DAY 1
Whenever I go on trips, at some point on the plane I look out the window and say to myself "before I know it, I will be looking out this window on my way home." I then contemplate my trip, speculating on what I might see, or who I might meet. I always hope that it will be fun, exciting and adventurous (then I don't want to jinx myself for asking for too much so then I scale it back to just fun and exciting.) But I always remember what I say to myself on the plane so that I enjoy every second and always really try to take it all in.
Then I started to see the city come into view. Always exciting.
Can't see it too well, but there are lots of logs floating in the water. I didn't realize that logging was that big in Vancouver. Also from the plane, the city also seemed much more rural than I had expected.
Once off the plane, I got my bags and had to go through Immigration & Customs. Immigration was really very intense. I had never been asked so many questions. They asked me why I was here, who I was visiting, how long I've known him, what does he do, where is he from, what do I do, blah blah blah. I felt like I was in trouble or something. Probably the most intense of any place I've been.
Once that was done it was time to see Caine....I spotted him straight away. It was so good to see him. He gave me a nice warm smile. The hug was the best.
We jumped into the cab and headed for our hotel.
We get along so well...we started being a little silly. And Caine gets my jokes which helps a lot.
The city reminded me of so many other places I've been. As we drove closer and closer into town, I went from feeling like I was in Hawaii at times, to being in Portland, to being in San Francisco. Even Chattanooga. We passed through a small town with little shops and restaurants, all of them unique. So cool. It's strange how this place just reminds me so much of lots of other places I've been in my life. It felt warm and cozy, like I already knew it well.
We crossed over a big bridge and saw the tall office buildings. After about 30 mins we arrived at our hotel. We were staying at the Vancouver Marriott Pinnacle Downtown Hotel. It is right on the waterfront, walking distance to just about everything. As it turns out our room wasn't ready, and wouldn't be for a couple hours. And double suck I forgot my make-up at home, so at least we had a mission to accomplish.
Caine was quite patient at the make-up counter ;-)
When we made our way back to the hotel, the room was ready! Whoop! But of course our bags were with the same delivery man who was delivering bags for a big tour group. So who knows how long it would take. So we sat there. Sorta nervous. Small kisses, laughing and giggling making jokes. I couldn't help looking at him a lot. It felt so good to finally be with him again.
(Nice room, eh?)
After our nap, we slowing got up and got ready for dinner. We were both super hungry. We made our way downstairs to the lobby and just decided to eat at the hotel's restaurant. It was actually quite nice. Caine ordered a very good bottle of wine, Wolf Bass Cab. It was romantic. We were talking and laughing and suddenly he says "I'm going to Italy." I'm glad I had nothing in my mouth at the moment.
He had to choose between playing in Europe or L.A. and I mean, come on. There is no choice here. He has to go to Europe. I was impressed by his decision. I knew it wasn't easy for him. I asked him how long he would be gone, and he said 9 months. I had prepared myself that this would more than likely happen. I tried to keep myself guarded and limitedly attached. But you know how these things go...not always so easy to do in the end.
And suddenly I felt a pit in my stomach. I sorta drifted and zoned out a bit. My mind was racing to find a way to make it work. I got all caught up in fear from things in my past. I thought of Frankie. My mind was skipping from this to that and then Caine asked me what I was thinking of. Everything and nothing at the same time I told him. Long distance relationships, I just haven't had the best of luck with them. I feel that you have to be there for each other on a daily basis to take care of each other's needs. Ahh, this does suck butt. And I think I would rather not expect anything, and then be pleasantly surprised when things do happen. I dunno. On and on and on in my head, but then I put a smile on my face and thought, there is no reason to get into it now...let's see how things go. We may hate each other by the end of the four days anyway. Regardless I was determined to have a really great time. I mean I am in a new city with a really handsome, smart funny great sexy guy who adores me. Life could be worse. And I've learned that things generally always work themselves out in the end.
Caine ordered a Cappuccino to go and we went back to our room...and the rest is for me to know and you'll never find out ;-)
DAY 2
So we got free breakfast every morning. Love that. This morning we were super late getting down there and were almost turned away saying the buffet was already closed. But we didn't budge and just stood there. The host finally told us we could order whatever we wanted from the menu. SCORE!
