14 posts tagged “weather”

Since I spent most of May not blogging, here's a random update to kick off June.  (You're welcome.)

• I bought a bus pass/student ID holder at the dollar store last month to use in my commuting.  It is awesomely: a) originally from Korea (and came with a subway map of Seoul), b) called a "Multi-Trance Pass" (pretty sure they meant transit), and c) has a picture of a cartoon dog wondering, "Are you happy?" on the front.  (Answer: yes, but only because of this pass holder.)
  

• Shane accompanied his tennis partner, Etienne, up to the Lynn Headwaters in North Vancouver recently to get some fresh mountain spring water.  They stopped by the side of the road and simply filled up some jugs from an aquifer there.  It was easily the best water I've ever tasted.  (Fuck you, Aquafina.)
  

• The herons have been back for awhile now, so we are well within the months of late-night heron brawling (which sounds not unlike a ten-car pile-up) and all-night chirping heron babies.  Ah, nature.
  

• Two of my seven classes ended last week, so I can now enjoy five weeks of no school drinking on Fridays.  Woohoo!  I plan to savor this time, as the term after this is supposedly downright hellish.
  

• The weather here has been ridiculously beautiful lately.  The sun has been shining, the temps have been warm, the breeze has been cool and the bikinis have been plentiful.
  

• With all my recent school-inspired hoodie-love, Shane decided he wanted to give hoodie-dum a shot.  In the past couple of weeks, he purchased three new stylin' hoodies, all of which look fabulous on him.  (If you bother him enough, maybe he'll let me take a picture.)
  

• Our new favourite joint along Denman Street is the place that moved in to the old Cupcakes location: Qoola.  They sell a fantastic frozen yogurt (among other goodies, including loose-leaf tea) and the majority of their trash is biodegradeable.  Compost that, bitches.
  

• I was recently inspired by one of VeryScaryCarnival's posts to start assembling a "Things I Miss About the States" post.  So for those of you worried we were so over the U.S. of A., look for that in the coming, uh, weeks?  (Or at least sometime before August.)
  

• Shane is gearing up for a 5K PR on June 12th.  He's been training to beat his old record while running a race out at UBC (on a Friday night, strangely).  I have been training to steathily sneak myself some of the post-race veggie burgers.
  

• I just learned that Dollhouse has been renewed for another season!  While this news was not met by the insane rejoicing of FNL's multi-season renewal, our household is pleased.  (Especially since Without a Trace had its series finale last month and Grey's Anatomy is still sucking lots of ass.)  (Thank god The Office is still funny.)  (Oh, and the first person to mention 30 Rock will get a complimentary shot to the nuts.)
  

I can’t believe it’s been nearly nine months and I’ve barely said anything about how totally kick-ass the running is here.  So, let me tell you.  The running here?  It’s totally kick-ass.

In MN, if we wanted to go somewhere scenic or somewhere with trails or somewhere with amenities (water, restrooms), we would have to jump in the car and drive for a good 15-45 minutes.  Here, these options are literally right outside our door.  We’ve mapped out routes that incorporate the seawall (around Stanley Park, along Coal Harbour, beside False Creek), the forest trails (around Lost Lagoon, within Stanley Park) and the city streets.  So we have yet to drive anywhere to run, which is awesome.

The relatively mild weather here has also been a big plus.  We never experienced a summer day that was too hot for running, and so far the cold-weather season has not dropped from the double-digits (Fahrenheit, of course) – a vast improvement from the below-zero temps of the last two Decembers!  Of course, we have been forced to deal with the rain, and we’ve both come home soaked more with precipitation than perspiration.  But the dampness seems a small price to pay for the overall improvements in our running environment.

Perhaps my favourite thing about running in Vancouver, though, is the regular reminder it provides me of how fortunate we are to be here.  Whether it’s the breath-taking views of mountains and ocean, the interactions with lots of friendly runners and dogs, or even just the powerful, fresh smell of pine trees and salt water, I come back from every run – good or bad – with a renewed appreciation for the opportunities we have right at our fingertips toetips these days.

