Weekend Fun Vancouver, BC

This last weekend I took the last of my planned mini-vacations. This time, the destination was Vancouver, BC. My friend Fred joined me for the trip.

Friday
We both took Friday off from work and made the drive up from Seattle. Surprisingly, there was little traffic, even at the border; it took us "only" 45 minutes to get through.

We stayed at the Sheraton Wall Centre on Burrard Street. I actually like this hotel since it’s centrally located and easy to get to. In addition, the rooms are well kept and the staff is friendly. My only complaint is that their gym is stocked with older equipment that is not very good.

After checking into the hotel, we walked to H&M since Fred wanted to get some jeans. Well, he found a pair he liked but they didn't have his size. On a whim, I tried them on and they fit so I ended up buying them. I felt rather bad about getting the same pair he wanted but I was assured that it was not a problem (we’ll see if he “accidentally” spills red wine all over them next time I wear them). After that, we checked out a couple of other shops but didn’t find any jeans Fred liked so we went back to the hotel.

That evening we met up with Derek and Doug for dinner; yup, the same Vancouver friends I met while in Portland (I think they are stalking me). As always, it's great to visit with them. After dinner, Derek had to run to a meeting so Doug, Fred, and I walked the “loop” from Davie to Denman, then on to Robson St where we continued to look for Fred’s elusive jeans. He ended up getting a pair at American Eagle Outfitters that he was OK with; he still wanted to look later for a better pair.

After the stores closed, we looped onto Burrard and stopped by the hotel so we could change into bar clothes (yeah, we’re gay). Doug still had some time before meeting back up with Derek so the three of us ended up back at the place we had dinner; only this time for drinks. After Doug left, Fred and I ended up staying there for the rest of the evening just talking and drinking. It was actually very nice.

Saturday
The next morning, Fred and I walked down to Milestone’s on Denman for breakfast. Nice place and pretty good mimosas; food’s not bad either.

It’s a State of Mind… I guess
So the night before, while walking back to the hotel on Davie St, we saw an interesting shirt in the window display of this little hole-in-the-wall shop. After breakfast, we headed back up the street to that shop. Some lady was fussing with the carpet and a step ladder in the entry way. When she saw us… correction, when she saw Fred looking, she quickly ushered us inside. This is where the fun began.

She introduced herself as Linda K, the proprietor of the establishment (named State of Mind), and continued talking the entire time we were there. I’ll hand it to her; she has an eye for sizes (she guessed Fred’s waist and inseam). Without missing a beat, she grabbed some jeans and told Fred to go put them on, all the while complimenting him on his model body (which he has) and that she doesn’t get very many people looking that good. Of course, her trademark complaint about Vancouver having no fashion sense made it into the mix as well; apparently, she has quite the following (complaints) on the internet. My favorite comment on that thread is, “Sounds like the clothing equivalent of the Soup Nazi. The Clothes Nazi of Davie Street......LOL!”

In the 45 minutes that she would not let us get a word in edgewise, she slammed Vancouverites (no fashion sense), gays (too stuck up to buy from her... oh, and no fashion sense), two groups of people who tried to enter the store (she shoed them away saying she was already booked up), mass produced clothes (as if everyone is rich enough to afford hand stitched clothing from Europe), the chain clothing stores on Robson Street (they sell crap), and most importantly, me (she said I had an “athletic” shape, which is code for too bulky ← just kidding, I took no offence).

She had some nice stuff that she dressed Fred in; he looked fabulous. Her mistake came in her last attempt which was this nasty pink and purple, white striped, preppy long sleeved pullover; not good at all for Fred’s personality. Yuck!

So she ends the “session” by laying out all the clothes she made Fred put on, points to each saying what they cost, then looking at Fred asking which ones he was going to buy. I had noticed earlier there were no price tags on anything so that usually indicates it’s too pricy and I was right. Fred was nice about it and said he needed time to thing about it. This got an immediate reaction from Linda ‘cause she actually did the stereotypical, “You come back tomorrow, I can’t guarantee it’ll still be here.”

If she had actually stopped talking for one second when she pulled us into the store, we would have been able to tell her our limits and that would have saved her a lot of “wasted” time.

As we walked back to Robson Street, we joked, “thanks for the free fashion advice Linda, now let’s go look for the same style but cheaper at those chain stores you mentioned.”

