Saturday, September 5, 2009
Days 6, 7 and 8
Sorry! We've had a busy last 3 days and I've been too lazy to update my blog. Instead of giving a boring, detailed description of what we did every day I'm just going to post some photos of the last 3 days and let you figure it out yourselves.
We're packing up our stuff to leave the Harbour Towers Hotel in Victoria right now. It'll be good to be home and be able to eat for less than $30 but I'm going to miss the cool weather, the Inner Harbour and our hotel room with the great view.
We're packing up our stuff to leave the Harbour Towers Hotel in Victoria right now. It'll be good to be home and be able to eat for less than $30 but I'm going to miss the cool weather, the Inner Harbour and our hotel room with the great view.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Day 5 - Ferry to Victoria
Added Day 4 and Day 5 stuff tonight.
Day 5… We were awakened by soft thunder and the sound of rain on the metal roof outside the window of our hotel in Whistler. We needed to get up and get going, busy day. But the effects of the sound of the rain and previous day’s activities caused us to stay under the covers a little longer. Finally, we forced ourselves to arise and start our day.
Today we checked out of the Delta Whistler Suites and headed back to Vancouver on the Sea to the Sun highway. Due to the fog and low cloud ceiling, the views weren’t all that great this time but it is still a fun, beautiful drive. We got back to Vancouver, ate a burger for lunch and returned our car at the airport. We then caught a taxi and were on our way to the Tsawassen ferry to Victoria.
We got on the 2:00 PM ferry and arrived at Schwartz Bay at 3:35. The ferry takes a route through some of the islands and it is really beautiful. It was very windy and cold on the ferry if you wandered outside. We took a bus into Victoria and checked in at the Harbour Hotel and Suites. Our room is on the 11th floor overlooking the Victoria Inner Harbor. It’s a great view. Laying in our king size bed you can turn and look through the sliding glass doors, through our balcony and into the harbor, without even really moving. It’s great!
Tonight we relaxed and walked to dinner. Tomorrow we’re probably going to Butchart Gardens so check back! J
Day 5… We were awakened by soft thunder and the sound of rain on the metal roof outside the window of our hotel in Whistler. We needed to get up and get going, busy day. But the effects of the sound of the rain and previous day’s activities caused us to stay under the covers a little longer. Finally, we forced ourselves to arise and start our day.
Today we checked out of the Delta Whistler Suites and headed back to Vancouver on the Sea to the Sun highway. Due to the fog and low cloud ceiling, the views weren’t all that great this time but it is still a fun, beautiful drive. We got back to Vancouver, ate a burger for lunch and returned our car at the airport. We then caught a taxi and were on our way to the Tsawassen ferry to Victoria.
We got on the 2:00 PM ferry and arrived at Schwartz Bay at 3:35. The ferry takes a route through some of the islands and it is really beautiful. It was very windy and cold on the ferry if you wandered outside. We took a bus into Victoria and checked in at the Harbour Hotel and Suites. Our room is on the 11th floor overlooking the Victoria Inner Harbor. It’s a great view. Laying in our king size bed you can turn and look through the sliding glass doors, through our balcony and into the harbor, without even really moving. It’s great!
Tonight we relaxed and walked to dinner. Tomorrow we’re probably going to Butchart Gardens so check back! J
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Day 4 – The Grueling Hike
Day 4… we awoke in Whistler to a beautiful warm day with clear skies. We stuffed ourselves with some strawberry pop tarts, packed my backpack full of stuff and headed to the mountains. Today we were going hiking, Cindy’s favorite part of the trip! (ha)
We took the Whistler mountain gondola up to the top of the normal ski lifts and then took an open chair lift to the very peak of Whistler Mountain. We had our picture taken with the big stone monument thing that is the official symbol of the Vancouver Winter Olympics and then went off on what was supposed to be a pretty easy hike, you know, mostly downhill and stuff. After all, we were starting at the top and hiking down a ways.
The hike started off great. The trail was a bit rough but it was downhill and the views were pretty spectacular of the area around. We then traversed across the side of Whistler Mountain and got to see great views of a gorgeous lake with blue-green water. It was there, at the lake, that the going got a little tough. We had lost quite a bit of elevation and we then had to hike back up over the ridge and around a smaller peak. I said that in one sentence, but let me tell ya, it was not that easy. Cindy and I are both feeling that part of the trail in our thighs and calves today. It was like going up a steep set of twisted stairs and that just kept going and going and going… yeah… and it got pretty hot up there. Cindy’s neck got sunburned pretty badly.
