Good morning folks – I’m very excited to announce that we’re having our first-ever contest/prize giveaway!

Up for grabs is a 2010/2011 deck of “100 Best Local Places to Eat and Shop in Vancouver” cards from @travellersdeck. This little package contains 100 cards, each profiling a different and unique shop or restaurant around town. Best part is, each card gives you an exclusive discount or special offer at that location – let the treasure hunt begin! Travellers Deck is an independent company, so you can rest assured that the reviews and tips included are 100% honest and unbiased. All cards are good until the end of 2011, so you’ve got lots of time to use them. Oh yeah, and the cards are (appropriately) waterproof!

From the package:

Travellers Deck is your independent go-to guide for eating and shopping in Vancouver. Our “100 Best” is a collection of hidden gems, new finds, and old favourites that are hand-picked by a group of professionals who eat, live and breathe the city.

Let these helpful neighbours put you in the know on where to go. Get personal insights, handy maps, and helpful directions. Present these cards for exclusive discounts on food, clothing and more. Ready to trek this city like a long-time local? Shuffle, pick a card, and go!

How to Enter:

As the title of this post says, this is a Twitter contest. Here’s how to enter:

1. Follow @pacificjam on Twitter (we won’t clog your feed and we tweet interesting stuff about Vancouver and the West Coast)

2. Tweet the text below to your followers:

RT this & follow @pacificjam to win “100 Best Places to Eat & Shop in Vancouver” by @travellersdeck! http://bit.ly/ciqyze #pjdeck

That’s it!

The contest closes April 23rd at 12:00am PST and we will select a winner by random draw shortly afterwards. The winner will be contacted via Twitter, so keep an eye out!

Note: Since the prize for this giveaway is specific to Vancouver, Canada: If you don’t live in Vancouver, don’t plan to go to Vancouver by 2011 or can’t give it to someone who will, please be considerate and don’t enter as the prize will be useless to you!

It seems that there’s a “day” for everything lately – “Dump Your Significant Jerk Day”, “Tweed Day”, and “Hug Your Cat Day” among them. However, this is one that we’re actually excited about: April 17 is International Independent Record Store Day.

Started in the US in 2007, Record Store Day celebrates the unique culture of vinyl. Over 700 independent record shops in the US will participate this year as well as lots more in Canada and all over the world. So just what goes on on Record Store Day? Recordstoreday.com sums it up best:

This is the one day that all of the independently owned record stores come together with artists to celebrate the art of music. Special vinyl and CD releases and various promotional products are made exclusively for the day and hundreds of artists in the United States and in various countries across the globe make special appearances and performances. Festivities include performances, cook-outs, body painting, meet & greets with artists, parades, djs spinning records and on and on. Metallica officially kicked off Record Store Day at Rasputin Music in San Francisco on April 19, 2008 and Record Store Day is now celebrated the third Saturday every April.

So if you want to get in on some live local indie music, possible free food or finding a shiny new limited-edition vinyl for your collection, head out to your local record shop this Saturday, April 17! It sure beats celebrating “Act Happy Day”…

You can find a bunch of stores participating in Record Store Day here in Vancouver :

For locations in other cities or countries, and more info on Record Store Day, check out the official site.

Ever wanted to escape the city, but don’t have the cash, time or resources to get away from it all? Well, living in Vancouver there’s always one place you can escape to where you will find a lot less people, a lot more freedom, and a sense of peace: the ocean.

Kayaking not only provides that escape, it’s also a great way to stay in shape, enjoy the outdoors and travel to some wicked remote places. This activity can be enjoyed by people of all ages, shapes and sizes (kayaks are a lot roomier than you might think!). Most rental shops offer beginner lessons, which will give you the basics you need for technique and safety.

Although kayaking requires some level of physical fitness, you can start out as easy as you want and work up to longer trips once you get your paddling muscles toned up a little. If you’re worried about tipping over – don’t. Unless you’re hitting up some big waves or rocking back and forth like crazy, you’ll be fine. Kayaks come in different widths (wider=more stable, narrower=less stable, but less drag when cutting through the water), and the ones you’ll find at a rental shop are generally wide, stable models that are perfect for beginners.

