TNAT Week 8 – Back to Van City

Tommy Burgess
Jul 27, 2017 · 4 min read

So I just had to come back for more of Vancouver. And simply stepping foot back in the city had my heart skipping a beat. Since then here’s what I’ve been up to…

  • You’re gonna think I’m ridiculous but I had an awesome session at the YMCA gym. And it made me happy, so I’m including it here. 😋
  • Boozy brunch Latino style. Reunited with La Mockler, Captain Speed and Polish Jen we headed to a margarita heaven known as El Camino’s on Main St. Dangerously good drinks, delicious food and superb company, check!
  • A sunset walk along the sea wall. Starting at the Olympic Village I enjoyed the beauty and serenity of Vancouver from the water’s edge taking in the cityscape as the sun went down.
  • Gay bar crawl around Davie St. What better way to spend a Sunday evening than frequenting gay bars, watching drag shows and playing pool?! Great night with Don Don the piper’s son.
  • A reunion dinner with Miss Heather Clarkson. So we met about 9 years ago, only spent a week or so together then and haven’t seen each other in person since. Yet you know when you’ve met a kindred spirit, and flame-haired beauty Heather is one of them. Dinner in the fabulous Flying Pig in GasTown (with a cute waiter who loved ignoring personal space) followed by an urban wander ending in a thick peanut butter chocolate milkshake – that is the perfect dinner date!
  • Wandering around leafy Vancouver suburbs. There are just so many great neighbourhoods in the city so I took some time exploring the one by my Airbnb (Kerrislade Village/Arbutus Ridge) and it’s just gorgeous in the sunshine, wide tree-lined streets and lovely houses. Now how do I get me one of those… 😉
  • Meeting up with Uncle Mart. Now Martin’s not my uncle, he’s my gorgeous friend Amy’s uncle. But he’s wonderful and we enjoyed drinks basking in the sunshine in the very cool and Manhattan-esque neighbourhood of GasTown. Fun times and super sangria.
  • West Van sunset walk. Another sunset walk this time along the Ambleside part of West Vancouver, and an incredible view of the city across the water from the north.
  • The epic Grouse Grind. Climbing 2,830 steps covering 2.9km with a total elevation of 2,800ft up Grouse Mountain ain’t no normal hike, but it was absolutely brilliant. Jenny Nena and I lunged and stepped our way to the top in just over 90 mins. Not bad for a first go and the views from the top were awesome (not quite done justice by my pics). Next time I wanna do it in an hour. #lifegoals
  • SEEING A BEAR! It has only taken me 8 weeks but I finally saw a bear this week! Two in fact. Admittedly they were in a slight enclosure at the top of Grouse Mountain rather than totally wild but they were 100% grizzly and cute as heck. So it still counts. 🐻

So that’s it for another week folks, I hope you’re enjoying the coverage of my trip. Feel free to ask me questions, comment, show me love, etc. 😊

Coming soon… More Vancouver living and champagne adventures.

Tommy Burgess

Written by

UX & content enthusiast, baker and world traveller

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