Shopping the Day Away
After Linda, no sales associate could live up to our expectations… ha ha. We checked out most of the stores along Robson Street as well as in the mall; still no jeans for Fred. However, I came to the conclusion that since I wore my one and only t-shirt fit for the bars the previous night, I could not wear it again this night; that would have been tacky. Also, we were scheduled to attend a fireworks party so I wanted to dress a little for it.

Now we had Fred looking for that elusive pair of jeans and me looking for some sort of shirt that was not too casual but not to dressy either; I felt like Goldie Locks. God I am so gay needing a new outfit at every turn. Well, once again, Fred to the rescue, he found a nice little polo style from Guess for me; it fit well too. Of all places, we were in Sears, can you believe it (yeah I know, how “down market” and I’m sure it sent a shiver up Linda’s back when we walk inside as well). I’m still waiting for the bill from Fred for being my fashion advisor; somehow, I don’t think I can afford his rates since he’s got a good eye.

Celebration of Light; a party!
As I have done every year for over a decade, the real reason for visiting Vancouver this fine weekend was to attend the fireworks competition. This year, a friend of Doug and Derek’s was hosting a fireworks party and did an extended invitation for Fred and myself to join. This guy is a hoot and knows how to throw a party; had tones of great food as well. Much to my disappointment (and used as the butt of many jokes), the show sucked. This night, it was the U.S.A. who was performing. Even though it was their first time in the competition, they still botched the whole thing; someone forgot to tell then that they needed to synchronize their fireworks with the music. At one point during the show, someone asked the host if he was sure he had the right radio station tuned into for the simulcast. Of course, that opened a round of laughter.

The night was a lot of fun; yes, even that crappy excuse for an attempted fireworks show by the US was fun (on a humorous side). It was nice to talk to everyone there. Finally, it got late enough that we left and headed back to the hotel to bed.

Sunday
Sunday brought no jeans search. Fred and I got up rather late, showered, packed, and grabbed breakfast at Joe’s Grill on Davie Street.

We left town early afternoon heading back to Seattle. Surprisingly, the border crossing only took about 45 minutes again. We did hit a bit of traffic around Everett but overall, the drive was pretty quick.

Conclusion
As always, I love going up for a visit to Vancouver. It’s such a friendly city. Of course, Doug and Derek are always great to visit with as well.

Overall, it was a nice relaxing trip.

Weekend Fates Portland, Oregon

Well my trip to Portland actually turned out quite well even as the fates conspired against me.

Friday Afternoon
It all started Friday afternoon; well, 1:00 pm to be exact. As indicated earlier, I took half a day off from work so that I could drive down to Portland and make it in time for dinner. So I left work and proceeded to go to the bus tunnel for my commute home. However, the gates into the tunnel were all locked. I tried another entrance a block away and it was closed up tight as well. Now I'm sweating bullets because I had less than a minute to get into the tunnel before my bus was scheduled to arrive. I found a listing that showed the street the bus would run on if the tunnel was closed and so on a whim I went to that stop instead. Even though I was late getting there, the bus was even later. I turns out that the tunnel had been evacuated and all the busses were running aboveground on their weekend routes. This put me only 10 minutes behind schedule so I was relieved.

So, I'm sitting on the bus playing around with my JasJar and one of the kids (college students) facing me from across the aisle asks about it. We all (there were three in his group) end up chatting the entire trip to the University District about the PDA as well as college classes in general. Very nice kids actually (kind of blows the stereotype that they are all punks doesn't it). It was looking to be a good weekend.

Interstate 5
I finally get home, finish packing, load up the car, stop at Starbucks for a coffee to go, and hit the freeway. No sooner do I get on the onramp then everything comes to a screeching halt. The freeway was a parking lot; it took me over 30 minutes just to get from Green Lake to downtown Seattle. Ack! It turns out there was an accident right past downtown that had backed up traffic for miles.

Traffic finally got up to speed after that but came to a halt not much farther south; another accident. Again, we crawl along until we all passed that one, got back up to speed again only to come to a halt again. This seemed to be repeated in ad nauseam. My normal 45 minute drive to Tacoma took me over 2 hours... by that time I should have been past Centralia. All the while, my mood never went south for which I am eternally grateful.

