Vancouver | British Columbia

Can I proclaim my love for Canada just one more time?! Exploring Vancouver at the end of our trip to Whistler did not go undocumented. We had 24 hours in this bustling west coast seaport city and spent our time eating incredible aburi oshi sushi and all the maki rolls at Minami to celebrate Bob's birthday, checking out the crazy all-night party scene on Granville Street, and visiting laid back local breweries the next day. We had an easy stay at the centrally located Marriot Residence Inn Downtown which was in walking distance to Minami and Granville St. The larger rooms worked out well for us, offering plenty of space to comfortably regroup and rest all our ski gear.

On the final day it was Bob, Leah and myself who decided to stay longer and catch the red eye home. We wandered the downtown harbor front in the fog and mist before discovering Steamworks Brew Pub in the hip Gastown quarter for fun beer samplers and tasty fish tacos. Our waitress there recommended checking out Brassneck so we hailed a cab over to Mt Pleasant neighborhood. We instantly loved the low key vibe in their contained concrete and funky wood beam space. They pour excellent beers with thoughtful names like the dry hopped Passive Aggressive pale ale and the Free Radical white IPA with mosaic and sorachi ace hops. We pulled up the map and chose our next stop close by - Main Street Brewing - which is actually just off Main in a super cute residential neighborhood. This place emits the same relaxed vibes except in an open Heritage Building with bulb lights strung from high ceilings and around leafy green trees. Tall red taps line gleaming subway tile walls. There's a wide selection of equally delicious beers and I am so glad we picked it on a whim! 

When we left it was POURING (the ridiculously cold and windy rain where an umbrella is useless) and they don't have Uber! It took what felt like forever to hail a cab and lucky for us it was a van who could fit all our ski gear (that was being stored back at the hotel). Good thing we gave ourselves plenty of time. 

It was really nice to wind down the ski week discovering a little of Vancouver. 

I highly recommend checking out any / all of these spots: 

Minami | Yaletown | 1118 Mainland Street

Steamworks Brew Pub | Gastown | 375 Water Street

Brassneck | Mt Pleasant | 2148 Main Street

Main Street Brewing | Mt Pleasant | 261 East 7th Avenue