Stanley Park & Squamish

We spent this past weekend in Canada for Lauren's 25th Birthday. 

This is my favorite crossing the border landmark. Thinkmetric. 

We were hungry when we got to Stanley Park in Vancouver - so we stopped for some lunch in the park.

 

The Stanley Park Bar and Grill. 

Lauren and Chris. 

Ross and I split a wild Alaskan salmon burger and fries - it was a perfectly sized meal and the corn relish was delish! 

Love the colors! 

We saw some wildlife at the Lost Lagoon. 

Great Blue Herons 

Trumpeter Swans - they are HUGE! 

Then we played Pitch and Putt Golf! The Birthday Girl is up!

It is a 3-par 18-hole golf course in the park.

It was a lot of fun!!! 

I'm not even going to share what the scores were. Or the fact that we collectively lost about 6 balls, but found some as well - though they were not ours. 

Then we drove up the Sea to Sky Highway to spend the night in Squamish. 

Every turn was breathtaking! Ross commented that at first he thought the BC plates that said "Beautiful British Columbia" were a bit pretentious - but now he doesn't blame them. 

We had dinner at the Howe Sound Inn & Brewing Company- which we sampled when they were here in Bellingham for April Brews Day. 

Did you know that in Canada a pint is 20oz - not 16oz?!?!?

I was not disappointed with my Rail Ale Nut Brown - it was wonderful! Ross had the Whitecap Wheat. 

 And Lauren had the Devil's Elbow India Pale Ale. It was too dark to take food pictures by the time it came, but the food was great as well! We also really enjoyed the live music. 

Finding a campsite was darn near impossible - the only place in town was the Dryden Creek Resorts who had 4 RV spots left. We didn't know the area, and at this point it was midnight, so we just pitched our tents on an RV site and figured we'd just have to pay the higher price. Oh boy we were wrong - it was free! 

When we walked into the office the next morning it went something like this: 

Me: "Good morning."

Office Lady in a presumptuous voice: "You the people in 4?" 

Me. "Yes." 

Office Lady in a really not nice voice: "You can't read? Didn't you read that we were full?"

Me: "Well, there were 4 open spots and it was midnight when got here. We checked all the other campgrounds and they were full." 

Office Lady yelling: "That's an RV spot. What if I had an RV show up? What then? The campground was full."

Me, scared and crying: "We don't know the area - we didn't have anywhere else to go. There are still 3 RV spots this morning. Why are you yelling?"

Office Lady yelling even louder: "I'm not yelling! Just get out of here. I don't want your money!"

Ross: "You sure you don't want anything for it?" 

Office Lady: "No - get out of here. Go!" 

So we left and although I feel just a little pathetic for crying (she was scary - I'm telling you!) I don't feel one bit bad about leaving for free. She was so RUDE. Don't ever stay there! 

At any rate... we made our way to the climbing area of Squamish in the SUN! It was nearly 80 degrees - wahoo summer! 

We had a lot of fun climbing - with ropes! Not scary! 

Ross throwing a rope. 

This is me climbing Burgers and Fries - apparently the most popular climb in Canada. Also, I'm sorry that this is the second shot of my butt in this post. Well, maybe not. I think it is a nice butt. 

Lauren getting ready to climb the Ferret's Folly. 

I had to give Lauren a boost on a lead - I tried this route after and boy was it tough! 

Ross is working up the Earth Trek crack. 

Group shot! 

The drive home was absolutely gorgeous - and we didn't even have a border wait time! It was unbelievable! 

Also - we've apparently only had about 78 minutes of summer here in the PNW. Sorry for those of you who are roasting - but send your sun and heat this way!!!