Van Fans

Okay, maybe we should have anticipated that technical difficulties might arise when attempting to blog from hostel lobbies and remote island lodges ... but we're frustrated nonetheless. So we'll return to the Rocky Mountain montage when our technology is cooperative. In the meantime, I'll tell you about Vancouver! We love you, Vancouver. Let us count the ways:

1) Your beaches. Lisa, our gracious host, lives a hop-skip from Kitsilano Beach. A city where you can live (on a student budget) steps from the Pacific? Points. We spent our first full day in Vancity lounging around working on our tans (stop laughing - I actually have one right now) and swimming in the giant lane pool - I did a total of 4 lengths and that was a pretty solid workout. HP and I have also done some great morning runs gulping in ocean air. Could definitely get used to this!

2) Your food. We've been spoiled by incredible vegetarian dishes (Naam...ate there twice), sushi, fresh (giant) fruit and hot chocolate that I'm pretty sure was just a piece of dark chocolate melted into a mug. After two weeks of eating at truckstops and fast food joints, it felt good to ward off the scurvy with some vitamins. Having lactose-free and gluten-free dietary restrictions in our mix usually means very few options, but VanCity delivers for all your weirdo-health-nut food needs! Points.

3) Your weather. Okay, so we've been advised to come back in the winter before we move our lives out here ... and the abundance of stores dedicated to rain gear have us a bit concerned ... but seriously. It's been perfect.

4) Your outdoorsiness. Vancouver folk definitely appear to be fitter in general. And makes sense - all you want to do is be outside. We definitely upped the activity levels in Van - a day of biking through Stanley Park, running, swimming, movies in the park (even couch potato activities are outdoorsy here!). We put ourselves through the infamous Grouse Grind, a gruelling 2.9k up Grouse Mountain in North Van. Apparently competitive types time themselves, but we has-been cross-country runners took our time. Okay fine, I still timed myself. But it wasn't pretty.

4) Your shopping. Actually, this is a love/hate thing. The shopping's great, but I've parted with a bit too much money as a result, and my pack is starting to become rather difficult to zip up. But lots of unique finds here - we spent a solid afternoon scouring without even realizing how long it had been.

AND another bonus point to Van for having a bar with BOARD GAMES! Such a good call. We had a wicked night out making friends over CatchPhrase and Giant Jenga. Ottawa needs to introduce this asap!

So yes, we've left with a rosy perspective on Vancity. All three members of Team Roadtrip have been dreaming up ways to move our lives out here. We're also in agreement that going west was the right direction - we may have been less impressed with Saskatoon's rivers and canola fields if we had started with ocean and mountains. This way, it just kept getting better (and we kept gaining time! Loved that!)

Schming and I are now all on our lonesome: HP's employment commitments forced her to leave us, and we left Lisers behind in Van. Things are quite a bit quieter without the Perlmutter presence. Anyone who knows a Perlmutter knows they are one-of-a-kind, and the inevitable "Perlmutter moments" are a source of endless entertainment. But not to worry, I've been keeping the legacy alive with a series of Perlmutter moments of my own ... more on that later.