Well, we did finally make it back to the chair lift and in the process we met up with a girl named Alanna (I think) from Montreal who was hiking by herself and also bit off a little more than she could chew on the trail. She was good company as we all then took the Peak to Peak Gondola from the top of Whistler Mountain over to Blackcomb Mountain. Usually, lifts take you from the bottom to the top of a mountain or vice verse. This gondola actually takes you from the top of one mountain to the either and boasts the longest unsupported stretch of cable lift in the world. It was really cool and views were fantastic of the valley between the mountains.
At the end of the day we washed off the trail dust and ate dinner at Earl’s in Whistler Village. We then drove over to Lost Lake at sunset, a little mountain lake that is really peaceful compared of the bustle of Whistler Village.
We took the Whistler mountain gondola up to the top of the normal ski lifts and then took an open chair lift to the very peak of Whistler Mountain. We had our picture taken with the big stone monument thing that is the official symbol of the Vancouver Winter Olympics and then went off on what was supposed to be a pretty easy hike, you know, mostly downhill and stuff. After all, we were starting at the top and hiking down a ways.
The hike started off great. The trail was a bit rough but it was downhill and the views were pretty spectacular of the area around. We then traversed across the side of Whistler Mountain and got to see great views of a gorgeous lake with blue-green water. It was there, at the lake, that the going got a little tough. We had lost quite a bit of elevation and we then had to hike back up over the ridge and around a smaller peak. I said that in one sentence, but let me tell ya, it was not that easy. Cindy and I are both feeling that part of the trail in our thighs and calves today. It was like going up a steep set of twisted stairs and that just kept going and going and going… yeah… and it got pretty hot up there. Cindy’s neck got sunburned pretty badly.
Well, we did finally make it back to the chair lift and in the process we met up with a girl named Alanna (I think) from Montreal who was hiking by herself and also bit off a little more than she could chew on the trail. She was good company as we all then took the Peak to Peak Gondola from the top of Whistler Mountain over to Blackcomb Mountain. Usually, lifts take you from the bottom to the top of a mountain or vice verse. This gondola actually takes you from the top of one mountain to the either and boasts the longest unsupported stretch of cable lift in the world. It was really cool and views were fantastic of the valley between the mountains.
At the end of the day we washed off the trail dust and ate dinner at Earl’s in Whistler Village. We then drove over to Lost Lake at sunset, a little mountain lake that is really peaceful compared of the bustle of Whistler Village.
Day 4 – The Grueling Hike Photos
Cindy and I at the top of Whistler Mountain.
Cindy on the trail.
A pretty mountain lake.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Day 3 - Sea to Sun Hwy and Whistler
I added Day 2 and Day 3 posts tonight. Day 3 photos are in the post below and then the Day 2 stuff is below that.
Our Chrysler 300 rental ride (Darin Rotert, you'd be proud, I'm driving a Dodge (Chrysler)) and one of the views from the day.
Day 3… we packed up our stuff and checked out of the Hyatt Regency in downtown Vancouver this morning and took off toward the next leg in our journey – Whistler. One of the best things about this day was the road trip from Vancouver to Whistler. To get there, we drove the Sea to the Sun Highway, which follows the coastline and you drive right along where the mountains come down and meet the ocean. It’s a beautiful drive. Unfortunately, there are forest fires somewhere and the smoke has caused the mountains to be really hazy. So even though it was a clear, beautiful day, the visibility wasn’t very good. It was still very cool but the pictures aren’t that great due to the haze.
We got to Whistler, home of the 2010 Winter Olympics alpine competitions, around 1:00 and checked-in to the Delta Whistler Suites right in Whistler Village. Whistler Village is a collection of hotels, shops and restaurants that has a really cool ski town vibe. The lifts for Whistler and Blackcomb mountains come right down into the village. We vowed to return to this place in the winter time to snow ski. It would be so cool.
We walked around the Village Stroll (as it’s called) and shopped the various stores: Gap, Guess, North Face, Merrell, and many others. This was Cindy’s part of the trip. This evening we ate pizza with at some place in the village that advertised organic dough, whatever that means. Must be healthy. This was our cheapest dinner the whole trip – around $13.00.
Tonight we’ve just relaxed in our room, read, listened to Adventures in Odyssey. Tomorrow we’ll take the gondola up the mountain and do some hiking and sightseeing.
I tried to talk Cindy into going on a 4 hour hike but I was unsuccessful so we’ll probably do something easier.
We’re having fun!
Our Chrysler 300 rental ride (Darin Rotert, you'd be proud, I'm driving a Dodge (Chrysler)) and one of the views from the day.
