Travel Tales: Vancouver, Canada

Oh, Vancouver... I think I love you.

Despite the lousy weather and post-game aches and pains, the trip to Vancouver was a huge success. The Buzz (my softball team) placed 1st after the first day of play with 4 straight wins. Great bats, awesome team work and fielding as well as (tooting my own horn!) 1 home run from yours truly. After the "Round Robin" play (which basically determines your seed in the tournament - ours being 1st), we lost our first game. As for me, it turns out gravy fries and grilled cheese plus some excellent brownies don't mix well with running the bases. Bad news.

Sunday came, bringing along a bunch of rain, wind and pain in our bones. I have been battling a sore groin muscle for the past couple of weeks, so I applied some IcyHot right before we played and five minutes later felt the immense pain that accompanies IcyHot on your privates. I now know what chlamydia must feel like. Anyhow, we played our hearts out against a Vancouver team that we love, the Heat, I got another home run (toot toot toot!) but we lost, which unfortunately booted us out of the tournament.

So, instead of advancing, we drank beer and laughed obnoxiously with one another while watching other teams play their games.

Softball aside, the trip was great. Went to a bunch of local bars along Davie Street: Pump Jack's, Pulse, Oasis, Odyssey, and Numbers (the last 3 being the best of the bunch). We ate some great food at Moxie's, Characters, and Cafe Luxy (pesto gnocchi was unbelievable). I also ate a pretty decent vegetarian "Benny" (eggs benedict on an English muffin) this morning at the local Hamburger Mary's. We met some awesome people through softball and at the bars, and all in all, just enjoyed a nice relaxing weekend.

If you have yet to visit Vancouver you should definitely include it in your future plans. They're hosting the 2010 Winter Olympics too, which should bring a ton of tourism and fun activities. It's my #1 favorite Canadian city and am very happy that it's only a 2 1/2 hour drive away.

Do They Have Labor Day in Canada?

I'll be in Vancouver, Canada for the next few days participating in a softball tournament with my softball team. (Currently taking requests for prescription drugs!) Won't be updating again until Tuesday or Wednesday.

This will be my second time in Vancouver. I went with my friends Jacob and Kathleen when they visited me in Seattle in January 2008. We went on New Year's Day - bad idea. It was the most isolated big city I had ever seen. NOTHING was open and NO ONE was there. In fact, our trip highlight was an excursion to the Capilano Suspension Bridge right outside of Vancouver. (Highly recommend it.) I'm sure this time, fun will be had IN Vancouver.

Will be sure to update you on my trip when I return. Until then, enjoy your Labor Day weekend!

Well, There Goes My Social Life (An Ode to Softball Season)

Well, it has certainly been an exciting softball season.

For those of you who do not know, I play on an adult softball team in Seattle in a gay league, the Emerald City Softball Association. I joined last year before entering the Peace Corps, and rejoined this year after returning to Seattle in May. I play for the Seattle Buzz (as in get buzzed and buzz like a bee - a double entendre, given that the team used to be sponsored by Budweiser). We are a competitive team in the D division (which is the lowest), but don't let that fool you. We are good and we play hard.

After a series of injuries (blood under fingernail, bruised shin, multiple knee scrapes from sliding, and a wicked scratch from a picnic table), accomplishments (a home run, a couple triples, even more doubles, and several catches in the outfield), and embarrassments (crash collision in the outfield, too many hit pop flies, and a tan line from a sweat band that still won't go away), the season has ended for me.

The Buzz will be playing again this weekend for a chance to go to the World Series in Wisconsin, but I will be out of town. I wish them luck and I encourage all of you to find an outlet such as this in your own communities where you can stay active, form strong friendships and have something to look forward to every week. There's bound to be something similar wherever you live.

I will close by sharing with you some pictures from the season:

Here I am with the sweatband I mentioned earlier. This was last weekend at the Emerald City Classic Tournament for the 4th of July.


My shin bruise: this developed after a collision with another outfielder earlier in the regular season.


Standing at first after hitting a single. Note our team's awesome socks that everyone is jealous of. We probably have some of the better uniforms in the league.


And finally a picture of our whole team (or, most of it at least):