If you know me, you know that I didn’t actually have a bucket list. If you know B-Rod, you know that he has an aversion to lists and schedules of any kind. But sometimes, there just comes a time when you decide to try something different and do something different simply for the sake of trying on a different way of being. I love exploring, I love adventures and I love travelling, but sometimes I have to remind myself that adventures don’t always have to be far from home. Sometimes adventures in your own backyard have the ability to take you travelling to other times and places.
A few months ago I saw a write up somewhere for the Richmond Night Market. Hands up if you know how much I LOVE and feel at home in Asia! As I haven’t been “home” for a few years, I was determined to make this happen. Now since B-Rod and I have both been so averse to making plans, I made the unconventional choice to put it on a bucket list to see if that would force my hand to actually make arrangements for it to happen, and . . . . it did! Not only that, but it resulted in other adventures AND helping a friend check off an item on her list too!
So, one rare cloudy Okanagan summer afternoon, we set off for Vancouver to check off my item and make my dream come true!
Once we got to Vancouver, there was no messing around! We connected with our good friend “J” who lives there, spent some time visiting and catching up, then off to the market we went. Considering the Richmond Night Market has been around for 22 years, I’m surprised this is the first time I had even heard of it!
Rocky’s Bucket List Item:
It was in a dusty lot, filled to the brim with people, and had bright lights, smells, and sounds from all directions . . . . it was EVERYTHING I was hoping for and more. During that time I was fully and completely back in Asia!
And then there was the food . . . a large part of the reason we were there in the first place. I managed to get exactly what I wanted, and we played a game of “go out and get something for the group to share” and vote on the best item.
Other Adventures:
Our additional adventures in Vancouver ended up involving sea and sky.
We were on the coast, so of course I took advantage of the water as much as I could. We spent one day wandering around with our friend “J” and another day, while she was working, B-Rod and I went to Steveston to check out the Fisherman’s Wharf.
On the day while our friend J was working, we ended up unintentionally spending part of it day looking to the sky and hanging close to the airport. Though I’ve never been interested in flying a plane, since I was young I have always been interested in the idea of planes and air travel. Maybe it’s something that represents freedom, possibility and excitement to me?
J’s Bucket List Item:
J has visited us a few times since we moved to Kelowna, but one of the things she has wanted to do which we hadn’t made happen was to float on the channel in Penticton. Since I was taking initiative to check off my item, I thought I would make plans to have her dream come true too. I actually expected that it would happen at separate times, but the stars aligned and we managed to make both things happen this visit. So, from Vancouver we all loaded into the Fit and made our way to hang for a bit in Kelowna.
We spent some time in Kelowna visiting more, swimming, making friends and retelling funny stories. It was sunny and hot in K-town and we prepared to have a good time floating the channel but also anticipating that we’d all come out of it a little darker and a lot more red. The day finally arrived and . . . . . .
But, we had a list item to check off and fun to have, so we plopped ourselves into the water, . . . .
. . . . and had ourselves a float!
And in that hour-ish + (the channel was actually flowing fast) . . . .
B-Rod’s Bucket List Item:
If you know B-Rod, you know that even when prompted and asked, he wouldn’t contribute an item to the list (did I mention he is averse to lists and schedules?) But, I wanted all of our dreams to come true this visit/trip, so I made one for him that happened during the Richmond Night Market.
Hmmmmmm, so maybe I’m a bucket list person after all? 🤷🏽♀️
Got anything to add to my newly formed “list”?