Fourteen

With two good friends in tow, we’re off to Vancouver to celebrate our fourteenth anniversary.

This is our first trip to Vancouver, where stunning sights await around every corner: the water, the mountains, the clouds boiling up out of the Pacific. The weather is cool but not cold, with grey mornings and partly cloudy afternoons. Locals make up for the lack of sunshine with their sunny dispositions — I swear, I think everyone in Vancouver has taken a hit of ecstasy earlier in the day.

During our first half-day, we do our usual thing: finding the local art cinema and taking in a show: in this case, the unpredictable, dark, but very funny Art House Confidential. The pan-Asain cuisine is so good at the Red Door, we go back again for lunch the next day. Thursday night ends with a fine vegetarian Indian dinner: samosas, a veggie vindaloo, and a spicy plate of chopped carrots and potatoes in a sauce the color of glowing embers.

Friday, we pick up W. and D. and, after welcoming them to Vancouver with the afore-mentioned lunch at the Red Door, we spend the rest of the afternoon prowling Stanley Park. We’re a bit late in the day, so the venue is uncrowded … except for the wild raccoons, who waddle up out of the undergrowth to rummage for food. We miss the horse-drawn carriage rides, but our spin around the park in the rental car ferries us to each sight just as well.

Friday night, we eat dinner at the Top of Vancouver Restaurant, surrounded by a wrap-around panorama of Vancouver at sunset. The food’s ridiculously pricey — twenty-four dollars for a small bowl of pasta in red sauce, for example — and not as authentic as what might be served at any Macaroni Grill in America … but the view is spectacular, especially as the city lights come on.

Today: we’re off to Granville Island for a foodie tour of the huge market, then on to other adventures later in the day. Photos and updates later!