Gotham Extravaganza

In an attempt to ensure our timely arrival into Seattle today, SPF and I decided to venture away from Sun Peaks and into Vancouver yesterday to cover the majority of the distance that we needed to traverse to leave Canada. Via hotels.com we found an affordable room in downtown Vancouver that would have been $350.oo a night, but we were able to get it for $170.00. Our luck did not stop there. Upon arrival, we were asked if the room that we booked with two double beds was really the room that we needed. Thinking that they just wanted the extra bed as Canada Day was fast approaching, we said "no" and they upgraded us to a Signature Club room on the top floor (23) with an included Continental breakfast and phenomenal view. This room normally books out at $430.00 a night. Booyah! So we went up to our suite and showered and changed for our one "nice dinner" where I wore my fancy burgandy dress and SPF wore his nice khakis and a button down shirt. (I know, swank, right?)

We ventured back downstairs, looking ravishing and, as it were, ravenous, and asked for a suggestion for a nice restaurant. After a few suggestions, the steak house Gotham was recommended and we eagerly pursued it as it was only a two block walk from the hotel and was already purported to be quite good. (All of the hotel staff seemed impressed that we were going there, and one of them told us how nice we looked and how much she liked my dress.) And so we walked to Gotham and were seated in the lounge (as we had missed the opportunity to book a table for the night) but the lounge was actually quite nice and still served the full menu, so no harm, no foul.

The jumbo shrimp cocktail that we got was phenomenal. I have had a lot of jumbo shrimp and have normally found them to be less tasty and appetizing than their less-than-jumbo cousins, but these were wonderful. Juicy, plump, and thoroughly tasty. De-veined and supplied with a nice horseradish cocktail sauce. For dinner I ordered the petit fillet and some garlic mashed potatoes, and SPF ordered the fillet (normal sized) and a house specialty called Gotham hashbrowns, which ended up being something similar to potato pancakes and were also quite good. The steak was phenomenal, and they didn't even give me any trouble for ordering it medium well. Sweet. It all went swimmingly well with the bottle of Liberty School Cabernet that the waitress would occasionally swoop in and grab to refill our glasses. For dessert I opted for the fresh berries with cream and SPF decided on the Chocolate Bourbon Torte. When the waitress brought them to us she commented on how amazing our selections were and how we should share, as the berries were fresh and tart and accented the creamy, rich torte to bring out the best of both worlds. She was so right. We ate each others desserts trading bite for bite and left the restaurant fat and happy. I highly recommend this restaurant to anyone in Vancouver.

Then it was back to the hotel for the most glorious bed and squishy but firm pillows that seemed to defy the possible. The room was equipped with an iPod player stereo, so I plugged in my favorites play list and we were soon jamming to Homunculus, Nick Drake, Toto, and Bedouin Soundclash. We watched a tiny bit of Hell Boy, discussed the finer points of the preview for Hell Boy 2, which we were both pleasantly surprised to find has been directed by the same director as Pan's Labyrinth, and then drifted off into a beautiful, pleasant sleep.

Ahhh, if only we had known.