Catching up and a Weekend Trip to Vancouver

Well we've enjoyed another lovely week close to home (we can't actually live in our home because someone else is living there right now!)

The weather has been quite glorious for October, with very little rain and many sunny days. Even though I won't be the beneficiary of it I hope you all enjoy this type of weather for weeks to come!

I'm trying to recall all the things we've done in the last week... but my brain is a bit fuzzy.

We had a nice motorbike ride out to the Crow and Gate Pub. The road is beautiful right now with all the fall leaves... and I like the ride because we aren't going too fast on the back roads 😀 We also love the Crow and Gate and recommend that you eat there if you are in the area. They even have a yard area out the back so you could enjoy your beverage or food outside on a sunny day.

We also spent a day at Tigh na Mara Grotto Spa in Parksville. They have a "Staycation" package during the week which includes a treatment, dip in the grotto, a signature drink and their endless tapas in the "Treetop Restaurant"

This was definitely a splurge, but lets just say we were celebrating positive results from my mammogram... sometimes a lump is just a lump 😀 (I know, I know I always have a reason to support my splurges!)

Now, if you haven't done the endless tapas I highly recommend it.

Reason #1,  you have to go up in your spa robe which is very comfy. I am all for places that require you to dress down for eating 😀

Reason #2 - They just keep bringing tapas out to you until you tell them to stop. I was bound and determined to try all 17 tapas this time... and we did! Then Steve rolled me out to the car and I didn't eat again for three weeks (kidding!!) The tapas were amazing. Steve's favourite this time were the Oysters and mine was the dessert of course!

No photos allowed in the spa, of course, so I took a picture of us walking on the beach in Parksville before we went to the spa. If you come up for a spa day make sure you sneak in a walk too... I probably should have done another after all those Tapas!

And here is the beautiful Vancouver Island Coastline!

The Grand Finale to the week was a trip over to Vancouver to visit Mom and Gary, and Steve's brother Chris.

Of course when we arrived Gary was cooking up a Spanish Feast!

Which we all thoroughly enjoyed! Gary definitely wins the prize for best cook!

I told mom we needed to do something fun on Saturday... to which she replied "Vacuuming is fun". UM NO! No it isn't, Mom! Anyway, there was no vacuuming 😀 We did a little shopping and then headed over to White Rock for a lovely lunch and a walk.

Here it is... the white rock...

They have a nice pier to walk out on. We saw a couple getting wedding photos. Steve was excited when he noticed she had the red soled Louboutins on! She was equally thrilled that Steve noticed and said to her new husband "See. It IS worth it!" 😀

Steve had recently shown me the wingsuit video on Youtube where the guy flies through a small hole in a rock. I recreated this event in my own Lisa Marta style 😉 I highly recommend doing this Lisa Marta style if you are so inclined, as my way is MUCH safer!

The next day we spent a lovely afternoon with Chris in downtown Vancouver.

I just had to put this photo in. I find it hilarious when the GPS thinks we are driving off the road... turns out it is even funnier when it thinks you are driving in the ocean. I've seen the Fiat commercial. My car CAN drive in the ocean!

Then we headed back to Victoria on Monday for voting. I couldn't believe how quiet Victoria seemed after being in Vancouver the day before. It felt like nobody was out on the streets at all!

We had a pretty quiet week after that. We finished up my testing, got the all clear from the doctor, did a little bit of trip planning... and we'll be on our way tomorrow morning! We are VERY excited to be back on the road! Look for more frequent posts coming up!