Just over this mountain

/ Greg / 2 Comments

I live in a place with precious little change in elevation. The city landfill might be the highest point above sea level (crop level?) in Saskatoon. On the outskirts of the city, on clear days, it feels like if you stood on your tip toes, you might be able to see the Calgary Tower off in the distance. Granted, that’s hyperbole, but you get the picture.

For honeymoon number six, continuing a grand relationship tradition that has freed both of us from anniversary gift shopping, we choose to do a western Canadian road trip for our first ever visit to Calgary, and then a day trip onward up into the Rockies. Mountains, much like oceans, never get old to my eyes.

In the Rockies

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Foreign and familiar

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It snuck up on me.

On a trip to Halifax in April, there was no visit to see my mom and dad as they had just packed up and moved to New Brunswick days before my arrival. The trip also marked a full two years since I moved away from my old hometown. Lots changes in that amount of time and I couldn’t shake it that Halifax had started to feel a bit foreign.

Not that foreign is a bad thing. In one respect, it gave me an opportunity to sample from Atlantic Canadian breweries that weren’t even in existence when I last called the city home. Sober Island, Roof Hound Brewing, Saltbox Brewing, Trailway Brewing… these were all recommendations from Jason at Bishop’s Cellar (who made me feel at home and like I had never moved away… oh, how I miss my old wine and beer store on the waterfront), and were all worth my time. The Hu Jon Hops by Trailway (green can) and the session IPA by Roof Hound (far right) were my personal favourites.

Assortment of Atlantic Canadian beers

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Playing the host

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I am now a little over two years into being a resident of Saskatoon, and if I’m being completely honest, it feels like I’ve been living here forever (in a good way). When I got a text from my sister asking if I’d be around to play host to her on a side trip to Saskatoon from a conference she was attending in Edmonton, I immediately went into planning mode, determined to show off this great, under the radar city to my sister. I wanted her to like it here as much as do I.

With a list of ideas for restaurants, bars and interesting sites completed, I was partially foiled by the usually spectacular weather here. My sister arrived under grey skies and spent most of her visit exploring an uncommonly rainy and dreary Saskatoon. Luckily for me, I had an ace up my sleeve. A welcoming ambassador greeted her when we arrived home after a short drive from the airport. My sister, a dog lover like me and the rest of my family, got introduced to Chloe. And suddenly the rain didn’t matter. Dog selfie time!

Chloe and Nik

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A long way for one day

/ Greg / Leave a comment

Two years is both an eternity and a period that can pass in a blink of an eye. It is an almost unfathomable dichotomy of time, save for the fact that we’ve all felt it at some point in our lives. In the two years since I left Halifax for Saskatoon, my parents have moved away, my niece and nephew are growing up at what seems like a lightening pace, and the city that I used to find so familiar, while in many ways remains so to me, is also becoming increasingly foreign as time has marched on for it, much like it has for me.

Being back in Halifax to attend and present at a conference was simultaneously disorienting and welcoming. Between landing in the city and my conference activities kicking off, my wife joined me for a ridiculously short and fun one day visit to hang out with what is left of our family in Halifax. Before that day with family, after a long day of travel, our only plan for a Friday night was a seafood feast at The Five Fishermen just around the corner from our hotel. Mussels, lobster, scallops, salmon, clams, swordfish… we enjoyed all the creatures of the sea we are not afforded in our life on the prairies.

Seafood feed at the Five Fishermen

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A respectable crawl

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Here’s how my first hours of every trip to Vancouver go down. Drop my bags at the hotel. Go to my favourite taco place (La Taqueria Pinche… best tacos I’ve had outside of Mexico or San Diego). Make a beeline to one of the ever growing list of solid craft brewery taprooms. Enjoy that one, then head to the next taproom that is always less than three blocks away. Vancouver visits always get off on the right foot. In fact, this is a pattern that can repeat every day of a Vancouver trip. On my most recent trip to one of my favourite cities in the world, I designed a respectable four day craft beer crawl.

With a belly full of tacos I hopped a bus to East Van a couple hours after touching down in Vancouver and settled into the beautiful taproom at Andina Brewing Company. This is a really unique place with most of the beers made with obvious influences from South America. After being stuck in the depths of winter in Saskatoon, sitting in the sun coming through a window felt downright summery, even in February.

Andina Brewing Company

These beers were all thirst quenching, with the Lulo Sour my favourite. I also loved that cassava chips came with the tasting flight. Solid start to my Vancouver tastings in a beautiful setting.

Tasting room at Andina Brewing Company

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A day away from winter

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In February I traded in the bitterly cold temperatures of a Saskatoon winter for a colder than normal four days in Vancouver. Colder than normal still meant it was the first time in months that I could walk around outside without gloves on. It’s really all about small victories in surviving winter on the prairies. And while for most of the trip I had to carry around an umbrella to stay dry, I did get one nice day to leave the raincoat at the hotel and breathe in the fresh west coast air along the seawall.

I took a bus from downtown to Kitsilano Beach to start a hike along the seawall. My one nice day in Vancouver was actually a perfect February day in Vancouver. Seeing blue skies and water made my coastal, now landlocked heart, very happy.

Vancouver Seawall

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Travel memories through wine

/ Greg / 1 Comment

I like to consider myself a fairly advanced travel planner, but sometimes you just need to tip your cap to serendipity. A week or two after booking my flight to Vancouver for a short winter vacation in February, I came to learn I’d be in the city at the same time as an international wine festival. Quickly scanning the festival schedule, I bought a ticket for a wine tasting event downtown. Three hours, a world’s worth of wines, and now, me.

Before the wine tasting kicked off and after polishing off a very large early dinner to fortify me, I went through the tasting program to find the wines I was most interested in trying. In that process I realized I was going to be taking a trip down taste memory lane from many of my past travels. Wine moreso than food or other drinks can bring my mind right back to a specific place and time.

Like a lot of other attendees, I circled one wine in particular – the Laurent-Perrier Grand Siecle Champagne. Since coming back from France last spring and a magnificent trip to Reims, I have been more opportunistic in trying champagnes. Pushing close to $200 a bottle, there was a lineup for this wine most of the night. Anytime there was a break in the crowd I popped in for a sample. It was delicious on the first, second, third, fourth and I won’t say how many more tastings.

Vancouver International Wine Festival

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New and old favourites

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Vancouver has become a favourite city of mine, especially now that it is a relatively painless direct flight away. A number of trips there over the past few years created an interesting, and delicious dilemma for my most recent visit – do I retrace my past steps for favourite foods or do I explore some new restaurants and tastes in hopes of adding to my list of favourites? Of course, balance is everything, so in the spirit of “a little from column A and a little from column B” I did both.

There was no doubt that a visit to Vancouver would have to include some seafood, and in particular, sushi. There are a couple of reasonable sushi places in Saskatoon, but arriving at Sushi Itoga on Robson Street reminded me just how amazing truly great sushi can be. I placed my order at the counter, sat down at one of the long communal tables, and a few minutes later, this amazing spread was placed in front of me.

Sushi Itoga

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