British Columbia 2018

I took a trip all by myself to Vancouver, British Columbia in mid-May 2018, and it was so glorious! I have done individual recaps for parts of the trip, so this is just an overall summary of things, but you can click on the individual titles to find the more detailed overviews of each part of the trip.

This was a healing trip for me. I had checked my husband into an Assisted Living facility three days prior to my trip for a rare form of brain degeneration that will one day take his life, so to say this trip was a necessary part of my healing at that point was a severe understatement. I had planned this trip to be respite from caring from him, but as the cards fell, it just so happened that it ended up being the trip to sort of take a break from the former life I knew with him at home and to ease into the new life without him home with us. As such, I had planned a lot of nothing, beyond a 90 minute massage and a 90 minute facial.

I spent a LOT of time just relaxing, journaling, reading, and taking in the view from the private dock where I was staying.

It was so easy to find things to do once I got there, and the lack of planning was not a problem at all. I could've easily spent a couple weeks here and really enjoyed the longer stay.

Accommodations

I stayed in a cottage I found on vrbo.com just up Mount Seymour from Deep Cove in North Vancouver. It was a little slice of heaven, truly! I did a full recap of the accommodations and my pros/cons of the place here. (The overall gist was that I loved it, but probably wouldn't return to that particular place.)

Dining

I did a full dining recap, but here's the basic rundown:

Honey's Doughnuts in downtown Deep Cove (☆☆☆)

Very yummy cake doughnuts, pretty good coffee, long wait, VERY popular with locals and visitors.

The Lobby Lounge in Fairmont Pacific Rim in downtown Vancouver (☆☆☆☆☆)

Good sushi, great atmosphere! (www.lobbyloungerawbar.com)

The Brasserie in Whistler (☆☆☆☆)

Delicious poutine with pulled pork, great for people watching!

Activities

I did a full recap of all activities in this post, but here's my overall ranking from the activities. (Click on the titles to view my recaps of each place.)

Capilano Suspension Bridge ☆☆☆☆

It was really cool with lots to see and do there. It really made me miss my kiddos, who would have eaten that place right up! VERY touristy and busy.

Willow Stream Day Spa ☆☆☆☆☆

I had a 90 minute facial, and it was an incredible place! Very professional staff and extremely relaxing environment. Don't forget your swimsuit for the rooftop hot tub!

Baden Powell Trail and Quarry Rock (☆☆☆☆)

Beautiful, well-paved trails, very serene in the mornings, Quarry Rock was a nice view of Deep Cove!

Whistler, British Columbia (☆☆☆☆☆)

An easy day drive from Vancouver. Olympic Village was SO cool, the mountain bikers were fun to watch in the "off-season" from skiing and such, and the mountain views are incredible!

Sea to Sky Highway (☆☆☆☆☆)

There is no way I could ever describe in word or picture or video just how it felt to drive this. It was beyond out of this world! Highly, highly, highly recommend this drive!

Overall...

I HIGHLY recommend pretty much all parts of the trip. It was breathtakingly beautiful, and I cannot wait to go back some day!

This particular trip really ended in quite a hurry, and I don't want to get into it here, but let's just say that I'd like to repeat this trip at some point where I'm not rushed and hurried at the end for a super early morning flight. And I'd like to stay somewhere along the Sea to Sky Highway (perhaps in Porteau or Squamish or even Whistler) to really have a great shot at actually sitting back and truly taking in the scenery around there without so much of the hustle and bustle.

British Columbia 2018 :: Dining

I didn't eat out nearly as much as I would have thought I might have, honestly. I picked up some groceries after eating at Honey's on the first morning, so I ate breakfast at the house most mornings, sometimes lunch even, and then just grabbed supper quickly, and had dinner one night with the hosts. These were the places I did try, though, and I didn't pick a bad place!

Honey's Doughnuts in downtown Deep Cove (☆☆☆)

I thoroughly enjoyed visiting Deep Cove the next morning for one of Honey's famous doughnuts. It was idyllic! Apparently Kate Winslet is a HUGE fan, which drives a lot of attention here, and it was definitely busy. The people who owned the place I stayed at gave me the great tip to go EARLY in order to find parking, and that was a great tip, because about 90 minutes after I got there when I was leaving, I had 3 people waiting for my parking spot!


The coffee...it was okay. The doughnut(s) were really good - very, very dense. I could've settled with half a doughnut, honestly. They're really dense cake doughnuts.

I would HIGHLY recommend to take it on the go and walk down to the view down by the bay. INCREDIBLE!

