He and I have done a lot of power touring over the years. England, France, Italy, Oregon Coast, etc. We've been trying to get a trip planned for several years, but Mike's change of jobs and other factors have prevented us from actually going anywhere lately.
About 8 weeks ago I was chatting with Mike when the subject of a trip came up again. He asked me where I'd like to go and without having to think much I said "Vancouver" because it's been on my mind. He said he's always wanted to go there as well, but never been able to get anyone to go. So plans began to form for a guys trip to Vancouver.
Of course, a few days later my daughter's boyfriend asked if he could buy me lunch and discuss an important topic with me. Oh sheesh, not this again, I thought. It's either Amway or he wants to marry my daughter. I was almost hoping for Amway (just kidding David).
Well, both sets of plans came together. Kadi and David were happily married on May 31st. And today, Mike and I flew to Vancouver to start a long dreamed of trip around Canada.
My flight left at 8:10, so of course, I got up at 4:30. Nannette had thrown a few clothes in a bag for me earlier this week, just before she left on her own vacation to Arizona. She's been gone for 5 days now. She'll fly back the day after I leave. So we won't see each other for 15 days. That's a long time for us, probably the longest we've gone in our married life without seeing each other.
It reminds me of times when our kids were little and we had a cabin in Northern Arizona. In the summers, Nannette would get 3 or 4 other young mothers and they'd take all of the kids and go to the cabin. I was self employed at the time, so I really cherished that time so I could work really long hours on my projects without interruption. The first day they were all gone, I'd work from 5 am to 11 pm and get a huge amount of work done. The same the next day. But by the 3rd day I'd be down to maybe 10 hours of work, and by the 5th day only about 7 hours. By the 8th day I didn't feel like getting out of bed at all. I wanted my wife and kids back so bad I couldn't stand it.
After a few years of this, I was sobbing wreck any time I was away from my wife and kids for more than a few days. I learned to drive up to the cabin every few, at least for a night (I'd tell myself), then I'd stay for 2 or 3 days and to heck with work.
After 30 years, I've gotten over it, at least for the kids.
This time isn't as bad, but I do miss Nannette. Once she's back home we can skype every day.
So where was I...?
Oh yeah, packed and at the airport by 6:30. I parked the Highlander in long term parking and texted the car's location to Nan. She flies in tomorrow and will drive the car home.
I flew to Salt Lake and met up with Mike before boarding the plane to Vancouver. When we arrived, we started the process of passing through immigration. They directed to a huge are of switchback lines where we began moving like cattle. But when we reached the end, all they did was direct us to another full set of switch backs and again moved along till we reached the end. And once again we were directed to another even bigger set of switchbacks. In all, we were about 40 minutes of line dancing till we finally reached the immigration window. He asked me a few questions then waved me on.
We picked up my bag from luggage claim. Mike NEVER checks a bag. He's a travel guru and knows the ways to get a weeks worth of clothes in a carry on, but I don't.
We rented our car, plugged in my GPS and fed in the address of a good Chinese restaurant. It was a very authentic Chinese place. They offered deep fried duck webbing, chicken tendon, and allot of other interesting dishes. We settled for pot stickers and a few other Americanized dishes.
Once we got checked into the restaurant we grabbed a few cameras and walked into downtown Vancouver. There is a Jazz Festival going on right now and we thought that would be fun to visit. It wasn't a long walk and the air was nice and cool. As we got closer the crows began to form a visible flow and we were swept along with it.
We grabbed a pamphlet for the festival and a couple of lemonades, then headed to one of the stages. A band named Lady was just stating. It was ok, but we weren't really impressed, so after a few songs we walked around to the other stage. I don't remember the band's name, but it was very latin. It reminded me of Santana but without any guitar. Again we stayed for a few songs, then headed out to find some dinner.
This time is was Japenese. We had some great sashimi, shrimp, lettuce wraps and a few other things.
After dinner we walked back to the Jazz Festival. We arrived in time for the last 4 songs of a retro 50s band named Company B. We really enjoyed their music. Enough that Mike bought a CD.
Back at the hotel we discussed the plans for the week, I uploaded photos and wrote this blog.
Oh, you can follow my current location on my spot GPS web page. I'll try to keep it turned on.
http://tinyurl.com/claysfindmespot
Selfie in front of the hotel room window
Mike by the window, trying to get hotel reservations straightened out
Jazz Festival
Food Trucks and fresh squeezed lemonade
Panorama of one of the stages and audience
Salmon Sashimi
Lady
Towering buildings around us
Company B
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