Vancouver’s main asset is its good looks — you get views of towering mountains and calm ocean inlets from just about every street corner in Canada’s ultimate Pacific Rim outpost. Consequently, outdoor life draws many travelers to Van, and you don’t need to travel far to hit the slopes at Grouse or Cypress, be alone on hiking trails, take a swim in the ocean, or spot cool wildlife — you can see herons, seals, or even eagles mere steps from your hotel.
Category: Canada
It’s Official! We are judging at this year’s Okanagan Fest of Ale.
I’ve always been prone to telling people what they should be drinking. Now I can do so with great aplomb! In less than two weeks, I will serve on a panel of judges at the Okanagan Fest of Ale. While Josh has done this kind of thing many times before, it will be my first time…
6 Candidates Show You Why Vancouver is Special
Vancouver’s civic election is happening now, and all these amazing candidates are floating to the surface like turds in Lost Lagoon. It’s beautiful, really, to watch the process of democracy in action. I had to share some of the best candidates with you, because they are too good to Bogart. 1. Would you vote for…
Why Albertans Are Better Americans Than Americans
Driving through Alberta triggered all sorts of thoughts and made me aware of how prejudiced I can be towards people who are different from me. But when you come from the USA, Christians, conservatives, and cowboys are often crazy. In Alberta, that’s just not the case. While more overtly conservative than Quebec and the maritimes, Alberta’s politics…
Rocky Road Trip Day 7: The Calgary Stampede
Last year on my birthday I was in Iceland and I found a pair of Mexican cowboy boots at a store in Reykjavik. The boots were handmade, with exquisite embroidery. Only one pair existed in the store, and when they fit me perfectly, I felt they were destined to be my shoes except for the…
Rocky Road Trip Day 6: The Royal Tyrrell Museum
Royal Tyrrell Museum’s paleontology gems Bad food with good vibes Foreign birthday beer They might make fun of their elitist tree-hugging counterparts on the coast of British Columbia, but Albertans aren’t anti-intellectual, anti-sustainability, or anti-government. It’s a kinder, softer version of the American heartland over here. They drive to their megachurches in pickup trucks, but still believe in…
Rocky Road Trip Day 5: Dinosaur Bones in the Badlands
Along with North Korea and the United States, only Canada allows the killing of the unborn. Canada protects endangered species like whales, but not human fetuses. That’s what the billboards told me today, in the Alberta prairies. I shuddered. It wasn’t the billboards, or the giant Christian mega-plex replete with preschool and movie theatre. There was…
5 “Beertastic” Off the Beaten Path Day Trips from Vancouver
Summer’s pretty much here. It’s time to play! For us, that means following fresh air and exercise with a pint of something tasty. There are few places you can combine outdoors activities with a local brewpub as easily as Vancouver. The variety of things you can do outside the city–even using public transport–is astounding. Everyone knows…
Vancouver’s New Micro, Nano, and Pico Breweries Part V: Storm’s A-Brewin’
Today we kicked it old school, first visiting the venerable Vancouver institution that is Storm Brewing, before hitting up two of the new nano breweries in East Van. If you are in the area, you can walk between all three. Visiting Storm Brewing is like watching Igor meet Dr. Frankenstein for the first time: This…
Peaceful Noodle, Vancouver
In a city known for the overall high quality of its Chinese food, it can be hard for eaters to find much beyond the Cantonese and to lesser degree Shanghai cuisine. Enter Peaceful Noodle, and the game changes. Even if Peaceful were the only place covering northern and western Chinese cooking domains, it would be…
Vancouver’s New Micro, Nano, and Pico Breweries Part III: 33 Acres
For Part 3 of our series on Vancouver’s new breweries, we will visit on of my favorites, 33 Acres. 33 Acres seems oddly situated on a mixed-use and mainly residential, block. While they might not get the kind of walk-in traffic they might if they were located on Main Street, 33 Acres already has a loyal following…
Vancouver’s New Micro, Nano, and Pico Breweries Part II: Green Leaf
Fancy a ride on the SeaBus? So do we. But where will we drink? For many years, Lonsdale was a beer desert. You would get off at the SeaBus terminal thirsty with no place to go. Now, your Sea Bus journey can terminate with a tasty tipple at the shiny new Green Leaf Brewing Co….
Love and Barley 