August 17, 2017 – Zoo news

Today we took the spectacular ride from Whistler to Vancouver. What scenery!! Here are a couple of pictures I took out the window of the car.

Canada 99, the Sea to Sky Highway, closely parallels the Strait of Georgia
The Strait of Georgia empties into the Strait of Juan de Fuca and then into the Pacific Ocean

It is too early to check in so we decide to head down to the zoo in Langley about a half and hour or so southeast of Vancouver. George has been saying that Jonathan has the best wildlife siting (a moose) on our respective vacations and we are ready to prove him wrong! After a quick lunch at Mc Donald’s we are off to the zoo.

This is not the world’s best zoo. There are a lot of attractions that are empty. Others have aninmals that are hiding somewhere. Unfortunately we never see a moose which was our main goal. However, John gets to participate in the raptor show by catching a hawk on his wrist and that makes the pretty steep fee all worth it.

John’s big moment and other moose related pictures –

John catching the hawk
John petting the hawk
Moose-ter and hen
Collared moose-ary
Nadal and family (capybaras)
Night-flying hooting moose
The flightless moose-trich
African striped moose
A rare Australian moose

We win!

We have a late dinner at Maenam which we have been looking forward to for a year. Once again we get the Chef’s Tasting Menu.

Amuse bouche – tamarind shrimp on pineapple and coconut custard and shrimp (yum) served with Wild Goose Pinot Blanc
Hot and sour shrimp soup with oyster mushrooms (still drinking Pinot blanc)
Braised octopus salad served with Kitsch Pinot noir rose
Steamed mussels with chilis, lemon grass, Thai basil, and kafir lime leaves plus nam jim sauce (Yum) Pinot noir rose also goes with this dish
Penang braised beef curry served with Tantalus Juveniles Pinot noir
Stir fry hanger steak with baby corn, Szechuan green long pepper, green beans, and bell pepper (Tantalus Juveniles Pinot noir)
Coconut ice cream with frozen raspberries (Yum)

I have noted three things with a special “yum” as being particularly outstanding. However, this year the food is not quite as wonderful as last year’s. I think maybe it is because there is too much beef. Maybe people were complaining that it was too seafood centric. We are going again on Saturday and we will have the Chef’s Tasting Menu again as it changes day to day. They also have a vegetarian tasting menu that we might try.

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