OK, so it’s occurred to me that I haven’t written a blog for
a little while (2 and a half months?!) and to be honest I’m not sure where to
begin. SPOILER ALERT: This is going to be a LONG one.
It feels like the last few months have flown by, which I
think is a sign that we’re enjoying ourselves much more than we were before
(see mice, bedbugs, thieving gits etc). I know Ash filled you in on our super
gay mini-break to the cabin so I won’t go over that...except to say that Ash
was an excellent driver, and I greatly appreciated our friend Mike leaving his
iPod in the mini for us (hello Barbara Dixon).
Next up was the royal visit ie. Jen and Mark crossing the
pond to experience the delights that Vancouver has to offer. And to be honest
the Couv pulled it out of the bag. The summer weather made the city look a
completely different place from when Mum and Dad visited, and it was nice to
show it off. Most culinary hot spots were visited; Meat & Bread (which Mark
insisted on visiting twice), Bao Bei, big dumplings, Bin 941, smoked-meat
filled bagels and the obligatory diner visit. Needless to say we also tried a
few of the BC beers too, including raspberry beer brewed on Granville Island.
Tasty. It was a bit of a heart wrench to say goodbye but I had an amazing time
and I’m pretty sure they liked it too. Especially as we sent them home with
some Meat & Bread mustard. |
| Harry and Ginny |
Otherwise in the city, things are going well. If you didn’t
hear already I WON AN IPAD at work. A result of my incredible intellect and wit
(and love of acronyms). Unfortunately, we need the money more now we’re saving
for our travels so it’s gone on craigslist. It is killing me. I tried
half-heartedly to convince Ash (and myself) that we could justify keeping it
but alas, my Ash’s common sense won out. I also promised to go sharesies
with Adam so I couldn’t really keep half of it. Pretty pleased nonetheless.
It’s just been my birthday which was lovely. Adam threw a
British party to celebrate which was suitably drunken and fun...complete with
cucumber sandwiches! I desperately wanted to go as SuBo but bottled it in the
end due to my fear of just looking like myself but hairier. Harry Potter was
the obvious choice and I spent the evening wiping red scar all over my face and
yes...I did drop my iPhone down the loo. Thankfully due to the “bowl of rice
trick” all is well again. Ash treated me to a really great day out on my
birthday, complete with picnic and a secret bar in the evening. Unfortunately
we were both pretty ill for most of the day but we made the most of it
regardless.
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| Secret birthday picnic drinking |
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| My birthday choices! |
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| Beaver Lake - Stanley Park |
The main event of the past few weeks however was our Big Fat
USA Trip, which I can’t really believe we’ve been and done. Now, I know that
Ash wants to cover some of it in her blog so we’ve divided it by cities; I get
San Francisco and Las Vegas. And you get mainly food stories and the odd
attempt at a sarcastic joke from me. Hooray.
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| View from Coit Tower |
Firstly San Francisco...
From the moment we
arrived (fairly gross and sweaty after our 18 hour train journey) to the moment
we left, I enjoyed every minute of getting to know this city. Well, every
minute except the “me-naked-in-the-shower-whilst-a-burst-pipe-floods-the-shit-out-of-this-weird-old-lady’s-house”
experience. We’d literally been in her house half an hour. Oh well, nothing
says getting to know each other like being naked wrapped in a shower curtain.
Anyway, putting that aside we had a great time. We were
staying in a bit of a hippie area that had great views of the city and its very
own lesbian bar. On a sidenote – don’t go there. They might kill you. But it
was in a great position to explore the city.
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| Murals in the Mission |
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| Chinatown |
We walked up Coit Tower on our first day – man that city is
hilly! But we were rewarded with great views of the bridge, Alcatraz and the
windiest road. Not to mention the excellent giant pizza slices at the bottom!
