Vancouver, BC

Home away from home

Sunset view
Our sunset (partial) view

Our history with Vancouver goes back to 2003, when we landed there after a repositioning cruise. Smitten with the city, it later became Scott's choice for Culinary, and Pastry schools in 2004 and 2005 respectively.

For 2004, Scott was solo in Van, renting from from friends from the cruise. In 2005, we bought a unit in their building -- #1102 at 1100 Harwood Street in a neighborhood called "Davie Village". The view is to die for; part of it is captured on the photo top left.

Now we spend each summer here. In 2006 we began sort of an annual pilgrammage, across North America by car. The first year was in Scott's little (relatively speaking) BMW sedan -- a comfortable but cramped ride. Despite the lack of space, we both enjoyed the trip a great deal, and in 2007 purchased a small SUV (Toyota RAV4) to make the trekking a bit easier. We hope to make this trip each year, following a different route each time: last year we returned to New Hampshire via some of the southwestern national parks, with several stops along the way for friends and family. In 2007 we plan to venture farther west into California and some of its parks, and other friends, then make a sort of diagonal return to New Hampshire.

Two-thousand-seven is a transitional year for us. While we talk about returning "home" to New Hampshire, we plan to sell that place in the Spring of 2008. Where we'll "hang our hat" is still under discussion at this point (July 2007). We've purchased a second condo in the same building in Vancouver (1101, next to our existing 1102) giving us about 1000 sq ft of space. However, we are considered "seasonal residents" of Canada, and thus can't spend more than 6 months out of the year here. And aside from the legality of it, if we were to stay beyond six months, we'd incur significant tax liability to do so. Complicated.

Here are some photo highlights from our time here:

 

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