My Cousin Rhainnon sponsored a Nautiemermate Adventure while I was in Vancouver. It was impressive. I landed at her doorstep and was given a whirlwind tour of her new apartment. (For the record...she calls her place 'the little apartment that could'...I was like, 'ummm...this is a sweet ass modern apartment in the city...'.)

We left as soon as I snooped through her closet and looked at her shoe collection (I should have totally taken a photo of those...I don't know what I was thinking!). It was coffee time. She lives in Gastown - I've decided that Gastown has good coffee.

So, I've already mentioned that she lives in Gastown. There is no trip to Gastown complete without looking at the steam clock....am I right?!

Oh and by the way, I always thought that Gastown was called that because there were gas lamps that got lit up at night. I have a feeling all you native to B.C. are thinking, 'oh-my-god what?!'. Apparently, 'Gassy' Jack Deighton, who was a steamboat captain, arrived in 1867 and opened the areas first saloon. (Thank you Wikipedia.) Cousin Rhi, if I didn't love your new neighborhood before, I TOTALLY LOVE it now! I mean Hell-ooo Gastown - who is named afer a drunken sailor!

Next, we toured the Woodward's Building (again, thanks Wikipedia). Cousin Rhi was instrumental in the renovations of this Vancouver landmark. I don't really know how to fully explain her role in the project....'she made it look awesome' is the best I can do.

From Gastown it was off to Downtown. We got a bite to eat and met up with some of Rhiannon's friends for a hike. As we're getting ready to leave for this hike I'm all like, 'do you think I can wear my slippers?' Rhiannon says, 'I think you might need shoes'. Does she say, 'Megan, you need shoes, you need to change out of your jeans and put on your lululemon pants....oh yeah, and leave your purse and camera in the car...'? No she does not. Needless to say, we go on this hike - with some cross fitting amazon women who like to run while piggy-backing grown men. I might have been out of my league....which might be why 'the fresher the better' is my new mission. Cross fitting amazon women. That is all I have to say about that.

The good news is that the hike was gorgeous.

From hike to yummy lunch and from yummy lunch to Granville Island.

Granville Island is the bomb. Truly the bomb. It's like a whole other world right in the heart of Vancouver. You're on the water, the views are gorgeous, the public market is full of pretty things, there is music, and most importantly there is Gelato (as I quickly learned).

I may have mentioned Gelato. I'm not a Gelato connoisseur but I like it a lot. One of the ladies we were with was a connoisseur. I mean she was serious. We looked at ALL the Gelato. ALL OF IT. Then we did another round before she picked the best stand. I may need to take some Gelato selecting lessons from her.

My favorite photo of our Granville Getaway is below. Bad ass biker dude feeding a seagull. Cute right?

On our way home from Granville, Cousin Rhi pointed out her Cinque Terre Vancouver connection. Priceless. Loves it. Loves it. Loves it.

My last photo of the day. No seriously, this is the very last photo I took. It actually ended up being one of my favorites. I think it epitomizes Vancouver. A little city swagger mixed with a group of people with amazingly good hearts and some North West soul.

The day was capped with a delicious salmon dinner - I mean, hello, we are in B.C. - that means we eat SALMON.

The day was: FUN. FRESH. FRIENDLY.

Cousin Rhiannon, you done good. Nautiemermate Adventure Success!

(While this post was photo packed - there are more! See below!)

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