Vegan Vancouver (BC)

Last month Dave and I escaped for our first real (week-long) vacation in years. As many of you know, we packed up and moved from New York to Colorado at the end of 2012. Eight months later we bought a condo in Colorado Springs and packed up our apartment and moved into our new home. Oh, in the midst of all of that, we were launching our his and her businesses. Needless to say, vacation wasn’t a top priority and actually wasn’t all that feasible.

Two years later we found a good reason to travel to the Pacific Northwest – my friend Kristina’s wedding! We made a vacation out of it. We spent four days in Vancouver, BC followed by three days in Portland.

What a trip!

We used airbnb for the first time for our first stay in Vancouver, BC.

We loved our little studio apartment (with laundry!) which was, quite literally, steps from Granville Island. Our vacation went like this: wake up, workout, eat all the vegan food, go to sleep, repeat. It. Was. Perfect.

We arrived on a rainy Tuesday and hit the Whole Foods to stock up for a few days. There was a little cafe across the street from the apartment, Chocolate Arts, so we warmed up with coffee and chocolate while waiting for the keys.

We settled in and the hubby made us a Taco Tuesday dinner.

This was our sunset view from the apartment, after the rain washed away.

The next day (my birthday!) we went to Stanley Park for a run.

We spent the afternoon wondering Granville Island before grabbing a quick bite at Whet. There weren’t tons of vegan options so I asked the server what she suggested. She said, “Oh, the owner is vegan, we can figure something out.” I had these yummy vegan lettuce wraps.

My birthday was dinner at Graze.

Wish granted!

Turns out it was Wine Wednesday – half off all bottles. When in Rome!

Dinner was divine. Between the two of us we had tempeh and chickpea crepes, walnut ravioli, yan and coconut cheddar pierogis and kale salad with polenta croutons and fried artichoke.

Dessert: pear, apricot, plum and salted caramel pie with coconut ice cream.

The next morning we were up early to go to the “peak of Vancouver”: Grouse Mountain. I read about a hike called “nature’s stairmaster”: The Grouse Grind. Based on everything I learned, I had no business doing it. It’s a 2 mile, 2,800 feet (straight up!) climb. I did a little research and found some other trails that looked more my speed. So we drove up to the base of the mountain (about 900 ft) and parked. We walked to the trailhead only to see this:

The Grind.

We made our way to the visitor’s center to ask where the trails were. Only two ways up to the top of the mountain: ski lifts or The Grind. We opted for the long, steep climb.

It was tough. Two hours later, we made it to the top.

I will never do it again but I’m happy to say that I have.

We had lunch twice at Heirloom. This was the incredibly tasty avocado, tomato, sprouts and beet bacon sandwich.

And this is a kale salad for two and two breakfast skillets.

On our final night we stayed in and had restaurant leftovers and finished off some of the food we picked up at the store by making a vegan grilled cheese sandwich.

Vancouver, BC rocks and we can’t wait to return!

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