Goodbye Puerto Vallarta

We all takeaway different experiences when traveling.  Depending on your likes or your interests it will be a wonderful or mediocre opportunity.   For us, visiting Puerto Vallarta was wonderful and uplifting, because we got to see  Mexico in a different light. We had a chance to experience a different region in Mexico with the most edenic perfect climate.  We got to see a proud hard working Mexico. A side of Mexico that breaks the current trends of violence and caters to their tourist in the most polite and kind fashion.  We got to see a town with the charm of a small city but the comfort of a good size developed metropolis.  Vallarta (as the locals call it) is clean,  desirable, vibrant and inviting.  We loved the food, charm, and yes the food again!  The beach water could have been a bit warmer but it made up in all the other positive characteristics.  We obviously didn't need translation to English but we were amazed how the locals all seem to speak some English and are eager and happy to accommodate.  If asked to describe Puerto Vallarta in one one word, the three of us used the following words respectively "Adventurous, Padre, welcoming" and since amazing weather is two words we could not include it in our single word description.  We hope to return someday and enjoy the beauty and the welcoming nature of the locals, the fun adventures, and all the "padre" activities Puerto Vallarta has to offer.
Hasta la próxima Vallarta!

Rhythm Of The Night

How do you describe the most enchanting evening ever experienced with the right words to give it the feeling, texture, and depth it deserves? Clearly we are not gifted Shakespeare's, Victor Hugo's or Danielle Steele's.  Nevertheless Every effort will be made to describe the allure of a magical evening that "Rhythm of the night" is.  Few words can describe accurately the beauty of three thousand candles and four hundred torches lighting the "island" with absolutely no other source of lighting.  Little flickering specks of light become brighter as the boat that carried us slowly made it's way to Caleta a 45-50 minute boat ride from Puerto Vallarta Mexico.  The last glimmer of sunshine dims upon our arrival to give way to a half moon that makes much stronger presence in Caleta than in most places with bright city lights.  A very welcoming crew show the way to The dirt path leading to the  amphitheater that will serve as the stage to a spectacular Vegas like quality show.  A mixture of acrobatics with prehistoric themes are performed with fire lit torches. Several prehistoric numbers are performed eloquently and precisely to the rhythm of the harp, violin, flute and perhaps other instruments we did not see. An hour of creative, imaginative visual and audio stimulus led way to an amazing gastro satisfying moments.
At the end of the show we were led to our dinner table just a few feet from where the crashing waves hit the rocks that protected us from getting soaked…   An array of  flavorful dishes line the buffet table,  wonderful traditional succulent entrees filled our stomach as we listened to a string quartet and several soloist serenade the guests.
We were mesmerized with the beauty of  Caleta  and hope that we are fortunate to live long enough to return someday soon.
Although we did not return to our hotel room until after midnight we were happy to have experienced one of the most satisfying evenings in all our vacations.

Gilligan sets sail

It's been a day and a half since our last posting.  So much can happen in a place like puerto Vallarta while on vacation.  Saturday evening we went out to dinner in town at a place called Pippis,  A restaurant as clean as can be with a wonderful array of typical Mexican dishes.   We enjoyed every morsel till the very last bite, and drop of the enormous Margarita.  We are happy it was not alcoholic, otherwise it would have been difficult to walk in a straight line and find the hotel afterwords.  The walk after dinner to the pier was equally delightful and appealing.  We had a chance to watch the sunset at the beach and grab some Ice cream with unusual flavors like, Mexican chocolate (flavored to taste like "chocolate abuelita") tamarindo, and Mango with chamoy.  A nice treat even for those of us not that impressed with ice cream in general.
 What we are truly impressed by is the the safety of the streets in Puerto Vallarta,  after our walk on the pier we walked back to the hotel and did not feel threatened or afraid to walk late at night, we are really relieved and grateful for that, since it was a concern given the violence in Mexico in recent moths and years.
On Sunday we had scheduled to go to a hidden island called Marietas.  A whole day tour starting at 8:00.  We arrived as instructed to but did not depart until an hour later.
Just like Gillian, on a day tour, we set out to enjoy our day.  But the day turned out to be very different then we expected. We thought we would sail for a while then anchor on a beautiful hidden island where we could lay out on the sand and enjoy some beautiful views.  Far from that!  We set sail and traveled for a little over an hour to an island called "Marieta" un reachable by any other way other then swimming in the great expansive vastness of the Pacific Ocean. Literally fighting fierce waves to get though a tunnel before reaching the island. As much as we longed to have the experience, our safety was more important.  No thank you!  Specially after seeing people get back on the boat with scratches and blood dripping from their arms and legs.  Following the hidden island stop the boat traveled a little more and anchored in the middle of the Pacific Ocean so people could get off and snorkel, paddle-board and  kayak.  A nice alternative and fun list of activities, but completely different from what we expected.
We returned to Puerto Vallarta in the afternoon just in time to get ready for a picture session on the beach and dinner.
Dinner was awesome (unlike our Gilligan island tour) it was on the I terrace (fourth floor) of a building.  A fusion of Mexican with French and Italian  gourmet.  A spectacular view of the town with wonderful service.  We told the server and the manager we would refer them every time we had a chance, so if you are ever in P.V. Stop by a restaurant called "Layla's"
Today we decided to lay out on the sun and do what we planned on doing on our hidden island trip. Later today we are scheduled to take a trip to another island for a show and dinner.  Almost 100% of the people that we have talked about this trip with have said it is amazing, let's hope "Rhythm of the night" delivers.  If not we had a healthy organic breakfast at a little restaurant across the street from our hotel it was good and enough to tie us over should we end up with another "Gilligan Trip".

