Patrick had a conference in Vancouver, British Columbia the last few days, and I tagged along since I’d never been to Canada, plus I have a friend in Vancouver that I was looking forward to seeing again.

We took the train up, and on our way there, I was Instagram’ing, and had a gal mention that we had met briefly at Expo, and that she lived in Vancouver, and that if I needed any tips on vintage shops, to contact her. I took that a step further and asked if she wanted to get together, and so I met the adorable and incredibly lovely Reham.  I feel so lucky to have been able to meet up with her, Reham was the perfect tour guide and we went from shop to shop throughout the city and she was a delight to chat with.  Sadly, I was rather lousy at taking pictures while out and about, so you’re just going to get a swag post of my finds in the city…

In the first shop we popped into Community Thrift and Vintage, a clean, sleek shop filled with gorgeous dresses from as early as the 20s to fun and funky sweaters from the 80s.  The shop girl was very nice and I left the shop with a Mexican tourist jacket to add to my collection! This one in lime green!

Reham gave me a brief history of the Vancouver area as we walked along its streets, popping in and out of shops, and also explaining the monetary situation of Canada, explaining they no longer have the penny, and that results in “rounded change”, where items are rounded up or down depending on the total of the purchase.  Bless her, or else I would have been that tourist, asking why I wasn’t getting two cents back in change!  Additionally, they don’t have one dollar bills! They have one dollar and two dollar coins, known as “Loonies” and “Toonies”.  The one dollar being called a “Loonie” because it features a Loon on it, and when the two dollar coin came out, the nick name continued to it.  While the states does have a one dollar coin, it is much more of a novelty.  They are given as change in our bus ticket machines, and Reham told me that when she came for Expo, she received the one dollar coins in change when purchasing her bus fare, and when using them at Expo, dealers responded with “What is this?”! Seriously, Americans? sigh

Later we visited Woo Vintage, a shop stocked floor to ceiling with delightful vintage goodies.  I was slightly crushed when I found two outstanding 40s tops, only to discover I was too busty for them. But I didn’t leave empty handed! I bought a pair of brown bunny fur overshoes and a wonderful copper brooch featuring two men taking siestas.  We also went to both Used locations, and in one I found this great spiderweb bracelet.  The small wood cross-section brooch was a gift from Reham, “From what Pacific Northwest gal to another” as she put it! Talk about a doll, right? And because, seriously, what is more Pacific Northwest than a wood cross-section brooch? I see an Audrey Horne inspired outfit in the near future featuring this brooch.

Overall, Vancouver has many vintage shops to offer, all with a really good amount of true vintage.  There was lots I was interested in too, but I had to hold back, especially since the holidays are coming up!

But not all of my time in Vancouver was spent on the hunt for vintage.  One of my favorite TV shows is Psych, which films in Vancouver, and the surrounding areas. So I spent much of Friday in search of locations used in the show and I found a handful.  I find a lot of excitement in being where certain things happened, and is one of my favorite things to do when we take vacations.

Hope the weekend is treating you all well!