Ohhh Canadaaa!

Vancouver.  It's like the Los Angeles of Canada (Toronto being New York) with worse weather, similiar traffic, but far fewer pretentious celebrities, making it infinitaley superior. Vancouver has always been a place that we wanted to visit.  They have hosted the Olympics and the prospect of getting caught up in a post-hockey game riot seems pretty exciting, but we needed a final push to get us up there.  Enter James and Crystal.

We are often asked what our favorite part about traveling is.  Without hesitation or second guessing, I can honestly say that the best part about traveling isn't the places we go, but rather it's the people we meet.  We met James, Crystal, and their dog Trixie on a beach down in Baja and ended up camping next to them for nearly six weeks.  We also met Crystal's sister Heather who (to Juliet's delight) happens to be an amazing pastry chef. You know how you give out those offers and you think there's no way that it will actually happen, like, "oh, if you ever make it to Vancouver, some 3,000 miles away, you can come stay with us."  Invitation accepted.

James and Crystal are amazing people: kind, caring, and generous.  They invited us in to their home where we felt like family.  We got to explore Vancouver and some of the surrounding areas with them, but there are two highlights that I must specifically emphasize.

First, James is a seasoned fishing guide, having extensive experience in the Queen Charolette's, a chain of islands in the middle of no where that would be of little interest to humans if not for the unbelievable fishing.  He wanted to share his passion with us, and chartered a salmon fishing boat out of Vancouver.  We spent the day trolling for Salmon and everyone got a chance to fight one.  We kept a good size salmon for dinner that night, and Juliet had not one but two fish stolen off the hook by a Harbor Seal as she was reeling them in.  We had also set a few crab traps and pulled up some Dungeness at the end of the day as icing on the cake.

Second, Crystal is a helicopter pilot for a company out of Vancouver that does anything from medical evacuations to civilian transportation.  She gave us the opportunity to take a helicopter ride (our first ever) from Vancouver to Victoria on Vancouver Island.  You know the opening scene from Jurassic Park where they are flying out to the island on a helicopter?  I think this is the flight path that they took because it was absolutely stunning. Endless chains of lush green islands sprawled out in every direction against an infinate range of blue hues from an ocean that hugged the horizons as far as the eye could see.

We are extremely grateful to the universe for allowing our paths to cross with James and Crystal, and grateful to James and Cystal for treating us with unrestrained hospitality. James, Crystal, Heather, and Trixie, we'll see you all again soon!

Crystal (in red) giving Heather, Jon and I a tour of the helicopter she flies.

Jon being a yuppie in Vancouver

Crystal

Jon's fish! (we tossed it back :)

It might be hard to see but this is the seal snagging the fish off my line... for the second time. When we first saw the seal I said, "Seal! How cute!" By this point I was yelling, "Go hunt for your own fish you Lazy Scab!!" 

James and Crystal

Here is Heather, who is not typically a big fan of crab, being such a good sport. Heather: "So how do you eat it?"  James: "You just break the shell with the fork then use the pointy part of its leg to dig out the meat."

What a view!

Feeling like a celebrity. (i.e. feeling much more important than I really am.)

While in Vancouver we enjoyed a wonderful dinner with Jon's Grandmother's cousin Lorna.

Jon in a Skittles add. "Taste the Cavities"