The One Where We Discover The Very Worst Place To Eat Raw Fish
Thursday, September 10.09Where to begin...
Today was Aaron + Cait Do Vancouver day. Geoff + Briony + I spent the day with them, touring around Vancouver and showing them a few of the sights in their new home city. It was a long day, and we barely scratched the surface. And it was *so* hard to decide where to take them that would be budget-conscious and cover a few of their own requests. But we had lots of fun - and made a couple of hilarious memories along the way.
First stop (after we picked them up from White Rock) was Steveston, where we ate breakfast on the boardwalk and took a few pictures while we walked through some of the park. Then it was on to UBC where Aaron + Cait needed to pick up some required software that Emily Carr doesn't sell. Holy crap is this the WRONG time of year to need to go to the UBC main bookstore... But it was an adventure. And Briony - being the only baby in sight - made friends as per usual.
From there, we went to Granville Island for lunch and Cait spent two hours in class (English class... I seriously wanted to just leave B with the boys and go with her) while Aaron + Geoff + Briony + I walked around and explored a few of the areas that Aaron + Cait hadn't found yet - like the hill by the water, the community centre, and the Kids Market.
And then it was on to downtown. We did a driving tour of a few highlights, then parked and walked along Robson Street with a detour on the way back to point out the big downtown mall, the Art Gallery, and a few other key places. We picked up sushi for dinner and then headed in the general direction of Stanley Park. We had planned to drive through the park and then stop to find somewhere to eat dinner. And we did. Kind of.
We stopped and found a place to sit and eat, but noticed a few tourists taking pictures of a raccoon on the other side of the fence. And then a few of his little raccoon friends came to see what all the fuss was about, and we took a few pictures of the four of them before settling in to eat our dinner. But then we started to notice that the raccoons were escaping the fenced-off area and surrounding us. One randomly popped up about two feet behind us and I screamed. These evil predators were multiplying. There were four... and then five... and then six... and then TEN. Within about two minutes, we were completely surrounded, and there were a dozen of them. To make it even worse, every few minutes two of them would brawl - complete with hissing and razor sharp CLAWS and TEETH. I feel it is important to note that - during this entire time - I was panicking. I was not graceful or dignified about it at all. I was freaking out and trying to get the rest of my group to join me in fleeing the scene so that I could save myself (and my baby, of course - I'm pretty sure I made more than a few dramatic exclamations to that effect). I am straight-up terrified of wild animals, and believe raccoons to be both vicious and filthy, and my dinner companions were alternately mocking me and commenting on how cute the raccoons were. Cait got up and scared them back a few times, but eventually they started to come over to my side - the SANE side. Finally, they agreed and we went a few hundred feet away, far away from the raccoons (and behind another fence). Within about thirty seconds of sitting down, it became apparent that we were being followed... I watched in horror as they began to climb the fence. We packed up our dinner yet again, and they followed us all the way back to our car. When we were backing up to leave, there was seriously a raccoon staring us down about three feet in front of our bumper and still approaching. TERRIFYING. And officially the stupidest place EVER to eat sushi.
We headed over to the beach (across the street from Tanis & Jer's beloved Sylvia Hotel) and found a bench near the water that was entirely raccoon-free and at last, I was able to enjoy my sushi. In the middle of a swarm of mosquitoes. The only ones in Vancouver, I'm pretty sure. Of course :)
Labels: Aaron, Caitlin, Family, Our Other Home, Photos, Travel
posted by Lindsay @ 12:22 PM
4 Comments:
Oh my word you poor thing! I would not have enjoyed that either. Sounds like you're having more fun than ever in BC.
My dad used to keep racoons as pets. Seriously. I think he was 16. Sounds about right.
But what I would have given to have been a fly on the wall... Tee hee.
Lindsay - I hear you about raccoons - I swear they are from the devil!
Here's my story: I was camping with my folks and my kids. we pulled into Itasca State Park. The signs warned us not to leave food outside cuz there were raccoons. We were in our motorhome, with the door open (screen door closed) and all of a sudden I see this BEAST approaching the step. I freaked. We were all inside and had no way of closing the big door. He stepped onto the step...baring his teeth. He was about to come through the screen door. I was out of control. Screaming and basically freaking out. I found my dad's shoe and threw it at the thing - it didn't flinch. Finally some kids walking by heard my screams for help (I was actually considering starting up the rig and driving away) and threw some rocks and scared the beast away. I asked them to close the big door for us as well. My kids were 7 and 9 and now 20 years later still remember the "raccoon event" (as we refer to it in our family).
You had every right to be scared - they are rabid, evil creatures.
btw - my folks bought a stuffed toy for the motorhome that year - yup, a raccoon!!!
Reminded me of the big ole raccoon behind our tent in the middle of the night at PEI. Yikes! Thanks for protecting our baby!
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