Back by popular demand ... or not.

So I feel that I am being punished for having such a good run in my temping career thus far. When CPSBC Natalie thinks back to SNC Natalie's perfect job earning a decent hourly wage for browsing the wonderful web stores of Saks and Christian Louboutin while making the occasional deep-in-thought face whenever a VP walked past her desk, a pained sigh ensues.

Cue beginning of dramatic personal journal style blog entry a la Bridget Jones ... Current Weight: 5 000 000 pounds; Cigarettes: 2 packets (this will make no sense if you have not read the book .. or seen the movie for that matter!).

The truth is I am far too tired and of course it is not that dramatic at all. In fact, I actually enjoy being busy because it makes the working week fly by! Nevertheless I catch myself occasionally reminiscing about the days when temping was fun and carefree. Now it's all business and little play, hence the lack of blog updates recently (and quite possibly the lapse into talking about myself in third person).

So my new work is at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia (CPSBC) and I'm working in the Registration department until (at this stage) mid September. I'm still trying to work out what my fellow colleagues are on (although when I put two and two together...) - they are without a doubt the nicest collective group of people I have ever met ... and this place has a LUNCH ROOM! Is it sad that I was so excited to find myself lucky enough to work in an office with a dedicated lunch room? Please don't answer that.

Basically the work involves me sifting through hundreds of files of physicians that have at any stage in their careers been registered in British Columbia and issuing certificates of conduct to other agencies and regulatory bodies throughout the world. Clearly it's pretty important all the details are accurate so the job is a tedious, painstaking grind. Despite the busy days I am thoroughly enjoying the challenge and as I said - can't complain about the company! It has also made me question (several times, daily) the sanity of my friends who are studying medicine - do these people EVER stop studying and taking exams?

Vancouver life of late has been fairly non eventful.

We celebrated Canada Day (seems so long ago now) by enjoying afternoon drinks at a British pub down on the water near Canada Place and dining on a range of tasty offerings from local street food vendors - pretty sure we did Asian (pork dumplings), Greek (lamb wraps) and French (Crepes) all in one day! 

Despite our best porker efforts Steven is still hungry and attempts to eat his beer.

The Olympic cauldron in all its glory on Canada Day.

We've also started making our weekly pilgrimage to Granville Island on a Sunday afternoon to do our  grocery shopping (and for me to buy my banana nut toasted lunch-bagel!) at the public market. The food is fantastic and well worth the ferry fare. As it turns out our groceries cost the same, if not less than they do here, in Downtown. The only negative is that it gets so busy of a weekend, especially later in the day, so it's sometimes a struggle to shuffle through the hoards of people - works wonders for my  patience threshold though!

An example of delish Granville Island ingredients dinners - homemade rice paper rolls & Vietnamese salad.

Steven is still training hard for his upcoming events. Every morning I wake to the sweet sounds of the wind trainer and the sweet (OR NOT) smells of hard work. In fact, as I type this a waft of training gear smell is moving in this direction and has reminded me I need to do ANOTHER load of exercise clothes washing. All for a good cause though - if he was this stinky for no reason then we'd have serious issues. Steven is also training extra hard this week because I promised him I would make lasagne on Friday night if he makes all his sessions. He is being very diligent and as the household appointed Director of Dinners I am enjoying having all the power.

Post half marathon I have been attempting to maintain my own fitness by continuing to run the trails of Stanley Park. The other day I saw a tiny baby squirrel no bigger than my hand! At first I thought it was a piece of dead wood (cut me some slack, I run glasses-less!) until I moved closer and realised the poor little thing was frozen in fear (as you would be with a giant monster standing a metre away from you). It was pretty much the cutest thing I have ever seen.

I've also started taking bikram yoga classes and I am in love. I honestly feel like I am going to die every time I do a class yet I am now addicted. I could be addicted to worse things though so it's all good.

