Marie is in Terrace

All credit to Marie (or perhaps her friend Michelle) for the photos.

My sister is up in our hometown for the BC Day long weekend.  Well, the holiday weekend is more coincident - she's not there for the holiday, per se, but for her 40-year high school reunion.  From the brief chat we had yesterday, it sounds like the event itself is, well, not surpassing her modest expectations.  Ah well.

But the more interesting thing to talk about, I think, is the town itself.  Terrace, BC.  I've gotten used to people in the US not having a clue as to where it is, and heck, even folks in BC don't always know.  And it's not a little isolated village of 200 people on some gravel road hours from the main highways or something.  I mean, it's not large either, but it's on a TransCanada Highway (the Yellowhead 16), and there are some 12,000 people there.  Small, far from Vancouver (840 miles/1350 km by car), but not so out there in the grand scheme of things.

Or maybe I just think that because I lived there for so much of my life!

I haven't been up there since my last high school reunion, back in 2018.  I may go in two years, we shall see - I didn't think the last reunion was all that great, and I think I'd like to see the town a little more on my terms rather than with an event driving things.  What I recall from the last visit, though, is that the town was still familiar but that so much of it had changed.  A friend I had at the time chided me for expressing that, and I found it hard to explain to him what I meant, not at all what he thought, that I was saying Terrace shouldn't have changed.  Of course it should change.  It changed while I lived there, for goodness' sake!

But it is disorienting to go back and see the place and know that you are from there but you are not longer of there.  It is weird to have the memories of places imposed over the current reality.  And it is encouraging to see some changes and sad to see others.  Nostalgia really hits hard, you know.

I don't trash talk my hometown.  I won't even resort to the patronizing "it was a great place to grow up" language that people use when they really want to say "I was glad to get the heck out of there" or far less kind things.  Terrace has a beautiful setting and so many people there who were important to my life at various points.  But Marie left in 1987, and she has barely been back.  I left 11 years later, and it's much the same thing for me.  A part of me will always feel a part of Terrace, and I take pride in and comfort from that.

Alright, enough of that.  In the meantime, enjoy some photos of the Terrace area and more (including our childhood home) courtesy of my sister. 

Saturday in Vancouver

Ready for a lot of photos?  No matter, you're getting them.

One thing I love about being in Vancouver is that it's a familiar city with which I'm comfortable but it's also not the city in which I currently live.  What that means is I can go for my early morning walks and feel fairly at ease, but also that I'm not seeing the same old thing day after day.  Last Saturday morning in Vancouver, I was up early enough and out the door to take advantage of that.

It's a cool way to get shots of buildings,

public art,

nice gardens and parks,

the natural surroundings (such as they may be in a city),

and more. 

Accordingly, I walked and snapped.  I think I did a little over four miles that morning. 

It truly was a weekend for getting my step count in!

And then it was off to my first meal of the day with other folks.  Steven and Patrick

and brunch in New Westminster.  Man, it's been a long time since I last saw them.  Pre-pandemic!  And that's the shame of the visit:  seeing people I haven't made time for in far too long.  I felt badly about that, truly.

Anyway, I

hopped SkyTrain out to meet up with them, enjoying the last seat on the train, getting a view out the back window as we went along. 

Patrick was at the station,

waiting for Steven

(who snuck by him somehow and was waiting at a nearby corner outside of our lunch destination, Piva), and so I got a big hug right off the train.  Yay!  Brunch was nice.  A breakfast pizza (tasty, maybe needed something a little saltier on it) was my choice,

and much catching up ensued.  Always such delightful guys to hang out with.

I let them go on their way after brunch - Steven is an avid knitter, and he had a yarn shop he wanted to get to.  I took myself a short way uphill,

and in a few minutes I was ringing the buzzer to get into Marie's apartment. 

I hadn't seen her place in years, and that's even considering she hasn't had a cat for a while.  She and I gabbed, then headed back onto SkyTrain and downtown where we turned up at Open Outcry for the start of their happy hour. 

Alas, the bar seems to be a shadow of what it was before the pandemic, and after that drink, we headed to the hotel so that I could get ready for dinner.

Marie and I had dinner with Chris

and Allister

over in Chinatown.  I was a little surprised that Chris and Allister hadn't been to Bao Bei

before - they don't live far from it, it's been around for at least 15 years, and it has a good reputation still (I hope!).  I've only been the once, a long time ago, and I've always intended to go back.  They were having a special Year of the Horse menu,

and we were excited for it.  Here's a rundown of it:

Seafood "Bing".  Nice start.  A simple pastry, a turnover.

Lobster crudo.  Lovely.  Reminded me of amaebi.

Lucky dumplings.  Tasty!  Don't be shocked, but I liked the mushrooms with this dish.

Taiwanese knife cut noodles with clams, mussels, and pork.  Really good.  More of a seafood dish than a noodle dish, and we had no problem with the generous portion.

Crispy whole branzino.  Loved loved loved the sauce especially!

Dark chocolate leche flan.  I usually don't go for chocolate desserts, but this turned out to be an excellent way to finish the meal.

We opted for drink pairings which started with the 12 Knots,

included two bottles of wine for the table, and then a finishing cocktail

whose name I didn't catch but that I liked so much that I (and Chris!) ordered another each.  Dinner and drinks done, we walked Marie to the SkyTrain then headed home ourselves on foot.  That was my indulgent meal for the trip, and it made for a lovely Valentine's dinner away from Conrad and Van (and Olive!).