New Year's Eve 2015/2016 - The Route

So a few years ago, we started doing this thing where we put together a route for New Year's Eve, trying to hit new places that we had always wanted to go while also throwing in some old favourites. It worked out way better than going to a New Year's Eve party since those almost never live up to expectations.

Since this year is our first on the B side in our new Vancouver lives, this year's plan took a some thought.  We started around mid-day with many stops throughout the day for refreshments.  This is what we came up with...

1. Commodore Lanes - This is probably the oldest bowling alley I have ever been in.  It's right in the heart of Granville St., one of the big 'going out' areas of Vancouver.  It's a throwback, and a truly awesome one.  Someone has been taking really good care of the place, and it's packed full of crazy tchotchkes from all the years it's been around.  Even better, it's FIVE pin, something I haven't done since I was in elementary school.  [Side note: five pin is hard.  In ten pin, if you hit one pin, it's almost guaranteed that the pin will knock over another pin.  In five pin, the ball is so small and the space between pins big enough, that it's almost more likely to just knock down one pin.  Fun.]

2.  Robson skating rink - Right at Robson Square by the VAG, we decided not to skate because it was so crowded.  And it also looked like skating for people with a death wish.  There were so many people, and so many of them not good skaters, that someone who can skate would have to worry constantly about someone falling in front of them or falling into them.

3.  Bao Down - This is one of our favourite spots for a cheap meal in the city.  Sandwich on a bao and incredible fries...can't go wrong.

4.  The Bourbon - I had always wanted to go the Bourbon, not on a Friday or Saturday night, but during one of those times where it's just people hanging out and having a drink.  We have a lot of lo-so bars in our neighbourhood, but this one has a mechanical bull.  So, yeah.  Cheap beer and a fireball were great choices.

5.  Home - After the Bourbon, we went home for a while to eat, drink, and be merry for a while.


6.  T&T - For New Year's we decided to have a T&T feast.  T&T is our closest Asian grocery, and they have a great prepared foods section.  We took forever to choose then came home with way more food than we could ever eat.  It was packed with people picking up party food.

7.  Home (again) - We came home to snarf.

8.  North Shore/Lonsdale Quay - All the Vancouver transit was free on New Year's Eve [Thank you, TransLink.], so we took the SeaBus to the North Shore.  This was new territory for us, so we walked around for a bit to check out the quay, the views and the lights.  It was weird looking at Vancouver from the North Shore since we usually spend so much time looking the other way.

9.  Home again for more celebration - We came home and went out one more time to go to Canada Place where there was music and throngs of people.  We didn't last too long here.

10.  Last stop - We rang in the New Year from our balcony.  Seeing the fireworks from your balcony is one of the perks of the B side.  The bizarre thing was that a few hours after midnight, the fog rolled in and we couldn't even see where the water (where the fireworks were launched from).