British Columbia 2018 :: Lodging

As I mentioned in my post Solace last month, I went on a vacation all by myself to get away from life for a little while. Life has just been...intense this past year. If I'm being honest, it has been intense for longer than that, but it just all seems to have caught up with me more recently, and this trip to Vancouver and the surrounding areas was just what I needed to get my thoughts back together and be refreshed.

I'll cover the more personal aspects of the trip in my other blog eventually, but here I tend to just stick to a recap of the places I went and what I did and ate, so I'll stick more surface level here :)

I opted, once again, for a vrbo rental, which overall, has always been a really great choice for me. I'm going to do a little bullet point list for the upside and downside sections, and then expand on them.

The Upsides...

• Impeccably manicured grounds.
• Incredible view of the bay.
• Owners were extremely helpful and friendly.
• Cottage was very well stocked and extremely clean.
• Incredible masseuse as a neighbor, just steps away.
• Owners allowed use of their private dock.
• Extremely comfortable bed.
• Sound system in the cabin was really nice.
• Hardly any bugs.

Bliss Cottage was a little slice of heaven. Seriously. It was absolutely incredible!

The owners were extremely helpful and kind, leading me out to their place in the dark when I got in later, and also recommending a good friend of theirs for the most incredible massage of my life the next afternoon. The grounds were impeccably manicured and the view absolutely stunning. They gave me some really great tips for traveling (such as visiting Whistler instead of Fort Landrey, or getting to Deep Cove earlier in the morning to make sure to get a parking spot), and left nothing left un-turned when it came to amenities. The cottage was incredible!

The little Adirondack chairs were the perfect spot for coffee in the morning while watching the boats go by out in the bay. The flowers were placed just far enough that I could see the bees pollinating without worry of being stung or bothered. This little oasis in the middle of nowhere was just delightful! The owner, Jodi, left no stone unturned!

The Downsides...

• A ridiculous amount of stairs...everywhere.
• A little creepy at night
• Poor lighting in parking area.
• I felt extremely vulnerable as a single woman.
• If you aren't a huge dog person, be prepared. I can 100% guarantee that the owners would have kept their pups closer to their home if I had expressed concern, but they have two large dogs. If you aren't a dog person, mention it to them upon booking so they can be prepared.

It is CRAZY to get out there, even if it wasn't very far from town (approximately 10 minutes). And quite frankly, getting there at nighttime was really intense and a little scary. I don't even want to gander at what some of those hairpin decline turn angles were, but I'm going to throw like...25-30% grade maybe? That's what it felt like to me, anyway. It wasn't quite so intimidating after maneuvering it a few times, but there were definitely times when I would turn and not be able to really see the road in front of me. Getting there in itself was a little scary. And then there wasn't really great lighting from the car down to the stairs to the cottage (which...there were a LOT of stairs), so it was pretty crazy the first and last nights trying to get my luggage unloaded and then re-loaded. And well...I felt extremely vulnerable in those moments. I mean...we're in the mountains, so aside from worrying about some creeper attacking me, there was also the threat of bears or mountain lions or something. Considering I went by myself as a single woman, I found myself more guarded and creeped out signif more easily than I would have been if I had been there with a friend or with my husband. For that reason, I'd have a very hard time recommending this place for a solo trip. I initially intended to return to this exact spot every year, but I just don't think that I will. I'd prefer to stay somewhere a little more...public. I found myself so paranoid the night before I left that I ended up booking a hotel and driving across town instead of staying there. I'm sure I wouldn't have had that same paranoia if I was there with a friend, but my gut instinct just told me to run, so I did.

Based on my last night experience alone, I'd have a hard time recommending the place, which makes me horribly sad, because beyond that last 20 minutes of my stay there, it was like something out of a Debbie Macomber book, and I really did want to return.

Whistler :: British Columbia 2018

My second (and final) day in Vancouver, at the suggestion of the owners of the cottage I stayed at, after an early morning hike that eventually took me to Quarry Rock, I made a day trip to Whistler and enjoyed the incredible beauty of the Sea to Sky Highway, going from Vancouver up to Whistler. It literally took my breath away and gave me goosebumps. The signs kinda taunted me, saying absolutely no stopping, because all I wanted to do was slam on the brakes and sit there in the middle of the mountain road staring. Seriously. Incredible!

I took off around 10am from North Vancouver, and although I WANTED to stop along the way up to capture the insane raw natural beauty along the way up, I made it a straight shot, with this being my only stop:

How crazy is it that when I stopped, I was sad that they chose THIS spot to have as a stop for photo op, because compared to what I had just seen, it was NOTHING.

I made it to Whistler around noon time and found parking, and then some lunch in the ADORABLE little Whistler Village.

I walked around the village for a good half hour before deciding to stop for some lunch at The Brasserie.

I decided at the urging of a few of my Canadian friends to give poutine another try. The only other time I had tried it was at the Toronto airport before we went to Ireland, and I was sorely disappointed. This time I opted to add some shredded pork to it, and it was a HUGE hit! I still wasn't overly fond of any bite that I took where it was just the fries and gravy and cheese curds, but any bite with the pork was AWESOME!

While Whistler is known for its incredible skiing in the winter time, when it gets into summer time, it isn't skiing, but mountain biking that takes over. There was a really cool course, and I'm assuming some sort of tournament while I was there. There were mountain biker dudes (and dudettes...and little biker kiddos) EVERYWHERE.