The Warm Side of the Pacific Ocean

Our good friends and family know how the rain has been part of our  vacation experience ever since we got married. Geographic locations known for being arid become rainy when we visit.  Seasons that normally don't produce rain suddenly become eligible for Guinness for the absurdity of rain.  So has been our experience for the past twenty years.  Although last year our fate began improving.  Vancouver remained dry for the length of our stay (although it was cloudy and overcast when we arrived) Gibsons was extremely beautiful and welcomed us with amazing tepid weather.   Yesterday we were more than pleasantly surprised by the excellent, beautiful, ideal (for us) weather.  Puerto Vallarta today, and for the remainder of our stay will be in the mid 70's, and breezy.  Is it a trend we are starting here? Have we drained the possibilities and the odds of rain occurring wherever we are to the point where we have zero moisture on our next vacations?
Whatever fluke or twist of fate we are having, we welcome it! Thank you Puerto Vallarta for keeping us comfortable and dry.
Thank you Puerto Vallarta for the rest and relaxation we so desperately need.  Thank you for the Palapa we are sitting under that provides us shade and protection from the midday sun.  Thank you for the regional typical fish dinner we had yesterday when we arrived.  We had never had "pescado sarandeado" (smoked fish on the grill) and we don't know if it was the starvation mode we were on or if it truly was really tasty.  So far on our first full day here, we have all good things to say about Puerto Vallarta.   We hope the experience extends for the next three days.

❤️ Vallarta
(as the locals call it)

Memory Bank update

It's amazing how time flies when you are on vacation.  The past two weeks have been delightful and reinvigorating.  We had a little of everything to deposit into our memory banks.  Imposing glaciers, enough food on the cruise ship to feed all the starving children in India for a year.  Cloudy cold days, a wonderful amount of sunny warm days, and awesome friends to share good times with.
Our last day was spent in Vancouver B.C.  We had a chance to visit Stanley Park. The third and last must see before catching our flight late in the day.  We had heard that Stanley park is an amazing recreational area to enjoy best in the summer.  We apparently had one of the best days of the year to enjoy the extensive park.  Stanley park is a step up of Central Park in New York.  It is very green and Forrest like in some areas where it's designated for hiking, and Eco friendly as well as the best and most relaxing spot to Rollerblade, walk, ride bikes all while taking in the fresh air and beach views that Vancouver is also known for.  We walked the trails around the park for about two miles in wonderment and amazement at such beautiful scenery.  After completing our hike and buying a few last minute souvenirs we headed down and out of the park to eat at Harvey's (at the recommendation of our friends the Sabot's).  According to them Harvey's has the best veggie burgers and Poutine fries (since we had nothing to compare on the first day we had them we figured clogging our arteries one last time before heading home would not kill us.  Sometimes there are times when you eat and forget all rules relating to calories, might as well since there is perhaps there is no measurement for such a Canadian palate wonder.
We are grateful, we are happy and most of all blessed to have had the experiences we have had these last two weeks.  It is unlikely we will soon forget our travels and the places we have seen, from Anchorage Alaska where we started and could not sleep because it's always daylight, to Seattle, Portland the beautiful island of Gibsons in Canada and finally Vancouver, we loved and appreciated every minute of every day.  Thank you Canada for dispelling all preconceived notions of who you were.  The east side is nothing like B.C..  Until next time, because this is definitely one of those places that we know will have a next time.  When? We don't know.  How long? we also don't know, but we promise there will be a next time.
Until next time.  Safe Journeys for all.

