Since arriving in Squamish - Squish to the people who really love it here - I've seen nothing but sunshine. Rain, it once seemed, was little more than a nasty four letter word people threw around as a veiled threat. You'd better appreciate today, even thought it's 90, because tomorrow it may be raining. Well, last weekend the rain arrived, and it stuck around all weekend long! Despite the dark clouds and regular showers, we had a really great weekend thanks to the arrival of our friends, Ryan and Todd.
Shortly after R and T arrived, the rain subsided, and Ryan and Brian immediately took advantage of that and spent a few hours in the boulder fields. Todd and I thought of an even better plan, walked ourselves to the local liquor store, and enjoyed wine from a BC vineyard. When the boulderers returned, it was time for another sampling of the local fare, this time for dinner. We made our way to the not so busy but often discussed Ruddy Duck. As we were finishing our meal, the entertainment arrived, and watching the band set up proved to be fodder for much conversation (and a great distraction from the onions that had polluted the inside of my burger and were now staring, offensively, back at me from all about my plate - needless to say, I didn't like that burger one bit). Since the rain had subsided, we walked to dinner, and that meant we were able to swing by the square on our way back to the condo; there we experienced what can only be described as the strangest sampling of music one small town festival can produce.
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| downtown Squish - a wall of local art |
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| Brian doing his thing - but man, you should have seen me taking pics |
Saturday was extra gloomy, but again Ryan and Brian saw an opportunity to get some climbing in and Todd and I were kind enough to join them in scrambling about the rocks and eventually dodging raindrops - yep, Todd and I did our fair share of reading tucked under rocks or in tiny caves. Then, to reward ourselves for both hard climbing and world class spectating, we tried out what seems to be another 'hot spot' in the ol' Squish, Mag's 99, where you can get fried chicken and all the offerings of a Mexican cantina. It was not the worst food we've ever eaten, and the decor was unique - lots of luchador masks and even some Star Wars dia de los muertos calacas (decorated skulls). Post Mags, we needed to recover - and be sure we all would survive the meal - so we hung out at the condo for a bit and then went up the Gondola. We walked around on the trails for a bit, biding our time until the real show started, the free wine tasting. We sampled and selected our beverages of choice, which we meticulously paired with the finest poutine the Sea to Sky cafe had to offer, and then capped our evening off with dinner and some more drinks at the Howe Sound Brewery.
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| still can't believe I survived this encounter |
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| sightseeing before wine tasting |
Every evening, by choice or chance, we found ourselves surrounded by live music, and it was a really fun weekend despite the lack of sunshine.
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| enjoying a break in the clouds after our guests departed |
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