Day 3… we packed up our stuff and checked out of the Hyatt Regency in downtown Vancouver this morning and took off toward the next leg in our journey – Whistler. One of the best things about this day was the road trip from Vancouver to Whistler. To get there, we drove the Sea to the Sun Highway, which follows the coastline and you drive right along where the mountains come down and meet the ocean. It’s a beautiful drive. Unfortunately, there are forest fires somewhere and the smoke has caused the mountains to be really hazy. So even though it was a clear, beautiful day, the visibility wasn’t very good. It was still very cool but the pictures aren’t that great due to the haze.
We got to Whistler, home of the 2010 Winter Olympics alpine competitions, around 1:00 and checked-in to the Delta Whistler Suites right in Whistler Village. Whistler Village is a collection of hotels, shops and restaurants that has a really cool ski town vibe. The lifts for Whistler and Blackcomb mountains come right down into the village. We vowed to return to this place in the winter time to snow ski. It would be so cool.
We walked around the Village Stroll (as it’s called) and shopped the various stores: Gap, Guess, North Face, Merrell, and many others. This was Cindy’s part of the trip. This evening we ate pizza with at some place in the village that advertised organic dough, whatever that means. Must be healthy. This was our cheapest dinner the whole trip – around $13.00.
Tonight we’ve just relaxed in our room, read, listened to Adventures in Odyssey. Tomorrow we’ll take the gondola up the mountain and do some hiking and sightseeing.
I tried to talk Cindy into going on a 4 hour hike but I was unsuccessful so we’ll probably do something easier.
We’re having fun!
Day 3 - Sea to Sun Hwy and Whistler Photos
Sea to the Sun Highway. On the way from Vancouver to Whistler. 
More views from the highway. It was really hazy because of some forest fires.
Whistler Village
More Whistler Village
My gorgeous wife enjoying an ice cream cone in the Village.Day 2 in Vancouver
Day 2 photos are in the post below.
Day 2 in Vancouver… we slept in this day… really slept in (it was Cindy’s fault, not mine) and then finally meandered out of our hotel room around lunchtime. It was a beautiful day.
The plan originally had been to go to the Capilano suspension bridge during the day and then go to the Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival that night to see a play. Well, because I’m such a good planner I hadn’t bought our Shakespeare tickets yet and they were sold out. And, after checking into the Capilano bridge thing we discovered it was like $30 to walk across a bridge. Thanks to TripAdvisor, though, I found Lynn Canyon Provincial Park which has a similar suspension bridge and there’s no charge to walk across it. Free is always preferable. To make up for the Shakespeare play we decided we’d head up to Grouse Mountain after Lynn Canyon.
Grouse Mountain is a big mountain that overlooks the city of Vancouver. It has ski lifts and ski runs in the winter but in the summer you can go up to the lifts and see the beautiful views, watch a lumberjack show and see some grizzly bears… inside a fence, of course.
Lynn Canyon ended up being a really pleasant experience. We went across the cool suspension bridge and viewed the really pretty canyon below, with a snow fed stream that falls through a gorge of rocks and rain forest. We hiked down into the canyon and went rock hopping down the stream for a good view of the falls and the bridge from below it. Cindy was a champ and went right along with me.
After that, we took off toward Grouse Mountain so we could make the 4:30 Lumberjack Show. We took the Gondola up the mountain with some Muslim guys that were freaking Cindy out. They were dressed in all white with yellow turbans. One of them even sat next to her at the Lumberjack show, heh.
The views of Vancouver, the bays and even off into the Olympic Mountain Range in Washington were awesome on Grouse Mountain. The photos will never do it justice. As it started getting dark we headed back to downtown Vancouver, ate some dinner and hit the sack. It was a good day.
View of North Vancouver while crossing Lion's Gate Bridge.
Day 2 in Vancouver… we slept in this day… really slept in (it was Cindy’s fault, not mine) and then finally meandered out of our hotel room around lunchtime. It was a beautiful day.
The plan originally had been to go to the Capilano suspension bridge during the day and then go to the Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival that night to see a play. Well, because I’m such a good planner I hadn’t bought our Shakespeare tickets yet and they were sold out. And, after checking into the Capilano bridge thing we discovered it was like $30 to walk across a bridge. Thanks to TripAdvisor, though, I found Lynn Canyon Provincial Park which has a similar suspension bridge and there’s no charge to walk across it. Free is always preferable. To make up for the Shakespeare play we decided we’d head up to Grouse Mountain after Lynn Canyon.