We all finally blow past the last accident and every single one of us sped along at 90 mph for most of the distance between Olympia and Kelso/Longview. Unfortunately, a state trooper entered the freeway just in front of us just before Kelso so everyone slowed down to the obligatory 70 mph. Still, even as the fates conspired against me during that drive, I didn't loose my cool.

By now, I had called my friend Frank (the one I was visiting) to let him know I was not going to make it for dinner. However, he said he'd wait until I got there and we'd still go eat. We were also going to meet up with some friends (Doug and Derek) who were down from Vancouver, BC. When I got a hold of them, they too said it was no problem waiting until I got there even though I suggested just meeting for drinks when I got into town. It was nice that they all still wanted to meet for dinner even though it was going to be 2 hours later than originally planned.

Portland
I pull up to Frank’s place around 7:00 pm (originally was to be 5:30 pm). It turns out that this was the weekend of the Portland International Beerfest so there was no street parking. We ended up squeezing my car in next to his in the parking garage (the spots seemed to be built only for Volkswagen Bugs I think). At one point, the driver's side of my car was less than half an inch from the column. Pretty funny actually. What is not showing in this picture is the fact that there is a concrete wall just behind where I was standing to take the shot; made it impossible to get a straight-in angle.

Friday Night
So the four of us meet up for dinner at the nice little Greek place and then went out to see some boys strip at one of the clubs. The only thing negative about the clubs in Portland is that they still smoke there. I got used to having smoke-free clubs in Seattle and Vancouver so this was an interesting experience.

Saturday
After a late night, Frank and I woke up late Saturday morning; so much for grabbing breakfast. We just walked up to Starbucks (now there’s a surprise). It turns out that Doug and Derek were sitting there drinking their coffee (my, what a small world). After a nice chat, I had to run so I could make it out to the family picnic in time.

The picnic was actually very nice. I got to talk with some cousins that I have not seen in quite awhile as well as some relatives who had come out from Montana. Normally I am not much of a “family” man but I guess as I get older, I am slowly beginning to understand the importance of family. I had originally intended to spend only 3 hours there but ended up staying past 4.

Saturday Night
That evening, all four of us met up again for dinner. This time we went to the Deschutes Brewery & Public House. The place just opened in May and is already a hit in Portland. I do have to say that of all the pubs I’ve been to, this one actually had awesome food… even their basic “pub food” was above par. It turned out to be a cliché night of great food, great company.

After dinner, we all took a walk along the riverfront. The night was warm and the stars were out. Finally, the moon rose above the horizon just as we were going to head back into downtown. By chance, I glanced up and noticed a bright light heading northeast. No flashing light on it so it was not a plane and it was too bright to be a satellite; I concluded it was the International Space Station.

Ironically, the week before I had looked up sighting possibilities in Seattle for the ISS because I wanted to take a look while the weather held out. Little did I know that by accident I would get to see it without having to stay up late or get up early. Very cool!

So after we all debated its identity and after it flew out of sight, we walked through downtown back to the clubs. More drinks and a little bit of dancing later, we parted ways.

I always enjoy spending time with Frank as well as Doug and Derek so the weekend was awesome with all of them in the same city.

Sunday
Sunday, Frank and I grabbed a late breakfast and then went up to his favorite weekend Starbucks. We sat for some time talking over coffee and the newspaper. A nice relaxing day.

I finally got on the road for the drive back to Seattle in the afternoon. The sun was out; traffic was flowing… uh, until Centralia where there were two accidents back to back. I hit more traffic just north of Olympia which lasted all the way through Tacoma. Again, my drive took more than 4 hours (it’s usually a 3 hour drive maximum).

What is up with those travel times? I’d have thought that with gas prices the way they are, there would be less people on the road; obviously not. My next trip to Portland will definitely be on the train.

Hurricane Ridge 2007

So yesterday, my mom and I did our annual Hurricane Ridge trip. Each year, we take a day and head over to the Peninsula and hang out at the ridge for a picnic and some easy hiking. Ever since we started this annual trip, the weather has always been hot and sunny. This time, it was a bit different.

I tend to like all forms of weather (as long as I’m dressed for it) so having it rainy and cold up there was no problem. We ended up eating in the car and talked the entire time.

As with every year, our conversation covered religion, homosexuality (and its treatment by religion), and politics. Yup, that’s right, all the topics you’re sposta avoid. We tend to have differing approaches to said topics but usually agree to disagree if we come to an impasse. We both had a good time.

