Vancouver, Canada

the view as you fly in... & it only gets better from here.

Oh Canada!  What a weekend we had!  This weekend we went to Vancouver.  It was quite the adventure.  For starters [this is embarrassing to admit] for some reason it didn't cross Josh or my mind that being in Canada would equal no cell service...  Flying as a non-rev we greatly depend on our smart phones to help us find where to stay and how to get around.  We can't really book anything in advance because we do not know that we'll make it and could be out a good amount of money.  I do all the research I can for us but we depend on google maps & the internet.  So you can imagine how hilarious this trip went once we got on the plane and it hit us!

But we still had a blast!  Vancouver is one of the most beautiful cities I think either of us has ever been to.  If you get the chance, go!  It has the big city as you can see in the picture below with incredible architecture different than here in America, but then you walk down to the water front and step into another world.  There's the water line with giant mountains in the background [reminded us of Utah & we felt right at home (: ] with tons and tons of pine trees!!  I can't do it justice describing the scene.  It was unreal.  Hopefully the pictures help a little.

We decided Vancouver is a melting pot.  There were people of every kind all over the place especially Koreans.  Josh was in heaven!  The second we step off the skytrain we walk out and ran into a Korean food truck so naturally that was lunch!  Josh made me try Kimchi [or however it's spelled] I can't say I enjoyed it.  The food was good besides that though even though Josh said mine wasn't really authentic Korean ha.  He loved it and spoke to the guy in Korean forever.  They were very impressed with how well he used the language.

We explored all along the waterfront.  It was incredible.  Planes were constantly landing & taking off from the water & there were huge cruise ships and cargo ships.

beautiful. 

Can't see the top, I wish I could direct people when they take our picture
of how to do it  but beggars can't be choosey!  Giant Orca Statue!

   Afterwards we explored famous Stanley Park.  It's amazing, you walk over there following the water front with the city in the background but once you get over there it really feels like you are in the mountains.  You are surrounded by flowers, water, & giant pine trees.  The park is huge there's an aquarium in the middle, food, a theater & some famous totem poles.

the famous totem poles.

Giant trees!

the walk there with the Marina & City in the background

they kind of reminded us of the redwoods they were so big!

That night we ventured down town to find a restaurant I had researched & found online that was suppose to have incredible Greek food.  Success!  It was in a shadier part of town but when we finally found it there was a huge line out the door.  Not fun to stand in but a good sign of how good the food would be!  We met a family in line that gave us lots of advice for our night it was fun to talk to some Canadians!  When Josh started asking him about the weather he was answering all in Celsius terms and we had no clue what he was saying!

Best Greek food I have ever had.  If you go to Vancouver eat at
Stepho's Greek & Soulvaki.

That evening we had originally wanted to go on a dinner cruise out on the water.  Well I really want to go on one and Josh was sweet & tried to take me but they were all sold out! So instead we walked around the big touristy street watching the street performers & then we went on a long walk over a bridge to Gransville Island to watch the sun set!  It was beautiful.

Josh always has to get the serious face model shot... haha

& made me do the same!

That night we had a hay day trying to get wifi to get a hotel & then finding our way to the hotel that ended up being pretty far away.  Turns out that Monday [July 1] is Canada Day, we always manage to go places and busy crowded weekend celebrations we were not aware of so once again hotels were totally sold out.  It was a blast though we had quite the time taking public transit all over the place & meeting some very interesting characters.  That's half the fun of our adventures together!  Sunday morning we find our way all over public transit again to the LDS church for sacrament.  It was a wonderful meeting so full of the spirit.  They sang the Canadian national anthem for the opening hymn in honor of Canada day on Monday.  That was fun to be a part of.  It was seminary graduation so a lot of kids spoke and their talks were really interesting to hear about their experiences.

Lucky for us church was right by the train we needed to take to get to the airport - tender mercy.  & it is a good thing we got there early!  The Vancouver airport doesn't have different terminals, all the gates are in one so the line to get through security is huge!! Luckily Josh got us through a different line but then we had some issues at customs... When we got our US customs slips printed mine had a huge X through it & I knew that wasn't good!! I had to go through this special line to get checked and then got escorted to a special back room where Josh wasn't allowed to come up with me while I got questioned.  Oh my goodness I was terrified.  But turns out its just extra security for me since my identity is flagged from someone else [not me] trying to use my information.  Everything turned out just fine but boy was it a stressful experience!!

We had a wonderful weekend and made it home safe & sound! (: