Super Fun Vaca Day 6

**From Wednesday, June 17, 2009**

Finally.

The husband was set free from the hands of Mr. Business O’ Meeting.

So, with our first day of touristy freedom ahead of us, it came down to What Ta Do, What Ta Do?

We went to the hotel gym.

Yes. The first pull out of the freedom shoot, and we go the gym. Where the husband quickly turned into the Workout Nazi, and I remembered why he and I hold separate gym memberships. I ditched him after he told me I was wussing out, and I went back to the room. Wuss out….maybe so. But I didn’t need him to tell me about it.

After he came begging for forgiveness back to the room, we decided to head out and do a little exploring of Downtown Vancouver.

We didn’t get very far before we decided that we were hungry. Go figure. I was about half sick with all the weird organic, fancy schmancy food I’d been ingesting, so I was ready for some good ole’ fashioned comfort food. You know, meat and potatoes. And a miracle came in the form of this great little English pub that we found.

I had Shepherd’s Pie, and OH.MY.STARS. it was divine. I almost licked the bottom of the nifty skillet it came in. Kirk had Banger’s and Mash, which he said, too, was heavenly. There was not a bamboo stalk or an alfalfa sprig in sight, and it was mahvalus.

After stuffing ourselves to the gourd, we headed down to the seawall and took in the cruise ships that were docked. Yes, please, Mr. Husband, I would love to go on an Alaskan cruise. Thank you for asking.

After drooling over dream vacas, we headed to ChinaTown.

I’ve never been to a ChinaTown here in the States, so I was excited to see what was in store. I have to say that I was a little creeped out by some of what was going down on some of the street corners, but am glad that I had the experience.

We ducked into a little Chinese shop and it was so fun in there.

I tried on a rice hat.

Kirk rubbed a Buddha belly.

And I made friends with this nice fella.

We also found a little Chinese garden which was very beautiful and had ponds full of lotus flowers and koi fish. I felt like I needed to start singing that song from Mulan.

We walked around ChinaTown for a little bit, and we saw TONS of outdoor markets and food stands filled to the brim with authentic and ethnic Chinese food.

My favorite...the skewered lizard skin.

Can be yours for only $2.99. Whatuhdeal.

We also saw a real life bird feeder. Like Mary Poppins style. As if bustin' out in song wasn't enough in the Chinese garden, this about put me over the edge. I was searchin' for tuppins.

We skiddattled on back to the hotel to gussy up for a faincy business dinner that we were to attend. Praise Jesus we got back in time to take in Tim Horton's. I have now made it my personal mission to go to T.H. every single day I'm in Canada. It just seems like the friendly neighborly thing to do to support the local economy. I am a giver, after all. On today's lineup....

A Boston Creme and a Caramel Latte. Yes. It was as good as it looks. Maybe better.

I didn’t take my camera to our very fancy dinner, because I didn’t want Kirk to get labeled as the guy with the whacko wife who takes pictures of her food, and I am so bloomin’ upset about it.

Because, y’all….I ate the best steak that I have ever eaten in my entire life. Hands down. No kidding. The fact that my teensy 6 oz. steak cost $60 could have had something to do with the scrumptiousness. I also ate dinner with a guy that looks like Davey Jones from the Monkees, a guy that looks like Richard Dryfuss, and a guy that looks like Doc Brown from Back to the Future. Perfect photog moments blown right out of the water. Dern.

We ate at this place called Gotham. Yes. As in Batman. And it was amazing. It was all dark and cavey in there, but in the most beautiful elegant way possible. I had like 14 glasses and 23 pieces of silverware surrounding my place setting. Spectacular. I always feel all Julia Roberts Pretty Womanish when I go to restaurants like that. Totally out of place. Because blue box mac-n-cheese just ain’t fancy, y’all.

This is the only picture I have from the evening, and it was before we left for dinner. Bless my heart. I had no idea the wonderment that my stomach was in for at this point. I’m serious, guys. That Batman…if Alfred made sure he was fed like that all the time, then no wonder he kept up that whole Bat act. Gotham…..good.

Dinners at restaurants like that take like 3 or 4 hours to get through, so by the time we made it back to the hotel, I was ready to crash. While we were talking to our friends, Tim and Sandra, before heading up to our rooms, we received a phone call that held bad news for our friends. We stayed with them for awhile, and then we all headed to our rooms, not sure how to process what we had just found out.

Please remember Tim and Sandra and their family in your prayers. I can’t imagine being out of the country, so far away from home, and feeling totally helpless.

More to come.

Day 6. Over and Out.