12 Tips to Get You Started

Even if you don’t take a lesson, kayaking is pretty easy to figure out (although we do recommend a lesson or two to ensure safety). Here’s some tips to get you started:

1. Before heading out, make sure you’ve got your spray skirt cinched around your upper midsection and your life vest secured over top. Always wear a life vest!
2. Before pushing off, lay your paddle lengthwise down the kayak and tuck one end into the top straps so it stays in place while you launch.
3. Once you get your kayak to the shore, push it into the water so it’s fully floating, then wade in so you’re standing near the cockpit, turn your back to the water and straddle the kayak. Ease down to sit in the cockpit, with your legs still outside the kayak. Once settled, pull your legs in and tuck them down inside the hull.
4. Starting behind you, pull the spray skirt over the lip of the cockpit, working around to the front until it’s secure. This can be a little tricky, but it’s not hard with a little practice. Make sure the tab at the front is sticking up. If you DO happen to capsize, you need to be able to grab the tab quickly and pull it free so you can easily get out of the kayak.
5. You’ve got two pedals (one for each foot) that you’ll rest your feet on. Use them to turn the kayak’s rudder left or right to help steer.
6. Paddle on alternating sides to go forward. Find a good balance – digging the paddle deeper into the water will make you go faster, but it’ll make your arms tired. A shallower paddle will make for less speed, but also less drain on your muscles.
7. Hold your paddle with your elbows bent at a 90 degree angle, and don’t use a deathgrip – try to push with your hand while paddling and keep your fingers relaxed.
8. Try to use your whole upper body to paddle. Think of keeping your arms fairly relaxed and using your core to direct the paddle. You’ll have more endurance this way.
9. If you hit any waves just direct the nose of your kayak into the waves and try to absorb the motion with your hips (don’t stiffen up or your kayak will start rocking and you’ll increase your chances of tipping).
10. Remember to pull on the cord (behind you and to your left) to drop your rudder once you get in a couple feet of water, and raise it again when coming in to shore to prevent damage to the rudder.
11. Don’t forget sunscreen and water – kayaks have “pockets” to keep your water bottle close at hand, and you’ll need to keep hydrated out there, as well as protected from the sun.
12. Have fun, and if you get tired just stop paddling for a bit, rest your arms, and enjoy the scenery!

Every summer, we love going on a kayak camping trip. Picture being on an island that you can only get to by boat, then exploring until you find a good place to setup camp. Then all you have left to do is enjoy some swimming, hiking, food, wine and star gazing. And picture doing all this with only a few others scattered over the island. Basically picture the crowds of Granville Island on a warm, summer Saturday, then picture the opposite of that.

Where to rent

There are many places where you can kayak/rent a kayak in the lower mainland. Some of the options:

Deep Cove http://www.deepcovekayak.com/

Port Moody (Rocky Point Park) http://www.rockypointkayak.com/

Granville Island/English Bay/Jericho Beach http://www.ecomarine.com/

North Shore http://www.northshorekayaks.com/

White Rock/South Surrey http://www.kayakcourses.ca/

Once you gain some experience and love for the sport, British Columbia has some of the most spectacular kayaking adventures in the world awaiting you!

Please share any other recommendations/comments on kayaking the west coast.

Jack Johnson is visiting Vancouver Friday, Oct.1 at GM Place, as part of his To The Sea 2010 tour.

Get in on the presale and snag some good seats while they last!

The Fox presale password is: CFOXTOTHESEA
The Peak presale password is: PEAKTOTHESEA

Just visit the event’s Ticketmaster page and enter one of the above passwords to buy your seats from 10am today (April 6) until 10am Thursday (April 8).

During the pre-sale and on-sale, you can choose to make a $3 donation at the ticket checkout to All At Once. $1 of the donation will be used to purchase a carbon credit to offset fan transportation to the show. The remainder will support local All At Once non-profit partners doing good work in your community. Learn more at AllAtOnce.org.

When: April 26-May 6 2010

Where: Restaurants all over Vancouver

How much: $18, $28 or $38 per person, depending on the restaurant

It’s once again the time of year in Vancouver when you can go out and enjoy the delicacies of a ton of local restaurants at a price that will make you smile (just don’t smile with too much food in your mouth, please).

This year, 207 restaurants are participating in the event from April 26-May 6. Whether you’re in the mood for burgers, smoked oysters or anything in between, you’ll have a chance to explore the world of local cuisine at set menu prices of $18, $28 or $38 per person for a three-course meal. The restaurants will set their price out of the three options depending on what their normal menu usually costs. This opens up some opportunities to try higher-end eateries that aren’t in the normal budget, as well as explore some vino – the 2009 event featured BC VQA wine pairings, and many places with a focus on wine will likely offer pairings again this year. The 2010 lineup hasn’t been finalized yet, but you can check out the 2009 participating restaurants.