As we sat there, we reviewed what we wanted to do for the day. There is so much to do in Vancouver. When I was in Paris I was so sick and tired at the end from trying to do it all, that we decided to pick one or two things and just relax. So we picked Stanley Park first.
We started on our way. The concierge said it was a good walk to the park. That we could rent bicycles. Oh how fun. I want one with a bell!!
It was such a nice walk. We were very lucky. The weather was perfect the whole time. Blue skies. Lots of interesting things to see...
Oh hello upside down house...
And pretty flowers...
And Caine...
And this amazing view...
And leaning house on stilts...
And cute little yellow house boat with flowers...
And more amazing views...
And we finally get to the entrance of the park with a big map. And so far have seen no sign for the bike rental place. I stop someone who really didn't know. Caine's looking on the mappy thingy. I stop another guy and he says it's back a couple blocks. Damn. So we head back....
And we see the ducks...
And Caine calls me a doddler...I am NOT a doddler ;-) I just like to smell the roses. And besides, his legs are like 2x longer than mine.
And more ducks...
Haha, okay...enuf.
But there is so much to photograph...later he would ask me when I took all these cool photos...ummm hmmmm, doddler. Ha!
When I caught up with Caine, he was busy picking through some old lady's purse....
We finally made it to the bicycle shop! I really really wanted to rent a tandem, but Caine refused. Said he'd do all the work. Not so. I think he really thought it was gay but couldn't admit it cause you know, I have absolutely no shame when it comes to things like this. So he wanted a 7 speed giant, and then so did I. Helmets were the law, so we got those too. But they didn't rent bells! Ahh man. That sucks. But the nice guy did give me a basket. That was nice. I could put stuff in it.
One of my specialties is photographing while drive riding ;-)
Isn't the helmet cute on him?
But actually he was in between sizes *cough bullshit cough* so he had to sadly take his off. I kept mine on. I was totally into this bike ride!
Caine found this super cool path to take...oh I really liked it in there...reminded me of some roads in Hawaii little bits.
When we came out the other end, you could see the tip of this bridge over the top of the trees...soo soo cool.
Then we saw this "No Trespassing" sign, so of course we went in, like duh. We were able to go underneath the bridge. We saw several other law-breakers there too.
Then we saw "Lady in a Wetsuit"....
Nice, real nice Caine...
Not even a double-balled flip off. I only get a single-balled flip off. That is even worse. He's being camera shy again...
But I have to say he did super good fixing my bike when I broke it. His hands were black when he was finished. I managed to have the chain come off, switching gears, going up hill, standing up. He later explained that you have to switch gears one at a time. Geez, well I had no idea. I thought you could go from 6 to 3 in time of urgency (i.e. up hill about to stall.) I must plan more in advance next time. But I did learn how to put a chain back on. Very good DIY skill.
Then we found the totem poles. They were very cool. (But actually, weren't that old. Sorta disappointing. Maybe around 20 years old or so.)
Ahh, then I realized I lost my most favorite hair clip that I wear all the time to keep my hair up! Oh that sucks. Caine, was so great and went back to where he fixed my bike and found it for me. Alas, chivalry is not dead (thank god). He is awesome.
We were both pretty hungry by this time. He suggested this Asian/sushi place we saw on our way to the park. So we rode straight there. It's called Bliss. It was sooo yummy. We barely made it before they closed.
The view was so nice and the food was really great. They had a very good lunch special too. We ordered lots.
And then we returned our bikes, and walked back to our hotel for a siesta.
When we woke up the sun was setting. It was a gorgeous view from our room.
We decided to have room service for dinner so we could get ready slowly for the night. We were going to meet his friends for a drink or two then out to a club for some dancin'. I have to say the food and service in the hotel was just really really great. Almost the best of anywhere I've ever stayed before.
So we went to meet Caine's friends...they were pretty much wasted by the time we met up with them at like 10:40pm or so. They got started earlier that afternoon. So sadly they left shortly after we arrived. And we were all on our own (no problemo ;-)
We went to a club and danced a few songs...it was fun. Caine ended up running into his housemate/teammate there. It was nice to meet a couple of his friends. These guys were so happy to see Caine. They invited us to an after hours party. But we decided we just wanted to go back to the hotel room. It was already pretty late.
DAY 3
This is the only photo from Day 3. Yeah, pretty much this is what we did all day long. So great. I went down and got us some buffet to bring up to the room. The guys in the restaurant were so cool. They told me to grab whatever I wanted and they would bring it up to us. I felt like a princess! Ha, so wonderful. And Caine had breakfast in bed.
