HENNESSY...HENNESSY...(but I am still THIRSTY)

It's like I've been on a blog-cation...on a beach somewhere, unavailable to type randomly and at great length. Or I smashed my fingers inbetween some bricks and have been unable to type with little plaster casts on each finger. Even the Warrior Of Chaos chimed in with "write more blogs dammit". I am sorry to have let all six or seven of you down. However, I am back from a weekend away, and even though I am thoroughly exhausted - BLOG I SHALL. Where was I? I was with the love of my life in my city - VANCOUVER. We went up on Friday night after work, stopping along the way to visit the hometown of the cousins of the Insane Clown Posse (Everett) and then we quickly kept it movin' after devouring some Taco Bell. Grilled Stuft Burrito. YUM. Oh, and who knew that Hockey Night In Canada actually moved and is now Hockey Night In Everett? That might be a joke only for myself, unless you're a hockey fan and grew up in Canada. I move on. The border was a breeze with the border patrolman taking a slight jab at my fly Puerto Rican from the Bronx. Oh, but be warned, that bush over there may not be a bush at all - it might be a giant microphone. TRUST NO ONE. We arrived at our hotel downtown which you can look at here - http://www.sheratonvancouver.com/facilities.cfm?page=faq - 18th floor, corner room, floor to ceiling windows. AMAZING. The city looked absolutely gorgeous lit up. We made our way downstairs to the bar where George Carlin was playing piano. He wasn't. But if you had the drop of vsop that I did, you might find it funny too. Switch over to Saturday morning and I'm wide awake at 6:30, so amped to BE THERE and to also look out the floor to ceiling windows. I do. I take many pictures, one of which is at the end of this babbling. It was supposed to rain the majority of the time we were there. Did it once? NO. Sunshine for Saturday and Sunday - it must be a sign. We got some Starbuck's in the lobby (how convenient) then made our way out into the city on foot. We walked ALL DAMN DAY on Saturday. Maybe not all day, but for a good 6-7 hours...it felt GREAT. We went down to the waterfront, got some amazing breakfast at the Goodfellas Cafe and walked over to Canada Place to take in the view from there. We went down 1 Missing Limb Lane in search of my spot and we found it. Seymour Street used to be home to Track Records and Odyssey, my two favorite record stores on the planet. They've been gone for years, but I can't forget driving into downtown on my lunch, parking in the alley, grabbing some music, and then heading back to class. Yes, my music addiction runs DEEP. It was almost 11:30 in the morning by this point - time for a drink. Where should we go? Where should we go? Then it hits me, let's go up in a terrifying elevator ride to a revolving restaurant so we can see EVERYTHING. Thanks to an earlier suggestion from the ever-trusty Weesha (thank you!) we go here: http://www.topofvancouver.com/ and get our late morning drink on. You drink, then you shop, so we did Robson Street and checked out some unorganized cd shops on Granville and then went in search of a liquor store. None to be found. We head back to the hotel, get the car (hi baby, I missed you) and go in search of booze. SUCCESS. Back at the hotel we mix up some Travis drinks (T-DIGGY!!!!!) and then head down to the pool to soak in the jacuzzi. The Sheraton is top notch, no question about it - but the bath house steam room? Not so much. After getting our soak on in the hot tub, we head back up to the room to rest and to get ready for dinner here: http://www.ouisibistro.com/ (thank you Lisa Gale!)...and it was AMAZING. The food, the drinks (I love you peppermint patty martini), the people - outstanding. The bartender fills up my Hennessy XO just a little shy of where it shoud be, the owner comes over and agrees, gets it filled up PROPER...then, out of nowhere, delivers two glasses of port to enjoy with our pecan pie which was INSANELY GOOD. Go now. Go there now. Why are you still reading this? Flash ahead to Sunday and we're out again by around 9, driving over to Stanley Park, thinking that the Tea Room will be open for breakfast and it's not. We end up driving around the park, then heading back to the hotel after the FRUSTRATION OF TRYING TO FIND GAWD DAMN PARKING IN THE CITY OF VANCOUVER where a stupid PERMIT IS NOT REQUIRED!!!!! Annoying Vancouver. Very, very annoying. We eat average over priced eggs, then head back up to the room to nap the morning away. The perfect ending to the perfect weekend. You wanted a blog? You got one. Oh, and guess what? We were in a parade on the way home. Yup, the Everett people don't know how to fucking drive Parade. It was GREAT. But in all seriousness, my weekend was amazing - we had the BEST time. Shout out to George Carlin, wherever you are. Signing off from the 2nd floor, wishing I was still on the 18th with the floor to ceiling windows and my fly little Puerto Rican from the Bronx. Sooooo DAMN FLY - all day, every day.......