Finding America

Day 65

We were treated to breakfast this morning by my good friend Katrina at a tasty little café on Commercial Drive across from Grandview Park. Katrina and I worked together in Australia and with a few friends took the mother of all Aussie road trips. Her brother Aaron was in attendance at breakfast and it was great getting to meet him and catch up with Kat. They convinced us to ditch our plans for the day and to make the 2 hour trek along the coast up to Whistler ski village.

The drive up the coast along the Sun to Sky Scenic Byway had some breathtaking vistas and it was all I could do to keep the Fox between the lines as I was rubber-necking every view. The mountains here come rising out of the ocean as lush forest covered behemoths straight up to the clouds and out of sight. There is noticeably little development along the route and other than some road construction the drive was passed in uninterrupted natural wonder.

We stopped to do our first gas fill-up in Canada and were at first jazzed that the gas prices were so low, until we remembered they market their gas in liters and not gallons. I had only filled up the tank about 3/4th of the way before we broke the $100 mark for the first time on the trip. Ouch – I remember thinking it was too bad I couldn’t pull Kodi with my bicycle.

We continued on to Whistler and took a tour around this hip little ski village. The visitor’s center provided us with a map and we went in search of a place to grab some eats and a hair cut for the Mrs. On the way we stopped by the Winter Olympics office for the upcoming 2010 games. In no time Kam’s athletic bent had here saddled up in the toboggan on display outside.

We stopped off at the Loft so Kam could get her haircut and after watching for a spell I went on to find something to eat and a place to read while I waited. A block away I stumbled upon High Mountain Brewery and the packed house promised good things within. Kam met me after her appointment looking like a million bucks and my server gave me a wink to say “Good on ya old boy she’s a beauty”. Yup I couldn’t have agreed more. So with my hot date by my side we shared an appetizer and a pint while teaching each other lessons on the finer points of billiards before leaving the brewery to find a place for a late lunch.

We walked around for a while trying to decide where to eat and even went in and sat down at a Mongolian BBQ joint before getting up once we saw the prices. Before settling on the next place we got a call from another friend of mine in Vancouver who wanted to meet us for dinner back in the city. As it was already late in the day we decided to just pick up something on the way home back to town.

We ended up in a nice residential section of Vancouver near the corner of King Edward’s Ave and Main st. The restaurant was a hip little green friendly place called Locust. The menu was eclectic but had several dishes that were adventurous diversions from local favorites.

Carla and her boyfriend Joel met us there a few minutes after we arrived and we all shared a delicious set of meals. This was the first time I had seen Carla since working with her in the Solomon Islands and we had a lot to catch up about. Joel was a nice guy and the four of us chatted away until well after the dishes were bussed.

With a full day behind us and full bellies we said our goodbyes and made bee-line back to Kodi for some well deserved sleep.