Lonely Planet

May 29th has come and gone. Just like that, I am 27 years old. I was told to take my birthday and the day before off of work for a trip to an unknown destination as a birthday celebration/bachelor party. Before the trip, I got to try the popular New York burger spot, Shake Shack, now in Austin with Anita. I ended up getting the ShackMeister burger and fries combo. To me, this place actually rivals my childhood favorite, Braum’s :-O!
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Up next was Silvia’s law school graduation. After many years of hard work, sacrifice, and trials, we all got to share in this joyous moment!
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As the end of May approached, I found myself en route to Vancouver, BC in Canada! This is one of the places I’ve wanted to visit. We first flew to San Fran to meet up with our friend Jackson, and then to Vancouver from there. We stayed at Hotel Blu, a very nice hotel in a great location within the city.

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The first stop was a local bar down the street. The locals were quite friendly, and the bartender took good care of our group.
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After the bar, we ended up at a Canadian McDonald’s near our hotel, and Jackson was able to try some Poutine fries at this location. It seems most chain restaurants outside of the United States add a local twist to their menus.
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After some much needed sleep, for my actual birthday, we ended up getting taxis to Cactus Club Cafe near the ocean.
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I went with the Millionaire’s Cut meal (7oz chargrilled AAA filet mignon, white wine sautéed creole jumbo prawns, buttered mashed potatoes, roasted asparagus), and my friends surprised me with a birthday dessert to finish off the meal!
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From there, we took a chunk of the day to walk it all off through Stanley Park. The views were incredible.
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After getting back to the hotel, it was time for some relaxing, and bit of N64 and Kario Mart (warning: heavy stuff).
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We decided to go out for a nice dinner and hit the town. Sushi was what the group agreed on, and it was great!

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To finish off the trip, we ended up at Ramen Jinya for lunch. I really enjoyed it, but I’m no ramen expert, so I don’t know how it compares to my two Austin spots, Ramen Tatsu-Ya and Michi Ramen. Either way, I recommend it for anyone that’s ever in Vancouver.

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After a final round of Kario Mart, some hot tub relaxing, and getting ready, we hit the town for some pizza and the standard bachelor party activities :-O
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Since our flight back to Austin left at 6 A.M., we decided to just stay up all night. One last poutine run at Fritz, a spot some locals told us to check out:
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It was a great birthday/surprise bachelor party. I have really wonderful friends, and I’m thankful for all of them that were there and couldn’t be there.
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Next time: Newark, NYC, Dominican Republic, and career/life choices.

Song of the post: Oddisee – Lonely Planet. I’m so late on this great artist, and this song just relaxes me.

3 Comments:

  1. I have a photo of me with those old men statues!

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