Grouse Mountain & Granville Market

Today (July 9th) we woke up and had a homemade breakfast of crepes made by Luc  paired with his mom's fruit spreads.  We left the Sabot home on time to catch the 10:50 a.m. ferry out of Gibsons and head to the sites that were recommended to us the night before.
On the top of the list was Grouse Mountain "the peak of Vancouver." A beautiful mountain top only accessed by the largest aerial tramway system in North America.  When you reach the top there are several activities to do.  We chose to go see a couple of bears who were orphaned and are now kept in a 5 acre alpine sanctuary. We decided to visit the bears because during the entire trip trough Alaska and now we had not seen any bears (although we we have had a few in our back yard near the golf course where we live) unfortunately Grinder and Coola (the bears names) had decided to take a nap (wish we could do as the bears do when we are tired).  Since you never want to interrupt a bear while he is sleeping, we decided to see a bird show instead.  It was not so much seeing the Owl, Falcon, turkey vulture and bald eagle that was entertaining and exciting, but the beauty of the setting where the show was taking place.  We sat in an open space surrounded by hundreds of pine trees and majestic mountains still scarcely capped with snow.  A true delight when there is no smog or interference of city notice to distract the senses.  The brochure for Grouse Mountain says: "imagine a perfect day at Grouse mountain" and that's exactly what it was.  Sunny, crisp and clear and for once NO RAIN!!
Our second stop was at the Granville Island market.  An fusion between farmers market, grand central market and old town Pasadena shops all in one place.  Pretty extensive and diverse. Bustling with people from all over the world.
We are happy to have checked off a few items off our bucket list today, we hope that as we wind up our trip tomorrow we are blessed with the same kind of experiences and weather as we were today.

Bears, Poutine & Holy Bleep

Today we got up to the most amazing view of the ocean.  We enjoyed a healthy breakfast (prepared by Luc's mom) on the side deck of the house, before proceeding with our day activities.
First we were invited to hike a mountain with a very visually threatening sign, that read "recent  bear sightings in area" thankfully we all survived and have lived to tell and write about it. Funny, but in spite of the looming threat we still managed to enjoy the lush green canopy of trees and the amazing view front the very top of the mountain.  Although not a treacherous track, we climbed high enough (140 something steps) plus some areas without stairs, to have a wonderful view, and to be treated to ice cream at the end.
Our second stop kept us in the Gibsons Landing area after the ice cream.  We walked around the charming little marina and took pictures with our dear friends the Sabots.
After the refreshing break and the walk we traveled on another beautiful road and got to see the other side of the Sunshine Coast, which is called Sechelt. As we drove we were amazed by the fact that we never imagined how resort like our stay would be.  View of the ocean from every room in the house and every road on the peninsula (or the island as we like to call it).  Not only were we able to take in some sights of nature but we were amused by the signs on the road...one specially comes to mind.  The name of a vegan, cereal company called "Holy Crap". Yes it's true, if you don't believe us just go online and check out:   holycrap.ca We have not tasted the cereal, but everyone we have spoken to says it is quite tasty, we shall see how this "holy crap tastes" 😊 One food we know for sure is really good,  is Poutine.  The Canadian version of the American wet fries.  A layer of French fries, covered in gravy, followed by large curds of cheese melted into the stack of delicious (occasional)  gluttony.  We enjoyed our colossal stack of calories with A&W Root Beer and some kale and alfalfa juice (just kidding about the juice).  As if the meal was not enough, enjoying it with our good friends just made the calories melt away into our body as if it was kale and alfalfa Juice.
 In the years to come I'm sure our children will recall this day as the day they all rode in the VW Cabrio Convertible as the summer heat beat on their heads while they had no care in the world.
Our evening ended (the Sun doesn't set here until 9:45 in the summer) with an anniversary celebration dinner.  Luc's parents celebrated their 49th anniversary on July 7th,  just as we have been able to experience the blessing of having good friends, we have have also been blessed by having the over abundance of blessings the older Sabot couple has been given for their many years of service to others.  We are indeed happy to have made the effort to come and see our friends in Vancouver, more than having the opportunity to see them we have also been restored and nourished to go back and do the same for others, in our areas of work/school.
Many, many thanks, Pastor Claude and Farida Sabot, Luc, Anita, Nicole, Jeremy & Sophie you have all made the difference.  Perhaps more than we will all ever know.