Post #176437 by Exoticat on Tue, Aug 2, 2005 12:16 AM

I want to start off by thanking Dogbytes and her DH for inviting me to roadtrip with them out of Seattle to Vancouver...they were the most gracious and fun travel companions. Many thanks to both of them. The drive up whizzed by (we decided not to use the tunnel) as we chatted up a storm and before you knew it we were checking into The Sandman. After a quick snack at Moxie's Grill we walked over to Funhauser and met Pepe Le Tiki who was very peppy even though I liked referring to him as Pay Pay. :wink:

He and Alan hosted the perfect private party for us complete with garnished cocktails and rum...mahalo again for the spoilage!! The store was indeed fun and I think virtually everyone pay payed Pepe (that's a mouthful) before they left toting at least one goodie. I picked up another print from Heather Watts (Travellin' Tiki) who was already there and it was a treat to reunite with her again.

Title: Come and get your lei

I also got a fez wearin' monkey tiki mug despite the fact that I'm currently in the process of temporarily packing up my mugs.

Met some new local artists at Funhauser too: the duo of Taboo Dan and Reido and found out their story...they are very talented guys and some lucky TCer's went home with some of their work. You know who you are.

Finally it was time to get ready for dinner and back to The Sandman we ventured for a quick change of clothes. Tikiwahine, Dogbytes and Mr. DB and I walked to catch the Skytrain (where was the "sky" part?) was the great debate and then we caught the Seabus (was it really a "bus? looked like a ferry to us) and more debating continued. Good thing Seamus wasn't with us or it would have been very confusing.

Soon we were in North Vancouver and after some dangerous prancing over a boardwalk in heels (I told Mr. Dogbytes he should have worn flats) we arrived safely to Raglan's which was already packed. Got to meet some more TC'ers and Sweet Daddy Tiki took control of the room by singing in Italian operatta then forced us to individually out ourselves with our Tiki Central names:

Thanks to everyone at Raglan's who made the evening a success and to all the Canadian planners--you did a fantastic job.

Then to fulfill Rodeo's dreams of being on every type of transportation known to man in one day, we all got on a bus for a ride to our final destination: (bring in chorus of angelic type music) The Waldorf.

The Waldorf was...amazing. See everyone else's photos. I enjoyed seeing Lushy perform again and I found out the Dogbytes has some sort of secret nurse fantasy when the Buttersprites came on. (???) We were so lucky to be a part of the private tour downstairs and the memorial corner was sad, but still inspiring because the owner of The Waldorf brought happiness to so many people and continues to do so even though he has passed on.

Later we cabbed it back to The Sandman where an after hours party hosted by the dynamic duo of Slacks Ferret and Sweet Daddy Tiki brought out typical Canadian behavior:

Dogbytes enables Tikiwahine to try new things with her coconut:

Thanks again SDT for letting me share your pillow AND your journal. wink wink (that really means nothing...don't even try to figure it out). I swear I'm not usually that comatose at that hour...but too many days of not enough sleep had finally caught up with me.

The next day the same after hours partiers (Dogbytes, Mr. DB, Tikiwahine, Slacks Ferret, Sweet Daddy Tiki and Exoticat) headed for brunch at a place with a "z" in the middle of the name (this is how it was described to me when I asked where we were going). If you ask me, I think we're in Venice:

This is where sadly the Americans and the Canadians had to do their final parting and hugging until the next get together. Those suffering the greatest depression probably won't be able to post for a couple more days. (Look to see who still hasn't checked in.)

Thanks to everyone who made the night so much fun (even you Rodeo)! There were lots of people I wish I had more time to chat with like Velvet Ruby (who looked like the ultimate 50's pinup blond) and I finally found out what the mysterious Tiki Riviera looks like! Finally, special thanks to Puamana for posting the event in the first place! xo

p.s. I did find Macintosh toffee in the nick of time at the border...
(I really did try to keep this review of the event short, I swear!)

p.p.s. Sabina...your pics are incredible..thanks for sharing with us and sorry I got in the way of so many of them! gulp

[ Edited by: exoticat 2005-08-02 02:15 ]