Thousands of people have showed up for Dine Out Vancouver since it started in 2002, so reservations are highly recommended. You can reserve starting April 19, and we’ll update this post once the contact info becomes available. You can also join our Facebook page to stay up to date on this and other events.

There are several contests and hotel specials going on during Dine Out Vancouver, as well as a special flight discount for people coming over from Victoria. For more info, please visit the event’s Tourism Vancouver page.

Update: Dine Out Vancouver now has it’s own Facebook page.

Update: Reservations can now be made for Dine Out! You can look at menus and reserve online here. The participating restaurants for 2010 are below:

The Calling Public House

db Bistro Moderne

The Refinery

Society Dining Lounge

SIP resto-lounge

Granville Room

Smileys Public House

Hidden

Bistro 101

Cobre

Dockside Restaurant

Beyond Restaurant

Central Bistro

CinCin Ristorante + Bar

Coast

CRU

Glowbal Grill

Goldfish Pacific

Italian Kitchen

Joe Fortes

O’Doul’s Restaurant

Players Chophouse

Sanafir

The Fish House in Stanley Park

The Smoking Dog

Burgoo Lonsdale

Burgoo Main

Burgoo West 10th

Trattoria Italian Kitchen

Figmint Restaurant and Lounge

Chambar

West Restaurant + Bar

Showcase Restaurant and Bar

Provence Marinaside

Elixir Bistro

Hamilton Street Grill

A Kettle of Fish

Aqua Riva

Azia

Bacchus Restaurant & Lounge

Banana Leaf Malaysian on Broadway

Banana Leaf Malaysian on Denman

Baru Latino

Bistro Pastis

Bistro Sakana

Boneta

Bridges Restaurant

Brix Restaurant & Wine Bar

C Restaurant

Carver’s Steakhouse

Cassis Bistro

Charm Modern Thai and Bar

Chilli House Thai Bistro

Chutney Villa

Ciao Bella Ristorante Italiano

Copper Chimney

Coza! Tuscan Grill

Darby’s Pub

Diva at the Met

Divino Restaurant Winebar

EBO Restaurant

Fogg n’ Suds Restaurant

Globe @ YVR

Griffins Restaurant

Hart House Restaurant

Hell’s Kitchen

Hermitage Restaurant

Highlander

Il Giardino

Il Nido

Irish Heather

Kerkis Greek Taverna

Kingston Taphouse and Grille

La Terrazza Restaurant

La Vallee Restaurant

L’Altro Buca

Las Margaritas

Le Bistro Chez Michel

Lift Bar Grill View

Lux at Caprice

Marias Taverna Denman

Market by Jean-Georges

Marmalade Kitchen & Bar

Maurya Indian Cuisine

Mi Bistro & Bar

Miku Restaurant

Milestones Grill + Bar – English Bay

Milestones Grill + Bar – Robson

Mistral French Bistro

Monk McQueens Waterfront Restaurant

Moustache Cafe

nu restaurant + lounge

Nyala African Cuisine

Provence Mediterranean Grill

r.tl

Raincity Grill

Rocky Mountain Flatbread Co – Kitsilano

Salt Tasting Room

Samba Brazilian Steakhouse

Section (3)

Shaughnessy Restaurant VanDusen Garden

Social

Steamworks Brewing Company

Stonegrill

The Beach House Restaurant & Lounge

The Boathouse English Bay

The Boathouse Horseshoe Bay

The Boathouse New Westminster

The Boathouse Port Moody

The Boathouse Richmond

The Boathouse White Rock

The Keg Caesars

The Keg Steahouse & Bar – Thurlow

The Keg Steakhouse Granville Island

The New Bohemian

The Observatory at Grouse Mountain

The Ocean Club

The Ouisi Bistro

The Reef Restaurant on The Drive

The Salmon House

The Sandbar Seafood Restaurant

The William Tell

The Yaletown Brewing Co

Tomato Fresh Food Cafe

Urban Thai Bistro

Water Street Cafe

Wild Rice

Yagger’s Restaurant & Sports Bar

YEW restaurant + bar

We’ve been on a bit of a hiatus the past couple months. We were busy saving the world, you can thank us later. There are some storms brewing in our brains, and they’re about to erupt onto this blog. We also have some contests coming up with cool prizes, so stay tuned!

