Ukee, Tofino & Victoria

Our last week in Vancouver and Western Canada was spent with Cass and Pete who, along with Alyssa, came camping with us on "The Island" as the locals say. We packed up our Dodge Caravan, and headed for Ucluelet, a tiny town about 30 minutes south of Tofnio. It's not an easy place to get too, but it's well worth the trip. It was a 2hr ferry ride from Vancouver, then a 4hr drive. Once you get out of Nanaimo, the city in which you dock, it's a beautiful drive. There are huge lakes where you can camp, and do lots of water sports. The whole drive was hot, and sunny, until we entered out campground.

We had to wheelbarrow our stuff to the campsite! It's not as fun as you think.

Apparently, there is something called a 'Fog Zone', which is where Ucluelet and Tofino lie. Everyone was saying how beautiful Tofino is, but they forgot to mention that even in the middle of Summer, it's freezing! We didn't go anywhere without layers. Cass and Alyssa recognised the area in which we were camping as a 'Twilight look-alike' and it turns out, some of the movie was shot in and around the surrounding Tofino area.

We were only there for 3 nights, but it was beautiful. We saw 4 killer whales from our camp site, which was incredible. We went to the beach which you couldn't actually swim in as it was freezing (unless you were one of the crazy locals), made smores, and just hung out. It was the best way to spend out last remaining days in BC.

Enjoying our first beer!

View from our tent 

Panoramic views

 

Enjoying drinks from our beach front Campsite 

Alyssa taught us how to make Smores!

I'm now stepping a little back in time to April when we headed to Victoria, the Capital of British Columbia with Sam and Daniel. We went there for a night, which is actually quite a long way to travel for such a short time. It took about 4-5 hours to get there by public transport, which involved, a bus, a train, a boat and another bus. It was really fun though. It was a smaller town than I expected, but it had old, beautiful buildings. We went to a few breweries, but because of BC's crazy liquor laws, we weren't able to buy beers from the brewery, but we were able to have 'free samples' and fill our growlers. There wasn't that much to do there, just the main touristy things. We walked around downtown, looked at some old buildings but the highlight of the trip was probably going to the Butchart Gardens which isn't actually in Victoria.

The Butchart Gardens were beautiful. It's a year round garden that is open to visitors and has seasonal flowers. When we went, it was tulip season, and I have not ever seen such a wide variety of tulips. They have a Rose Garden, and Japanese Gardens too, which would be beautiful when in season.

Parliament Building in Victoria

Craigdarroch Castle

Tulips, Butchart Gardens

Weeping Heart, Butchart Gardens

Tulips

Butchart Gardens

Pansies, Butchart Gardens

Butchart Gardens

Guide to living in (or visiting) Vancouver

We have had quite a few questions and requests about where to live and what to do in Vancouver, either for a week or for living. So, instead of thinking of all the things, many times, I thought I would just create this blog for all to browse.

1. Get a bike

2. Get a big lock to lock up your bike, otherwise, it will get stolen!

3. Get a rain coat - you will need it (especially in Winter) 

Enough of that. 

What to do if you're making the big move:

• Sign up for the Vancouver Ultimate League (VUL)...it will change your life and you'll (hopefully) make great friends.
• Jump on craigslist and find a job, a unit, a bike and anything and everything you could ever want
• Go to ScotiaBank and tell the bank teller you are new in town, and they will give you a bank account with no fees and free movies!
• Go and get your SIN number, so you can work.
• Follow boredinvancouver.com and it will tell you everything that's going on for the week.

Where to live: (check out this useful map)

• Preferably near a skytrain, buses pretty much suck, trains are awesome and come every 3-6 minutes (at least they do on the Canada line).
• Don't live around Main & East Hastings. 
• As suburbs go, Kitsilano is pretty good. Very close to beach and shops - lacks a train line
• Yaletown - lovely neighbourhood, probably a little more pricey but has easy access to shops within walking distance 
• Mt Pleasent suburb (from Cambie St & Broadway - Clark)  - the name says it all. It's a great area with hipsters and very trendy stores, coffee places, it's safe and you can't really go wrong.
• Commercial Drive Skytrain, VCC skytrain - again, a very trendy hipster area.