So I guess we've been lying fairly low lately also because summer seems to have disappeared as quickly as it arrived. The last two weeks we've had mostly rainy days or ones full of dark, ominous clouds so our trips to Granville (scheduled rain, hail or shine) have been the only shining light - oh, plus my new found love of bikram. Thankfully last night was rain free so we packed our sleeping bags and set off to Stanley Park to watch a free screening of Top Gun (Steven could hardly contain his excitement, he even had to tap his head and feet in unison along to 'Danger Zone'). Free outdoor movies screen all summer long - I love it how people really embrace the season. It makes sense though - summer is fickle here.

We didn't take any pictures from the night but it basically looks like this (only dark - obviously!) -

People tend to set up early to get prime spots and do dinner in the park, pre-movie.

No rest for the wicked. I am off to start dinner and get cracking on this stinky washing. Miss you all and I promise not to leave it so long in future as I am sure you will all be waiting with bated breath for the next installment.

Namaste.

Celebrating the three month milestone!

So it's now Wednesday evening and I can finally sit down without feeling any pain! Why you ask? Well, last Sunday I completed my first ever half marathon (with the help of Missy & epic support crew Steven & Dave)!

Given the mediocre build up and despite the emphysema-esque cough I had (and still have) (see previous post featuring the return of my dreaded flu-cold), I was pretty happy with the end result. In fact, earlier in the week I had attempted one last training run of only 40 minutes and by the 20 minute turn around mark I thought I was going to die! So let's just say it was celebrations all 'round! 

The weekend started off well and was pretty low key but mostly sunny weather meant we were all in happy moods. On Saturday after his ride (Steven has now started training for his next Ironman - more on that below) Steve and I decided we should finally visit the little cafe on the corner of Comox & Denman called Central Bistro (just a short walk at the end of our street) because we'd heard so many good things about it. Well yes, it was amazing! So amazing in fact, that then and there I declared my chicken BLAT sandwich to be the best sandwich I had eaten in Canada so far. And as you know, we've eaten A LOT in Canada in the short time we have been here! Needless to say it was a big deal. Steve had the lambwich (bet you can't guess the key ingredient) which was also delicious, but once again I was the victor in our 'best meal' competition.

True to my traditional pre-competition form, I spent the majority of the weekend a nervous wreck but by Sunday morning I was relatively calm as I underwent all my pre-run rituals including eating a small bag of popcorn (yes - I finally found the cure to my running cramps!!).

Over 5,000 people (and one gorilla) competed in the race which began at UBC (University of British Columbia) and finished in Stanley Park. Vancouver even managed to turn on a gorgeous, sunny and warm (20 degrees - woohoo!) day for us so we had awesome running conditions. Our support crew were very dedicated, making their way to various points along the course to cheer us on. Needless to say I think Steve now has a lot more respect for all the hard work that goes in to being support crew!

These guys were only a few k's behind us! ;-)

Told you!

Missy & I at the start

Picturesque running conditions!

Quite a few k's in and still feeling good

Finishers!

 The only support crew 'fail' was that I had to take my own finisher's medal photo ...

  ... because my support crew stumbled at the final hurdle ...

So tired he couldn't even take his socks off!

But at least he supports a good team! ... 

Secret Lions supporter??

Completing the half marathon is something I am pretty proud of and I am very happy to be able to cross it off my Vancouver list and life list of personal goals. It was also a pretty big highlight to cap off hitting the infamous three month milestone. It's hard to believe we've been here for only three months - it feels like a lot longer ... in a good way of course!

Aside from the highlight of crossing the finish line, I was also excited to be able to harass a stranger's pet once again (I'm desperately missing Ruby, Marty, Zorro, Benny, Charli, Cracker, Angel, Brownie, Curry & Noel) - this time it was a Jack Russell puppy called Toby -  

Sadly for me he was more interested in someone's old apple core!

We celebrated post race with ice cream and reading triathlon magazines down at English Bay for the rest of the afternoon. The most exciting part? My ice cream melted for the first time in 3 months!! Hello summer!! (I never thought I'd be so happy to announce a melting ice cream).