Today, HBC opened their “Olympic Superstore” at the downtown Vancouver location of The Bay. The 20,000 square foot space will serve as the main retail location for all Olympic apparel, including the Canadian 2010 athlete’s uniform which was unveiled at the opening of the store.

HBC has been designing Canada’s Olympic uniform since 1936, and we’ve seen a whole lot of different looks. For 2010, the uniform is very simple (it almost runs the risk of looking too casual for our Olympic athletes). However, the overall effect cannot be mistaken as very Canadian. With red, white, black and gray creating bold designs on the jackets, toques and sweaters, the apparel gives a new and grown-up look to HBC’s Olympic designs. The fur hoods and knitted sweaters give a feel of authenticity that is more powerful than the maple leaf on its own. HBC describes the new line as “bold, modern, and fashion-forward”, and it’s certainly much better than the Beijing uniform from 2008 that looked like a magic eye puzzle. While the newly unveiled retail apparel is a replica of the official uniform, the actually uniform won by the athletes may be slightly different.

I like the new look – it’s subtle, tasteful and oozes Canadian-ness. It’s also very wearable for the rest of us who want to support Canada and not look ridiculous – I’ll be buying one of those reindeer sweaters!

Here’s a collection of photos from our recent trip to Seattle. The main areas I took pictures were Seattle Center, Pike Place Market, and on the Seattle Underground Tour.

I thought I’d share this 2010 “locals only” annual pass deal for the Capilano Suspension Bridge. Not having been to the bridge in quite a few years, we decided to head over on the weekend. I checked their website and was unpleasantly surprised to discover that one adult admission is now $29.95. I know tourist stuff is always pretty expensive but seriously…this was costly enough ($60 a couple) to make us re-think our weekend outing. Note: They also have a fairly new “Treetops Adventure” section of the park with little suspension bridges high up in the trees that looks pretty cool – maybe that’s the reason for the $30 admission?

Fortunately, the good folks at Capilano Suspension Bridge are offering an annual (2010) pass for BC residents for $20.10 plus GST. There’s also a family pass option (2 adults and 2 kids under 16) for $58.20 plus GST. Even if you only go once, it’s cheaper than regular admission, so what have you got to lose?

How to get the pass:

1. Download the CAP2010 pass voucher of your choice below:

Single Adult CAP2010 Voucher
Family CAP2010 Voucher

2. Print it out

3. Head on over to the park with the voucher and some valid ID.

4. Enjoy grinning smugly at the tourists who paid a lot more than you to walk across a swaying bridge suspended over a 250 ft drop into a rocky canyon.

Apple just released the brand new iPod Nano, and we’re liking it a lot. With a bunch of exciting new features that don’t include a big price hike, the Nano has grown up and is looking pretty tempting.

Nano goes video

The biggest difference in the new Nano is the built in video camera. It’s nice to see Apple bringing some of the features of their more expensive gadgets (namely the iPhone 3GS) to a more affordable model. The camera even has some built in editing and effects features (to be honest, I doubt I’d ever use these, but they might come in handy for some folks who want to add something extra). The video and sound quality look pretty good for such a small camera (click here to see a sample video).

There’s more shininess (shiny-ness?)

On top of the new polished anodized aluminum finish that comes in 9 colours, the screen is now larger (2.2 inches). Granted, the highly reflective surface is asking for a lot more scratches, scuffs and abuse, but I’ll remain in awe of the candy-like surface for now – maybe the “anodized” aluminum is more durable than the old stuff.

“Return of the radio star”

(^^this catchy phrase is from the Apple website, I can’t take the credit)

The new Nano has a built-in FM radio tuner, which is a pretty big step forward in my opinion. Up until now, radio was possible on your iPod, but you had to buy an external attachment that was bulky and an extra expense. Not only can you now listen to your favourite radio stations, you can even pause the radio and rewind it up to 15 minutes (similar to satellite radio).

More Nike+

The Nano always had the capability to hook up to Nike+ and track your runs/walks/other activities, but there’s now a built-in pedometer which adds to the functionality. Personally I wouldn’t switch from using Runkeeper on my iPhone for my runs, but if you don’t have an iPhone then this is a good option if you want to keep track of your workouts.

The bottom line

Overall the new Nano looks pretty sweet. We may already own two iPhones and an 80GB ipod, but the sleek design, decent price ($169 CAD) and especially the FM radio of Apple’s new baby make it a tempting addition to the collection – not to mention the fact that I can get it in green, or orange, or pink…