Hello from San Francisco!!

Hello everyone. We made it to San Fran, after driving over 1000 miles down the Coast. We are getting ready for our first tourist activities: walk over the Golden Gate Bridge and visit some of the local beaches and parks. The city is beautiful, the architecture is so colorful and our hostel, brand new. We are staying in the eclectic Mission district, very artsy and multicultural. A bit like the Plateau, in the early days :-)

One more sleep

Tonight, I had special visitors from Montreal: Dina, Stephen and Ben dropped by for pizza and beer and we had lots of play time with Ben. What a cute little boy. He's such a trooper, first flight, new faces, new city... It was good to see Dina after almost one year. We had many laughs.

Now, Tucker and I are finishing our packing, putting the camping gear in the Pacifica and getting ready for the big road trip. Camera? Check! Long underwear? Check! City clothes for San Francisco? Check! CDs for the road? Check!

This is going to be really fun. Expect some stories on the way back.

Quote

"Dying is nothing to fear. It can be the most wonderful experience of your life. It all depends on how you have lived."
Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, author of On Death and Dying

"Elisabeth Kubler-Ross died on Tuesday at her home in Scottsdale, Ariz. She was 78." from CBC Online. The quote is beautiful, I totally agree. It is about how you live.

Light reading

I've just finished reading the girliest book I've read so far: Sushi for Beginners from Marian Keyes. No literary prowess, but a perfect book for the bus ride to work. Tucker's step sister Trinka left me a couple of books before she took off for the Summer and although they would probably not be books I'd buy, they were pleasant interludes. Next in the list: Family Matters from Rohinton Mistry. Last book read before the Keyes, Oryx and Crake from Margaret Atwood. No warm fuzzy feeling with that book, but only the daunting impression that she might be on to something. I strongly recommend it.

Five more days 'till my vacation

and I will definitely need a vacation! Last week, I received the disappointing news that my only writer was leaving for another job. The pressure of the job was too great and taking over her personal and family life. I can't blame her, the work is hard and the environment, sometimes chaotic. I know the company is on its way to changing processes and improving communication between departments, however, the change will come too late for her. It's hard to see her go, especially after having invested one year in training and mentoring her. She was a good writers, really smart. She'll be hard to replace.

So now, I have to plan my schedule a bit differently, still not knowing 100% if the other writer I hired recently has finally accepted the offer. He had given us a verbal OK, but we have yet to receive the signed offer letter. This is making it impossible to plan deliverables. Will I carry the entire workload to the end of the release, or will I have some help? Hopefully, this week will answer some of these questions.

Today was a total Sunday. We woke up late, read in bed, had toast and coffee, then went shopping (an expedition backpack, three books and Season 1 and 2 of The Family Guy for myself, a PDA memory card for Tucker), bought takeout sushi for a really late lunch, read more, and now it's already time to prepare for another week. Fortunately, this one will probably go by quickly, filled with preparations for the up-coming trip, a visit from Dina, Steven and Ben, and maybe the Grind on Thursday. Not to mention work itself...

Rainy Saturday after a week of sun

Well, Marc's departure was perfect timing, because as soon as we dropped him off at the airport, it started pouring. On any other day, it would have been OK. Today, it was a little bit unpleasant. Tucker and I were invited by Michelle (who works for Helly Hansen) to watch a regatta from the spectator boat. We made our way to the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club at Jericho Beach and as soon as we started strolling down the marina towards the boat, the rain started falling. And then more rain. And then a downpour. And the boat was late. And we didn't have umbrellas or raincoats. We were soaked. The spectator boat finally arrived, everyone snugged inside, where the temperature suddenly spiked, as did the humidity level. So, we didn't really see the race, but we did get lunch and a good laugh out of it :-)

Below are some pictures from Marc's visit. We had a great time together. On Wednesday, my birthday, Marc went to Granville Island and bought dinner. He made me lamb on the BBQ, asparagus and cherry tomato, bruscheta for appies, with two lovely bottles of wine to accompany the meal. He also bought some fruit tarts, delicious. Then I opened all my gifts, thank you very much everyone, it was very nice. I got: a gift certificate for MEC from Annie, Marc and Michèle, a beautiful necklace from a jewelry artist from Mom and Dad, earrings and a pajama from Monique and Alphonse, a coffee necklace from Cuba from Monique Landry, a frog fridge magnet from Mexico from Annie, goodies from the Atwater market from Marc, wine from Sharon, a candle and frog coasters from Anna, a mask from Gerrie, a gift certificate for Chapters from Janetta, Stephanie, Scott, Dennis, Jennifer, Michelle and Ed, a sexy tank-top and undies, table runners, cushions for my patio chairs and a kayaking book from Tucker, and a charm bracelet from Anne-Marie. As you can see, I was spoiled!

