Sweet Treats & Sight Seeing

There's nothing like walking to the gas station in your owl pajama pants to get candy on a Tuesday afternoon. Actually, I'm 99.9% positive that my over consumption of sugar this past week contributed to some kind of sugar induced coma that made me sleep like a rock on Tuesday night! Similarly, it's also quite fun to play tourist in your own city. I moved to Vancouver in September, but I have not exactly become familiar with the various neighborhoods and areas. I typically go to the same spots, the same shopping destinations and the same coffee shops when I want a pick-me-up. However, this week I had time to kill before school (and a whole Saturday free with B), so some adventuring was in order! From False Creek/Science world to Gastown, and lots of sweet treats in between, we also made our way to New Westminster and discovered an area with TONS of outlet shops. It's amazing what you can find when you actually LOOK (and all of you native Vancouverites are laughing, "ha ha I knew that already.")!

It looks as if I will be making my way to the island tomorrow morning! I am SO excited, seeing as the last time I tried to venture over in January I got to the ferry terminal expecting to catch the 1045 ferry only to have to drive back home because it wasn't sailing. Damn you, BC Ferries & your trickery. It has been over a month since I have seen any family (the last time being Christmas!), so it will be a refreshing break to kick back with the famjam. PLUS, I will see them on the weekend too when they come HERE! Hmm, this means I should do some dishes.

Hope you have a happy Monday!

Holland Creek Trail

Action shot!

The leaf that looks like it's attached to my headband is a illusion, I swear!

The path had lots of little wooden bridges throughout it. It kind of gave the area a Snow White-ish feeling to it, minus the gnomes.

This past Tuesday Brandon and I enjoyed our afternoon hiking the Holland Creek Trail and having lunch at a cute little cafe called In the Bean Time. We got to the trail parking lot just before noon, and it took us a little over an hour & 15 minutes to complete the loop. We did a 5.8K loop - could've completed 6.4K if we had found the other trail that lead up to another look out - and there was tons to look at! We climbed rolling hills & could hear the crash of the waterfall throughout the entire hike. Eventually, we came to a look out that had a rocky edge and a spectacular view of the waterfall! Note: I had uploaded more pictures, but my internet connection has been super sketchy & decided to select it's favourite pictures, so those are the ones you got - the survivors! Anyway, both Brandon and I were glad that the trail had maps posted every few kilometers, otherwise it would be like Mt. Tzouhalem all over again & getting lost! Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating there, but the maps truly did help. Once we were on the home stretch back to the car, we were getting hungry. Lunch time at In the Bean Time!

ITBT was new to the both of us, and I was impressed by their menu. They had a wide selection of sandwiches & wraps - however, I wasn't too thrilled about their side selection. Brandon ordered a BLT sandwich that came with a side of nacho chips (plain, unsalted, scattered on the plate). I debated whether I wanted to add a soup or salad to my veggie wrap, but considering the wrap was already $8.50 and adding soup or salad was three dollars, I decided I would just stick to the veggie sticks that came on the side. Don't get me wrong - I LOVE me some veggies - but five (combined total of) celery/carrot sticks isn't that much. Nevertheless, I honestly enjoyed the actual wrap & the added bit of veggies didn't hurt either. In addition, I also got a fabulous vanilla latte, so that kind of balanced out the bland nacho chips & sparse veggies. All in all: I would come here again, but maybe just for coffee & sharing a dessert with someone. The food is good, but not totally the WOW factor we had been looking for in a new eatery.

Happy Friday to YOU! What are your weekend plans?