As I mentioned above, Steven has now started training for his next Ironman event which takes place on November 27th in Cozumel, Mexico. Pretty exciting stuff! At the moment he's at the start of a big bike block of training and actually just got back from a six hour ride this morning. During the sessions he often updates me to let me know he's okay, where he is and what time he'll be home. Since training in Vancouver began, the texts I now get are something else ...

"It's snowing up here, I don't think I'm dressed appropriately" AND

"Umm... there's a bear on the side of the road" ... he wasn't kidding!

So with the next release of upcoming triathlon dates, our travel schedule for the rest of the year looks something like this: 

September 14-21: Ironman 70.3 Cancun (Cancun, Mexico) 

October 5 - 11: Ford Ironman World Championship (Kona, Hawaii) (Spectating)

November 3-6: ITU Long Distance Triathlon World Championships (Henderson, Nevada)

November 23-30: Ironman Cozumel (Cozumel, Mexico)

Looking pretty good indeed! 

Victoria: The city delivers; our bodies do not!

So it's been a while, but I promise I had a good excuse - the return of the dreaded killer Canadian flu-cold! But let me start at the beginning...

Friday June 17th, Missy, Dave, Steve and I headed off on our next adventure - to Victoria, capital of Vancouver Island. The primary reason for our trip was for Steven to compete in the Victoria Half Ironman which was to take place on Sunday June 19th, but we had decided to try and fit in some sightseeing during the weekend. We'd heard so many great things about Victoria we were determined to check it out for ourselves! 

The afternoon started off with panic, anxiety and excitement as we rushed to make the ferry on time. We were booked on the 7pm ferry but got stuck in horrendous traffic after a car flipped on the highway. Thankfully we made it in time (6:52pm thank you very much!), thus began our Victorian adventure! 

Right on time!!

Views of a ferry from the ferry ... hehe

Friday night was pretty much a write off once we arrived on the Island. The ferry trip takes about 90 minutes and by the time we'd found our hotel, checked in and organised ourselves, it was about 10pm.

Before our own trip I had heard many people talk about Victoria and how beautiful it was - well, they were 100% correct - what a beautiful city! Hard to describe, but think of it as a cross between Toowoomba, Melbourne & Italy - cooler and more exciting than Toowoomba, quieter and cuter than Melbourne and a cleaner and less-inhabited-by-sleazy-European-men Italy. Okay, so perhaps it's easier just to list the features to give you a better idea - think flower pot plants hanging from antique looking street lighting, inner city cobblestone streets, manicured gardens, friendly people, a smattering of grand old municipal buildings and cute little cafes, back streets and alleyways. We fell in love immediately - Victoria certainly made us question our newly established loyalty to Vancouver!

Pretty manicured gardens

Empress Hotel (we saw a movie being filmed outside here)

Government House in lights.

Saturday morning was spent wandering around in town, exploring the little alleyways and you know, just chillin' with Darth Vader.

One of the many cute little alleyways.

A very talented Darth Vader.

I may or may not be attempting to abduct someone's pet again...

Saturday afternoon we made our way to Elk Lake (the location for the Victoria Half Ironman) so that Steven could register and rack his bike. What a gorgeous setting! The amazing thing about Victoria is that only a short drive away from the main city centre you will find yourself in beautiful forests/winery areas a la Maleny. So pretty! 

Unfortunately only a short time later I was struck down by the return of the KCFC and it was pretty much downhill from there. We ate an early pre-race dinner and attempted to get to bed at about 7pm. Sadly (mostly for Steve), an early night was not to be. I couldn't believe how sick I became in the space of a few hours and I can't remember the last time I was so sick I couldn't even sleep. Disaster! I felt so bad for Steven because he was trying to get a good sleep before his race and I'm snotting and coughing every two seconds - like the genuine charmer I am. Steven assures me he ended up getting to sleep pretty quickly despite the odds (although I am told I almost got kicked onto the floor) but I was up until 1 am, allowing only 3 hours of semi-sleep before getting up to leave for Elk Lake on Sunday morning. Testament to my serious lack of sleep, I even accidentally put some of Steve's tri-shave cream in my hair thinking it was hair wax (consequently my head smelled like a man for the rest of the day!). By 4 am Sunday, I had almost completely lost my voice slash could only bark comments or instructions every now and then. 

