- Being physically and emotionally present and engaged with each other.
- Discovering, exploring, or experiencing something or somewhere new.
- Taking an intentional break from the demands of work and the daily mundane.
- Delighting in the little things (meaning: "quality" for us is not big, expensive, or stressful).
Mother's Day this year presented us with the perfect opportunity for some intentional quality time. Props to Jesse for arranging our delightful "surprise" trip to Vancouver weeks ahead of time! We've been itching to get there for awhile, and have been looking for an opportunity to use #mistercaden's pasport. In the midst of a busy season of growing, we really needed a peaceful and restorative weekend. And that it was. I'm so grateful for a husband who values rest and re-connection. Vancouver is just a 3.5 hour drive directly north from Seattle, the perfect distance for a little getaway. Below are a few pictures from our expedition and some snippets of what we found to do in our brief, two night stay.
Our arrival on Saturday night was welcomed with a fresh downpour of rain, which made for a drenching walk through a beautiful, nearby trail along a river, followed by the discovery of a fabulous local hole-in-the-wall Vietnamese restaurant that provided us with some superb and steamy Pho. We ordered take-out, and settled in for a cozy, rainy night in our awesome "Priceline" hotel in North Vancouver.
Our arrival on Saturday night was welcomed with a fresh downpour of rain, which made for a drenching walk through a beautiful, nearby trail along a river, followed by the discovery of a fabulous local hole-in-the-wall Vietnamese restaurant that provided us with some superb and steamy Pho. We ordered take-out, and settled in for a cozy, rainy night in our awesome "Priceline" hotel in North Vancouver.
We are super blessed with an amazingly pleasant and portable little guy. Caden seems to have an un-canny sense of "knowing" that adventure awaits, and is just as excited to make the most of it as we are. He has been teething for the past couple of weeks, and actually broke his first little toothers over the weekend - but somehow still slept and traveled like a champ.
We like to experiment with just how "minimally" we can travel with a kid, so we didn't bring our porta-crib. There was a hide-a-bed, so we pulled that out and surrounded him with sofa cushions so he wouldn't roll off. He slept his usual 11 hours at night, and then had a solid 2 hour morning nap each day before we took off for the explorations of Vancouver.
It rained most of Sunday morning, but we are now from Seattle - so that wasn't even a big deal. We have learned the art of joy-making in the rain. You just need a good rain-coat, a sense of humor, and a little perseverance. There are always breaks in the downpours, you just have to be ready to capitalize on them. We walked around downtown for a couple of hours in the rain, with Caden under the rain-cover in his running stroller. We really liked Granville street - lots of culture, unique shops, and local coffee shops. Downtown Vancouver struck us as really clean and well organized with lots of beautiful urban landscaping. We really enjoy experiencing cities via foot to get a "feel" for the pace and personality of a new place.
Lunch time found us in front of a unique little hot dog stand that had a line out the door, and pictures of the strangest looking hot dogs that we had ever seen. The place was called "JAPADOG" and as the title insinuates, they served Japanese style hot-dogs. We had never heard of such a phenomenon, so naturally, we had to give it a try. The subtitle on their website (which I looked up later) pretty much sums up our experience, "Making the world happy and alive through hotdogs." If you have a minute or two to spare, I would recommend reading the heart-warming story of their humble beginnings. JAPADOG was started by a young couple with big dreams and determination, overcoming huge obstacles in a new country/culture, having a baby, and then experiencing huge success (thanks to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver!). Apparently, the Japanese hot-dog trend has exploded all over the U.S. - and as far as I can tell, JAPADOG was the trailblazer. Not sure that I would regularly put seaweed on my hotdog, but I appreciate the uniqueness.
After lunch, the rain stopped, (although the clouds never went away). So we were able to enjoy some more explorations via foot and bike. We drove over the Granville Bridge and explored a fun neighborhood known as West Granville. Enjoyed some delicious coffee, and browsed some fancy "dream" shops. On our way to the iconic Stanley Park (which is basically an island in the middle of the city that has been preserved as a park/wildlife sanctuary) we missed the entrance back onto the Granville bridge, and found ourselves on Granville Island! Granville Island turned out to be an awesome place of its own, and quite the tourist attraction. There is a large fine-art college on the island and most of the space is dedicated to showcasing the local talent. They also had a wonderful public market - similar to Pikes Place. Our favorite part was enjoying a show by a street performer, he was talented and hilarious, with the highlight of his show fitting his entire body through a squash racket while balancing on a wobble board 6 feet off the ground. Crazy Canadians.