Then, on Thursday, Marc and I went to the Vancouver Aquarium for an after-hour BBQ. We arrived around 4, visited the aquarium, watched the dolphin and beluga shows, the sea otters getting dinner, and when they closed the doors at 7, we stayed behind for some hamburgers, salad and wine. We were seated next to the belugas and as soon as the crowds left, they became a lot more interactive and would play with people, show off, play around and make all kinds of sounds (the belugas are called the canaries of the sea). It was great!


Very bright anemone - Vancouver Aquarium

A sea otter having dinner 

An otter pajama

Friday night, we had dinner at The Cannery, an excellent seafood restaurant right on the water. After driving around to find the restaurant (you actually have to drive into the port of Vancouver to access the street where the restaurant is located), we arrived for a well-deserved and wonderful meal. Thanks to all who joined us. Friends who met Marc for the first time all said we did look like brother and sister, that we had some common family traits. I wonder what they were referring to, we don't look alike ;)


Birthday dinner at The Cannery

"You look like brother and sister... I don't know what it is, maybe the eyes." 

Good times in B.C.

I thought I'd publish some of the nice pictures Marc is taking during is visit to Vancouver. He arrived safely on Saturday, it was a bit late for him but we still stayed up and talked for a little while. On Sunday, we drove to Whistler with Tucker (actually, Tucker did the driving) and took the gondola to the top of the mountain. What a spectacular vue! It was extremely hot at the base, but the top was nice and cool (21 degrees instead of 35). We then drove back, taking in the nice views from the Sea-to-Sky highway. Last night, we rented La Grande Séduction, a movie that neither of us had seen.

Today, Marc has been keeping himself quite busy while I was at work. He visited the Museum of Anthropology, the UBC rose garden, then came back to the condo and went for a walk to Granville Island. He picked up a nice piece of wild salmon and we had a BBQ. After dinner, Tucker dropped by and gave us a tour of the local beaches. We then walked down to Wreck Beach to watch the sunset.


Sunset at Wreck Beach

Museum of Anthropology 

Visiting Whistler - Gondola ride to the top 

Marc-Antoine is landing soon

In a couple of hours, my brother is landing at Vancouver International Airport from what was hopefully a pleasant flight. Marc is spending the week in Vancouver, his first visit on the West Coast. I'm sure we'll have lots of fun visiting Stanley Park and the Vancouver Aquarium (tomorrow) and I'll find him lots of things to keep him busy during the week when I am working. It's also nice that he will be in town for my birthday. I miss my bro!

Today, Tucker and I strolled around town, walked the seawall to Granville Island (which was surprisingly quiet for a nice Saturday afternoon, usually, it's a nightmare in the Summer), checked out boats and kayaks, had fantastic quesadillas and cold beer at Sammy J Pepper... Tucker took some pictures to document our day, including this one of a huge propeller. I tested my new sandals, original Birkenstocks my dear. They make my feet look big but boy are they comfy. Definitely not sandals to wear with skirts, but probably very good sandals to walk around town, go camping, and visit San Francisco :-) I'll fit right in!


Propeller on Granville Island

Check out my new do

It was about time that I did something about my hair. It was getting too long and heavy. So I went to Gloss on West 11th Wednesday after work to get my hair done. Melissa (my hairdresser) did a really good job!


New hairstyle, fresh from the Salon

Grouse Grind, take 2

I managed to make it to the top again, but took a few more minutes this time: 1h21min. I thought that my new hydration pack would make me go faster, but instead, it just kept my hands free and my water cold. Oh well ;) I guess that's good for now.

Not enough energy to care

Have you ever had a weekend where you wish you could just lie in bed and do nothing? That was my weekend. Fortunately, I managed to gather enough energy to do something, but I was dragging my feet all along. Don't know what it is, needing a vacation, not working out enough, working too much... a combination of the three I guess.

I'm working on getting my energy back. Tucker and I planned a 10-day trip down the Coast to San Francisco. I have never visited California so I am really looking forward to this. We're leaving Vancouver on August 28, driving down to Cannon Beach (Oregon), camping for the night, then driving down to Redwood (California), camping for the night there as well. Then, from Monday to Friday, we are staying in a youth hostel in San Fran. We have the entire week to visit what is supposed to be quite a nice city. Then we might continue South a bit, to drive the Monterey Highway and take in more of the Coast. We're back on September 5 or 6.

Working out more will be easy as the Fall weather sets in about a month from now. I've been to the gym today, unfortunately, I couldn't do much as I still have the tendonitis and cannot workout my upper body. A bit of stationary bike, a bit of stretching, a bit of abs... Feels good.

And finally, I don't want to jinx anything but I think it's pretty final: we have a new writer starting September 7. He has not signed his offer letter yet, we just delivered a verbal offer to him on Friday, but he seems pretty excited to join the company and I'm really happy if indeed he comes on board. I've been asking for additional help for the past year and have been looking for someone for a couple of months now. Finally, I think the wait is coming to an end and we might be able to distribute the workload that is currently overwhelming.