Transition

The athlete.

After watching Steve punch out an awesome swim and set off on the two and a bit hour bike leg, I made my way back to the trusty warm car and fell asleep. If I wasn't on my death bed I would have been out there cheering everyone on, but I just couldn't do it. Luckily Missy set the alarm and we were up and ready to cheer Steve on when he came in off the bike and headed out on the run course. About a minute into his run, we were in the middle of discussions as to where the best run course viewing was going to be, when Dave turned around and swiftly pointed out that Steve was in fact limping towards us. It turns out he had strained his calf muscle coming in from the swim and it wasn't worth it to push through the 20k run for a 'practise' event. So our day of triathlon came to a sudden halt! 

Swimmers warming up (hah!) in Elk Lake on Saturday afternoon.

The good news was that we ended up having some extra time on Sunday to sightsee. It would have been awesome news if I wasn't on my death bed but nonetheless I wasn't prepared to miss out on the fun, so we all piled back in the car and drove out to Butchart Gardens (22ha of floral/garden display) - I would say this is Victoria's most advertised tourist attraction. After a quick nap on the back seat to pep me up, we arrived at the Gardens and amused ourselves for about 2 hours. I struggled through with a few nana stops to rest here and there! 

Just one small portion of the many gorgeous gardens!

Pretty garden scenery

Missy & Dave

Japanese Garden

Speaks for itself ...

On the way home I was super excited to see my first deer and it was a little baby one too! The poor thing was a bit startled when we stopped to take some photos and it ran behind a tree.... 

I can see you!!

After yet another nap Sunday afternoon (post Gardens visit), Steve had organised to catch up with an old friend (Shawn) of his from Brisbane who works at a local hotel lounge bar and has lived in Victoria for the past 5 years. We ended up having a great night tasting a myriad of fancy cocktails (Shawn is a very highly regarded bar tender) - I even had a special one made that had such a high alcohol content, I was told it was guaranteed to cure my sickness. Who was I to question the professional? To my great surprise, I woke up Monday morning not feeling 100%, but definitely feeling 100% better than I did the day before!

Steve and a very strong cocktail (featuring awesome massive ice cube)

My tasty grapefruit & lychee cocktail - delish!

Shawn & Steve

Lucky it all worked out, because Monday morning marked my long anticipated whale watching adventure! What an amazing morning! Although we didn't manage to get many good photos, just catching a glimpse of the Orcas was an amazing experience and something I thoroughly enjoyed. In the end I gave up trying to take photos and just decided to enjoy it! Yet another list item to cross off (woohoo) although it's definitely something I would like to do again if I get the opportunity.

Astronaut meets ginger michelin man!

Looking good in the attractive whale watching get-up!

Some pretty views along the way

House boats

Monday afternoon we were all a little tired and miserable as we made our way back to BORING Vancouver. Also, I may or may not have managed to sneak in one final nana nap for the weekend! Miss you Victoria!! - You've not seen the last of us!

Races, Ramen ... and Riots

What a week! After the intensity of the past seven days, I can safely say I am all hockey-ed out and looking forward to a relaxing off-season. There is not a doubt in my mind I'll be back on the bandwagon next season though, after all, I just spent $30 on a Canucks shirt.

While the drama of the past 24 hours is still fresh in my mind, I think it's best to reflect on the now infamous riots first of all. You know, prior to Game 7 I was really beginning to embrace hockey and coming to understand just how much this team and the individual players are worshiped by a city whose overall commitment, I must say, is phenomenal. I was actually quite prepared to write an entire blog post (with supporting images) on how amazing the city is for embracing their team the way they do. Of course there will always be those annoying fake-fans that think it's okay to boo (uh, it's NOT OKAY TO EVER BOO YOUR TEAM, IN ANY CIRCUMSTANCE, PERIOD!) but all in all, I am confident I have gathered enough evidence over the past three months to state that hockey unequivocally runs through the veins of Vancouver. And now the sad part ...

