5 weeks to go

North American Travel | April 28, 2009

Here is a list I previously published when I thought I only had 5 weeks left in Vancouver. These are all the things I wanted to do before I left. Two years later, there are no two ways about it. I really do only have 5 weeks to go. It will therefore be my mission to accomplish all these activities before I leave:

1. Walking to the Granville Island Markets on a sunny (or even not so sunny) morning and having coffee and a bagel with cream cheese out on the wharf/deck, looking out at the city skyline, over at the Burrard Bridge and further out to the snow-capped mountains.
2. Going to JJ Bean's House of Coffee on Commercial Drive for one of their declicious muffins and a latte.
3. Sitting in Wicked Cafe analysing life, the universe and everything, arriving at 42, giving up and just relaxing and taking in the atmosphere and Arthur's most declicious Lattes.
4. Walking into the city across the Granville Island Bridge, feeling a little dizzy with the height and the cars whizzing past, and possibly even spotting a seal in the waters below.
5. Riding my bike to Kitsilano and along the ocean-front bike path, then stopping for a snack of some sort on the way back.
6. Taking a picnic to the park at Kitsilano - it has to be a REALLY hot day to do this (well, by Vancouver standards anyway, I'm talking 22-25deg), opening a bottle of white wine and whiling away the afternoon.
7. Riding my bike around the Stanley Park seawall and along English Bay, again on a warm day, then all the way back home again. You feel SO incredibly great after that ride.
8. Napping on my couch in the afternoon.
9. Going for a burger and bottle of wine at Barney's.
10. Going up to the local mountains to snowboard, or even to Whistler for a day if you feel like getting up at 5am. It's so incredible being able to carve up the slopes so close to home without having to work at the ski fields.

I'll have to strike 10 and say I already did it - I had my last snowboarding day at Whistler 4 weeks ago - but the other 9 are totally doable in these last 5 weeks. I think I will formulate a plan for my first day off. It will go a little something like this: Ride my bike to Commercial Drive, have a muffin and coffee while reading a book, ride back to Kitsilano along the ocean-front path, head home and have an afternoon nap, go to Caffe Barney for dinner and wine. Sounds like a good day doesn't it? That takes care of 2, 5, 8 and 9. Only five more to go after that, and I'm sure it will be a total drag getting through them :)