Last day in Van City...

So we flew back to Vancouver from San Diego and stayed over at our friends place in the very cool area of Kitsilano.  We awoke the next day with the sad realisation that it was our last day in Vancouver and we wanted to make it as good as possible! Luckily, it was an amazingly sunny blue sky day!

We started it off right with brunch at Sophie's Cosmic Cafe...

By had this giant omlette...

and I had the biggest portion of french toast you've ever seen!! It was super delish!

We decided to hop a bus to head to UBC for one last time to get our final Menchie's fix!

I can't believe I've never mentioned this place before! It's our fave fro-yo place, they have crazy flavours like root beer, bubblegum, s'mores, peanut butter and then once you've served yourself the fro-yo, you get to fill up your tub with any of these toppings...

marshmallows, graham crackers, pb cups, jelly beans, pretzels, oreos...

and there's a whole heap of yummy fruit choices too!

We happened to be there on waffle Wednesday which meant you could get a free waffle bowl! They press them fresh in the store.

Of course we never end up getting fruit because who can pass up brownie chunks and reese's pieces...

or honeycomb, toasted coconut, oreos and peanut butter cups!!  

 

We headed back to Kitsilano, because of course I HAD to have one last Lucky's Doughnut before we left! They make the best doughnuts I have ever eaten! They had some kind of amazing mango, raspberry summer special the day we popped in so I devoured it! We also headed to this burger place to get a Thomas Kemper Root Beer that my friend Cassie had recommended because I had never tried it before, and I wanted another bottle to add to my collection! I let my lips linger a little longer on that bottle knowing that once we got back to England we would be root beer less once again!

and then we spent the rest of our afternoon chilling at Kitsilano beach! because who wouldn't want to hang out at the beach with the mountains and the Van city skyline in the background! Byron and I lay against the massive logs they have placed along the beach and turned to ourselves and said 'why are we leaving all this behind again?!'

We had a slightly stressful trip to the airport, because our taxi we had booked at 8am that morning never showed up! but we still made it with enough time fortunately...

and decided we needed to have one last Wendy's for the road, and so of course I had no choice but to order a side of Poutine.  Oh Poutine, how we will miss you so!

Have you ever seen a more beautiful view as you've sat at an airport before? I thought it was actually quite cruel! that we had to sit facing this amazing view of what we were leaving behind as we sat waiting at our gate! 

Seriously though, as if you couldn't already tell from following along with our adventures on this blog our year in Vancouver was more amazing and magical than I ever anticipated it could be! and believe me there was alot of anticipation! We had known since the open day we attended at Bangor university that a year abroad in Vancouver was a possibility for By's course he was studying and so I had spent more than 2 years hoping and dreaming that we might get the opportunity (despite being told at the open day that only the top 2 students on the course got sent to Vancouver and so By telling me to forget it because that wasn't going to be him!) So 2 years googling and researching every awesome thing about Vancouver and then getting there and it surpassing all my expectations was a pretty big deal! 

There was just so much to love! Beaches, mountains, ocean, forests, skiing/snowboarding adventures, buying root beer every time we went to the supermarket! having amazing baking supplies at my fingertips and being able to indulge in all my favourite flavour Oreos that we don't get in England like mint, or peanut butter, or even coconut flavour!! Road trips across the border to make all my chocolate fantasies at Target come true! Our awesome ward that we attended, we sometimes used to have 100 women alone in Relief Society! and all the amazing friends that we had countless adventures and games night and meals out with - we will never forget them!

So I'm just going to finish up all about our Canadian adventure by posting ten of our favourite places we visited whilst we were there! (Believe me it was hard narrowing it down to ten!)

1. Whistler (Could it have been anywhere else?!)

 

2. Deep Cove

3. Indian Arm

 4. Whytecliff Park

 

 

5. Cherry Blossom Lined Streets of Van City!

 

6. Garibaldi Provincial Park

7. Steveston

8. Cypress Provincial Park Viewpoint

9. Sunshine Coast

 

10. Amazing Sunsets over Vancouver's Beaches

 Okay, I had to sneak an 11 in because my list couldn't not feature a Waterfall!

11. Brandywine Falls Provincial Park

Until next time Vancouver...

Eating Our Way Around Van City!

We got back late on Saturday night from our trip to the Island so the next morning was church.  The very first thing we did after church was go check out some cherry blossoms! I had been promising them that the streets of Vancouver were lined with more cherry blossoms than they could imagine and so it was time to deliver on that! 

They didn't disappoint! and they arrived just in time to see the last of the blossoms falling! A few days later and they were all gone! On Sunday evening Byron got back from his week long field course to join in on the fun!

