How do you make a 3-day weekend awesome? Go on a getaway. I love weekend getaways. You feel like you took a vacation, yet you didn't have to deal with all the stress of planning a long trip. And 3-day weekends are the perfect opportunities for getaways. So, since it was a 3-day holiday weekend, that what we did last weekend...we got away.

And who do you think were the lucky people to join us? The in-laws! They flew in Thursday evening from Indio to join the party. And the party got started Friday after work. And it started with our feet - a luxurious pedicure treatment at Be Polished. Is there a better way to start off a weekend than with clean, relaxed, stress-free feet? (Yes, I have stressed feet, deal with it).

We squeezed in a nice dinner at Ray's Cafe with the Brown family friends, Vince and Jonita. But the at dawn of the next day (aka Saturday morning, early), we were on the train headed to Vancouver, BC.

Vancouver, BC

We arrived in Vancouver around 11:30am. After a stop at the hotel to drop our bags, we were off exploring. Vancouver is such a beautiful city. And it's especially beautiful when the weather is beautiful. Clear skies, and 70 degrees...heaven. I mean, look at this:

We toured around Canada Place, Coal Harbor, and then down retail row on Robson Street. Whew, lots of walking. Then we walked some more on the Forbidden Vancouver Tour with Will, our tour guide. He took us all around town - Chinatown, Yaletown, Gastown - giving us the history of the city during Prohibition and all those other "dark" times. The tour was very fun and Will took the theme to heart. And Nada won the quiz at the end.

[The tour Guide & Josh raising, not just the roof, but the house]

We also enjoyed a delicious dinner at hit (and hip) restaurant, The Flying Pig. I also tried poutine for the first time and this version had pulled pork. I can see why a hot plate of poutine would be good on a cold, gray day.

Sunday was another wonderful day, and we started it with a yummy waffle breakfast at Medina. I found this place on Cooking Light's site, and it was a great find. The waffles were their specialty, so we all got two (they were small). And with them you got your choice in toppings. We each got a different one - milk chocolate lavender, fig orange marmalade, white chocolate pistachio rosewater, raspberry caramel. And on our way out of the restaurant, we saw the guy from Property Brothers. You know, the HGTV show? Still no. Well, watch HGTV Wednesday night, then you'll get it.

Tummies full of waffles, we aquabused (aka water taxi) over to Granville Island to roam the public market. There was fruit, fish, veggies, meat, sweets, tea, coffee - well you get the picture, there was a lot of stuff.

Then we aquabused it back, got a few things to picnic on the train for dinner, and headed home. And the train ride home wrapped the awesome weekend nicely with scenic site and a beautiful sunset.