My soul was aching to play in the snow so we went to Banff in the Canadian Rockies in Alberta, Canada for a week in January and it was everything our souls could ask for. Continue reading
Travel Photography
Smith Tower
Smith Tower stands at 38 story (484ft/147.52m) in Pioneer Square and was completed in 1914. It was the tallest building west of the Mississippi River. In 1931, Kansas city Power and Light became the tallest building and in 1962 the Space Needle took the title. Continue reading
Seattle Underground with Beneath the Streets
Beneath the streets of Pioneer Square lies the remnants of ‘Old Seattle’, where you can get a glimpse of the city’s early days. The Underground is a network of basements, tunnels, and passageways underneath Pioneer Square in downtown. On June 6, 1889, a cabinet maker accidentally lit up and overturned a glue pot. What ensued was the Great Fire of Seattle. Continue reading
Seattle
We didn’t want our Canadian half of the trip to end because Seattle meant we would be flying home in 2 days. But Seattle also meant meeting a new friend, blogger Travel Gourmand. We tried to link up with a handful of other bloggers but it just didn’t work out (there’s always next time:) ). Our 2 days in Seattle were a pleasant surprise and a lot easier to fly back to NYC. Flying home from Victoria would require making a transfer but we found a new way – Seattle. We will take the ferry to Seattle, stay a couple nights, and fly non-stop home from now on. Continue reading
Emily Carr House and Beacon Hill Park
We had several hours to kill before we hopped on our ferry to Seattle. We’ve been wanting to see Craigdarroch Castle but didn’t want to spend our time indoors and decided to walk to Beacon Hill Park and have a look see at the Emily Carr House. Continue reading
Sooke and the Creepy Door
We were sad for our outdoor adventures to come to and end. We stopped in Sooke on our way back to Victoria hoping to see the resident bald eagles since wildlife was a bit scarce on this trip.
Sooke is about an hour drive from Victoria. They have a thriving arts community and are known for outdoor recreation. Sooke has been a destination for a long time and has become more popular due to people visiting the West Coast and the Juan de Fuca Trails. There’s a lot of back country recreation like ATVs, 4x4s, dirt bikes, etc. Recently, Sooke has become a destination for mountain biking. For a better look at Sooke click here to view last years post, we didn’t take pics of the surrounding area this time around. Continue reading
Along the Way to Avatar
Our last day in Port Renfew was spent hiking Avatar Grove, a patch of forest saved by the Ancient Forest Alliance. I forgot the names of the areas we drove through, some of it is First Nations land. Everyday at the cottage I wondered what as across the water and finally got to check it out. Continue reading
Botanical Beach and Tidepools
Botanical Beach and it’s tide pools are one of our favorite hikes. It was relaxing compared to Parkinson Creek Trail which we were all hurting from the day before. By the tide pools, we rock scrambled a little to get to the other beach that connects to the trail. It was a nice change of pace climbing along the shore. Continue reading
Parkinson Creek Trail and Payzant Creek
We have been working our way along the Juan de Fuca Trail with Toni on this trip as well (hiked some of it last year). It’s a lovely trail in the very beautiful British Columbia on Vancouver Island. Last year we saw China, Mystic and Sombrio. On this day, we hiked our way through Parkinson Creek Trail to the beach with monster sized drift wood and Payzant Creek with little waterfalls. Continue reading
Port Renfew
If you want to see Vancouver off the beaten path, go to Port Renfew, this was home for 3 nights. Last year we stayed in Victoria and Toni picked us up from our hotel. This trick snagged us an extra 3-4 hours on the trails. She doesn’t usually book stay and play tours but we became friends with her (we feel special). It was nice having this as our home for a few days. Continue reading
Jebus Mews & Andrea 