Grouse Mountain is a big mountain that overlooks the city of Vancouver. It has ski lifts and ski runs in the winter but in the summer you can go up to the lifts and see the beautiful views, watch a lumberjack show and see some grizzly bears… inside a fence, of course.
Lynn Canyon ended up being a really pleasant experience. We went across the cool suspension bridge and viewed the really pretty canyon below, with a snow fed stream that falls through a gorge of rocks and rain forest. We hiked down into the canyon and went rock hopping down the stream for a good view of the falls and the bridge from below it. Cindy was a champ and went right along with me.
After that, we took off toward Grouse Mountain so we could make the 4:30 Lumberjack Show. We took the Gondola up the mountain with some Muslim guys that were freaking Cindy out. They were dressed in all white with yellow turbans. One of them even sat next to her at the Lumberjack show, heh.
The views of Vancouver, the bays and even off into the Olympic Mountain Range in Washington were awesome on Grouse Mountain. The photos will never do it justice. As it started getting dark we headed back to downtown Vancouver, ate some dinner and hit the sack. It was a good day.
View of North Vancouver while crossing Lion's Gate Bridge.
Day 2 in Vancouver - Photos
Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge
Looking down at the waterfall and people swimming down there. The water was COLD!
Friday, August 28, 2009
Day 1 in Vancouver
FYI... the photos are not showing up correctly. If you click on the image it should take you to the full photo on Photobucket (as well as a lot of our other vacation photos). I'll try to figure out how to fix it.
This morning we woke up to our first view of the city out of our hotel window. Vancouver is a large metropolis with a beautiful, natural setting of the sea and the mountains. We loaded our stuff back into our rental car, a Chrysler 300, and drove to the Hyatt Regency in downtown Vancouver. Our second hotel of the trip. We will eventually stay in a total of 5 different hotels. Got to have variety.
After we got our stuff in our new room we ate some lunch (we were half starved) and then went to Stanley Park. Stanley Park is a fairly large park at the tip of the little peninsula on which downtown Vancouver sits. We rented a tandem bicycle and road around the sea wall that goes all the way around the park. It was a lot of fun! The views from the trail were beautiful. We got to see many varieties of ships and boats and several float planes taking off and landing in the water.
We walked back to our hotel and took a nap before going out to dinner at Cardero's, a seafood restaurant that literally sits right on the water - it's a dock. It got Cindy to try seared albacore tuna but she wasn't too crazy about it. She had a pork chop and I had wild Pacific salmon. It was pretty good but a little pricey.
Overall we had a pretty good first day and it's only going to get better!
-Peace, Love and Goodbye (that's what this bum/hippie guy yelled at us as we rode by him on our bike in Stanley Park, ha)
Driving into downtown Vancouver
Us on our awesome tandem bike. I look rediculous in a bike helmet but Cindy looks cute :-).
The sea wall bike path leading up to Lion's Gate Bridge.
Cindy and I going to dinner
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
The waiting is the hard part...
Why do the 3-4 days before a vacation seem to last the longest? Hours, days, weeks fly by until you have something you're truly looking forward to. Maybe it's a heightened consciousness of time that does this? Well, yes, of course it is.
Anyway, my wife and I are leaving for what’s going to be a wonderful and much-needed vacation in the Pacific Northwest on Thursday evening and I can’t wait. I have to wait, but it’s hard. I wish I could somehow press the fast-forward button on life and skip to Thursday evening at 6:30 PM. Actually, I wish I could skip to 11:00 PM Pacific time so I could skip the flight. We’re flying into Vancouver, BC and visiting Vancouver proper, Whistler and then Victoria. I’ve never been out of the country so I’m excited to use my passport and go through customs and stuff. Ha. Not really. But it will be interesting to experience another country, even if it is just Canada, eh.
I will hopefully chronicle our trip on this blog every night as long as I have internet access, which I should.
Anyway, my wife and I are leaving for what’s going to be a wonderful and much-needed vacation in the Pacific Northwest on Thursday evening and I can’t wait. I have to wait, but it’s hard. I wish I could somehow press the fast-forward button on life and skip to Thursday evening at 6:30 PM. Actually, I wish I could skip to 11:00 PM Pacific time so I could skip the flight. We’re flying into Vancouver, BC and visiting Vancouver proper, Whistler and then Victoria. I’ve never been out of the country so I’m excited to use my passport and go through customs and stuff. Ha. Not really. But it will be interesting to experience another country, even if it is just Canada, eh.