Later we did venture out for a late lunch and to see a movie. Hamburger Mary's was really great actually. It really hit the spot. The place was an old style diner. We sat right next to a big open window. We were in the West End (funky/gay part of town.) Very eclectic. Lots to see out the window. All types, shapes and sizes of everything you could imagine.
We attempted to walk then catch the train to the movie theatre but ended up catching a taxi. Turns out the movie we wanted to see wasn't playing at the time they said it would be on the website because of a private screening errrrrrrr. So there really wasn't anything else that looked that great. Still somewhat tired, we headed back to the hotel to watch a movie on PPV. It was disappointing.
It was a nice walk back through crack town for a couple blocks. I think it's called Blood Alley actually. Anyway, was kinda sketchy. The rest of the walk was fun. It was exactly 8 blocks because I guessed it and won - a prize I have yet to pick I just remembered, ha! - because Caine guessed 15 blocks.
DAY 4
Our last full day. So sad...
So we picked to go back to Stanley Park. We only did 1/2 of it the other day. There was still the other half to do and we liked it so much so the decision was made. The side we hadn't visited yet, has a couple beaches. So we put on our bathing suites, grabbed a couple towels from the gym and headed out.
While Caine figures out the best route, I am checking out the view...
This view...
I love nature. This park really was beautiful.
There were so many sailboats out that day.
We made it to Second Beach. Not exactly what either of us expected, but it was nice. Very very low tide.
After a bit we decided to keep going in search of Third Beach.
And they we saw it...
We found ourselves a nice little spot and sat down. And guess who picked up my camera? Um, mmm. Mr. Caine himself. These are a few he took. So 'weet bro:-)
And then I left to go swimming. I cut my toes (3 one inch cuts, YES its true) on the rocks. There were lots of rocks. Caine came for a bit too then we went back to laying out. I had to go to the bathroom. When I came back Caine had taken a few more. I had to animate this next series. He got two boats crashing!
P.S. In case you ever want to use this tool, it's here http://www.blibs.com/editor/ Fun toy.
There were these boys who were so excited they got fish heads! They were running to their mom to show her their spoils. She immediately ordered them to return the fish heads to where they found them. So funny and cute. Caine got these boys too.
Boobs...
Fat man in purple speedo...
It was my turn to lead and pick so I took us down the less obvious route. For awhile it seemed as though I picked a dud. Nice ride, no food. But then we saw the wharf and ended up finding a quite nice little cafe.
Time to head back again for another siesta...I love being on holiday. Ahh....
So by the time we woke up, got dressed and got out of our room it was pretty late already. I sorta really wanted to see the Festival of Lights (big fireworks show), but we didn't make it. It started at 10pm and we were barely walking out of the hotel at that time, and we needed to eat. So we raced down to eat at Bliss again but they were already closed. And all the while you could hear the fireworks going off in the background. Ahh man!!! We tried another spot but their kitchen was closed as well. But they suggested Cardero.
Cardero was so nice. It was perfect. We got the perfect little table looking out over the harbor. Very dimly lit candle light. Another yummy wine choice by Caine. The food was really great. Our last night. So romantic. He couldn't have planned it any better actually. We sat there and talked and talked and had such a nice meal. I was reflecting on our time and realized what a wonderful time I had with him. I asked him how many more days he thought we could go without getting sick of each other, he said lots. We closed the place...we were the last in the dining room.
We walked slowly back to our hotel. I think we both realized our time was numbered. It was a gorgeous night.
There was a very low harvest moon.
You know sometimes, I take this camera with me and never get a shot. And sometimes I think I don't need it and miss so many great ones. Ahh. So as we were walking back, just about 100 feet from the hotel (Caine would probably say more) I looked at him and complained that I didn't take really any photos tonight. So he happily took the camera and was going to take some of me, but I wanted some of us. So I snuggled in as he snapped a couple.
Then I saw a man walking down the street and asked him to take a photo of us. Just before I asked the man to take our photo, I asked Caine what if this guy tries to steal my camera? Caine said "Don't worry, he won't." So immediately the guy says "How do you guys know I won't steal your camera?" and Caine just looked at him and said "Oh, you won't" Ha, love it.
xx
No comments:
Post a Comment