1)       As part of a charity fundraiser for United Way, Shane’s work held a winter Olympics competition on Friday.  The featured events were the biathlon, luge and curling.  Shane participated in the final sport on that list, helping his team to earn a bronze(-wrapped chocolate) curling medal!

2)      One of Shane’s co-workers invited him us to a wine and cheese party on Saturday night.  We enjoyed the opportunity to socialize and meet some new people, although I must admit my introverted self was equally excited to simply spend time in a Vancouver house (in the Point Grey neighbourhood, no less).

3)      Saturday was also the day of Vancouver’s local election (for mayor, city councillors, park commissioners and school trustees).  In the months leading up to the election, the major centre-left parties joined together in hopes of defeating the centre-right incumbent party.  The result was a thorough trouncing of the (centre-right) NPA, much to our delight.  Congratulations, Mayor Robertson!

4)      We used our Nexus cards again when we traveled down to Washington on Sunday.  The wait at the Peace Arch crossing was estimated at 25 minutes, but we FLEW down the Nexus lane (passing long lines of cars on the left) and waited for one car before clearing the border.  The way back was much the same, with a projected half-hour line-up that we sped past to enter Canada five minutes later.  Those pieces of plastic are totally worth the $50 (for five years) price tag!

5)      The reason we went to Washington this weekend was to help Ian (and his roommate Noah) move into a new apartment.  Combined with our recent trip to have dinner with him last week and his plans to come up for the (U.S.) Thanksgiving, that makes for a total of three times I will see him in one month.  It’s a little mind-boggling to realize that’s more than I used to see him in one year.

6)      Since the Canadian Thanksgiving takes place in mid-October, Shane and I have found that there is no real buffer between Halloween and Xmas here.  Once the first of November hit, the seasonal decorations, music and lights went up everywhere.  Weird.

7)      One thing I really appreciate about this month is that it marks the beginning of low season for tourism.  I’ve found the extra level of quiet (not to mention the extra space along the seawall) quite enjoyable when out and about.

8)      On the other hand, November and December are also the rainiest months of the year.  So we have definitely been getting a taste of the “real” Vancouver the past couple of weeks, with plenty of wet (and extremely windy) days.  I can’t say I mind that much, though, as I’m still convinced it beats dealing with snow!

9)      The coming winter will bring us something awesomely unexpected: an upgraded bathroom.  We attended an apartment tenants’ meeting last night to learn about water pipe renovations planned for November-January, and it turns out the plumbing fix will include replacing our current pink bathtub and shower tiles, and may even extend to a new sink, medicine cabinet and flooring!  This definitely makes the inconvenience of several months of construction seem worth it in the end.

10)   Finally, I’m sure some of you have been wondering what exactly I’ve been up to in my not-yet-working life.  And while I am hesitant to give the specifics of my plans until they are firmly in place, I can say that I am taking concrete steps this week to start a process of moving forward, and I look forward to sharing that with you soon.

So says winter.

Long Term Forecast

				Wednesday Oct 29		Thursday Oct 30				Friday Oct 31					Saturday Nov 1				Sunday Nov 2			Monday Nov 3
Daytime Condition				Rain		Light rain				Light rain					Rain				Light rain			Light rain
P.O.P.				100%		60%				90%					90%				100%			100%
High				51°F		51°F				55°F					55°F				57°F			57°F
Low				46°F		48°F				48°F					50°F				50°F			48°F
Wind				SE 9 mph		N 3 mph				E 9 mph					SW 19 mph				S 12 mph			S 12 mph
24-Hour Rain				.60 to .80		.04 to .12				1 to 1.40					1.20 to 1.6				close to .80			close to .80

We had a hot, hippie weekend here in Vancouver (though, sadly, not involving any hot hippies).

On Saturday, we biked over to classy West 4^th Ave. in the Kitsilano neighbourhood for the Summer of Love event.  As with so many of the warm-weather festivals we’ve attended, this was another opportunity to explore a commercial street sans car traffic.  Now that one of us is receiving income again (in-what? come again?), we actually did a little shopping this time.  Shane bought some swim trunks for fun and a pair of steel-toed boats for work, while I purchased an awesome sweatshirt (for all that important Not Work I do during the week).

