We’ve never met an ice cream flavor we didn’t like. Well, except for the Wasabi-Flavored Frozen Treat Incident of 2008, something Jordan’s tongue still can’t talk about… but the way we love ice cream is the way we feel about Canadians, too. We’re still looking for one — just one! — that we don’t like. We thought we might’ve had some luck when we visited Vancouver last week (population 2.5 million) but we came up short aGAIN! We liked them all. Every single one. A lot, too. We couldn’t help it. Our love affair with Canadians started two years ago, when we made our first true Canadian friend north of the 49th parallel, named Kari, who we proceeded to call “Kari from Canada,” and still do to this day. We liked her so much that, anytime we met another Canadian anywhere, we’d ask, “Do you know our friend Kari? She’s from Canada, too!” Our neighborhood in North Scottsdale also attracts “snow birds” from all over the land of mounties and maple leafs, so from January to March every year, we’ve got more neighbors who prefer gravy and curds on their fries than ketchup (the flavor of their favorite potato chips). At least they’re not wasabi-flavored, right?!
BOTTOM LINE: We’d been itching to visit Vancouver for a few years, so when the chance to teach our 5 Steps to Publication to a group of Canadian photographers came our way, we jumped at the chance, loved every minute of it, and walked away thinking that, one day, when Jordan’s President of the United States, making Canada part of America will have to be one of his first major foreign policy initiatives. Sounds like a plan, eh? Here are the highlights from our time with our brothers and sisters to the north…
Our great friend and fellow photographer, Matt Kennedy, was the best tour guide ever. He took time out of his crazy busy schedule to show us all around the city and we couldn’t get enough of it. He drove us around downtown Vancouver in his top-down convertible, so Amy wore a scarf on her head like this one to keep her hair from falling out of place. Jordan’s hair never does. Ever. It’s just like that… all the time.
We drove around the sea wall through Stanley Park to catch a view of the skyline from across the harbor. It’s not every day that your tour guide is also a world-class photographer, so we had to take advantage of that and get some beautiful photos along the way.
And some not-so-beautiful ones, too!
We felt so welcomed by all of the amazing Vancouver Showiteers. A few of them even took us to the best little coffee house the day after our event and we had so much fun sneaking in some extra time with them. It definitely called for a quadruple stack #demossandwich.
We also had to get a photo with our traveling team! Field Denny (left) is Showit’s community lead responsible for organizing the local Showiteer groups. He’s our travel buddy on all of these trips and one of our favourite (see what we did there?) people in the world. Jason Toevs (right) is the awesome website designer who created our brand new mobile site! We knew that we liked Jason from the start not just because of what he does, but because of who he is. He shot to the top of our friends list when we found out that a) he loves cats too, and b) he started using our hashtag #bringingcatsback. It takes a real man to be a crazy cat lady with us.
As we explained last week, about 15 minutes after crossing the Canadian border and 1 hour before we were supposed to be at our event, we jumped in front of Matt’s camera as models for an in-person workshop he was teaching for local photographers. You can see all the photos and read the whole story behind this spontaneous experience by clicking here.
As soon as the shoot was over, we hopped into the car and made it to event just in the nick of time! We taught about our 5 Steps to Publication and had a great time helping photographers learn how to serve their clients well and build their businesses. We almost thought we were going to successfully get through ONE presentation without the spell casting hands making an appearance, but then…
BUSTED! After being spotted in Phoenix just last month, Jordan’s wizard hands made their first appearance on foreign soil! The worst part? Amy CLEARLY sees it happening, because she’s smirking, but she’s doing NOTHING to stop it! Maybe it was too late for her. Maybe she was already under Jordan’s spell…
Thank you to Ashley Martens for hosting the event!
One of the best parts about traveling to teach is being welcomed into the homes of fellow photographers. Our host in Vancouver, Laura Anne, is one of the sweetest, most kind-hearted people we’ve ever met. She had a “Welcome to Canada!” sign waiting for us when we arrived to her home and an adorable gift, too! Laura, you’re so thoughtful! Thank you for making us feel so loved!
Oh, Canada. You were everything we’d hoped you’d be… and more.
We l-o-v-e traveling! Wanna catch up with our adventures around the world? You can do that here!
International: Ireland • England • France • Spain • Italy • Greece & Turkey • Anniversary Photos: Venice
Domestic: Nashville • Denver • Phoenix • Vancouver • Seattle • Vegas • Atlanta • Santa Barbara • Florida • Virginia • New England/New York • Sedona • San Diego • Nantucket • Boston • San Diego • Virginia • Arizona
