All names in the following have been changed to protect the guilty.
So last week, a friend (Sam) and I took a little 3-day bit of rest and relaxation up in Vancouver, BC (that’s in Canada for those who are not familiar with geography). We left Friday and came back Sunday.
This trip had been planned as a fun reward for all the hard work of getting into shape. I’m still not where I want to be but at least there is progress. Sam, however, has no problem taking his shirt off to attract the attention of all those boys and girls out there. I guess you might say I’m Homer Simpson to his Ned Flanders (in body only ‘cause I can tell you right now, there ain’t no prayin' goin' on at his place... well maybe between him and the porcelain god after too many beers, but I digress).
So Friday, we hit the border around 2 pm PST. For some reason, it was backed way up; it took another 2 hours just to get through. The customs lady who let us in was really chatty and nice though. But no sooner do we get up to speed on Hwy 99 than we run into rush hour traffic.
For those of you not familiar with the freeway up in British Columbia, there are two tunnels that go under the Fraser River, each with two lanes. For rush hour, they reverse one lane from going west into the city to going east. As a result, traffic on 99 backs up since it goes from 2 lanes down to one with an onramp from Tsawwassen right before the tunnel as well.
We cheated. I took a risk and actually used the off ramp from 99 to Tsawwassen as a bypass. The great thing was that the car pool lane off of the onramp only required two people in the car so we got right up to the tunnel before having to merge into the one lane. Very bad of me to do, I know. However, it’s VERY bad traffic management if you ask me. If we hadn’t just spend 2 hours at the border, I might have just waited in line.
Finally, we arrive in Vancouver and check into the hotel around 5:30 pm. I had made arrangements to connect up with my ex (
Joe) for dinner that night so we headed out to his place. After eating out there,
Joe decided he wanted to come back downtown with us (his partner was out of town). So
Joe joined
Sam and me for a couple of beers at some place on Davie St with a drag show going on.
Did I mention that it happened to be gay pride up there that weekend? Oh, silly me.
We next figured on taking
Sam to The Odyssey; a good dance club that has male strippers (in Canada, they take it all off). After waiting in line to get in for over an hour, we figured we’d try Saturday night instead. After seeing
Joe off,
Sam and I headed back to the hotel for sleep; it was now past midnight.
Saturday brought sun and fun. After eating breakfast at one of my favorite breakfast places in Vancouver, we thought we’d try our hand at rollerblading. Of course,
Sam was great at it right out of the starting gate. I, on the other hand, never could figure out how to stop without the use of running into a solid object or blading onto grass.
Later in the day we hit the gym and pool at the hotel before heading down to English Bay to watch the finale of
HSBC Celebration of Light. Basically, it’s a fireworks competition that happens each Wednesday and Saturday over two weeks. Each night, a different country puts on their show. The shows are synched to music and judged on five criteria: concept, colour, originality, quality, and correlation of music (check out the site for more detailed description).
Here are some of the pictures I took during the show (it might take a little time to load so be patient).
From past experience, definitely go to one of the first three shows and not the finale. The finale just has a short show from each of the competitors as well as a general short show. These were not very well synched and choice of music was not the best. Obviously, since most of the thought and energy is put into the full show each country puts on, this just seems like an afterthought. I still enjoyed the experience though.
After the fireworks are over, there is a mass exodus from the West End. This vid was taken facing English Bay down Davie St. Curb to curb people all the way.
First a stop at the hotel to change into jeans (was in shorts), then back to The Odyssey with a determination to get in. Needless to say, the line was longer than the night before. Time passed well enough since we struck up a conversation with the guys in front of us. Even so, it was about 2 more hours before we actually got through the door. Even standing in line can be entertaining though.
About 30 minutes before we got in, there was a bit of commotion from inside the club. Within minutes, several bouncers were forcibly removing a patron (we’ll call him
George). At one point, they even had him on the ground. Apparently,
George had some guy in a headlock inside the club (who knows what insult started it all). Needless to say,
George was not happy about being removed and kept shouting that he was a lawyer and he was going to sue (you’d have thought he was from the U.S. with that attitude). He argued for a while longer before leaving; thanks for the entertainment
George, helped me forget I had been standing in line so long.
But wait, there’s more!
Soon after
George left, two guys came up to us in line (obviously drunk off their collective asses and wanting to cut in line). They started chatting about how beautiful the women were inside trying to make it look like they belonged there. Uh, wrong club dudes!
FINALLY, after 2 hours, we get in and go straight for the bar. Nothing says fun more than a drink in your hand. Uh, ok, let me restate that, nothing better helps me loosen up and HAVE fun than a drink in my hand.
Five minutes and two drinks later, out to the dance floor we all go (we ended up hanging with the boys who were in line). Of course, Mr. It’s-too-hot-for-a-shirt (
Sam) had to take his shirt off. The second the shirt came off, all the attention I was getting from everyone on the floor went immediately to him; in fact, the bouncers came up and asked me to leave. HA HA, just kidding.
Somewhere around 30 minutes later, a stripper came out to perform (they put them on a Go-Go platform so everyone can continue to dance if they want). He had a very nice physique and, of course, a big..., uh, well, you know.
I left the floor about 10 minutes before “last call” and started on water. I found a stool and had a seat. Soon after, two guys (one Caucasian and one Asian) came up and started a conversation. They said I shouldn’t be alone; how’s that for a pick-up line. We chatted a bit, they wanted pictures (I got to flex my bicep for them), and that was about it. Though, the Asian guy had his shirt off and had a very nice chest (I got to touch it). Did I mention I love big pecks?
All in all,
Sam and I stayed at the club until around 4:45 am Sunday morning. At the hotel, we chatted until 6 when we finally fell asleep. The alarm was set for 9 am.
Sunday was also sunny. After checking out of the hotel, we grabbed breakfast and headed back down to English Bay to watch the Gay Pride Parade. You’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. Last parade I attended was years ago in Seattle; nothing has changed however(even though it was a different city).
When the parade was almost over, we went over to check out the gay festival. A lot of people and overall, compared to Seattle’s, it was not that bad. We even ran into the guys from the night before though I really actually wanted to run into the Asian guy who talked to me (though I assume he and the Caucasian guy were partners).
After that, we headed back to Seattle. Fun was had by everyone. Maybe this will be an annual trip; we’ll see.