The people watching was paramount here! It was the perfect place to just sort of sit back, relax and watch all the different people.

After lunch, I explored more and did some light shopping for the kiddos and myself.

Whistler was such a wonderful little place! I would absolutely go back, given the opportunity! It was such an easy, relaxing place to stroll around, shop a little, eat a little, relax a little. I think it'd be an excellent place for families and kids, was SO walkable, and the village was just so quaint and cozy and inviting. It was absolutely worth the drive up from Vancouver.

Baden Powell Trail and Quarry Rock :: British Columbia 2018

I typically wake up between 4-5am during the week when home in Minnesota, so having my normal wake up time be so early at HOME, subtracting 2 hours from that for the time difference and add in the luxury of sleeping through the night and sleeping "in", I was up and ready for my day by 5am British Columbia time. I had planned to head out for Whistler around 9 or 10am so that I could grab some lunch and explore there, and had a little time to kill. I had heard about nearby Quarry Rock, just a short hike from where I was staying, so I opted to park near the trailhead, grab some water and snacks and my Bible and head on up there for my devotions that morning.

Let me start by saying: Don't be like me. Don't be stupid and naiive. Take at very least a whistle and some mace should you come across a bear (which I was fortunate to not have), extra water, and extra snacks. And a water proof jacket. And...oh...I don't know...a MAP?! I mean...I obviously don't hike a lot, but man was I ever unprepared. Fortunately, everything turned out completely fine, as I'm here, but this hike reminded me over and over how stupid I was. I mean...my DSLR weighed more than the entire rest of my pack, if that says anything.

A "short hike", I was told, and I mean...I should've known after the first 45 minutes that I had gone the wrong way. I should've turned around and re-grouped at that point. But...here...at this bridge...immediately across from where I parked, I took a right when I should've taken a left, and well...90 minutes later, I turned around to head back the "right" way, which was actually LEFT at this bridge:

I mean, really, seriously - I had only 3/8 of the "essentials" for hiking, and some tennis shoes on, so if you HAD found me dead on the trail eaten by a hungry bear, it wouldn't have been too far-fetched.

I will say, hiking out in the woods (albeit completely ill-prepared) at 5:30am was extremely peaceful! It was so beautiful, and I saw so many cool little slugs and my first ever snail.

I had these great visions of sitting on Quarry Rock enjoying an incredible, refreshing devotional overlooking the cove with little boats going by out in the distance. Yeah...that just wasn't really a "thing", and I finally just stopped after hiking about 45 minutes and plopped down on a rock along the trail. The Lord led me to Matthew 22, where Jesus walks on the Water. It was a really good reminder to me that even in the midst of this crazy year, the most important thing is just continue to keep my focus on Christ. When I lose my focus and begin to notice just how enormous the storm is that I'm in the midst of with our family crisis in 2017/2018, I am going to drown. And the hike was an incredible reminder to me that I just have to take the next step, even when I'm weary and beat down and overwhelmed. Just the next step.

Before long, I reached this point, and seriously - it was at this point that I should've known better. The owners didn't mention anything about crossing a road. And if there had been a place to park that would've shortened my hike, they would've told me about it, right? The thought crossed my mind, but I convinced myself that I had just forgotten.

As a reference, I should've taken the green path, but I ended up taking the red path...and then having to come all the way back down and THEN following the green trail. WAYYYYYYY out of my way. And did I mention that the hike was pretty much entirely uphill? It was a whole lot of work, and I didn't even bring a hair tie to put my hair up. I thought often that I was so very glad that it was at least nice and cool that morning, so I wasn't in the heat of the summer sun.

In fairness, I kept thinking they were just referring to "Deep Cove Lookout" as Quarry Rock, which was probably stupid, but that's why I kept going. If I hadn't seen that on the guideposts, I probably would've turned around much sooner.

I did snap a few "trail selfies" along the way to document my little hike ;)

At some point around in there, I ran into a guy going for a morning run (no doubt coming from a home right up the street - gah - I should've known better) who told me that yes, I *could* get to Quarry Rock from here, but it'd be a LONNNNNGGGGG hike, and he advised I turn around and follow the Baden Powell Trail all the way back to where I came from, and then also ran into another guy out mountain biking with his dog who specifically told me where I went wrong, and so I turned around and hiked ALLLLLLLLL the way back to here, which was when I started. By then, it was 7:50am, so I had already been hiking for about an hour and twenty minutes before I got back to where I was supposed to have started ;)

By that point, I was a little tired of pictures, and I just wanted to get there and get back. I made a quick 10 minute pit stop at the car to rest for a short bit and to grab a hair tie and to drop off my empty water bottle and grab my iced latte (that I thought I'd be back for in half an hour earlier haha) It was a pretty crazy, but very short hike to the Indian Arm lookout, which was beautiful, but no more beautiful than the view from my cottage.

Not long after, I made it to Quarry Rock!

It took me all of 20 minutes to take the hike. Twenty minutes! I was there by 8:20am. After my crazy long day of hiking, and my desire to get on the road for the 2 hour drive to Whistler, I didn't opt to stick around very long once I got there. The view was stunning, but again, not significantly better than the view at the cottage where I was staying.

After that whole day, I think I'd do the hike again, but I just would actually PLAN to hike to the top of Mount Seymour, and well...park WAY up at that last road I made it to so I wouldn't have to waste so much time hiking that far lol Quarry Rock was beautiful, but I don't think I'd make THAT hike again.