So I'm on the right page...

Note aside: I found this cool page on CBC online about Bill Reid. Last Christmas, I bought a biography of Bill Reid for Alain and from what he has told me recently, his story is quite an interesting one. CBC has included both radio and video clips about the artist, which I think could be a nice addition to the book you probably just finished, dad.

Too much kayaking :-(

Sometimes, enthusiasm overcomes common sense and the result can be a bit painful. Kayaking for over 5 hours when you don't do this type of exercise regularly is probably not the smartest thing to do. Now I know why. My left arm has been giving me a hard time since Tuesday and a quick visit to my friendly neighborhood doctor this morning confirmed my intuitions: I have developed acute tendonitis in my forearm. Unfortunately, I cannot do anything but wait for this to heal, although I was told that ice and Advil three times a day might help reduce the inflammation.

I can still work, which is good, but other activities are definitely limited for now. And no kayaking for a little while... Pooh!

Pictures from the last camping trip

Tucker has taken some really nice pictures of our camping trip on the Sunshine Coast (and of a previous hiking trip), so I decided to borrow some of them to add visuals to this blog. Enjoy!

BTW, I have now changed the blog settings so you can post a comment anonymously, without having to create your own blog account. Comment away!!

Janetta, Tucker, Melissa and Stephanie on the ferry returning to Horseshoe Bay 

The shoreline of the Dinner Rock campsite on the Sunshine Coast 

Melissa, Tucker, Janetta and Stephanie at the campsite 

Tucker and Melissa after a long hike to the top of Shannon Falls 

Kayaking on the Sunshine Coast

Today was B.C. Day so Tucker, Janetta, Stephanie and I took advantage of the long weekend to organize a camping trip on the Sunshine Coast.

We rose pretty early on Saturday, 5 a.m., so Tucker and I could pick up the girls and leave Vancouver for the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal by 6. We were right on schedule and arrived at the terminal at 6:30. Unfortunately, we were not the only ones who decided to skip town this weekend and the lineup was already quite long. We arrived too late for the 7:20 sailing, our original plan, and had to wait for the next ferry at 9:30. So we walked to Horseshoe Bay to have a greasy breakfast, the perfect way to start a long weekend camping trip.

After a 40 minute ferry ride, we arrived to Langdale and drove to our next destination, the ferry terminal at Earl's Cove. Yes, two ferries, and the Sunshine Coast is not on Vancouver Island, it's part of mainland!! But the road up the coast is cut by several long inlets, hence the need for a couple of ferry rides. This time, we made our ferry at 12:50, sailed for 50 minutes to Saltery Bay, and finally made it to our campsite around 4 (after some grocery shopping in Powell River). The Dinner Rock recreational site is about 15 km South of Lund, right on the ocean. It was a beautiful campsite, if you made it there early enough, you could unzip the tent door and look at the ocean. We had to set up tents in one of the remaining sites, a bit more in the forest but just as nice. We set up camp, and had some nice marinated chicken and salad for dinner.

Sunday was another beautiful day (it's been really sunny for the past few weeks). Tucker had noticed some signs on the road to the campsite for kayak rentals. We decided to investigate this option and drove to Lund. We found the kayak rental place and discovered they had only two double kayaks left to rent for the day. At $45 / kayak for the entire day, how could we say no? We returned to the campsite, made some lunch, packed the bathing suits and sunscreen, and hit the water around 1. Our plan was to paddle across the channel to one of the islands. We could see its sandy beach and thought it would be a great spot to have lunch and relax.

We soon discovered that kayaking to the island was not going to be possible. After 30 minutes, we were all hungry, it was really sunny and hot, and the boat traffic was so heavy it made the crossing a bit treacherous. Instead, we paddled close to the shoreline and picked the first spot where we could dock the kayaks to stop for lunch. Not the best decision, the beach was all rocks (and slippery ones under water) and when we made it to a couple of trunks of driftwood to sit down and eat, we were harassed by bees who took a keen interest in our sandwitches.

We continued our journey along the coast, kayaked for about three additional hours, saw seals (or otters, hard to say from a distance), jelly fish, sea birds, and came back to the launch deck without too many sunburns. I think everyone was happy to leave the boats around 6, our shoulders and arms were hating us after all this exercise. We then headed to some public showers in the marina to wash off all the salt (and take advantage of the showers, since our campsite had none), then drove back to the campsite and made the mandatory spaghetti dinner. We had a few beers on the beach while the Sun was coming down, quite the view and the colors in the sky. We didn't last very long Sunday night, we were quite drained (but happy) after our adventure.

Monday was Saturday all over again, but the other way around. This time, surprisingly, we didn't have to wait for sailings and made it home in 7 hours instead of 9. It made a big difference. Tucker took some pictures and should have them developed by tomorrow. I'll try to post a couple in a next blog!