If you are looking for a cheaper option, there is nothing wrong with Burnaby. Sure, it may take you a little extra time to get into the city, but it's a great area, with great people. Unless you live near great public transport, you may need a car. 

Craft Beers:

Step 1: Buy a growler. Step 2: Check out this map of Vancouver Breweries. Personal favourites: 33 acres & Parallel 49. If you go to a pub, you should definitely try Fat Tug IPA it's brewed on Vancouver Island and is delicious.

Food & Food Trucks & Coffee

Here is a great list of all the food trucks that are available and open. Personal favourites: Aussie Pie Guy (this is where I worked, it's great and delicious pies that taste like the real deal!), Tacofino have the best fish tacos ever, Disco Cheetah have delicious Korean Fusion tacos, Kaboom Box have a delicious Salmon Sandwich. If you want breakfast/brunch, hit up Yolks (food truck or commissary). Also, Twisted Fork  have a delicious menu and will not disappoint.

• If you want a delicious sandwich, hit up Meat & Bread.
• If you want delicious Poutine, go to Fritz European Fry House.
• If you want a Bagel with Salmon Cream Cheese Spread, go to Sally's Bagels.
• Don't go to starbucks, go to Tim Hortons. 
• For a (much) better coffee, hit up 49th Parallel (be sure to get a donut), Elysian, Matchstick & Revolver.
• If you want a delicious tea, be sure to find a Davids Tea. They are a Canadian company with more than 120 different teas. I also worked for this company while in Vancouver and they do to go teas or loose leaf to you can buy and enjoy in the comfort of your own home.

Hiking in (and around) Vancouver:

There are so many hikes you can do, don't waste one summers day without going outside and hitting up a hike. Do the Grouse Grind for a challenge, go to Deep Cove for a beautiful view. Just go to Vancouver Trails and explore the endless possibilities, or for the top 10 check out this guy's blog. Personal favourites: Grouse grind, the Chief & St Marks Summit

Deep Cove Hike

View from the Chief

Winter

Yes, it's cold, at least it was for my Aussie skin, but it's beautiful. Buy the appropriate winter gear, and you won't have an issue. There is a store in Vancouver called Sports Junkie, and they sell second hand snow gear. It will snow maybe a couple times a year, for a day or two. Nothing compared to the rest of Canada.

• Buy a rain jacket, you'll need it.
• Ski at Grouse Mountain after work, slopes are open til 10pm.
• Snow show at Cypress or Seymour Mountain, it's really fun.
• Go to Whistler if you have a car, or just catch the bus.

Snowshoeing at Cypress

Summer

• Hike
• Go to Vancouver Island and camp in Tofino, or check out the beautiful gardens near Victoria.
• Go explore the Rockies
• Explore the Okanagan
• Hit up Portland and Seattle. It's super close for a weekend trip. Either rent a car, or go on the Amtrak or Greyhound.

What to do in Vancouver (Touristy things)

• Get that bike you bought (or hired) and ride around the sea wall - the whole way, even if it's raining. You'll love it. 
• Stop in at Stanley Park on your ride, go to the Aquarium if that is what you wish (we never did, so I can't say if it's worth it)
• Stop in at Science World on the bike ride too, again, we didn't do it so we can't say if it's good or bad. 
• Beaches: Check out English Bay, Kitsilano Beach & Jericho Beach. If you want to take off your pants then hit up Wreck Beach.
• Granville Island or Lonsdale Quay Market
• If you want to pay $30 go to Capilano Suspension bridge, if you want a free suspension bridge that is just a nice and beautiful with a nice lake, go to Lynn Valley.
• Hit up Gastown, it's got pretty cobblestone roads, and a steam clock.
• At 8.59pm, stop everything, go outside and listen for the 9 o'clock cannon. 
• Go to a Giant's game, it's just as entertaining, and cheaper than the Canucks.

Lynn Valley

Giants game

That's it for now. I may even add some photos at a later time, but in the mean time, watch this.

Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park was our first stop on our journey East. We packed up the van, said goodbye to our Vancouver friends and started out for our approximate 5,500km trip to Montreal. Yellowstone is an amazing park. It was the first ever National Park in the world and the size of the park is massive (bigger than Rhode Island and Delaware combined). As a result, we spent 4 nights camping in the wilderness at 3 different camp sites throughout the park. Although we hiked and saw lots of things, most of our time in the park consisted of driving.

There are many different 'faces' of Yellowstone. Our first night we stayed at Madison Campground which is super close to the western entrance. It gave us easy accessibility to Mammoth Hot Springs which we explored our first day. I don't really understand how these hot springs work, but basically they are a very large and complex rock system that involves heat, water, limestone and allows hot water to reach the earth's surface. If you're interested in this and my explanation doesn't quite cut it then just check our what Yellowstone has to say about it here.

Mammoth Hot Springs

Mammoth Hot Springs

Our next two nights were at Grant Canyon Campsite, which was great. It was halfway between Old Faithful and all the other Geysers and Basins in that area, such as Grand Prismatic Spring the Fishing Bridge/Yellowstone Lake area. We explored these areas pretty well. We saw Old Faithful erupt, and also the Beehive Geyser which in my opinion was better than Old Faithful. The Beehive only erupts once, maybe twice a day but it lasts for 4-5 minutes and I think was stronger and more powerful than the Old Faithful eruption we saw. We also did a hike from the biscuit basin and we saw Old Faithful erupt again, which was pretty cool considering we were quite a few km's away. Again, I have no idea how Geyers work, so if you want to read about it, just click on this.

Biscuit Basin

Grand Prismatic Spring - It was quite the hike to this view! A non-trailed mountain climb!

View of Yellowstone & Old Faithful from the Mystic Falls Hike

Mystic Falls Trail

After that, we packed up our stuff again and headed for the Canyon area via Mt Washburn. It was a beautiful hike that took us to our highest hiked elevation of 10,243 ft. It was an elevation gain of 1,491 ft and was about 10km return. It wasn't as hard as I thought, but I sure did feel it the next day! We then hopped back in our car, and headed for the Canyon area which was beautiful. I didn't actually realise Yellowstone has its own Grand Canyon but it was beautiful. The colours and the waterfalls were just not what I was expecting.

Us on the top of Mt Washburn

Grand Canyon - Upper Falls

View of the Canyon

On our way out of the park we went through Lamar Valley which is where the animals run free. Between Lamar Valley and our trip between Mt Washburn and the Grand Canyon I think we saw all 4000 Bison within the Park. It was crazy just how many there were on and near the roads.

Some of the many Bison

Our last stop was just outside of Yellowstone, and it was on our way to Chicago. It is this little scenic stretch called Beartooth Pass and it's stunning. It was beautiful in the summer, but would be stunning with a little more snow on the mountains. A great way to finish a wonderful trip.

Beartooth Pass

Beartooth Pass

I've never been so high!

Stay tuned: Next stop Chicago via Mt Rushmore & Badlands National Park

Alaska - The Last Frontier

In late June, Michael and I, along with Jim and Ruth (Michaels parents) boarded a Princess Cruise Ship from Vancouver, and headed for Alaska. I had never cruised before, but it was a really fun experience. We had a 7 day cruise, with 3 days in towns along the Inside Passage and then 1 day in Glacier Bay, and then another day in College Fjord (which were only accessible by boat).

View from the boat over some Islands of Vancouver

Our first day was at sea. There was not much to see except for the Pacific Ocean and occasional Islands off the coast of BC. It was still a really fun day though, there is so much going on on the boat, that your day flies by. I did Zumba, line dancing, went to an art auction and won a piece of art, relaxed by the pool (rugged up under a blanket) and ate lots of delicious food which was available whenever I wanted.

Day two we docked at Ketchikan. It was only a short visit but it was the perfect amount of time to go wildlife spotting. We saw heaps of Bald Eagles and various other fish and sea animals. It was pretty cool to see so many eagles in the one spot. The tour then took us to some totem poles and we heard all about the history of these poles.