I will hopefully chronicle our trip on this blog every night as long as I have internet access, which I should.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Just thoughts...
So I'm sitting in my red leather chair relaxing on a Friday night and I thought I'd post something on my obscure blog site that nobody will read. What will I post? Well, I guess just some thoughts that are rattling around in my thoughtosphere.
The most pressing thoughts I currently have are related to my new educational goals which lead to my new career goals. I'm dramatically changing what "I want to be when I grow up" and sort of taking a leap of faith into something new.
I guess there are times in your life when you fantasize about being completely out of the box you've built for yourself. About doing something that would make your friends and family look at you with a funny look on your face and say, "Brandon is going to do what?!". Most of the time these things just stay in fantasy land and you go back to reality. Well, I've fantasized about being outside the grey walls of my cubicle for a while now. Of living in a world apart from e-mail, Microsoft Project, development timelines, business requirements, pricing, contracts... you get the idea. I've thought how great it would be to do something that ultimately is not (or at least shouldn't be) driven by the mighty dollar.
I then began to ask myself, "Why can't I go after this dream? What's ultimately stopping me?" Well, not much, except my comfort zone.
So yeah, I have a BS in Finance from Oklahoma State University, a flexible job making pretty good money for a 27 year old (and 4 weeks of vacation a year) and I'm going back to school. I haven't done anything irreversible yet, but I have started some classes. I'm taking Biology and re-taking Comp 1 this semester at TCC and plan on applying to Rogers State University for the Fall 2010... Nursing program. Yes, I said Nursing. I'm going to be a Registered Nurse (I am secure in my manhood. I am secure in my manhood. I am.) Then I plan on getting a Master of Nurse Anesthesia and becoming a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist. It's a long road ahead, about six years long, hopefully no longer, so we shall see how this all works out.
I'm excited about this change of direction. I feel rejuvenated just taking a Biology class. I can't wait to reach the various milestones on this journey: acceptance into nursing school, RN license, hospital experience, etc. As a Project Manager I often help my company's owners and stakeholders make a profit. Woo hoo. As an RN and as a CRNA I will help people have a better quality of life. Now I'm careful to not sensationalize the medical field too much. There are definitely major deficiencies in the healthcare system and there will be tough times, undesirable tasks and times I may long for the simplicity of the cubicle. However, at the end of day, regardless of who's administering or paying for healthcare (Obama, insurance companies, or the People's Republic of China), helping human lives is still the end result.
The most pressing thoughts I currently have are related to my new educational goals which lead to my new career goals. I'm dramatically changing what "I want to be when I grow up" and sort of taking a leap of faith into something new.
I guess there are times in your life when you fantasize about being completely out of the box you've built for yourself. About doing something that would make your friends and family look at you with a funny look on your face and say, "Brandon is going to do what?!". Most of the time these things just stay in fantasy land and you go back to reality. Well, I've fantasized about being outside the grey walls of my cubicle for a while now. Of living in a world apart from e-mail, Microsoft Project, development timelines, business requirements, pricing, contracts... you get the idea. I've thought how great it would be to do something that ultimately is not (or at least shouldn't be) driven by the mighty dollar.
I then began to ask myself, "Why can't I go after this dream? What's ultimately stopping me?" Well, not much, except my comfort zone.
So yeah, I have a BS in Finance from Oklahoma State University, a flexible job making pretty good money for a 27 year old (and 4 weeks of vacation a year) and I'm going back to school. I haven't done anything irreversible yet, but I have started some classes. I'm taking Biology and re-taking Comp 1 this semester at TCC and plan on applying to Rogers State University for the Fall 2010... Nursing program. Yes, I said Nursing. I'm going to be a Registered Nurse (I am secure in my manhood. I am secure in my manhood. I am.) Then I plan on getting a Master of Nurse Anesthesia and becoming a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist. It's a long road ahead, about six years long, hopefully no longer, so we shall see how this all works out.
I'm excited about this change of direction. I feel rejuvenated just taking a Biology class. I can't wait to reach the various milestones on this journey: acceptance into nursing school, RN license, hospital experience, etc. As a Project Manager I often help my company's owners and stakeholders make a profit. Woo hoo. As an RN and as a CRNA I will help people have a better quality of life. Now I'm careful to not sensationalize the medical field too much. There are definitely major deficiencies in the healthcare system and there will be tough times, undesirable tasks and times I may long for the simplicity of the cubicle. However, at the end of day, regardless of who's administering or paying for healthcare (Obama, insurance companies, or the People's Republic of China), helping human lives is still the end result.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
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