The Lobby Lounge in Fairmont Pacific Rim in downtown Vancouver (www.lobbyloungerawbar.com) (☆☆☆☆☆)

I picked up some sushi to go on my way back to my place after a wonderful facial, and it was so good! Had I thought about it, I would've ordered it to be delivered after my facial (they had that option), because then I wouldn't have had to wait so long to get back to my place and could have enjoyed a sunset over the cove. I ended up taking it down to the lowest part of the dock at the place I was staying. However, I wish I had eaten it in the light instead of on the dock in the dark, as I ended up eating a HUGE bite of wasabi that pretty much ruined the second roll for me lol VERY good sushi, though! I finished the rest when I got back up to my place and saw that it was just a glob of wasabi and the rest didn't have any on it.

The place itself had a great ambiance, was PACKED, and had live music. I'd definitely go back! Forgot to snap a picture, though :(

The Brasserie in Whistler Village (☆☆☆☆)

It took me a little while to land on this place wandering around Whistler, mostly because if I'm being honest, I really wasn't terribly hungry. But I tried their poutine with pulled pork on top, and it was SO GOOD! I had tried poutine before at the airport in Ontario and thought it was awful, but this...with the pulled pork...YUM!

The atmosphere was laid back and very colorful. I sat outside and did some people watching, which was fun in such a busy place!

Honeymoon in Niagara Falls - September 24 - October 2, 2006

Day 1 - September 24, 2006

The day after our wedding, we left by 9am and had a leisurely drive through Southern Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois. We stopped at the Mississippi River in LaCrosse, WI to take a look at the beautiful scenery and some fo the barges passing through.

We stopped in Chicago to eat at Giordano's (Mark's first experience!), then continued on to our destination for the evening - the Spring House Inn in Porter, Indiana. I really wish we'd had more time to spend there, as the place was just gorgeous! But we got up early the next morning and headed to Niagara Falls, going up across Michigan into Canada.

It was a very long day of driving, but we managed just fine :)

Day 2 - September 25, 2006

We left the Springhouse Inn around 9am and headed up into Michigan. We drove pretty much straight through, stopping only in Detroit to have lunch at Applebees.

We got to Niagara Falls around 5pm, and got checked into our room at the Embassy Suites. After clearing up a valet parking fiasco, we settled in, and then decided to find somewhere to eat. We decided on Coco's Steakhouse, Pizza Bar & Lounge, a few blocks from our hotel.

After dinner, we took a walk down by the falls to see the sights, but called it an early night after all the driving, and watched the falls from the jacuzzi in our room the rest of the night.

Day 3 - September 26, 2006

Our first morning in Niagara Falls, we woke up and went down to breakfast at the Keg - the buffet was included with our room. We can't say it was anything to write home about, but it wasn't horrible.

After breakfast, we relaxed in our room for a few hours before walking down to the falls to enjoy the scenery a bit, and explore the shopping center. We had lunch at Johnny Rockets, then walked over to Clifton Hill before taking a ride on the Maid of the Mist.

After our Maid of the Mist tour, we decided to head back up to explore Clifton Hill a bit longer.

Day 4 - September 27, 2006

We slept in a while, then checked out of the Embassy Suites and checked in over at the Hilton. We decided to try a few different hotels during our stay, just in case one of them turned out to be a dud. The Hilton was nice, but deceptive. It certainly didn't have any sort of view of the falls (except maybe in the penthouse suites on the top floor), but the room was nice enough. We didn't spend too terribly much time there, honestly, but the pool was really neat!

After exploring a bit in the morning, we headed back to the hotel that afternoon to take a little dip in the really cool pool at the hotel.

Day 5 - September 28

We checked out of the Hilton hotel and decided to go for a drive on the 5th day of our honeymoon. This was partly because we had already seen most of the city's highlights, and partly because we heard there was a nearby grocery store with lower prices and outlet malls (wahoo!!) We spent the afternoon shopping, then decided to use our 2nd voucher for the Embassy Suites manager's reception, and filled ourselves up so much that we weren't even hungry for supper!

We checked in beforehand at our final Niagara Falls hotel - the Marriott - and relaxed a bit.

Day 6 - September 29

We checked out of the Hilton hotel and decided to go for a drive on the 5th day of our honeymoon. This was partly because we had already seen most of the city's highlights, and partly because we heard there was a nearby grocery store with lower prices and outlet malls (wahoo!!)

That evening, after relaxing a bit and enjoying the night, we some yummy pizza at Vinny's

Photo Dump