Don't worry Mum - I got these from Google!!

Typically (in all previous playoffs matches), the Canucks fans that filled the streets (between 80, 000 and 350, 000) during playoffs were good sports - clearly, as there was never a riot before we lost Game 7. We'd lost games during the playoffs before, yet people were generally pretty peaceful on the whole. I must say I wasn't surprised to hear of the riot because Kristen had already warned us about a similar riot erupting in 1994 post playoff loss. So of course everyone knows now what has happened and although I'm technically only an adopted resident it makes me really sad to see this beautiful city portrayed in such an awful way - as a result of the actions by a very small minority who I have no doubt were not true Canucks supporters in the first place. Would it have made an ounce of difference if we'd won? Sadly, I think these losers would have turned up to start a riot regardless of the outcome although the media would probably then have portrayed them as scorned Bruins fans instead! Now these poor Canucks fans are in the depths of identity damage control. I feel really sorry for them. I mean, we can't all be perfect Lions fans, but Canucks fans are okay too!

Honestly, I've lived here long enough (I know, three months is not long) to have come to the conclusion that 90 per cent of the city is high 100 per cent of the time - clearly that explains why everyone is so nice - so my question is simply: where were the pot smokin' hippies last night?

End rant.

Before the start of the game... clearly!

Hockey commentator Don Cherry & his Game 7 jacket! (He's known for his fancy jackets)

Clearly enjoying the festivities - Wine? Check. Steve's Beer? Check!

In other, more peaceful news... last weekend we decided to immerse ourselves in some Asian culture (honestly, didn't even plan it ... just turned out that way!) and head off to the Dragon Boat Festival (#33. Dragon Boat Festival) in False Creek. We spent a gorgeous Sunday morning sitting on the banks of the river watching hundreds of people take part in the Dragon Boat Races. Best part? The tasty Asian food stalls they had lined up (oh, and the views weren't so bad either!).

Racing ...

Steve LOVES dragon boat racing...


BUT NOT AS MUCH AS THIS GUY!!

Worst part? This child -

When Devil child & vuvuzela unite!

To be fair (on me) the child did this non stop for about half an hour. I only took a little footage so the mother didn't think I was some creepy person taking footage of her child ... which, let's face it, I was.

After we'd had enough of dragon boat racing and the child had annoyed me almost beyond the point of no return, we ended up back home (after detouring through the Canucks Official Team Store to buy our shirts - Steve got Bieksa #3 and I got Kesler #17 although I wanted LaPierre just because he has a cool name) and decided it was time to knock #34. Kintaro Ramen Restaurant, Denman Street, off our long list of things to do. Check. Well, one piece of handy advice no one has ever given me - there's nothing more nerve-wracking for a Caucasian than preparing to use chopsticks in a restaurant full of Asians. Oh, the pressure! Thankfully no one appeared to harshly judge our chopstick skills or lack thereof. And the Ramen was delicious! Thank goodness it was - we had to line up for about 30 minutes just to get a seat!

Mmm.. Miso Ramen.

This weekend we're off to Victoria for another of Steve's long course triathlons. Should be fun because Dave & Missy are coming along too and we might even fit in a little whale watching on Monday - looking forward to it!

Rock escapades and other adventures in San Francisco...

Almost a week after we left for San Francisco I have finally managed the time in my busy unemployed schedule to update on our whirlwind five day trip - and what a wonderful trip it was!

Despite the ordinary weather and below average temperatures for this time of year, I thoroughly enjoyed our little hiatus - welcome relief from soul sapping job hunting.

As most of you would know, I might just have a mini-obsession with New York City - it's engaging, overwhelming, amazing - awesome. I can only describe San Francisco as a chilled out, less pretentious New York. There's so much to do, the architecture and streetscapes blow your mind, the people are relaxed (and a lot friendlier!) and it just doesn't take itself as seriously as the big apple.  I loved every minute of it! I will always be true to New York but it doesn't mean I can't have a little love affair with San Fran on the side! 

