1. Fresh berries picked in Stanley Park
2. Path, Stanley Park
3. Carving and cutting dinner
4. Ingredients
5. The indulge
6. After dinner record, Neil Young’s After the Gold Rush
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These past two days have been nothing short of extraordinary. Adam and I have been trekking our surroundings as though they’d crumble if we dismissed them. Our adventures have been rewarded with photographs, bodies sore from walking, people watching, realizations and satisfactions. I’m happy.
Today we were excited to get the day started—so excited that we wandered the streets and scraped past closed shops, empty sidewalks and quiet traffic. We decided to venture through Stanley park, Vancouver’s trademark playground studded with forest, shoreline, gardens and paths. It felt otherworldly—staring up at the trees during our walk, I didn’t feel like I was anywhere I could readily compare to somewhere I’d been.
After our park exploration, we found lunch downtown. A long walk through the downtown grid made for an eventful afternoon, and an exhausting day. We reveled in coming back to our lodgings, the upstairs unit of a house that Adam so cleverly discovered, to make a homemade meal and relax. Which is exactly what we did! We made delicious food (well, mostly Adam did) and for a moment (however brief) felt like true urbanites.
The traditional after dinner walk pursued, first to McDonald’s to partake in the traditional Canadian dessert of various flavours of McFlurries. We continued walking to a park near the neighborhood we’re staying in, and upon making a steady climb through gardens, reached a summit and discovered the Vancouver skyline before us, beautiful white and colored lights speckled at the mountains’ feet. It kind of hit me, what’s happening. I’m here. I’ve been blessed with this place, and this opportunity. It’s unbelievable.
We rounded the conservatory and reached a fountain, where dozens of sychronized sprays danced at different levels, spouting for moments and evolving to silence. And wandering home, as we were lost, and found, and finally found home, I felt so right, and I knew I’d sleep well.
Tomorrow we’re headed south, back into the States, to Seattle, a place I haven’t brushed since a summer visit some years ago with my grandma and sister. I can hardly contain the buzz and yearning for the city, markets, parks, coffee, people, streets, life. The best of the buzz is, this is just the beginning.
Love from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada! As much love as I’ve earned for this city since I arrived—
jc
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