Canada Trip

Hello! Well it's been ages. When the spring and summer seasons come, I always get more busy. There's just more stuff to do! We recently got back from a family trip to Vancouver, Canada. It was amazing! I have relatives in Coquitlam which is not too far away from Vancouver, so we were able to do a lot of things in Vancouver proper. Our trip was jam-packed with lots of sightseeing, eating, and shopping. I'm sure there is more to British Columbia (the province) than just Asian food, but all we ate was pretty much Asian. We had noodles, vietnamese, chinese, dim sum, korean bbq, sushi, and hotpot. I thought I was going to explode. There is a large Asian population in the area and there were signs everywhere in English and Chinese. It felt like being in Hong Kong again. And it felt good to use the old Canto with the parents. Caleb had a blast with that. My cousin had to do a double take when he heard Caleb speak Cantonese. He was so surprised!

Here's a day by day rundown of our activities:



Day 1 June 25 Thursday: Since we arrived at midnight on June 24th, we slept in to recuperate. We went out for Chinese Dim Sum. Yummy as always. Sorry I don't know where we went, but it can't be hard to just google a dim sum restaurant. They're probably everywhere. I introduced Jen to Mango Pudding, one of my all time favorites. 

They use different molds. Ours came in a heart shape mold, like this:

After they serve it to you, they will pour evaporated milk over the top. Super good. Jen fell in love.

Us at Dim Sum

We then went to a place called Capillano Suspension Bridge Park. That was a really fun place. You can check out their website here. The main suspension bridge was quite the ride. It was pretty shaky because there were so many people on it. In addition to the bridge, they had a treetop adventure walk where they built little bridges going from tree to tree and you gradually got higher and higher. Caleb liked that part the best. They also had a cliff walk where they built a bridge/walkway coming out from the side of the cliff that runs along the river. That was really fun as well. 

That evening we had a family bbq at my aunt and uncle's house. Sorry no pics, but I guarantee you the food was grand. And Derrick grilled the salmon to perfection. Yum!

Day 2 June 26 Friday: We left early for the famous Butchart Gardens. These gardens are located on Victoria Island (or maybe it's called Vancouver Island?) and so we had to take a ferry across the water. This was no ordinary ferry. This ferry was so big we took our car onto it. The ferry was designed with multiple lower levels so people can transport their cars across. You drive your car in, get out of the car, and enjoy the scenery on the upper deck. It was really fun. The ferry trip is about an hour and a half. 

The gardens were gorgeous. I'm glad I went, but I do think the gardeners at Temple Square can do just as nice of a job. maybe. Here is some picture overload for you.

I know I didn't show you much of the gardens. They had a Japanese style garden and an Italian style garden that were really cool. I was living in the moment and didn't take many pics. You'll just have to go for yourself!

That evening after we got back to Coquitlam, we had dinner at a noodle place. Caleb and I were in heaven. You choose your broth, type of noodle, ingredients etc. and make your own soup noodle bowl. It truly was like being in Hong Kong! Caleb even got to order Horlicks as his drink! That's not available in the US. 

Day 3 June 27 Saturday: So I'm running a marathon with my sister-in-law in September so I've slowly been racking up the miles and had to do a long run while in Canada. My brother Derrick, who is a physical fitness enthusiast, is also a runner and decided to run the 12 miles with me. So. Much. Fun. I hope someday we could live closer to them so we could do that again. Not only that, but my Dad ran half that distance with us! I secretly want to convert them all to the running religion. 

Before our run

Later that day we went to have a food called ja leung. It's an asian breakfast food, looks like this:

   

It's not really healthly, but it's so tasty! I think this is a family favorite simply because we can't get it in the US, unless you live near a really good chinatown.

We then went to the Fisherman's Wharf in Richmond and looked at all the seafood. It was really fun because you just walk along the dock, and fishing boats are parked there and they just sell their catches directly from the boat. There were all these little shops in the area and I fell in love with a scarf that was only 10 canadian buckaroos! So naturally I bought it. Jen bought one too, and we bought one for Adria because she wasn't there. We also got frozen yogurt there  because my aunt was raving about how good it was. Needless to say, it didn't disappoint. The place only had plain frozen yogurt, but then you choose the fruit to be blended in. We got peaches and raspberries. Caleb's picks. He's so good at doing that. 

cool clouds

Loving my new scarf! Can't wait to wear it later in the year.

We then proceeded to stuff ourselves at a really nice hotpot restaurant. This was some serious business. Hotpot is one of my top favorite meals at home. This place was almost as good, but no complaints here. I rarely get hotpot these days.

Day 4 June 28 Sunday: We went to a church service at 11am and then afterwards we went to visit my grandfather's grave. That was a cool experience. None of us had ever been there before except for my parents. 

We took turns filling in the faded paint.

Day 5 June 29 Monday: My Dad's birthday! We celebrated by hiking a famous trail called the Grouse Grind. Apparently this trail is commonly referred to as "Mother Nature's Stairmaster." It's a very appropriate nickname. The hike is only 1.8 miles, but the elevation gain is 2800 feet! There are 2830 stairs. This was a very challenging hike. For a novice hiker it takes about two hours. Good thing we didn't take the kiddies. Hiking Grouse Mountain was hands down my favorite activity of the trip. If you ever go, you have to do this but make sure you are in somewhat good physical shape because it is a real challenge.  I'm happy to say I survived the Grind. I stayed with Jen to make sure she didn't give up. You're not allowed to hike down. 

Yeah...see that cute little baby girl? That's my niece!

 So the only way down is to take a cable car. The view was really cool.

Finished the day off with a homemade seafood dinner and Mango birthday cake! So good!

Happy Birthday Dad!

Day 6 June 30 Tuesday: This was a our last day in Canada. We went to a place called Burnaby Mountain Park where they had some strange-looking totem pole sculptures. Then we hit Chinatown for lunch and had some amazing vietnamese food. Afterwards we went to the Vancouver Aquarium and saw loads of things including some Beluga whales. Jen requested to go here for the Beluga. They also had a cool exhibit similar to Body Worlds, only it was for big "sea monsters" like giant squid and different sharks. It was really cool to see. You can read more about the exhibition here. 

I didn't really take any pics in the aquarium, but they had a cool sculpture outside!

We finished the day off with some good Korean BBQ. If you have never had Korean BBQ, you are missing out. Go. Now. 

That was an amazing trip! I am so grateful to be able to spend some time with my family. Now that everyone is back in AZ except us, these opportunities are few and far between. Can't wait to see them again!