With a ‘60s theme out on the street and in the shops, the mood was cheeky and fun.  Classic cars lined the middle of the road and the live bands on either end covered Woodstock-era music.  We enjoyed a healthy lunch consisting of a mango/coconut/nutmeg smoothie and two salad tortilla wraps (one curry flavoured, the other Mexican style).  Groovy.

Then on Sunday, we got in The Couv and drove over to Trout Lake Park in eastern Vancouver (not to be confused with the Eastside, which is downtown).  The Latin Summer Fest was being held out there, and we went straight for the fabulous food lines for an empanada, sopapilla and some Jamaican jerk (read: HOT AS HELL) chicken.  We spent most of our time perusing the marketplace, as the products were almost all foreign fair-trade or hand-made.  Of course, the drum circle (and as I type this I can hear Cartman cursing) stole the show.  The circle was open to anyone, started at 2 p.m. and went on for a good four HOURS.  We opted not to hang around that long, but only because we forgot to bring our drums.

As for the weather, it was steamy both days.  We’ve gotten used to having breezy, sunny summer days in the low 70s 20s with not much humidity.  It’s the perfect temperature for the active, outdoor stuff we like to do.  So having sticky weather in the 80s high 20s?  We were sweating like bastards.  It’s hard to believe that’s what the norm was for us at this time last year.  (And on that note: enjoy the Fair, MN residents!  We will definitely miss stuffing our faces with you.)

Shane and I have become rather enamoured with Vancouver meteorologist Claire Martin.  Weather women don’t get much more charming than this (if you follow the link, click on Latest Newscast On Demand and jump to the end).

On Tuesday, we headed over to North Vancouver’s Lynn Canyon Park to do some hiking.  We’ve been to the park several times lately, as it houses a suspension bridge that is fun to show our visitors.  (Or so we assume.)  However, we hadn't yet taken time to explore the many trails in the area.

Hiking in North Vancouver – referred to as the North Shore around here – has long been one of our favourite activities.  Most of the parks in that area continue indefinitely, up into the mountains and beyond.  It doesn’t take long to reach the point where you hear nothing but the sounds of wilderness.  This makes every exploration a great nature escape in a way that urban locales, like Stanley Park (with its buses, trolleys, cars and float planes), can never quite replicate.

We decided to do an hour loop, heading down one side of Lynn Creek and up the other.  We first stopped at the 30-foot pool, a calm area where the rushing water collects in a deep, blue pool.  Since it was a nice day, there were several families cliff-jumping into the pool.  We ate a picnic lunch while watching the wet entertainment, then experimented by dipping our feet in the water.  Although it looked invitingly clear, it was FUCKING FREEZING.  I could barely take more than two steps before I needed to get out; I have no idea how those kids and parents were willingly submerging themselves in it.  (Are Canadians cold-blooded?  Did I miss the memo?)

From that point, we headed up a steep set of stairs to reach a wooden bridge that crosses the canyon and creek (a bit misleading of a name, as this is one powerful flow of water).  On the other side, we walked back along a narrow trail that switched between dirt path, stairs, ramps and wooden boardwalks.  It felt like we were touring someone’s enormous outdoor house, with awesome views of the rapids popping up along the way.  I would definitely walk that route again.

For a change of pace on Wednesday, we visited the Kits Pool in the Kitsilano neighbourhood.  This (human-made) outdoor pool is one of the longest in Canada.  At 137 meters, it’s about the length of 1½ football fields (read: tiring).  It’s also filled with entirely with salt water and HEATED, so we were eager (this time) to jump in.

The pool is located a stone’s throw from the bay, so we set up our towels and picnic supplies on the edge of the fenced-in area, right next to the ocean (with an excellent view of the mountains and downtown).  Then it was back and forth between swimming and lounging in the sun for the afternoon.  Not a bad way to spend a summer day, although it was a bit crowded with all the lap swimmers, out-of-school kids and sunbathers.  Such is life in the big city.

We really do feel spoiled by all our free time and deliciously warm weather that summer has brought to Vancouver.  While I certainly love this city in the rain, it’s a great to have the chance to get out and play in the sunshine as well.

So we’re 20 degrees warmer than St. Paul right now (64 vs. 84).  And here I thought Vancouver didn't "do" hot.