Top 5 things I didn't do or see while in Vancouver

So... (you know this is going to be good when I start this post with ?so?) I had to travel to Vancouver for a work conference, actually a Seafood Summit. I hadn?t ever been to a seafood meeting so I didn?t really know what to expect. I did envision we would be eating a lot of seafood which was both good and bad. I love fish of all kinds, especially salmon, I could eat my weight in salmon, been known to order salmon at a steak house, you get the point. But odly enough I don?t particularly like sea creatures as I call them shirmp, etc.

I fly in at night so I don?t really get a feel for the city, head to bed wake up and get ready for the meeting. I check in and get my conference packet and first thing we have an opening prayer by an Elder of the Squamish Nation? how cool is this I think? About that time I start to feel kind of funny, I thought it was with the time change my body was hungry (for lunch at this point) and I was just eating breakfast. The longer she talks the worse I feel. I look around and everyone is in prayer mode this is not your typical prayer but one that lasted for 10 minutes (or at least I thought so) and she was talking so slow making sure to pronounce each English word to the best of her ability. At this point sweat is about to drip off my forehead and I look for the nearest exit noting that all the doors had been closed to respect our opener. I started praying myself, my prayer was basically this, Dear God, please let this prayer end and please don?t let me make an ass of myself a scene. The prayer ended, I grabbed my stuff and ran to my room. I passed a couple of people who looked like they were trying to make eye contact with me to see if I was okay. No time for that. I reach my room and discover that I either have the flu or food poisoning. And I need to chew my food more? yeah I know it?s gross but it?s true! Hence why I started the post with so? Let?s be honest being sick stinks and being sink in a hotel in another country really stinks. I may be a grown adult, married grown adult, approaching her 30?s (yes, I admitted it must still be dehydrated) but there is nothing in this world that makes me miss my mom more than being sick. My mom was the best at taking care of us when we were sick. In fact she was so good to us that we would often fake being sick. My sister and I would hold the thermometer close to a light bulb and then stick it back in our mouths right before my mom would came back in the room. This resulted in us have temperatures of 108 or so which made her make a big deal and fuss about how we were going to have to go to the hospital, too sick to watch tv etc. and eventually we cracked a smile. I?m pretty sure she knew what we were up too!

So, first thing I do is call my mommy. I can hear in her voice that she is really worried about me. This atomically makes me feel a little better. Long story short I spend the majority of my time in Vancouver ?praying to the porcelain goddess? or sleeping. It was the third and last day I was there and I opened the curtains to find one of the most beautiful scenes I have ever seen from a hotel window. When I checked in to the hotel the lady at the front desk mentioned something about an upgrade, I was just happy they realized I had stayed at a Westin twice that week. It was absolutely beautiful and I was feeling good enough to realize what all I had missed out on.

 

So, here are the top 5 things I didn?t see and do on my trip to Vancouver

1. Eat Salmon ? but I did buy some Salmon Jerky at the airport, better than nothing I guess.

2. Go to the Vancouver Aquarium? we were scheduled to have a reception there one night and I was really excited.

3. See any of the city besides what was outside my window and on the taxi drive to and from the airport.

4. See any of the reminents of the Olympics... I love the Olympics and would love to go one day! 

5. Go to a Tim Hortons... okay let's be honest eat anything other than toast and 7up!