drive to drop Dave's mum off, and we're going to pick up the small dog from my parents', but I've done the drive so many times that just being in the car counts as home.
I figure we'll be home-home around 10:00 tonight. Really excited for my own bed.
Had the world's heaviest breakfast before heading to the airport. Chef Chris put together a breakfast of leftovers. Tourtière-fried rice with salad and a fried egg. It was delicious, but I don't think I'll have to eat until tomorrow!
My prediction was half an hour off. We got home at 9:30 instead of 10:00, but that's mostly because we didn't visit my parents for too long.
The flight home was better than the flight there. I made friends with a wee child who was sitting next to me. She kept trying to hold my hand or grab my sleeve and when we were getting ready to get off the plane, she held her hands up to me. Her dad said she wanted a hug. That little girl kept me way more calm on the flight than the Ativan.
There was a pilot sitting in the row in front, on his way north. I figured if he didn't seem bothered by the turbulence, I shouldn't be either. But that didn't help as much as I'd hoped.
The Ativan didn't help as much as I'd hoped either.
I guess the key is to travel next to a little kid that seems to like me.
The best part about getting home was picking up the pets.
We got the cat last night on our way from the airport. He didn't care, as long as we let him out of his carrier. (It was a long 2-hour drive home.)
We picked up the small dog from my parents' place last night. At first, she was all "oh, hey guys." Then she realised we were taking her home and lost her damn mind. She's so sweet.
This morning, we got the other two dogs from the kennel. The white dog refuses to leave my side.
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