Yesterday, Mei and I took a day-trip up to Vancouver B.C. We originally planned on spending the whole weekend up there – I took Friday and Monday off of work – but my cold sort of threw our plans out the window. After spending the whole day on Friday resting, I felt well enough to make the drive up north.
It was actually a surprisingly quick drive at just over 3 hours (including border crossing time). This is the first time I’ve driven there from only the Seattle area and not Eugene or Portland, so it was very weird for me to think of Vancouver B.C. in terms of a day-trip. The weather was about what we expected: cold and wet. It didn’t rain much at all, so we were able to walk around Robson Street without ducking under cover too often.
Despite my cold, I had a blast spending the day in B.C. with Mei. We spend quite a bit of time shopping in the stores on Robson Street. Mei picked up a few scented oils from Escents and a cute little baggie from Roots. I was tempted to buy shoes a few times, but I behaved myself. My new Pumas are still doing just fine, thank you.
One stop that was absolutely divine was Cafe Crepe, which makes some of the best crepes I have ever had. Mei had a banana and strawberry crepe; I got a apple sauce and cinnamon crepe. We waited in line for about 20 minutes, but it was worth it. The crepes are light and fluffy; the fillings are fresh and tasty. Walking up and down Robson with a crepe in hand is a great way to spend a cold and gray Saturday evening.
After we had our fill of shopping, we hopped back in the car and drove down to Richmond in search of Number 9, a 24-hour Chinese restaurant. Number 9 is one of my favorite restaurants in the world. It’s open 24-7. It has an amazingly long and diverse menu of Chinese cuisine. And, best of all, it is incredibly inexpensive.
Since I had only driven in Richmond once in my life, it was quite an adventure tracking down Number 9. We circled around for a while, but we eventually prevailed. We only had to wait a few minutes to get a table, and our food was served fairly quickly. We ordered a bowl of wonton noodle soup and the house special chow mein. Everything was oh-so-tasty. Total cost came out to just under $20 Canadian. Not a bad deal.
The drive home was relatively uneventful, which is a good thing for late-night driving on I-5. We decided to take a longer way home by going through downtown Seattle to see the beautiful night view and then driving over Lake Washington on I-90. We got home just around midnight, almost 12 hours from when we originally started the day (ok, so it was a half-day-trip).
I think the trip did me some good. I had so much fun driving and sightseeing that I completely forgot that I had a cold. Seeing Mei having fun with the trip also made me feel great. I don’t get much free time to travel, so it was a treat for us to be able to go up to Vancouver yesterday.
Today, we’re just kicking back and relaxing. We’re at Borders in Bellevue Square as I type this having tea, reading, and just enjoying some quiet time. I still have tomorrow off, so the relaxation will continue for another day. I should be plenty rested and ready to go back to work on Tuesday.
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