hometown celebration

It's taken me a while to get to this, but let me tell you about my recent (weekend of 18-19 Aug.) trip to Santa Fe.

My parents passed their 33rd wedding anniversary at the end of March. So when August rolled around, they decided to celebrate their "third of a century" anniversary with a party! I was invited. And of course I went, drawing it out into a long weekend at home.

I arrived in New Mexico on Thursday. Ryan picked me up from the airport and drove us to Santa Fe, where we met up with the parents and all headed to Tomasita's for lunch. This is what I ate:

A Christmas burrito!

Sopapillas. Mmmm.

 After that we visited REI and I bought a hat for running and other hot outdoor activities. They were all oh-so-pleased to be hat shopping with me. That was followed by naps all around (whether purposeful or not), and then Ryan and I went to the gym. He did weights and I ran 4 miles. Then we went home and ate bagels and lox for dinner. I spent the evening on the couch going through Consumer Reports on cars with Dad.

Trains!

Ryan was really excited about my taking this photo. Really.

 Friday we did our own various things in the morning, then went to visit my grandparents. Grandmother was out shopping with my aunt, so we visited with Granddad a little, and then when she arrived she had to turn right around for a hair appointment, so we took Granddad to lunch. We ate at Furr's Cafeteria, which is a place I haven't been in years and years. After lunch Dad and I went out car shopping (just to look, not to buy yet) for a couple hours. When we got home I spent a little while reading for school, and then we all went downtown to the Second Street Brewery for heavy appetizers and delicious beer. Plus fun live music. We followed that up with frozen yogurt. It was a good family bonding time.

Parents and beers.

Kids and beers.

Wait, did he shrink???

 Saturday morning I ran 11 miles. I was nervous about running so far in Santa Fe because of the altitude. Plus I've never run anywhere near that distance at home. I mapped out an enjoyable route that took me from the house downtown and back. This is what the run looked like:

Luckily I didn't have any altitude problems. I had some energy chews with me that came in really handy starting around mile 6, and I wore my new hydration pack (in addition to the bottle of Gatorade I sipped for the first half), so the whole thing went pretty well.

All done! And sweaty!

After the run Mom made paninis for lunch, and then my parents and I went downtown to the Indian Market. It was fun to see all the art, but my legs and feet weren't super excited about my being upright for so long.

Saturday evening was the night of the anniversary party. Ryan and I picked up my grandparents to take them to the restaurant. There were twenty people there, mostly family plus a few good friends of my parents. There were pretty flowers and good steaks and fun wedding pictures to remind people what they looked like a third of a century ago.

Unfortunately I didn't take very many (or very good) photos of the event, but here's what I got. (And hopefully those people who took a lot more and from better angles will share with my mom...)

After the party we took my grandparents home, then Ryan and I hung out with our two cousins. Both will be seniors this year, one in college and the other in high school. We've never actually hung out with them on our own, so that was fun. We wandered around downtown looking for a place to go after 10pm and finally settled for Italian sodas at the Atomic Grill.

Sunday Ryan and I went to the gym and worked out together, which was kind of fun because we've never done that together before, and then we met up with my parents for church. Afterward we all ate more Mexican food at the Blue Corn Cafe, and then Mom took Ryan shopping at one place while Dad took me at another. That afternoon Ryan headed back to Flagstaff, and after a nap I went with my parents to the Opera for their apprenticeship showcase. I always like those because you get to hear some opera but it's mostly the good bits from lots of different operas, and not one long one that could potentially get boring. When we got home we had leftover party cake and wine for a late-night snack.

Monday morning Mom made me scones for breakfast, and then my parents drove me to the airport. It was a relatively short trip, but we all had a good time and I'm glad my parents decided to throw a party!

Vancouver

I'm pretty lucky. Last year my aunt did really well at work, so she was awarded with a trip to a conference in Vancouver for her AND a guest, and she picked me as her guest! So I spent all of last week in Canada.

We arrived Saturday afternoon, and after checking into the hotel we hit up a restaurant for Dim Sum. Then we took a nap. After the nap we walked and walked and walked, until we got to a beach on the other side of downtown, where everyone and their mother was headed to watch fireworks. We knew we'd be too tired to stay up for fireworks, however, so after some quality people-watching at a park by the water we headed back in the opposite direction of the crowds. On the way we found the perfect little Italian restaurant in a cute secluded courtyard, where we enjoyed a nice meal. Then we hit the hay.

Sunday I got up and grabbed some breakfast, then ran 7 miles along the seawall at Stanley Park. Next we went to Church downtown, then grabbed lunch just in time to catch a shuttle to Richmond (BC). That's where we got on a boat and went whale watching!

Our whale watching boat.