It had been his birthday while he was away and so on Monday night we took him out for a birthday meal, his pick.  Of course he chose Peckinpah because that boy loves BBQ more than anyone I know! 

and since the Jones girls love root beer floats, it was a perfect pairing! 

Since we were in the cool and hip area of Gastown, we took a stroll after dinner to show the tourists the sights!

Apparently we weren't the only tourists in the city that night, there was about 10 others set up with their cameras and even their tripods to catch the old steam clock in action!

Mom was a little bit in love with this colour changing building!

We headed down to the waterfront, and saw the olympic cauldron.

Vancouver is such a funny city! Downtown it certainly has the busy city feel packed out with skyscrapers, restaurants and apartments yet most evenings when we're out we don't pass a single person! Look how quiet it was! I don't think there would be any night of the week at around only 9pm in London when the waterfront would be empty! Depending on what areas you include, London is between 5-10 times the size of Vancouver in population so I guess it's understandable! but it's also the biggest city in British Columbia and British Columbia is 8 times bigger in area than the size of the whole of England so when you put it in perspective it's a little crazy! 

The float plane dock looked pretty cool all lit up! 

Start as you mean to go on...the rest of our days spent in Vancouver itself revolved mostly around food! because after all I just had to introduce my family to the best doughnuts in town...

An old fashioned chocolate doughnut accompanied by root beer...

and an apple bacon fritter topped with a maple glaze because in Canada everything tastes better with bacon and maple syrup! 

Lucky's, how will I ever leave you! 

I also took them to my favourite Baking supply shop in East Van, Gourmet Warehouse,

with sprinkles and gourmet callebaut and valrhona chocolate as far as the eye can see!

Plus, of course TONS of maple syrup! and sweet potato syrup too! 

A pit stop at Casa Gelato is a must, because I've never been to an ice cream shop before that offers 218 flavours! 

including curry! Yeah, you can ask for a sample of all the flavours but I decided to pass on the curry flavour! 

Mara was much more adventurous but according to the face above, seaweed was not a hit!

After a good 10 minutes of sampling! I stuck with my mint oreo brownie fave! 

I'm insanely jealous of the next food stop, because I was working the day they tried out Meat & Bread. I have been wanting to try this gourmet roasted meat sandwich stop ever since we arrived! 

Mom and By went with their famous porchetta and pesto sandwich, whilst Mara tried their special of the day which she kindly saved some of for me when I met them later that day! and it was a completely delicious combo of mole chicken and pineapple salsa.  I hope we have time to go back before we leave! 

Mara insisted on posing with these rather large feet on Cambie St! 

On another day when I was at work, By played tourguide and took them to Steveston - one of our fave little spots! 

Of course, I insisted they stop by Bell's! 

and sample some of the best doughnuts in Greater Van!

They also picked up some amazing mini doughnuts too in the best variety of flavours! 

and had lunch at the crab king! Every tourist came away with their own souvenir hammer!

There was a bit of a breeze on the water, hence the blanket Mar is holding and there they are sitting out on the patio.

Clearly, a pit stop for row row row the boat was in order too!

and they even discovered the old time houses down by the docks where the first nations used to live, we'd never even stumbled across them before! Aren't they cute! 

The sun continued to shine for the whole week they were here! 

and not only did the sun shine, it was hot enough for shorts! 

Here's Mara cooling down with a root beer in Stanley Park! 

and Mom being a loner in the middle of the rose gardens! 

They were pretty confused about all this rain I had been telling them about since there was none in sight for their whole trip! 

and Vancouver sure comes alive in the sun! 

and sunshine and blue skies is perfect weather for walking around the seawall! 

This picture just screams Vancouver to me! Snow capped mountains in the background, city skyline in the foreground and that little floatplane perfectly positioned above it all! 

Mara continued her love of totem poles! 

and they were both rather amused by this sign! 

Another after work pick up led to a treat stop off at Butter Baked Goods, my favourite B.C bakery.  

There was too much to choose from so we got a little of everything! 

Here we are with our stash!

and we got a whole bag of day old cookies for cheap too! that still tasted as fresh as the day they'd been baked! 

Lemon and coconut bars, coconut brownies, coney island bar with toasted coconut (can you tell we Jones' love coconut?!) and a giant peanut butter cookie sandwich for Byron! It's such a good thing this bakery is so far from my house, I would be going there every day otherwise! 

We finished off our eating overload with 3 different kinds of root beer!

and some of the best dogs in town! 

courtesy of Dougie! 

Up next: The sights of North Van!