Anyway, here are some pictures I took.

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From ferry ride over to the Peninsula.

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At Hurricane Ridge.

Vancouver BC Trip

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).

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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.

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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.

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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.

Weekend Fun

This last weekend ended up being a bit of fun. Saturday, I made the trip down to Portland, Oregon to visit a friend (the one who came up to help me move).

Anyway, it turns out that it was gay pride down there. Now in the past, I've avoided those events like the plague. When I was younger, I went but as I got older, it lost its appeal... same with going out to the clubs.

Since my friend likes to hit the clubs every once in awhile, I figured I'd actually head out with him (usually, it's like pulling teeth to get me out). Besides, I thought it'd be a good warm-up for my trip to Vancouver, BC in August.

The evening turned out to be a lot of fun. There was a long line to get into the place so we struck up a conversation with the group behind us; two girls and a guy. This continued in the club as well; we all danced and drank together.

For once, the music was actually good enough (my opinion only) to dance to. Now THAT was a nice long bit of cardio. I'm no pro at dancing, but at least I didn't stumble into anyone.

So, as the night continued into morning, we moved over to the other dance floor; difference music that was mixed live. At first, it wasn't as good as the other music, but still enough to dance to. The DJ was not that good either. At one point, he couldn't find the song he wanted so he just left the current song repeating the same bit over and over and over and over and over again until he found what he was looking for. Now that was a bit annoying.

To add to the annoyance, some queen (yes, I'm using that term here as a derogatory) had some glow sticks on strings and was twirling them around smacking everyone in the head (and quite clueless to the fact as well). So, music stuck like a broken record and the fear of loosing an eye combined to suck the fun out of that situation. Thank goodness, the queen moved on and the DJ found that there are more songs than just the one he was repeating.

About this time, I leave the girls on the dance floor (they were dancing with each other and the other guys on the floor so I didn't leave them alone)... anyway, I headed back over to the other side of the club and ran into my friend again. We ended up getting in line for some more alcohol.

He gets the bright idea of getting shots of Tequila in addition to the mixed drinks. We shoot the Tequila and I pretty quickly down my mixed drink.

This side of the club is lighter and has better eye candy so we ended up staying there. Now the question is, is the eye candy here because it is brighter; more to be seen by, or is it lighter because the eye candy hangs out here? Hmmm... somehow, I think its the former. If only I can get that elusive six-pack, then I might consider taking my shirt off.

Last call came at 2 am and my friend and I figured we'd check the other dance floor to say good bye to the girls and guy we entered the club with. Couldn't find them.

I was ready to leave but my friend wanted to sober up a bit before leaving. I think he just wanted to watch people for a bit longer. The kicker here is that he was on the tipsy side but I was pretty sober... OK, on the happy side of sober. I don't know why I didn't get drunk; by all accounts, I should have been quite drunk since I had a lot of alcohol.

Total count was 2 shots of Vodka at my friend's place, a shot of Tequila, and 2 Screwdrivers. As most of my friends will attest to, I should have been drunk.

OK, back to the closing hours of the night. I went to stand by the wall and left my friend to people watch by himself. As it turned out, I ended up watching the new DJ who was quite nice to look at. Soon thereafter, this guy walks up and strikes up a conversation with me. He was a Japanese, German, and Polynesian mix... oh, and had his shirt off as well. Not bad.

We ended up talking (more like shouting) and danced a bit. He's got the Polynesian Hula down pat. Now that was actually pretty sexy dancing close behind him during the Hula hip movement part. Anyway, it went no further than hugging (my choice actually since one-night stands are more work that I cared to deal with that night).

We closed the club down (3 am), exchanged numbers (well, he has mine in his cell phone but I had nothing to write his down with), and parted ways. I met back up with my friend and we walked back to his place where we ended up talking for another hour. Finally, at 4 am, we headed to bed. God, I have not stayed up that late since college; was fun though.

Sunday was pretty low key and I headed back to Seattle in the afternoon.

Overall, it was a fun trip considering that I usually find the best looking guy with the best body in the room and compare myself to that. I did purposely stay away from the mirrors at the club though. It's best if I don't see myself next to the eye candies on display. Ha Ha!

ps: I took this picture with my cellphone on Sunday. The vine was on our walk to Starbucks in Portland; yup, have to have my coffee in the morning! Kinda cool flower though I'm not sure what kind it is.