This year was a milestone birthday for me (40!?!?) and Dave was so nice to plan a surprise trip for me. He did such a good job on the honeymoon so I trusted him with this...and I would easily trust him again for any surprise trip he wanted to plan and organize :)
We were gone from November 9-13, and he told me where we were going on November 7th. I had never been to Vancouver before so was excited to see somewhere new.
On the plane - we took American Airlines and it was a direct flight.
We arrived around 8pm on Saturday night, and after we landed and picked up the rental car, Dave had dinner reservations at Tuc. I ordered the Chicken Kabob as my main, and I think it was my favorite meal of the trip.
On Sunday morning, we got up and went outside to walk around and get our bearings (it was dark when we arrived the night before). We walked out of our Airbnb and it was "fall" everywhere.
Dave's first stop of the morning was at Tim Horton's for a Boston-creme donut and coffee.
The fall colors were gorgeous - that is something to the Phoenix area does lack.
We then found Musette where I got a latte with oat milk.
They had this sign on the door - I think that is a great policy and more coffee shops should do this - actually make people talk to each other!
We went back to the Airbnb and got ready for the day, and then went to Forage where Dave had brunch reservations. It was rated the best brunch spot in Vancouver - and we both said if we lived there it would be on our brunch rotation.
After brunch we drove the Sea-to-Sky highway and spent the afternoon at Whistler. This is the Lion's Gate Bridge leaving Vancouver.
Stopped at a viewpoint turnoff.
Our rental car for the trip - Dave had rented a smaller car, but they didn't have it so we got this upgrade for free.
We tried to go to the Olympic Park but we were there during the off-season of tours so it was closed.
Whistler Village
The gondola's were not running - they were preparing for the winter season.
Whistler is beautiful - this is on our bucket list to go back when the slopes are open.
We stopped in the village at COWS for ice cream, and it was voted the best ice cream in the world by Tauck World Discovery (a company that offers tours in 63 countries). I had the Prince Edward Island blueberry, and it was excellent - even had fresh blueberries from the island.
The Olympic Rings
The view on our drive back to Vancouver.
Our dinner reservations Sunday night were at West - which was packed but we found out it was closing at the end of the year because the owners could not come to terms on rent with the landlord. So, we are glad we were able to go there before it closed.
This was the amuse-bouche between our salad and main course. I ordered salmon for my main, which wasn't my favorite, but we did have a burrata salad to start and it was some of the best burrata I have ever eaten.
Monday and Tuesday still to come...