We were one the boat for a total of 5.5 hours. That's a long time to spend on a speed boat. For a long while all we saw were bald eagles.

Bald eagles! The only animals I saw for a long time.

It was pretty cold on the water, mostly because of the speed-boat-caused wind, but luckily they gave us stylish yellow rain suits to wear to help keep the chill off.

Lookin' good in my rain suit and cap.

Once we were really far south, I think surely in the US, we finally had a whale sighting!

That spray of water was from a whale!

Usually on these whale trips they see orcas (killer whales), but we didn't see any. Instead, we saw two humpback whales!

See the whale? Or at least the hump? It's that dark spot in front of the boat in the center at the top.

After we made it back to land we had time for a quick bite and glass of wine, then back onto the shuttle to Vancouver. There we ate some more at the hotel restaurant, and then went to bed exhausted.

Monday we got up and after breakfast headed down by the water to the airport. That's where we caught a seaplane to Victoria.

A paddle boat in Vancouver, seen from the airport.

The airport!

Our ride to Victoria.

Downtown Victoria and Stanley Park. And ships.

Me. In a seaplane.

A pretty picture.

Getting ready to land in Victoria.

Post-flight photo-op.

In Victoria we were picked up by my aunt's former bass teacher. He took us back to his place for lunch. It was very nice. Then we had about an hour left to hang out downtown, so I walked around.

Cute topiary.

To get back to Vancouver we took the ferry. That meant first taking a bus, then 1.5 hours on the ferry, then more time on the bus back to Vancouver and our hotel. We spent the ferry ride eating at the buffet.

Our ride back to Vancouver.

Tuesday morning I went for another run. Then we went to the aquarium. We walked back to the hotel from there, which was along the same seawall that I always ran along. It was so beautiful.

A view of downtown from the seawall. I ran here four times.

I'm glad they kept pedestrians and bikes separated. It could be crowded.

See the cute houseboats?

Tuesday night was the opening of her conference. There was a big banquet outside at the convention center by the water, next to the Olympic torch. Wednesday morning I went with her to the opening session, which included an award ceremony and a few talks. Not the most exciting part of the trip, but it was okay. After the talks we had sushi for lunch, then I went for a run. After that I walked around a little.

Me and a departing cruise ship.

Wednesday evening we went back to Richmond (BC) for dinner. Back on Sunday when we went whale watching my aunt had chatted with the shuttle driver. They got onto the subject of salmon, and to make a long story short, we went to their house for a salmon dinner. Kinda crazy, but the driver and his wife were very nice and the food was delicious!

Dinner.

After dinner they drove us to Granville Island for gelato. Then they drove us back to our hotel.

The nice couple who made us salmon.

Thursday I got up and took a train to a different part of town to visit a big sporting goods store. I bought a cute little backpack for hiking (plus a hydration bladder so I can use it on long runs). Then I grabbed a bite to eat and a snack for later. After taking the train back downtown I changed clothes at the hotel and packed my new backpack. Then I took a seabus and a regular bus until I arrived at Grouse Mountain in North Vancouver. That's where I proceeded to hike up the mountain, also called the "Grouse Grind."

That funny-looking boat is the seabus!

The hike is 1.8 miles, with an elevation gain of 2,800 feet. It's basically stairs the entire way up.

Nothin' but stairs.

I was already way sweaty by this point.

Halfway there!

More stairs.

Still going straight up.

At the top!

I made it up in about 70 minutes. The record is something crazy like 25 minutes (by a man; 31 by a woman).

The view from the top.

They don't let people walk down (and your knees wouldn't want you to anyway), so you have to take the tram down.

My ride back down the mountain.

By the time I got back to the hotel it was just in time to get ready for the evening's activities. Those involved drinks at my aunt's boss's suite, dinner with her peeps at that hotel's restaurant, and more drinks back in the suite. Those people sure like to party.

Friday I crawled out of bed in time for breakfast, hung out in bed a little more after that, and then managed to run 4 miles. Then my aunt and I had lunch in Chinatown and visited a Chinese garden.

Beautiful gardens and pond.

I don't think I've ever seen a real frog on a real lilly pad before.

Neat windows. Every one was different.

Idyllic Chinese garden with skyscrapers in the background. And a big bird (maybe an egret?) in the tree.

Friday evening was the closing banquet back outside (and inside) at the convention center by the water. Lots of food and live music.

Enjoying our last night.

Beautiful sunset!

Banqueting around a fun sculpture.

The night ended with a fireworks show for us over the water. Then it was time for bed so we could head to the airport at 6am the next morning for our long travel day back to Richmond (VA).

Perfect ending.

I'm ready to visit Vancouver again. It was pretty awesome.