August 3
On the final day of our trip before we headed back to the South Hill Resort, Auntie Erin took treated us to a thin and rich cross-section of Vancouver. We began by sampling items on the menu at the Sequoia Grille in the Stanley Park Tea House. There we sat at a table in the sun room overlooking the ocean. I ordered the Brioche French Toast with bacon and coffee and received a breakfast a order of magnitude above what I expected. Calling it French Toast was like calling prime tenderloin a steak. Auntie Erin, my wife, and my kids all has similar experiences.
Soon enough, we moved our sotted selves out again to the car and made our way to the Vancouver Aquarium. This venue too was in Stanley Park. The Aquarium was a bit busy on this tourist swollen weekend, but as the day wore on, the throng did little to quash our excitement. My son was thrilled to see the sharks being hand fed by a brave scuba diver wearing a black wetsuit and chainmail gloves. My wife and daughter loved the dolphin show so much that we sat through it twice. I always enjoy the bright colors of marine life and especially loved the jellyfish displays. After five hours in the shoes of Jock Cousteau, we made our escape back to downtown Vancouver.
Our Auntie took us to Japadog, a hot dog vendor on a busy street corner. Except that this was no ordinary hotdog vendor, Japadog took beef franks, bratwurst, and even Japanese black pork dogs and dressed them up with an assortment of Miso and wasabi and soy sauces, and embellished the dogs with crunchy seaweed along side some of the more traditional hotdog toppings. Two dogs, two Japanese Black Pork Brats, and two Misomayo dogs, and we were looking for some Japa-good-eating.
We took the deliciously unique dogs to Kitsalano Beach and devoured them while watching Pacific waves ebb and flow in the late afternoon sun. afterwards we soaked our toes in the cool waves of the Pacific Ocean. In contrast to the small pitched beaches where the waves would roll, break, and race up the beach chasing us for dozens of feet, here at Kitsalano beach, the waves would curl, break, and exhaust themselves all within five feet. There was no wave chasing here, just the chance to stand and feel the sand and ocean scrub repetitively scrub our toes.
While at the beach we also visited the Kitsalano pool. It is the longest pool in Canada, and at 137 meters (500 feet), the pool is rather impressive. It was a lot of exercise to walk around it, I was impressed with the people doing laps.
During the entire day, my sister-in-law kept talking about taking us to topless sushi. This was odd at several levels. First, I did not know that there was such places. Is it a place where the waitresses are topless? Is the sushi served on half-naked young ladies? The second oddity was that my sister-in-law was actually recommending it, and lastly, my wife was in favor of going. Clearly I misunderstood what she was saying, but when I asked if she said “topless”, she nodded and coincidentally said yes.
As the sun arced behind the tall buildings casting shadows across the streets and denizens of Vancouver, our path wound it way through the city maze the the red painted door of the ‘Red Door Tapas Lounge’. I paused for a moment, realized my homonymistic error, chuckled, and went in for one of the best dinners I have had in my life.