Trip to the Homeland

Blogging took a back seat to life (again) but wanted to catch up on a few fun things that happened in the past 6 months...btw how the eff is it already June?!?! Anyways after coming back from such an amazing trip, I only made it until the end of February before I was in desperate need of a break again so I booked myself a ticket to the homeland. With a crazy work schedule right before I left, the break couldn't have come at a better time. It was a very mellow trip (mostly because I didn't have time to tell people I was coming) that involved lots of fam time and sleep. First things first though was to shove some of my favorite Canadian foods into my face asap: the Legendary burger from White Spot (just sauce, gravy on the side for fries/heart attack) and sour keys!!! 

 After that delicious combo of grease, triple O sauce (aka a TON of mayo) and sugar it was time for a nap with Ozzie. Such a good puppy and a great cuddle buddy.

The next day everyone was at work so I set off to explore downtown by myself. Despite it being really easy to get downtown (SkyTrain-ed it like a boss!), I almost never go downtown when I go home for a visit so I made it a priority this time. I wandered around the very cool and always interesting Gastown neighborhood for a bit before making my way back to the waterfront- it was such a gorgeous day I took a TON of pictures. I started at Canada Place and made my way towards the Convention Center to check out the Olympic Cauldron and the Digital Orca which is just as cool in person as in pictures. I wandered down the seawall until my fingers were too numb to take any more pictures on my iphone and I headed into the Convention Center to warm up but not before epically falling in front of a large group of people. I was not paying attention (per usual) and missed that the flat ground had suddenly turned into stairs- one rolled ankle, skinned palm and bruised ego later, I limped into the lovely warmth of the convention center. My fall was actually quickly overshadowed by a drunk convention go-er who thought she was about to lean into a wall but actually just fell flat on her back...ouch.

 

I should note that on my walk I saw some good Canadian pride out there- good to know it's not just 'Murica that's proud of their country. 

I met up with Christie for a delish bellini and yam/sweet potato fries at Cactus Club before jumping back on the SkyTrain to head home. 

 I hate going to Vancouver without getting some snowboarding in so luckily my cousin had the day off school and was up for a quick trip to Grouse. My photos don't do the view justice- it is spectacular and I spent a good chunk of time stopped at the top of runs just taking it all in.

That night I met up with Christie and Brittany for dinner at Salt Tasting Room. Wine tasting, salty meats and cheese- basically the best meal of all time. And what goes good with lots of wine?? More booze! We finished the night off at Six Acres with drinks and their ah-mazing cookies and cream dessert mmmm.

On my last day there, my seriously awesome aunt and uncle took us all to the Heritage Classic hockey game!! The Canucks played the Senators and while we lost (badly) it was still really fun cheering the Canucks on in such a gigantic stadium- if only it wasn't snowing so the roof could have been open. A fantastic way to end my trip to the homeland- family, hockey, beer and garlic fries :-)

 And to wrap up this post, a stadium of thousands of hockey fans doing the wave.