Me at Ketchikan

Creek Street, Ketchikan

Next stop was Juneau, the Capital of Alaska. We left Michaels parents behind and hiked up the Mount Roberts trail to the top of the Gondola overlooking Juneau, which  provided some pretty amazing views of the city. We were then hoping to rent bikes and ride to Mendenhall Glacier which is just out of town, but there were none left so we caught a bus instead. 

Mendenhall Glacier, Juneau

Our last land stop was Skagway, which is home the White Pass & Yukon Rail route. It was an amazing train ride, one of the most scenic I have been on. We caught a bus through the mountains which took us to the British Columbia Provincial line and caught the train back down to the city. We saw our first Caribou, which was super exciting, but the scenery was beautiful.

British Columbia, Canada (the part that joins onto Alaska)

White Pass Train, Skagway

White Pass Train, Skagway

The next two days we spent at sea. The first day was at Glacier Bay. It was a pretty rainy and cold day which didn't make it ideal situations for being outside, viewing the Glaciers but it was still pretty amazing to see. we even got to see the Glacier carve, which was loud and pretty exciting to see. The next day was College Fjord which were some more Glaciers, in a different part of Alaska. It was a beautiful day, which was great, and although it was still windy and cold, we were able to rug up and head for the decks!

Glacier Bay, Alaska

College Fjord, Alaska

College Fjord, Alaska

That was pretty much our Alaskian cruise experience. I would highly recommend the trip. It's beautiful scenery, the boat is a lot of fun, and if you're lucky you get to see killer whales from the boat (I think we saw about 4) and amazing sunsets.

Sunset, out of Glacier Bay

The next 4 days we spent in Denali National Park. Denali (or Mt McKinley) is seen only by 33% of visitors, but we were lucky enough to see if 3 days out of 4. The National Park is huge, we went on a bus which took us 66 miles into the Park, as you are not able to drive past a certain point. It's a cool park because you can hike anywhere you like. You don't have to stick to trails, which to me, makes the park pretty unique. We saw Bears, Caribou, Moose, Muskrat...just see below for some of my favourite picks. 

A Marmot!

Jim and Ruth hiking in Denali

Denali National Park

Caribou, Denali Natinoal Park

Rocky Mountains - Frozen & Thawed

The Strelan blog is finally back! We have done so much over the last few months that I haven't had a chance to write about what we have been doing. We have been lucky enough that both my parents and Michael's parents have been able to come to Canada and share some really special adventures with us. Although my parents came a few weeks before the Strelans, we were able to drive to the Rockies with both of them and each time was an unbelievable experience. I'm going to combine both trips into the one blog, so don't get confused...

The first time we went was around mid-May. If you're ever planning a trip to the Rocky mountains around that time, the lakes will be frozen! Although they were frozen, they were still unbelievable. The second time we went with the Strelans (mid-late June) and between that time, all the lakes thawed completely.

Our main destination was the Icefield Parkway. It's about a 250km road that stretches from Banff/Lake Louise to Jasper throughout the Canadian Rockies. Every corner produces another breathtaking view, whether it's a glacier, an incredible lake, waterfall or animal - it's almost impossible to get bored on this road.

Here are a few pictures of my favourite spots on and around the Parkway, frozen & thawed.

Hiked up Sulphur Mountain in Banff, didn't realise it would be so snowy.

The hike was tough, but the views are spectacular!

Caught the Gondola down :)

Peyto Lake in May - Frozen

Peyto Lake in June - Thawed

Bow Lake - May

Bow Lake - June

Jumping on Lake Louise - May

Lake Louise - June

Athabasca Glacier

Takakkaw Falls - Yoho National Park

Beaver!

There is so much to between Jasper and Banff, I could upload a million photos. We saw Elk, Grizzly Bears, Black Bears and cubs, Pikas, Chipmunks, Squirrels, Coyotes - We did quite a few hikes the first time we went, as we had more time. If you enjoy hiking, this is a wonderful place. If you enjoy small strolls to see lakes and viewpoints, it's also a wonderful place. I always thought I would love the Rocky Mountains, and I did!! Canada, you're pretty incredible! I'll leave you with my favourite Lake, only available to do after the ice has melted around June.

Lake Morraine

Stay tuned for the next blog: Alaska!!