Chinatown was crazy but great to experience and just as you imagine it. The
Castro was really laid-back and great to hang out in. We saw where Harvey Milk
had his shop, the Castro theatre...and a cookie shop full of pictures of men in
tiny y-fronts saying HOT COOKIES on them. We also had our only Man vs Food
experience here at Ike’s Place. The fact that we took “the best sandwich I have
ever eaten” and accidentally ate it in a ‘Dog Free run Play Park’ didn’t even
dampen our experience. We had a lovely, but too short, time in Golden Gate
Park, followed by an authentic taco crawl around the Mission lead by a
friend-of-a-friend. Excellent.
I managed to convince Ash to do something touristy so we
headed to Alcatraz amongst the thousands of other tourists. But I’m pleased we
did because it was really well done. You listen to an audio tour narrated by
former inmates and guards and it was pretty fascinating. It didn’t seem to stop
me referring to it as Azkaban the whole time though.
We both got burnt to hell on the boat back but it was
totally worth it. From there we went to Fisherman’s Wharf which was probably
the only area I didn’t like that much. It was rammed full of tourists and full
of chain shops and fast food places. Although we did get to experience the
thrill of ordering from the secret menu at In & Out burger, a California
staple.
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| Azkaban |
Speaking of secrets...I did my homework before arriving and
found a secret bar called Bourbon & Branch that was a Speakeasy during
prohibition. It had no signage whatsoever and we had to give a password to
enter. Once inside, we got taken through a false bookcase into the library bar
for one of the most amazing cocktails and drinking experiences I’ve ever had
(who knew Allspice could taste so good?). Totally worth trudging through the
slightly rough bit to get to. I don’t have any pictures of the bar as you weren’t
allowed so here is one of the door outside.
I have included a few transport photos (for you Dad). The
traditional trams and streetcars were really amazing to get around on. In fact we
took the cable car to an amazing beer bar on our last night. Which turned out
to have a sausage bar next to it. Doesn’t get better than that (for you Mum). 
So now...VEGAS. Looking back on it, I think we were prepared
to hate Las Vegas. As it is, I kind of liked it. We spent a lot of this trip
making sure we didn’t just do the tourist thing...finding the places that the
locals go for really good food and drink, and trying to get away from other
tourists. The thing is with Vegas is that everyone is a tourist...and there’s
no getting away from it. We didn’t need to find the cool places; there aren’t
any. Everywhere is on your doorstep, and that was quite a relaxing feeling at
the end of our trip. Everywhere is loud and bright and full of people, and you
just have to embrace it.
Firstly, I am a big fan of the Vegas culture of frozen
cocktails, especially the Margaritas. I draw the line at a frozen Jagerbomb
though. This helped a little with the horrendous temperatures. 38 degrees at
night? This is not a night-time temperature. Thankfully we had a pool at our
hotel which was a big saviour. And factor 50 suntan lotion (I fear that being
with a ginge means I’m predestined to come back from every hot holiday paler
than when I left).  |
| Hitting the fruities |
We barely gambled ($11!), but had fun hanging out at the
slots, mainly for people watching. We decided to throw caution to the wind and
go for a famous Vegas buffet at the Bellagio. Which actually was amazing, but I
felt pretty dirts queuing for it for 45 minutes. The bars were fun, and there’s
a massive party atmosphere all day and all night. It felt like there was
definitely a dirtier edge to Vegas (hinted at by the gross guys handing out
cards with women on them) which I’m pretty glad we didn’t see.
All in all however, Vegas was a really good end to our trip.
I think a couple of nights was probably long enough. We were a bit bored of the
endless escalators by this point. Although watching everyone sigh whenever they
had to walk up a flight of stairs was pretty fun. It’s a totally weird place
and I think I would go back, if only to visit the little gay Mexican server we
met, who told us he liked our style and that he knew Cher Lloyd. That’s a
win-win.
For now, it’s back to work and back to saving for our last
couple of trips. The Rockies are finally beckoning and it’s weird, but we’ve
had to start planning for when we leave. I don’t quite feel ready to go yet. So
hopefully it’ll be a fun summer.
Will try and blog more frequently over the next couple of
months.
Stella x
