Horseshoe Bay...and seeing stars!

Last weekend Jenny and I had planned to go skiing to Cypress Mountain, another of the local mountains on the North Shore, as we'd had yet more fresh snow last week (the bus was sliding all over the road on the way to work one morning!)

Saturday morning and I set off to get the bus and head over to Park Royal in West Van to meet Jenny and catch the shuttle bus to Cypress. As soon as I stepped out of the front door and looked towards the mountains I knew the day's plans were in doubt - it was raining and there were dark heavy clouds hanging down low over the mountains, so visibility up there would be terrible. I headed over to meet Jenny and then we made the decision to postpone to another time as it's a lot of money to spend if it's going to be scary and miserable up there. So, plan B...West Van day! Jenny bought bacon and then we went to her and Bazza's place to make a proper fry up for brunch, yum. Jenny also got a bottle of Cava and OJ and we had some buck's fizz (mimosa for the Canadian readers) to wash it down :-)

Afterwards Bazza went to the gym and Jenny and I caught the bus to Horseshoe Bay, a lovely tiny place up the coast with a ferry terminal (ferries to Nanaimo on Vancouver Island and also over to Bowen Island). Despite the rain I liked it immediately - it reminded me so so much of the small coastal towns/villages in Norway as it's in an inlet surrounded by forests and mountains and has a ferry terminal. It even had a diner/restaurant called Trolls! It was beautiful, even with the clouds hanging down into the bay...and I can imagine it's lovely on a summer's day.

After seeing 'downtown' Horseshoe Bay we took the bus back to West Van and went to Zen, a Japanese restaurant which does tasty fusion sushi with amazing delicate flavours, on Marine Drive. Part way through our sushi and cocktails and the restaurant was filling up fast - who walks in? Diana Krall and Elvis Costello! (If you don't know who they are then Google is your friend). After polishing off our second gourmet delight of the day we headed back to Jenny's for a chat and a bit more bubbly before I headed home.

Next weekend I'm going to Victoria on Vancouver Island to meet up with Joan and Eric, my Mum's aunt and uncle, who are there on vacation this month. It'll be nice to catch up with them and also to see a bit of Victoria again - I was last there in September 2004 for a weekend.

Right, I'm off to finish my beer - bought a 4 pack of Tetley's in the liquor store last week, must've been feeling patriotic!

Love to you all, keep in touch,

Adele xxxxx