as we know it: Our vacation was legend...wait for it...ary!

Our week long escape to Canada was excellent, fabulous, relaxing, and rainy. The rain was a welcomed sight just because of the extreme heat we have all been experiencing lately in the Pacific NW; however, I admittedly did not use my brain well when packing as I did not pack accordingly. First, I THOUGHT I had left my rain jacket in my car, but it was and still is happily hanging in the first floor closet. Second, I packed a pair of blue jeans that were hemmed for sunny happy weather and short heels - obviously not for rainy drag the pant hems in the puddles with sturdy shoes wearing. Lastly, I forgot to pack handy Shout stain wipes with me, and as anyone who knows me, I am a little messy around food.

The vacation started immediately after work got out on Friday the 7th - Jody, Sakeneh, and Heather came over for some delicious Americanized-Chinese take out food. Heather is in town for a short time to surprise her Mom for her 70th birthday. We had a wonderful surprise by a HUGE brown recluse spider who if I had not spotted it accelerating across the carpet it may have been more of an unpleasant than humourous experience.

Chris and I packed up and left for Richmond on the 8th. God bless Nexus, have I mentioned how much Nexus Cards are AWESOME? Well, they are, so you should go and get one if you haven't gotten one by now, don't tell me you only visit Canada once a year, don't tell me you don't want to deal with the hassle of the waiting and the RMCP interview, don't tell me you don't think it is worth the $55 fee -- because you will SO forget about all of that the first time you use it. IT IS AWESOME. After checking into the Four Points Sheraton we proceeded to eat nothing but Chinese food (3 meals at Sun Sui Wah, another at the place across the street from SSW, trust me -- stick with SSW). Oh, Sun Sui Wah is http://www.sunsuiwah.com/. We also had a brief trip to the Real Canadian Superstore to buy delicious canadian sweets. Mmm... coffee crisp.

Sun Sui Wah - pea vines with oyster mushrooms. Mmmm...

Sun Sui Wah - pork, mushroom, and shrimp shu mai. AWESOME.

So where are we, oh so inbetween meals we ventured to the Reifel Bird Sanctuary again - http://www.reifelbirdsanctuary.com/ and this time did NOT get chased around in circles by angry Japanese cranes protecting their babies. No this time we were stalking all of the herons (solidary birds, right) we could find. On our way out of Richmond to catch the Tsawwassen-Duke Point BC ferry - I got to see what M&M Meat Markets were all about. Large amounts of frozen meats and meals for an affordable price it seems. Our brief visit in the Tsawwassen store the saleslady was very friendly and allowed us to ask the usual questions and surprisingly there were 3 customers who came in and out with their purchases while we were browsing/killing time.

One 2 hour ferry ride later we were in Nanaimo and on the 10th we checked into the Coast Hotel on Bastion Street. Decidedly asianed-fooded out we had a psuedo American but really Canadian meal of BBQ ribs, chicken, and butter chicken. Our hotel room had the biggest bathtub I have yet to experience in a hotel room IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROOM with this amazing view of the water. We discovered the best place in all of Nanaimo so far -- Mon Petit Choux -http://www.monpetitchoux.ca/ - AMAZING coffee. VERY affordable prices and the breakfasts we enjoyed there were fantastic.

Top - Latte, Bottom - Cappuccino. Seriously, some of the best coffee we have had - all from Mon Petit Choux.

A nanaimo bar at Mon Petit Choux, in Nanaimo, BC of course. Delish!

Walking around in downtown Nanaimo you get the sense of very good attention to details such as bricks and signage, but admittedly there isn't a ton of stuff to do in the core itself. The waterfront walk is impressive and we had a good time walking around especially on the floating people-only pier. There was a mother and pup seal swimming around, people crabbing, families bringing their Tim Hortons down and enjoying - half eating and half trying to entice the seals to jump out of the water. The water area is perfect for seaplanes and we got to enjoy seeing them take off and land just as though we were at the Pan Pacific in Vancouver, or at the Laurel Point Inn in Victoria. We were also treated to a rather long practice session by Canada's own Snowbirds - who were apparently in town for a fundraiser event. The Snowbirds (http://www.snowbirds.dnd.ca/v2/index-eng.asp) are Canada's equivalent to the Blue Angels.

We left Nanaimo on the 12th and had a few hours to kill before we could check into the Chemainus B&B -- which was only 45 minutes away via car along the Trans Canadian highway. We drove up north and realized the Nanaimo community was only extended by the various shopping centres (yes, centres we were in Canada after all) along the highway. We stopped to explore a Canadian Tire store (think Joes, formerly GI Joes, now bankrupt of course meets Tri-State, Idaho's most interesting store), and after that I decided that we needed to return south. We stopped at the Petroglyph Provincial Park which is just outside on the south end of Nanaimo (before you hit the highway exchange for the ferries). I was disappointed a great deal by the park - the hike was maybe 2 minutes up a hill and the actual sandstone had been horribly kept up over the years. The best part was definitely the large birds of prey we eventually tried to follow via car.

We made our way down to Ladysmith which is the largest township after Nanaimo and before you hit up Chemainus. I must say - the Tim Hortons there was extremely busy. We drove into Duncan and picked up some local meats from the Duncan Butcher shop before heading back to our B&B. The B&B was fantastic. http://www.chemainusbb.com/ -- I STRONGLY recommend this place - the pictures do not lie. First the bed is comfortable, the place is EXTREMELY clean, like you feel bad dropping your first crumbs from your deliciously provided locally baked Vancouver Island bread -- and it is ONLY $125 a night. The place comes with a gas grill, a fairly sizeable kitchen area along with induction burner, pots and pans, plates and silverware -- coffee maker, etc. There are tons of places to sit outside and enjoy the birds and wildlife that come by. Free wi-fi, free international calls (to the US at least), your own phone line, a working desktop computer, and an air conditioner if you so desire. PLUS there is a full sized washer and dryer for your usage. LOVE IT!! The only downsides to this place is that it is not directly next to the water -- although there is an awesome view where you can see the BC ferries that take you to the smaller islands -- and the other downside is that you need to take a full flight of outdoor stairs down to get to the room. The next time we go, we are bringing different bags and packing lighter as the stairs were slightly cumbersome with our suitcases.

A rufus hummingbird - this little guy loved the flowers outside our windows at the Chemainus B&B.

This is a rambly post isn't it? Well you are still reading so...haha. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Chemainus. Downtown Chemainus is a mix of Leavenworth (without all of the kitsh) meets Oregon coast relax feeling. We spent a good portion of a day exploring the beach and downtown. We also spent a good part of another day at Pacific Northwest Raptors - http://www.pnwraptors.com/birds_of_prey_visitor_center.html. Very fun place and we really enjoyed all of the birds even through the rain. My favorite bird there was not a raptor, but a kingfisher from Australia, the kookaburras!

Roo, one of the two kookaburras at Pacific Northwest Raptors in Duncan, BC Canada.

So three nights later we had to check out on Saturday the 15th...which if you are astute you will know that it is our FIRST year anniversary of getting married. Woot indeed. We took the ferry back over to the mainland and stopped at the Tim Hortons in White Horse for my double-double, half dozen donuts and some timbits.

And here we are to this moment right now as we know it. This coming week is going to be EXTREMELY busy for the first week back after vacation. Next week -- we'll have a kitty!!