Monday, January 21, 2013

Anniversary Getaway in Vancity

Matt and I planned a weekend getaway to Vancouver to celebrate our 4th anniversary.  We caught a short flight after work on Friday night to Vancouver.  The views of the sunset over the mountains were gorgeous!
We arrived in Vancouver around dinnertime and we quickly checked into our hotel, Moda, which is a small, boutique-style hotel in downtown.  It's actually a really old building with 100-year-old hardwood floors in the rooms and the original elevator that still works.  It was really nice.  That night, we had a reservation at a fancy restaurant called Cioppino's to celebrate our anniversary.  We had the burrata and roasted vegetables to start and then some cream of Jerusalem artichoke soup with white truffles, gnocchi, and spit-roasted veal chop (I told you, very fancy!).  The dinner was AMAZING.  After dinner, we walked around a little and then headed to our hotel for the night.

The next morning, we decided to grab brunch at The Templeton, an old school diner-style restaurant located a few blocks from our hotel.  The walk there was a bit foggy and overcast but it gave the city a neat look.  The restaurant was very tiny but really delicious.
After breakfast, we planned to head to Capilano Suspension Bridge Park for some sightseeing.  It was a bit of a hike: a long walk to Waterfront Station, a "seabus" ride to North Vancouver, and about a 20 minute bus ride up to the park, but it was well worth it.  By the time we reached the park, the sun had peaked its way through the clouds.  First, we checked out the suspension bridge.  It was so neat - it was originally built in 1889 and it stretches 450 feet across and 230 feet above the Capilano River.  It was really beautiful to see the scenery but the bridge itself was a bit shaky and bouncy to walk on.
After the Suspension Bridge, we checked out the Treetops Adventure.  The Treetops Adventure consists of 7 suspension bridges through the evergreens about 100 feet above the forest floor.
The trees in the park were gigantic.  They were so amazing to see.  We even saw one tree that was 1300 years old.
The last part of the park that we explored was the Cliff Walk.  The Cliff Walk is made up of suspended walkways that jut out from the granite cliff.  The walkways were super skinny and open on the sides, so you can see almost straight down beneath you.
Next, headed back to the city for a late lunch.  We ate at Steam Works Brew Pub.  While at lunch, we heard our waiter talking to another customer about the Lululemon Warehouse sale going on this weekend.  Lululemon is a really trendy brand of yoga and workout clothing that is super popular in Canada right now.  So, I was excited to hear about a sale, since it's normally pretty expensive.  Matt and I decided to check it out.  We had to wait in a line to get in and check our coats and bags at the door.  It was a bit of zoo inside but we ended up finding some good deals!

After our shopping spree, we grabbed a light dinner at the Alibi Room.  The restaurant was in an old warehouse-type of building and had a really neat vibe inside.  After dinner, we grabbed a cab to the Sutton Place Hotel that we heard had an amazing chocolate buffet!  It was a really ritzy hotel and the chocolate buffet was delicious.  Afterward, Matt and I were ready to head back out our hotel to fall into a chocolate coma for the night.
The next day, we checked out of our hotel, grabbed a quick breakfast and then headed to the Vancouver Aquarium.  Although swarming with little kids, we had a great time checking out all of the exhibits.  We especially liked seeing the beluga whales and the 4D movie on the Salmon Run.  I also really liked when we walked through the Rain Forest Exhibit and a butterfly landed on Matt's head.
After the aquarium, we grabbed lunch at the Yaletown Brew Pub and watched some football before we had to head to the airport for our flight back to Calgary.

Monday, January 7, 2013

Tim and Katie's Visit to ring in 2013!

Matt and I returned to Calgary from our Christmas trip to Indiana and the very next day we were lucky enough to have visitors come to celebrate New Year's with us!  Tim and Katie arrived and we spent the afternoon relaxing and catching up.  We grabbed lunch at the Hose and the Hound and then headed back to our house.  Penny was still recovering from her exhausting stay at Dogaholics for the holidays, but loved having new friends for a few days.
The next day, we visited the Glenbow Museum downtown to check out the Fairy Tale Monsters exhibit.
It was a bit disturbing but definitely interesting.  For dinner, we went to one of our favorite new places on 4th street, Anejo for tequila (none for me of course) and tacos.  That night, we had tickets to see Gerry Dee, a Canadian comedian that Matt and I really like.  He's a former teacher who now does stand-up on "life after teaching" and also has a sitcom on TV.  Check him out here!
For New Year's, we headed up to Banff!  Matt, Tim, and Katie went snowboarding/skiing for the day while I enjoyed some hot cocoa in the lodge.  Later that night, we checked into our room at the Rimrock Hotel and admired the amazing views.  We had reservations at the Bear Street Tavern for dinner, where Brooke and her boyfriend, Nick, would be joining us.  Dinner was lots of fun and afterwards, we headed back to the hotel.  We had planned to watch fireworks downtown, but it was so cold and windy, we decided to spend the night at the hotel.  We caught the bus back to the hotel and since we were the only people on the bus, the driver decided to make our ride a bit more exciting by doing donuts in a parking lot on the way to our hotel!  It was a little terrifying but fun at the same time.  We all couldn't believe that the driver of a large city bus decided to have some fun - definitely something none of us expected and something that we wouldn't forget!
The mountains looked so enticing for snowboarding but I had to relax in the lodge...it was tough!
This is the view outside our hotel room window!
There was a pond to ice-skate on at our hotel but we were just too cold to do it!
Tim and Katie at dinner
Matt and I
Nick and Brooke at dinner
Back at our hotel, we counted down to the New Year while playing games and watching the Calgary New Year's Eve show.  The next morning, we woke up, grabbed breakfast, and headed up to Lake Louise.
View outside our room at sunrise
New Year's Day was beautiful outside - clear blue skies!
Lake Louise was beautiful!  Such a different site in the winter time compared to the views in summer, but still very pretty.  There was lots of snow covering the trees and the lake was frozen!  There was also an ice castle sculpture out on the lake!  The Fairmont Hotel also had an ice bar and people making maple syrup pops outside.
 
 
Matt, Tim and Katie took their chances and ventured out onto the frozen lake, but I heeded the sign and stayed on the shore - just to be safe!
 
Maple Syrup Pops made in the snow
Ice Bar
We had such an amazing time with Tim and Katie and are so glad they could come visit!  We love showing people around Calgary and Banff!  Mike and Maggie have booked their trip for the beginning of February and we are looking forward to lots of fun with them!

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Christmas 2012 in Indiana

We spent Christmas this year in Indiana with Matt's family.  It wasn't exactly a white Christmas, but Matt and I were okay with that, since we've been getting our fill of snow up in Calgary.  We arrived on the 19th and spent the days leading up to Christmas relaxing, finishing up some last-minute shopping, and wrapping all of the presents that we had sent to West Lafayette.  Christmas Eve was lots of fun playing games and exchanging our "white elephant" gifts.  Christmas day, we opened all of our presents and got lots of great things, which made for a bit of a challenge packing our bags to return home.  We ended up having to check 2 bags filled with all of our presents.  Due to a "blizzard" on the day after Christmas, our flight was cancelled, so we got to spend one extra day in Indiana.
Before heading to Indiana, we exchanged our gifts with each other at home.  We also gave Penny her Christmas presents.  We decorated our house with lights and a tiny tree since we knew we'd be away for most of the holiday, and a large real tree wasn't feasible.
One of Penny's new toys didn't last very long...
Since Penny couldn't travel with us to Indiana, we had her stay at the doggie daycare and boarding place that we usually do.  They had a Santa there one day and Penny got her picture taken!