Fakin' it, Eh?

Now that I've posted pictures of the places that we visited, here are a few of the random things we did while in Vancouver, B.C. for a few days.

 "Shawna!! Show me your excited face!"

Molly didn't want to participate.

 We all know no good road trip starts off without a little caffeine.

Even the Starbucks boy wished us well.

 Only a short 2 hours later... BLAM! Canada!! We were the biggest dorks at the border. Shawna rolls up, I am of course video-taping the whole experience, and the first thing the border control guy says (in a grumpy tone) was "Put the camera down." Oh boy, I had no idea this was such a serious job, dude! Whatever, whatever. So after a few minutes of warming him up he could obviously tell this was our first time across the border so he asks us, "Do you want me to stamp your passports?" DUH!!

Suh-weet!

 I am in Canada, ya'll! Not a big deal to most people, but it has taken me 28 years to get out of the USA. First, but definitely not the last.

 The super cute girl at the visitor's center who was a wealth of information about what to do and see.

 Gots to practice in order to be a Canadian, eh? This book is all about the mannerisms and quirks of a true Canadian and how to fake being one so you don't get made fun of for being a stupid American.

This was their library... just shows how cool Vancouverites are. 

 But then you have to deal with this. No good! We knew they weren't messing around when we had to drive around broken back-window glass in order to park... in our locked and gated underground hotel parking structure! Good Lordie. They obviously don't really want it getting out that this is an actual problem in their establishment because they sure were Johnny OnTheSpot with sweeping up the glass.

 At our hotel in downtown Vancouver they asked us if we had a small or large dog so they could give us this little package-o-goods for her. How precious.

 On our walk down to the local street corner 7-11 we passed quite a few odd things, this being one. Really? If you need a "Lite," you shouldn't be drinking slushies to begin with.

 Our hotel. They were hosting the women's soccer Olympic tryout teams at the same time.

 The Vancouver Lookout. It's really called that, I looked it up. :) It was a little too dark for us to be able to see much ofanything, but either way it was pretty cool.

 Just a few of the buildings from a view at the top. We were pretty sneaky too... we wanted to have dinner there (kinda like we did at the Space Needle when Paul was in town for my birthday). So if you are having dinner you get the elevator ride for free. When we got up there however, they were doing some buffet special for the Chinese New Year. For $55 not including drinks or desserts!! No thank you. So we, being the cheap jerks that we are, told them we were going to the observation deck right quick and would be right back for our reservations. NOT! Free trip to the Lookout?? Yes please! Gotta be thrifty when you are out of work for a month. That, and how many other people do that... come on.

 These little sail looking things were some sort of a tribute for the 2010 Olympics that were held here. There was a sign that said the significance of it, but I can't seem to find the picture I took of it, or care really. See? That's why they hate stupid Americans.

While we were they they were also having a restaurant festival of some sort, so about 100 of the local restaurants were participating. Every place had a different menu - whatever they specialized in - for either $15, $25 or $35 for a 3 course menu. We did a little research, and this was the place we picked. Can't remember the name, but it was tasty!

 The local transit system is like any other major city. This is the SkyTrain that took us to the mall. Of course we went shopping!

 While having a light lunch at the mall, we ran across this. It is true... they do have poutine! I couldn't muster up the courage to try any. Next time.

 A guy playing the violin (fiddle?) to greet the folks coming off the SkyTrain.

 Miss Molly was so over being stuck in the hotel. It was raining so much that we did our best to walk her every chance we got, but it just didn't work out as well as we had hoped. Had to give her a little extra lovin' to get her through the next few hours when we were gone.

 We found a great little shop that was all about late night desserts. All they served were cakes and pies and cupcakes and coffee and wine. Didn't open til 9 pm, closed at 4 am. My kinda people.

 Shawna chose the lemon cake, I had the chocolate hazelnut cake. Yummo.

Has anyone ever heard of Vij's? It is an Indian restaurant that is world renowned for it's food. Iis on multiple lists for best Indian in the World and we found out why. Hands down, one of the most amazing meals of my life. Second only to a few meals I've had with Paul in Ashland and of course... my mama's cookin'. This is the owner who was the most amazing man, and so much fun to just sit and have a conversation with.

 Being that it was Chinese New Year, we had to check out Chinatown!! Suprisingly, it wasn't as done up as we had imagined. I was pretty bummed that we missed the parade. Damn!

This is one of the mason lion statues that are placed at the Chinatown entrance to greet visitors. The big elaborate arches are actually called paifang. Historically they are donated to certain cities by the Republic of China, but many cities are now building their own because they believe it increases traffic to their areas.  

 And another.

This was a shrine located in the Dim Sum place we went to for dinner. I tried to ask what it meant, but I don't think our waitress could really translate its meaning very well. All I could gather was something to do with 'tradition.'

There are definitely more pictures, just have to get them off my phone. So when I do get around to adding them, they won't make sense anymore. Sorry!