Big two weeks

My heart is aching. I just came back from the airport. My two loves left for Toronto after a week of fabulousness.
But since, I have been busy drinking and dancing and working in between, I have not had a chance to post about my trip to Vancouver Island. So let's start at the very beginning. Its a very good place to start (Julie Andrews)

Vancouver Island
We (me and Shawn) left for the Island on Friday night (8/17). We had a reservation for a 7 o'clock boat, but Shawn didn't get back from work until close to 6. So we had a sushi dinner and left on an 9/10 o'clock ferry (can't remember). The ferry was huge and we watched Kathy Griffin on my laptop as we sail through the black water.

We landed at Swartz Bay and drove south to Victoria. Again, we were working from a crappy map in the Vancouver gay guide. We located the one gay bar in town and parked on the edge of downtown on a residential side street. The bar was balls - super small, downstairs, crap music - but me and Shawn made the most of it. Ran into a homeless guy who did spoken work at like 3 a.m. and were shoo-ed away from outside of someone's window when I got loud talking about how much I missed Neil.

The next morning we woke up early in hopes of driving to Tofino. We had no idea it was on the far end of the island and that it would take some 5 hours to get to. Oh and it rained. Saturday it rained all day. The further we got from Victoria the harder it rained. We stopped in Nanaimo to assess the situation. The tourist info place we stopped at was right next to the grounds where they were holding the VIEX (Van. Is. Exhibition). We had pretty much written Tofino off after talking to the girl - so Shawn says, "Well, I want to see old trees." "No problem," she said. She circled on the map where we should go and another cool park to check out. [Pictures to be posted at the later date]

The rain actually let up a couple of times so our adventures weren't completely wet. Except when I stepped in the river. Balls. So that was Saturday, and since the original plan was to stay in Tofino that night, we decided that would drive back to Victoria for the night, party and then drive back to Nanaimo on Sunday and go to the fair. We should have just stayed in Nanaimo - but live and learn, I guess. The bar was even worse on Saturday (go figure) - but I ran into Katu, the coat check girl (drag queen) from 181 in London. How friggin' random.

Anyways. Woke up on Sunday and was wet and cold because it rained all night and all morning. As soon as we left Victoria though, the sky cleared and the VIEX was definitely a hit. VERY much a COUNTRY fair. They had a tractor parade. The 'agroplex' had a displays about about different B.C. fair animals and their importance to the economy. Shawn particularly liked the miniature horses and Jack Russel terrier races. We kept missing the real fun stuff like sheep sheering and goat bathing, but we definitely made the cow milking demo. [Pictures to be posted at a later date]

Around 3 in the afternoon Shawn had his fill and we slowly started to head back south to the ferry. Thank God we had a reservation. The line to get on a ferry was like 2km long. Nuts.

And then the truck broke down. I was SOOO PISSED OFF - but we were really lucky. It just stopped a couple (relatively) block from our place. It was the alternator, and cost Shawn $700.

The Girls
Monday night (8/20)went Industry Night ($3 in, $3 drinks) and got TRASHED - with Neil. I 'forgot' that I had arranged with Adam (Lauren's brother who was RANDOMLY in B.C.) to pick the girls up at the airport in Tuesday morning. So he called me at 11:30 from outside my building and had run back - half drunk.

Seeing the girls was like having a big weight taken off my shoulders. Lauren and Leanne are probably the people closest to me in my life. We don't see each other as often as we should, but the connection we have is stronger than that. We got dropped off at Lauren's friend Chantel's house where they were staying. She left us a joint and the suggestion of Toby's (a bar) for lunch. I couldn't tare myself away from the table and was like an hour late for work.

Wednesday was a perfect day. We went to a place called Bon's off Broadway for breakfast. If you are even in Vancouver's east side (Commercial Dr. Area) go. $3.00 for a full breakfast. Me and Adam had 2. We went to PNE (Pacific National Exhibition) that afternoon and had a fabulous time. Got a shave, thought the girl was gonna hack my face off. Went to see Superdogs, totally overrated. They had a street performers who were fantastic - the ones we saw at least. I believe they were called OzStar Airlines.

