Vancouver and Opus

On our very last day of our wonderful honeymoon, we spent in Vancouver.  

We only really had one night, and spent it walking up and down the streets of Yaletown (the district we stayed in).  We went from store to restaurants, eating and shopping for the entire night.

We had an appetizer at an incredibly fresh oyster bar, then shopped a bit.

We had another appetizer and a beer at Yaletown Brewery, where most people were enjoying the hockey game going on that night.  

Not bad!

For dinner we at at Hapa Izakaya, a Japanese restaurant.  Apparently, Vancouver had a huge Japanese population, with some of the best chefs in North America.  This was delicately some delicious cuisine!

We ended the night with dessert and a night cap in our hotel lounge.

We stayed at the Opus, a small contemporary boutique hotel.  I thought Robb would really like it, since he likes building that are square and metal.

This was the most comfortable bed ever!  The sheets were so soft and the down comforter was so snuggley!

Our room was a nice yellow, came with jelly beans, an IPad, and Starbucks coffee!

Look familiar?  This was the same gas fireplace that was in our condo, and at our fireside table at Quattro!

We had a fantastic bathroom, complete with soaker tub and waterfall shower!

I didn't need to, but I decided I need to try the shower and the L'Occtane en Provence shampoo, conditioner, and body wash.  It was SO worth it!

Sadly, I didn't get to have time to soak, so, we'll just have to come back!

This is the snazzy hotel lounge that we sat at the night before.  It was a pretty hotel!

The Enchanted Forest

On our drive back to Vancouver, we stumbled across one of the most amazingly green parks ever!

I'd never seen so much of my favorite things... ferns, moss, and pine trees, all in one place!

Literally everything was covered in moss, and the air was the freshest I'd ever smelled!

It was amazing how the altitude made such a difference in temperature and snow cover.  It was probably 55*F this day here.

This tree was awesome!  It was covered in beautiful lime-green moss, head to toe!  It looked so soft!

Even the water had a green tint to it.  It was so clear!

This babbling brook came from a much larger water source, we would soon come to find out.

The trees here are incredible.  The ground is so rocky, so there are shallow roots everywhere.  

And not to mention, this is the part of the country that definitely grows the biggest trees I've ever seen.  Look at the size of that trunk compared to Robb!  It must've been huge in it's day.

This was incredibly interesting to me.  One giant tree had died, and from it's trunk, grew two new trees.  It looked like one giant trunk, and then separated the higher you got.

Side view of the same tree.

I think these were baby cedar trees.  Since we don't have them around here, I'm not too familiar, but since they were GIANT pine trees with soft needles, it was a pretty good guess.

Giant cedars lined our path.

I seriously loved being in this forest, and could've stayed for days!

So, this is what we stumbled upon!  The whole point of this park!  This was the biggest waterfall I'd ever seen.  It literally was the entire face of this mountain.  

This is Shannon Falls, third highest waterfall in all of BC.

The falls are 1,099 feet high.

I found this fun fact:  This park holds significant spiritual value to the Squamish First Nation, the first people to live in this area. They told of a two headed sea serpent, Say-noth-ka who lived in and around Howe Sound. According to legend this beast travelled both on land and in water. Some versions say it was Say-noth-ka who formed Shannon Falls by slithering and twisting his powerful body up the mountainside on repeated expeditions, Say-noth-ka gradually wore down a spillway for those cascading waters.

This is one of my favorite photos of the whole trip. (Click to enlarge) I love how the trees look like they're all leaning in to each other.  Doesn't it look like a good place for fairies or gnomes to live?

It was strange to come from a place covered in snow to see beautiful pink flowers showing signs of spring!

As we drove away from the park we caught one last glimpse across the bay of the snowy world we had come from.  

Home Away From Home

We stayed at Twin Peaks Resort for our Honeymoon.

                                 

It was basically a bunch of condos on one property, and the building were very nice.

This was our building.  Thankfully we were on the ground floor, because from all our activities our legs would've hated having to go up stairs to go home.

                                 

This is the back of our building and our GIANT honeymoon car.

We had a nice gas fireplace in our living room to cozy up by.

Our condo actually might have been bigger than our house!  We felt right at home.

We ate most of our breakfasts at home, and it was great having a kitchen to warm up left overs and have snacks.

One of our favorite things was this foyer.  It had a separate heat control, which we cranked up so it could be toasty when we came home, and also worked well for drying out our snow covered clothes.

Our bedroom was also very nice.  The whole wall was a window, with a great view.  

We even had our own little patio!  

Here I am, coming home!

Yes, we actually went in the hot tub in here!  I used a blanket as a robe, covered myself head to toe, and ran to the hot tub.  When we were done, I reversed the process and ran back home.  It's hard to believe, but I actually love sitting in a hot tub with snow all around me.  It's just the getting in and out that's the hard part. 

This was the view outside of our condo.  The clouds are covering most if it, but this is Whistler Mountain.

This was our view outside our condo of one end of Whistler Village.  We were within walking distance of everything, but also far enough to be away from the hustle and bustle of the town.

There is Blackcomb Mountain covered in clouds...I wish this was my view always!  We were considering having Charley, Chester, and Rugby shipped to us and becoming Canadian citizens!  

Our Romantic Fondue Dinner

Our last night in Whistler we went out to a very special fondue dinner.  Unfortunately, our sleigh ride that we had planned before (which was one of the things that I was the most looking forward to) was cancelled because of the rain that we had in the village.  As soon as we left for our dinner, it starting snowing cats and dogs!  It would've been a perfect night for a sleigh ride.  (We'll just have to go back!)

While we were waiting to go over to the golf course, we had a fancy cocktail at the hotel Fairmont. I had a really hard time ordering my $19 drink.  I have NEVER spent that much on one drink, but Robb insisted that we treat ourselves.  We were on our honeymoon!  So I did, and it was incredible!

You'll have to turn your head sideways to read the description.  It was so yummy!!

We had a lovely table for two, overlooking a bunch of beautiful pine trees on the golf course.  

This is what the restaurant looked like.

We got to watch as the snow covered the pines in a beautiful fluffy blanket of white.

Our meal started with either antipasto...(Robb)

Or a fresh salad... (Me)

Robb savored every bite!

One fork for veggies, one for meat, and one for salad!

Our meal got even better with a basket of fresh bread and veggies to dip in cheese, and an assortment of meats and tofu to dip in 4 homemade sauces.  We had both chicken and veggie broth to cook in.

Yummy fondue!!!

Robb got creative while I was in the bathroom, posing our wine glasses with the fondue pots by candlelight.

And to finish it off, we had an unbelievable chocolate fondue for dessert!  This restaurant even wrote congratulations and gave us a complimentary glass of champagne since we were celebrating our honeymoon!