As it was getting close to Caden's bedtime, and he hadn't had a solid afternoon nap due to our gallivanting, we only had an hour to explore the park. Our goal was to ride our bikes all the way around the perimeter, which we gleefully did. Along with scoring some beautiful pictures of the city, we were glad to leave with our lives and bodies in tact after a couple of near collisions with tourists on bike rentals who had a strange tendency to stop suddenly or fall off their bikes right in front of you.
Caden loves hiking with us, he starts "singing" little baby songs when he's bouncing around in the carrier. He was also quite thrilled with his first driving lesson with dad in the parking lot of Lynn Canyon. His favorite part was honking the horn. Not an essential for safe driving, but hey, we all start somewhere.
Final props to Canada for their high quality and aesthetically pleasing bridge designs!
We look forward to coming back sometime soon. Next time, we hope to travel via Amtrak!
We like to experiment with just how "minimally" we can travel with a kid, so we didn't bring our porta-crib. There was a hide-a-bed, so we pulled that out and surrounded him with sofa cushions so he wouldn't roll off. He slept his usual 11 hours at night, and then had a solid 2 hour morning nap each day before we took off for the explorations of Vancouver.
It rained most of Sunday morning, but we are now from Seattle - so that wasn't even a big deal. We have learned the art of joy-making in the rain. You just need a good rain-coat, a sense of humor, and a little perseverance. There are always breaks in the downpours, you just have to be ready to capitalize on them. We walked around downtown for a couple of hours in the rain, with Caden under the rain-cover in his running stroller. We really liked Granville street - lots of culture, unique shops, and local coffee shops. Downtown Vancouver struck us as really clean and well organized with lots of beautiful urban landscaping. We really enjoy experiencing cities via foot to get a "feel" for the pace and personality of a new place.Lunch time found us in front of a unique little hot dog stand that had a line out the door, and pictures of the strangest looking hot dogs that we had ever seen. The place was called "JAPADOG" and as the title insinuates, they served Japanese style hot-dogs. We had never heard of such a phenomenon, so naturally, we had to give it a try. The subtitle on their website (which I looked up later) pretty much sums up our experience, "Making the world happy and alive through hotdogs." If you have a minute or two to spare, I would recommend reading the heart-warming story of their humble beginnings. JAPADOG was started by a young couple with big dreams and determination, overcoming huge obstacles in a new country/culture, having a baby, and then experiencing huge success (thanks to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver!). Apparently, the Japanese hot-dog trend has exploded all over the U.S. - and as far as I can tell, JAPADOG was the trailblazer. Not sure that I would regularly put seaweed on my hotdog, but I appreciate the uniqueness.After lunch, the rain stopped, (although the clouds never went away). So we were able to enjoy some more explorations via foot and bike. We drove over the Granville Bridge and explored a fun neighborhood known as West Granville. Enjoyed some delicious coffee, and browsed some fancy "dream" shops. On our way to the iconic Stanley Park (which is basically an island in the middle of the city that has been preserved as a park/wildlife sanctuary) we missed the entrance back onto the Granville bridge, and found ourselves on Granville Island! Granville Island turned out to be an awesome place of its own, and quite the tourist attraction. There is a large fine-art college on the island and most of the space is dedicated to showcasing the local talent. They also had a wonderful public market - similar to Pikes Place. Our favorite part was enjoying a show by a street performer, he was talented and hilarious, with the highlight of his show fitting his entire body through a squash racket while balancing on a wobble board 6 feet off the ground. Crazy Canadians.
After this, we finally made it to our much awaited destination of Stanley Park!
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| This picture of Stanley Park was not taken by me. Such a beautiful island-park, a gift in an urban jungle! |
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| Real explorers wear helmets. |
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| My blue and pink bike! It's one of my favorite ways to see and experience a city. |
Monday morning we checked out of our hotel, and finished our Vancouver adventure with some quality time in nature. We hiked through the beautiful "Lynn Canyon" located just a few miles East of where we were staying in North Vancouver.
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| The suspension bridge passing over the canyon and waterfall. |
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| The beautiful waterfall at Lynn Canyon |
Monday was predicted to be the rainiest day of our adventure, but it turned out to be the most sunny and warm, go figure...life in the Pacific North West seems to be generally unpredictable. Ha!
Caden loves hiking with us, he starts "singing" little baby songs when he's bouncing around in the carrier. He was also quite thrilled with his first driving lesson with dad in the parking lot of Lynn Canyon. His favorite part was honking the horn. Not an essential for safe driving, but hey, we all start somewhere.Final props to Canada for their high quality and aesthetically pleasing bridge designs!
We look forward to coming back sometime soon. Next time, we hope to travel via Amtrak!
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