End of Summer Date

Sometime in the Spring of this year, Nick and I were sitting in a restaurant lobby waiting for seating for Wing Wednesday.  We were talking about how last year we didn't get to do anything fun really because of the work hours we kept.  We were talking about how we wanted this year to be different.  

Since we're never without electronic devices close at hand, I asked Nick to pull out his calendar and we were going to "schedule dates".  We thought up fun things to do and put them all throughout the Summer every few weeks or so.  (It takes a very long time to get seats on Wing Wednesday).  And while we changed around what some of them were, we did them all!  

We watched movies.  We went berry picking and even baked pies.  We bought cheap bikes and explored new areas we've never seen before.  We tried out a gaming coffee shop and played other board games with friends.  We went to the beach multiple times.  We drove out into the middle of the night to shoot stars and watch a movie in the back of our car.  We went on an impromptu trip to the Island.  We stayed up too late on weeknights to watch fireworks (twice!).  We even went to the Vancouver Aquarium for the very first time.  

And then we were sad.  Sad it was over and the Fall was back full swing.  In the midst of the more hectic schedule come September, Nick planned a surprise date last Friday night after teaching.  What I didn't know was that it was the "Last Summer Adventure" date for 2014 and he planned to go out with a bang!

I didn't know what we were doing, but I was told to bring my wide-angle lens and dress up fancier than I normally do for the office.  I figured out it was fancy dinner reservations but was slightly confused when we stopped for McDonald's on the way.  Apparently when we had to give up the earlier reservation (when I reminded Nick I still had to teach one student after work), the only other option was for 9pm.  Fancy shoes and black dress on, we headed off into the sunset (literally).

We were about 5 minutes away from the location before I finally guessed it.  We were going up in the gondola!  I have heard about this gondola, but had never seen it.

We reached the top of the mountain with a couple hours to spare before our reservations, but sadly we JUST missed the sunset.  Regardless, we explored and followed paths in search of where the best view could be found.

As it grew dark, we headed off to the restaurant, where we ate really fancy, tiny dishes and were thankful for the McDonald's we grabbed on the way, haha.  However, with the fresh warm bread and slow pace, we were both stuffed by the end.  We didn't get a table right by the best view, but it was still pretty close.  The steak was hands down the best I'd ever had, and the little "cubes" of deep friend mashed potatoes with cheese were amazing.

We turned down the desert menu to go home and watch t.v. instead because as fancy as we pretend to be, we really love simple pleasures.  Back down the mountain and home we went.  Unfortunately, road construction added a considerable amount of time to our trip and I fell asleep in the car, meaning we went straight to bed with no t.v., but it was an amazing night and a wonderful way to wrap up one of the best Summers ever :)