Five Frugal Things -- Vancouver, Canada!
1) My husband and I are finally on our Canadian adventures to celebrate our 33rd wedding anniversary. We cracked open our "road trip" snacks by Tacoma, making sure to finish off any and all produce before we hit the border. Thank you to everyone who let me know in yesterday's comments section that bringing fruit and vegetables across the border was a huge no no!
We only stopped at Washington state rest stops, plus one last gas station before crossing the border, as we suspected that Canadian gas (petrol?) would jump in price.
I did a web search of "how many liters are in a gallon" as soon as we passed our first Canadian gas station. The result of 3.79 liters/gallon at $1.95/liter puts the gas at $7.38/gallon. (Yikes!) But then I did the math to convert the Canadian dollars back to American, it's actually not as bad as I first thought at $5.30/gallon. This isn't all that different than current Oregon and Washington gas prices.
Long car trips allow for these type of time consuming mathematical sheniganans.
We had no problems at the border and were able to answer honestly that we were bringing zero produce into Canada. We even made to sure to dump our apple cores and banana peels into a Washington rest stop bin. Took nothing to chance.
2) Our first instinct after checking into our room was to stretch our legs and head out for some exploration. Although it's my first visit to Vancouver, my husband has visited multiple times for Portland Timbers vs. Vancouver White Caps soccer games and knew exactly where he wanted to eat. It was a bit of a schlep, but we made it all the way to Dinesty Dumpling House for dinner. I could've polished off three plates of those spicy string beans on my own, not because I was tremendously hungry, they were just that good!
Obviously the soup dumplings and pan fried pork buns were also delicious. We'll be hitting up this restaurant again!
3) We continued project "Stretch Our Legs" after dinner and made our way down to the harbor to enjoy the sunset and water views. It was excellent people watching and perfect weather. There were lots of spending opportunities, but we kept our wallets in the locked and upright position.
I just checked my phone and see that I got 8,447 steps yesterday, which is pretty impressive considering that I spent six-and-a-half hours trapped in a car!
4) Our hotel stay includes a buffet breakfast, which I always consider when booking accommodation. My expectation is generally low and I've learned through the years how to put together a satisfying and healthy meal from whatever's being offered. (My hack is to use two or three instant oatmeal packets, but to remove the sugar clumps.) However . . . this hotel has the most amazing free (not really free, you're paying for it) breakfast buffet I've ever experienced! I've never been on a cruise, but it resembled the videos of cruise buffets that I've seen online.
Not only do they offer the above options, but they also had yogurt parfaits, pastries, multiple fresh fruits and an elaborate oatmeal setup. My husband and I had bookmarked a couple different Vancouver breakfast restaurants to try, but we're now scrapping that plan!
Here's the best part, the breakfast is open until 10 A.M., which is amazing, as these hotel breakfasts close usually at 9 A.M. and it's a bummer to not sleep in while vacationing.
We tipped $10 Canadian to the waiter who took care of us, even though we chose the free buffet option.
5) Even though we're enjoying beautiful Vancouver, B.C., we will not be purchasing a second home for our twilight years. Just a wee bit out of our price range!
I guess I'll have to fill my time enjoying all the excellent Vancouver suggestions from everyone in this blog post!
Frugal hack!
Now your turn, what frugal things have you been up to?
Katy Wolk-Stanley
"Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without."
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Happy Anniversary! I loved Vancouver when I was there some years back! Always enjoy a hotel stay with a breakfast option - I always grab fruit or a granola bar for later!
And I love "kept our wallets in upright and locked position"..!
Two apples procured for later!
Worked extra hours today and yesterday. Free lunch yesterday
Postponed grocery shopping until yesterday. It’s old mother hubbards cupboard. Have Target gift cards. Only need edibles.
You two are such a cute couple. Happy 33rd!
Snuggles decided that he does like his peanut butter Milk Bones after all. Mainly because his ploy to turn up his puppy dog nose until I got him something better did not work. So we have 7 pounds of Milk Bones to keep us in cookies (dog biscuits) all fall and winter long.
TK came over to mow the lawn and I got him to climb the ladder and put in a couple of outdoor lights. I had bought some LED floodlights at Ollie's Outlet a while ago, and just needed someone to install them. [I no longer climb ladders at my age. Broken bones are not frugal!]
TK wanted to do tons of extra work, all for more money. I told him no. It was neither needed nor wanted. I am not his ATM machine!
My order from Wally world has already arrived, at least one part of it did. So I washed and line dried the undies before wearing them, and I recycled the heavy paper package they arrived in. My order was tax free (since I placed the order on tax free weekend) and no shipping charge. Used a credit card which gives me 5% Cashback bonus, and phoned in my card payment already. [5% is not a good deal if they charge you more than that in interest.]
Breakfast on the patio included Chi tea. Lunch dessert was a big slice of watermelon, also on the patio. It is "only" 99 today; the rest of the week is forecast to be 100 degrees. Needless to say, I come indoors when it gets hot out there! (Canada is infinitely a better place to vacation than Texas in August!)
I have a free subscription to the Borowitz Report and am having fun reading all the suggestions as to where the Secret Service can hide Trump. Bororwitz suggests the sewer (because the rats are much like his cabinet members!), the pile of rubble caused by tearing down the East Wing, or inside one of a bunch of Port O Potties; other suggestions are even worse. Funnier. And absolutely well deserved for the Orange Ogre! One was to put him in the library; another was the touring exhibit of the Epstein and Trump files. My idea is the El Salvador Prison but I'd have to be a paid subscriber to post it.