After the fair we went to the New Amsterdam Cafe, to smoke a J. And boy was that a great idea. SO HIGH. Then we went to dinner at White Spot. I went to White Spot once before the last time I was in Vancouver, and I really wasn't impressed. Adam had the same experience, so when we heard that that was the plan we made our opinion heard. Didn't change anything. Anyways, this time was a much better experience.

After dinner we went back to my place and had a few drinks and then went to the 'O'. Wednesday nights they have a drag show - and this was the first time that I had seen one from the beginning. It was FAB - totally awesome!! Those girls work really hard and I could never do it - or at least as good and they do. The girls got to meet Neil and everyone loved everyone. So much so that we went to Neil's after for drinks (surprise) and we all stayed over. We drank and sang until 5 a.m when we got a noise complaint. It was wonderful

I was going to take everyone to Joe's Grill for breaky, but Adam demanded a variation, so hungover and smelling of booze, we had sushi at 12:30. We went back to mine and got ready for the beach. We smoked a bowl or two and ventured down Davie. The day was perfect - hot with a slight breeze. The water was cool, but refreshing - I was the only one who went in thought. I had to work Thursday night and open on Friday.

Saturday morning (8/25)we went up to Whistler. On the way up we stopped at Brohm Lake, a small glacier lake just outside Squamish. It was serene. The water was freezing cold. Warm enough to coax you in but so cold I couldn't take full breathes. And because it was cloudy, the water was black and ominous. And me and open water don't get along.

Whistler is another world. Its called a resort village, and I had no idea what that meant until we took a stroll through the main village. That was really serene. Everything was prefect and small and chateau like. Kind of plastic. But I got over it pretty quick. The other reason its called 'resort' is because everything is resort priced. We went out for lunch and I had a $13 turkey sandwich. Yeah. But its Whistler.

We went looking a hostel - half-heartedly. I had always planned to stay in the truck, but when we couldn't find rooms anywhere, we found our digs in Lot 4 (overnight parking). There were a whole bunch of campers and RVs parked there so we didn't feel like total sketch bags. We went to the BCL and grocery store and stocked up. Chantel poured the first drink at 5:30 - I looked.

We were parked next to each other and used the mini van trunk as the bar and the truck bed as a lounge. We fit 7 people into the bed and we had to because it started to rain. This went on until about 10 when the rain let up and we went to see what the scene was like. We went to a resto/bar and got a round of drinks on the patio. One of Chantel's friends showed up and stole my girls away. "If you don't go now, you won't get in." "No, no," I said, "I work at the same bar in London." "Whatever!" She said as they went into some bar called Moe Joe's and me and the boys (Adam, Kevin and Shawn) went back to the bar and had a few more drinks.

Showed up at the Buffalo Bill at 11:45 and talked to the door guy. He knew what was going on and told me to go to 'Express' entrence. He said he could walk me in in 20 mins. So I sent Kevin into Moe Joe's to fetch the girls. Shawn, I find leaning his head on a post, so I sent him back to the car. Turns out he got lost (LOL). We get into the bar and the manager bought us a round of double shots. Leanne started to waver and Lauren decided to take her back to the car. Turns out they got lost (LMFAO). The bar was really nothing special and it was creppy because it was just like my bar in London. But whatever, danced and had a wicked time. (Total drinking time = 8 hrs)

Sunday morning, I was looking forward to a greasy McDy's breafast, but got dragged to a crepe place. It was good and not greasy but cost me $12.50. Two eggs, peameal, cheese, on a crepe. $12.50. Anyways.

Yesterday (8/27) we all went to a fabulous all you can eat Japanese place on Burrard called Shobusen. I definitely ate my $21.50 worth. And it was just good times. After we went to Chantel's for a night cap.

Of course I don't know my limit and I went to the 'O' afterwards. Neil was there, but I should have figured when he didn't call me back that he was doing his own thing - which is cool - *tear*

And that brings me back to the beginning. I have lots of work to look forward to this week. And I have to move out of my closet and onto Shawn's floor on Friday. The Irish boys are also back this weekend. And I bought my plane ticket home yesterday. It truly is a bittersweet symphony. *sigh*