September 2015 Canada
Calgary
It has been a long time since I have been to Canada for just
a visit (5 years or more). I started off in Calgary and basically got caught up
with old friends and a couple of personal items.
Vancouver
After a few days in Calgary I went to Vancouver. This was an
amazing trip and lots of fun. Denise had a list of 50 things to do for my 50th
birthday and all 50 were fun to do (attached). The scenery in Vancouver and
surrounding areas is as nice as I have seen anywhere. After 3 years of living
there Denise is still smitten with the place and I can see why. So much to do
and see. Vancouver has a reputation for a lot of rain but every day was hot and
sunny. Denise’s son Jesse is also a goal tender for the Langley Knights Jr. B
hockey team so we went to his home opener. Fun hockey to watch.
Vancouver was amazing and thanks to Denise for going out of
her way to do so many fun and interesting things to do.
Frank’s Fantastic 50th Fun Fare
1. Stand
up paddling at Sunset
2. Drink a beer with Jesse
3. Walk
down Robson Street
4. Have
a Craft Beer at a Vancouver
Brewery
5. See
the Steam Clock in Gastown
6. Walk
on Cobblestone streets
7. Bike
the sea wall
8. Go
to Stanley Park
9. Visit
a local farm
10. Rent
a mountain bike
11. Eat
(& maybe kiss) a Wild Salmon
12. Walk
on a suspension bridge
13. Walk
the beach with Jack
14. Forage
for your dinner
15. See
the view from Queen Elizabeth park
16. Eat
grilled peaches – Yum!
17. Ride
the Grousse gondola
18. Buy
weed from a weed store
19. Smoke
weed from a weed store
20. Go
Whale watching – or see a car advertising whale watching
21. Walk
the pier in Vancouver
22. See Canada Place (and Fly Over Canada )
23. Tell
Denise she’s wonderful
24. Tell
Denise she’s wonderful and mean it
25. Put
your feet up in the back yard with a local craft beer
26. Dip
your nose in the pacific ocean
27. Ride
the Sea to Sky highway
28. Ride
the Sea to Sky gondola
29. See
the view from Cypress
30. Rub
Jack’s belly
31. Ride
a ferry
32. Cross
illegally into the USA
33. Sit
on a patio in False Creek
34. Tour
White Rock
35. See
the countryside
36. Go
to Whistler
37. Say
at least once, “I see can why you love it here” – and mean it
38. Go
to Salt Springs Island
(or Bowen
Island
39. Buy
Denise a present for your birthday
40. See
Jesse play his first regular season Junior B game ever!!!
41. Go
to Granville
Island
42. Get
someone to tell you you’re cute
43. Drive
on Zero Avenue
44. Tell
Ed Wou he’s a crazy son-of-a-whore with a straight face
45. Walk
in the Pacific Northwest
rainforest
46. Look
over English
Bay
47. Ride
the Canada Line
48. Make
keifr
49. See Crescent Beach
50. Throw
a rock from Canada to the USA
Toronto
From Vancouver it was off to Toronto to see a lifelong
friend and world famous wrestling impersonator. I call him Allan but you must
call him Allan Macho Man Soupster Savage. Toronto was great with good weather
(always a concern) and I went down to see the Hockey Hall of Fame for the first
time. Basically what I expected but nice to see seminal hockey moments but with
bigger overtones of Canadian culture.
From Toronto it I went to Halifax which is always a trip
down memory lane with me and of course Tony’s Donair. After a quiet night in
Halifax I drove to Cape Breton.
Cape Breton
It was great to see my mother and family and friends. I
discovered that my mother and I enjoy a strange habit, looking in graveyards.
Nothing macabre or occult (at least not for me, I can’t say for sure about
Catherine) but we like to find out the just when people were born and died
especially older people. I saw my father’s grave and his fathers (who was born
in 1883) as well as my war vet uncle and grandparents on my mother’s side both
of whom were born in the 19th century as well.
We also drove around the Cabot Trail which is amazingly
beautiful and I believe one of the most photographed places in North America.
It basically in my mother’s back yard but we did make a long day of it as we
stopped in several places including the Giant MacAskill Museum (closed) and
Alexander Graham Bell Museum (open). I think Alexander Graham Bell was a 20th
century Leonardo DaVinci and did so many amazing this, including
communications, aviation, farming, sustainable energy, and hydrofoils.
Highlights of Cape Breton were spending time with my mother,
visiting friends and family, the Cabot Trail, homemade seafood chowder, going to
the Red Shoe and playing a set with local musicians, and just driving around in
general.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angus_MacAskill
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Graham_Bell
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angus_MacAskill
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Graham_Bell
London
On the way back to Abu Dhabi I had a 10 hour layover in
London so I went downtown and visited my favorite building in the world. As a
poor, illiterate peasant no words on mine can describe the grandeur, splendor
and chronicles of history of Westminster Abbey but Wikipedia can damn it.
After visiting the Abbey I made my way to the war rooms and
the Churchill Museum. Fascinating for me and I would have liked to have spent
more time at both places but I had to make my way back to Heathrow and catch a
flight back to Abu Dhabi. The flight back was with Etihad and I still cannot
get use to airplanes with a bar on them but I will try.