Yes San Fran, I do heart you. A lot.

Unfortunately due to the location of Escape from Alcatraz triathlon, we were limited in our options for hotels - we had to find somewhere relatively close - so we ended up staying at Fisherman's Wharf. For anyone who has not been to San Fran, I would personally not recommend staying here unless you're into Surfers Paradise - because that's exactly what this area is like. Tacky, touristy, annoying, smelly children screaming, obnoxious overweight loud mouth tourists everywhere who clearly can not last a minute without a piece of gum in their mouth and who clearly do not know how one chews with their mouth closed. They also love to walk right in the middle of footpaths and stop suddenly in random places, blocking the paths of all behind them. I digress.

So while I enjoyed Fisherman's Wharf between 8 am (when we arrived) and 10 am (when all these lazy people finally get up and start waddling around), let's just say I wouldn't be in any rush to go back there. The perks? Chocolate shops, lolly shops and the seals! Oh, the seals were so stinky but so fun to watch!

Stinky but loveable seals at Pier 39.

After we sussed out Fisherman's Wharf and bought our Alcatraz tour tickets for Sunday afternoon, we decided to rent bikes and ride all the way up and over the Golden Gate Bridge (and back again). I can't even describe how amazed I was with the Golden Gate Bridge, and I'm not generally all that into bridges and stuff. Something about it was so spectacular though, and being able to ride up to and over it was pretty amazing. It's just really beautiful.

Us & The Golden Gate Bridge - on our cycling tour.

After lunch at Boudin (original sourdough & clam chowder), we headed off to the famous Lombard Street - the most winding street in the world! It was amazing. I couldn't help but keep thinking about how I was certain I wouldn't find an obese native San Franciscan, purely because of how steep the streets are in this city. After 10 minutes of trekking up the mountain that is Lombard Street I was absolutely stuffed. And I'm pretty sure I had the beginnings of buns of steel ...

Lunch at Boudin.

Lombard Street.

More Lombard Street.

Once we hit the top, we decided to keep walking for a bit which is when I ran into my new dog crush - Titan the bulldog (he was extremely gorgeous) - who I may have tried to coax away with me ...

Titan - my new boyfriend.

The great thing about being the person responsible for all tourist related activities on our trip was that I was in charge of the map. This meant I could manipulate Steven into walking 12 blocks to Union Square (central shopping hot spot) with me and by the time he realised it was going to be a bit more than "just a couple more blocks" it was too late ... So the good news is after visiting Saks, Barneys, Macy's, Nordstrom and Marc Jacobs store itself, I finally got my Marc Jacobs bag - hooray! I will love it always. I'm pretty sure Steven was about 5 minutes away from strangling me before we even made it to Union Square because I kept having to "consult the map" every ten steps. My short term memory is like a sieve, particularly when it comes to street names and all numbers.

Oh, you're probably wondering why we were doing all this walking and not just jumping on a tram - the signature transportation of this city .... as luck would have it the trams weren't running this particular weekend due to track upgrades! So cabbing and walking it was.

Union Square was very busy and touristy and by the time we managed to find a cab back to the piers, I was certain that would be the end of my reign as chief touristy activities manager for Team Conlow. Fortunately I managed to quickly locate the restaurant I had planned for our dinner (phew) - a wonderful Vietnamese restaurant recommended to us by Alex. It was fabulous! I didn't realise how much I missed rice paper rolls until we sat down at that dinner table ...

Slanted Door Vietnamese dinner.

After Friday's mammoth city trekking efforts, Saturday was dedicated purely to triathlon preparation. Although we'd had plans to visit a couple of other places, because of the horrible rainy weather and time limitations we didn't want to push it. Therefore Saturday consisted of triathlon registration, Steve's warm up ride & "warm up" swim, a trip to the shops to get nutrition supplies and resting.

