Over My Head (Cable Cars)

Our last stop on the cruise before returning to Venice was Dubrovnik, Croatia. It was a beautiful day and really made all of the quaint, red-roofed houses on the hill pop. We decided to start our day by taking a taxi to the cable cars.

 

 

After that, we headed down to the fort on the water to wander around the old town. It was getting to be incredibly hot and we had had many busy days, so Stephanie and Tanya went to walk the walls while the rest of us decided to stay in the town and wander around.

 

We all meandered back to the ship in our small groups, had ice cream and headed to dinner. Afterwards, we split up to pack, make a few stops around the ship and try the show (opera, which we left shortly into because we realized we were not big fans of opera). I also got in one more hot tub, leading me to come up with the list below.

Top 5 Reasons That Evening Hot Tubs Are the Best:

5. No children splashing and/or jumping on you.

4. You can float however you want and take up the entire hot tub.

3. Being able to see the stars as you’re floating and relaxing.

2. No one turning the bubbles on without your permission.

1. The surprised look on people’s faces when they realize there is a person by themselves just chilling in the hot tub.

Deep Cove

I never really thought I would literally climb a mountain, but that's exactly what I did yesterday! Although I do enjoy spending time outside, hiking up a mountain was never really on my list of outdoor activities. Now, this might be due to the lack of mountains back at home, but it also might be because I typically stick to swimming and beaching, with the odd attempt at a run.

I went with a few friends from school that are also working out here and we took the Baden Powell trail in Deep Cove, which was exciting for the 17 years of Girl Guide in me! After wandering around the nearby park for a few minutes, the climb started off going straight up. Not even joking, so many stairs and then no stairs, just walking up . . . a mountain . . . I was definitely the straggler of the group. Luckily, the others were quite considerate of my lack of leg strength and made sure I didn't get too far behind. We passed lots of little waterfalls along the way and what we thought was a waterfall, until we saw the sign that said it was actually treated sewage outflow.

 We also saw some really gross-looking, giant slugs on the way. There might have also been some screaming (not from me!) when someone almost stepped on one. Ew. Our first goal was to find the look-out point. It turned out that it was about 2.5k along the trail. Of course, I wanted a sporty-looking shot, along the lines of, "Bam! I tackled you mountain!" I think it worked out quite well! We could also see all of the little kayaks floating around the bay down below and even all the way to downtown Vancouver!

We hiked a bit further up until we decided that we might as well turn around because this trail was NOT looping back around any time soon and headed to the park once we got down for some snacks. From the park, you could see the look-out that we climbed up to and all of the little people up on it. We also wandered around the "downtown" and into a cool, little craft and gift shop. Before we headed back to the car, we came across some funny signs that the parks department had put up near the park.

This was quite the adventurous day for me and I think I am going to not enjoy moving for the rest of today . . . maybe the beach is in order?!

Let's Get Physical

Wow! It's been a busy week since my last post. Including two days in a row (Thursday and Friday) where I was up at 5:00 am to be at work early for meetings. Meetings where we wandered around the baggage system. Yikes! Sounds safe.

Let's rewind a bit. My last post was pretty crow-focused and although I would like to say that's over, unfortunately it's not. In fact, it might have escalated to a full out war now. The giant pool down by the beach near me opened up over the long weekend, so being half fish, I had to go down and check it out! I was starting to think that maybe the crow just didn't have a good fashion sense and that's why it was out to get me, since I was usually in my highly fashionable work clothes. So, I thought I would go for a different look to try and trick it. I headed down to the pool in my sweats on the OTHER SIDE of the street and I was confident that I would be safe. Apparently the crow had other ideas. I don't even know how it recognized me, but it did! Sad face.

Another thing I hadn't counted on was that Vancouver doesn't quite get the temperature fluctuations that Ontario does. It gets cold, but not super cold, and warm, but not super warm. Luckily, this pool was heated to a balmy 77 degrees (25 degrees)! Yeah, it doesn't sound THAT great and I'll admit I was a bit hesitant to get in, but after paying the admission of $5.38, I knew I had to. (That's pretty steep for a swim considering I'm a student!)

Now, in case you can't tell, that's a gigantic freaking pool. 137 metres long to be exact. Normally to swim a kilometre, you would do 40 lengths in a 25 metre pool. Maybe 20 lengths in 50 metre pool. To swim a kilometre here, you do 8 to 9 lengths. I was hurting pretty bad by the last length (and even more the next day). This is going to take some getting used to. The cool thing about this pool is that it is right on the seawall. The kind of cool thing is that it's filled with salty ocean water. By kind of cool, I mean cool to swim in, but not so cool when you go to drink from your water bottle a few hours later and realize that you splashed the rim with salt water in the pool. Gross.

I also got out to do some kayaking down by the Burrard Bridge on Thursday, which was awesome. Only $5.00 for a few hours out in the water with a kayak and lesson included. Thanks MEC! That's the kind of deal I'm looking for as a student! A friend from home and I went to try this out and found out there are also paddle-boarding sessions. I think we'll save that for when it's a bit warmer because I would say it's very likely I'll fall in.

Now for a fun little work story. One of my colleagues asked me to drive him to the SkyTrain station in Richmond and I thought I wasn't going to make it back. You wouldn't think that it would be that hard to do, but for those of you that know me well, directions aren't my strong point. On campus tours, one of my signature lines is "I used the information desk in the UC in first year to find out where my classes were because I'm kind of directionally-challenged, but don't worry, I know campus way better now, so I won't get us lost on the tour!" This does not apply to Richmond. I don't know Richmond. There are 15890778 bridges between the airport and the SkyTrain station! (Okay, I might be exaggerating a bit, but there's a lot.) I literally thought I was going to have to call my manager and ask him to find me and direct me back.  Luckily, after some wrong turns and off ramps, I did make it. The Canada Line tracks are a great way to find the airport BTW.

Finally, I want to thank everyone who donated to my Great Strides page, I met my goal! Luckily, for those of you who haven't had a chance yet, you still can! The boyfriend and I are off to do that this weekend, so feel free to continue emptying your wallets for me! Speaking of him, we also went down to the beach to watch the sunset . . . how dorkily romantic. This weekend I will also be emptying my wallet because this week was my first payday! Shopping? Yes.