Spring in Vancouver

For everyone back in Wisconsin-I thought I'd post a few pictures of some of the spring blooms here in Vancouver!

Go Fish!

This ones for you Jess! We decided to go to lunch today at a little place on the waterfront called Go Fish. Several people had recommended it, saying they had great fish and chips. It's just a little shack where you walk up, order and wait while they cook it up right there.


It took a while before enough space opened up for us to sit down, but the scenery was pretty. Lots of boats and waterfront.

We both had the halibut and chips. Really good and filling.

Keith wanted to make sure Dad knew he'd at least tried the homemade coleslaw. I wasn't that brave. Overall a fun place to dine and worth the trip to the waterfront.

Stanley Park

The Vancouver Aquarium is located in Stanley Park so we also took a little hike to see some of the other sights. The huge trees are pretty awesome. Several years ago a hurricane came through the area, rare for the Pacific ocean, but you can still see some of the major destruction it caused to these trees.

We also made a quick stop at the Totem Pole park.....

And walked along the seawall to get some great shots of the Vancouver skyline.

Vancouver Aquarium

This morning we visited the Vancouver Aquarium. We had to be up early to exchange our semifinal curling tickets with a Canadian fan, so we took advantage of the 1/2 price admission before 9. It's a nice facility and they had a wide variety of animals. They also had a great 4D show about the sea that was pretty entertaining. The best parts were the dolphin show, the beluga whales and the jellyfish.

Wednesday-Sightseeing & Victory Ceremony

Started out kind of late on Wednesday....it was nice to just sleep in! We did take a short trip to a local mall to search for the elusive red mittens. No luck, but we're still trying. After a short train ride downtown, we decided to walk over to the Olympic flame. Today there were very few people about, so we were able to get a decent picture.



We also saw the Olympic rings out in the bay. I think they're probably prettier at night, but still neat to see.

Later Wednesday night we also had a victory ceremony. This time we got to see the Canadian Mounties raise the Olympic flag.

Medals were awarded in women's speed skating and the local crowd was definitely excited to see one of their own receive the bronze.

Then a concert by INXS. Definitely better than the first victory ceremony, as we actually knew most of the music by this band.

Tuesday-Last USA Games

Tuesday was the final day of games for Team USA. We've had a great time here in Vancouver, and while we might wish for a different outcome for the ladies, we've also learned even more about curling.

We've enjoyed interacting with other fans, both from the US and an amazing array of other countries. Keith has enjoyed giving numerous curling explanations to people in the stands who have never seen the sport before. It was great to see so many newcomers to the sport talk about checking it out in their own areas.


A few more shots of the Tuesday games....

And Tuesday night we saw this great fan who painted his entire body red and held up his sign for the Canadian skip. I wanted my picture taken with him, but I was slightly afraid I'd be covered in red afterward! He was hilarious!

Monday-Granville Island

No curling yesterday-Deb invited us to join them and some friends for a trip to Granville Island. We finally got to eat at a seafood restaurant, which made Keith very happy. They only serve seafood that's in season, so the choices were a bit more limited, but he was happy to find oysters and a bowl of clam chowder. I stuck with the burger:)


We wandered around the stores a bit and took some pictures on the pier. There were many, many boats and several different tours that were available. We might go back and check it out later this week, but for now we were mostly browsing.

It's been very neat to see the way so many of the stores have gotten into the Olympic Spirit. This store had a great display where the stuffed animals were playing a game of curling. Totally cool and something you'd never see in the States!

We eventually ended up back downtown at the P&G house. We ate dinner and went to a little shopping in Gastown, before deciding to head back. Early draw in the morning-followed by a 7 PM game.

Keith had to try on my rockstar glasses and make his most popular pose! He's almost got it down!