And then came Sunday - what can I say? What a spectacular triathlon - for athletes and spectators alike! I have to say I completely understand why Escape from Alcatraz is on the 'to-do' list of so many athletes. The scenery was stunning - I'll never forget sitting on the freezing cold rock wall in the shadow of the Golden Gate, watching the sun come up over Alcatraz Island, teeth chattering, being able to think of nothing other than my mother once telling me if I sat too long on cold concrete I'd get piles! (Thanks Mum). Good news is that I didn't, so celebrations all round! The only thing that could spoil this spectacular moment (aside from Mum's timely advice) - my worst nightmare - sitting next to a COLLINGWOOD supporter! Yes, that's right. I'm sitting on a freezing rock wall at 7 am in San Francisco probably getting piles, and who's sitting beside me but Ron the Collingwood supporter! Once I noticed his scarf it was all over. Turns out he was there to support his son from Brisbane who was doing his first ever Alcatraz triathlon too, so I made peace with my initial annoyance.

Eery Alcatraz - moments before race start.

Some gorgeous views for support crew on race day!

I am happy to report that Steve successfully completed his first ever Escape from Alcatraz in 2 hr 36 minutes and I managed to take a few (perhaps a little dodgy) shots on the fancy camera. The best news of the morning was that we also got to meet Australian pro athlete and back to back Ironman World Champion Craig Alexander - and Steve had a great chat to him after the race in the recovery area too - stoked!!

How's that for a run with a view!

The famous hand gesture on the home straight.

Steve and Craig "Crowie" Alexander.

Steve and Crowie catch up post race.

Finisher!! (15th in his age group)

Sunday afternoon I dragged a tired athlete off to our tour of Alcatraz Island. I had high hopes after hearing how great the tour was from many of our friends and I was not disappointed. Alcatraz Island - located in the San Francisco Bay and now a designated national park. We spent the afternoon on Alcatraz making our way around all the displays and taking the brilliant audio tour of the old prison - phenomenal (and creepy!). I admit that I didn't know much about Alcatraz before, but the whole thing really sucked me in. I also loved that because it's a national park now, they have designated bird breeding grounds on the island for protected bird species.

A little chilly on Alcatraz, looking back to the city.

Inside the jail.

Jail cells.

Individual cell.

Sunday night we made our way to the Little Italy area of the city and had dinner at a restaurant Cecily had recommended called The Stinking Rose - sounds appetizing doesn't it! So The Stinking Rose is a garlic restaurant - we ate so much garlic that night I am sure we only made enemies on our wine tour the next day! Sunday night at The Stinking Rose also marked a momentous occasion in our relationship - it was the first time in 5 and a half years that Steve has won best dinner. He couldn't believe it, but there was mutual agreement that he had indeed picked the best dinner. FYI it was lamb shank and garlic mashed potato.

Yep - garlic cloves - delicious spread on focaccia!

Something else I really loved about San Fran was that just an hours drive away you will find yourself in wine country. Now, I'm not a massive alcohol of any sort lover, but I don't mind a nice glass of wine every now and then. Our triathlon-wine tour combo seems to be a trend of late, which I was in no rush to buck. So Monday morning we ventured off on a tour of Sonoma and Napa Valley - regions famous for their quality wine. Given this knowledge it would be wrong of us not to try ... right? So we enjoyed a day of wine tasting and eating and finished it off with dinner back in the city at a place called Calzone's. Safe to say Steve was thrilled with the opportunity he had here to eat the mother of all meals - his two favourite foods combined into one, greasy delight - lasagne calzone. I was told it was good.

Sonoma.

A dingy view, but a beautiful place.

Caught devouring lasagne calzone.

San Francisco - a thoroughly enjoyable whirlwind trip and I have no doubt we'll visit again in the future! More photos on Facebook if you follow this link - & also this link.

As for our adventures for the next two to three months - we'll be laying pretty low and saving our behinds off for our next overseas trip. In the meantime, there are plenty of summer festivities in Vancouver to keep us occupied so stay tuned for more local adventures ...