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!

A Facial at Willow Stream Day Spa :: British Columbia 2018

Every part of this trip was pretty amazing, but this part was pretty awesome. I have to start by saying I had never been to a spa before, so I had no idea what to expect. I mean, I did a spa manicure in Sioux Falls the day before my wedding, in which I had a very small taste of the experience, but I will ABSOLUTELY be visiting a spa again in the future. It was INCREDIBLE! It was SO relaxing. I enjoyed myself SO MUCH. And I want to take all my girlfriends when I go back, because it would have been even BETTER with friends!

The staff at Willow Stream Day Spa left no detail left unattended to, and I felt extremely relaxed. The ONLY thing I felt a little "off" about was that I didn't realize I should have brought a fresh change of clothes with me, and maybe some makeup? I guess that's just the inexperienced spa experience, right? lol I had no idea! I also had no idea I should've brought a swimsuit with me for the hot tub. (I didn't know they had one, or that I could have used it. It would've been AWESOME on the rooftop patio in the ladies' lounge)

I started off by slipping into my white plush robe and relaxing in the ladies' lounge with a glass of fruit-infused water, taking in the incredible view from the roof.

They offered a menu option along with snacks, and it was at that point I should've ordered my sushi and enjoyed it on the patio, but well...I opted to just stick with the snacks for the time being.

Seriously - HEAVEN on Earth right here!

After about an hour of relaxing (including using their 8 or 10 (I didn't count) head shower and taking a short little nap on the patio, reading a few magazines, and just resting, the clinician called me back for my facial, and boy was that a treat! I started by wrapping myself up in this little cocoon of blankets and practically falling asleep while waiting for the facial to begin. In fairness, it was only delayed because I asked if there was any possible way to increase my time on my parking meter, as I had stupidly only put 2 hours, and it would be more like 3 before I got out. (The last thing I needed was to have my rental car towed or fined!) They handled it well, and ensured me that I didn't need to worry about a thing.

The facial was divine (I had the Nature's Indulgence treatment), and oh, so relaxing, but I'll admit that after that killer massage from earlier in the day, it was just "nice", and I probably wouldn't go to that extreme again.

It really did feel awesome, though, aside from the part where she did the "extrusions" (a.k.a. popping zits), and my skin felt seriously radiant, and OH so smooth afterward. I only wish I had thought to bring a change of clothes and makeup afterwards so I didn't feel so gross putting on my old clothes.

Would I go here again? ABSOLUTELY! I don't think I'd do nearly as expensive a facial, but would probably opt for a massage or pedicure or something along those lines. Their service was INCREDIBLE, and the facility was INCREDIBLE, and I'd give the whole place a 5-star rating! Granted, it was my first real spa experience, so there's that ;) I think this is most definitely going to be a thing from here on out on my travels ;)

Capilano Suspension Bridge :: British Columbia 2018

I had a few hours to kill after my incredible massage before my dinner reservations and facial were scheduled in downtown Vancouver, so I opted to take a short 30 minute trip to the Capilano Suspension Bridge, which was SO COOL!

I find it interesting that in the USA, we tend to have brochures for places like this in English, and sometimes in Spanish. You get to Canada, and it's in like 6 different languages. It also was interesting to me that the one in English had not a picture of the USA flag, but rather Canada's. I mean, it makes sense (since it's one of their main languages there as well), it just caught me off guard, and I had to actually read the text instead of look at the flags to find which one I needed.

I couldn't help but think of my kiddos when I saw these cool totem poles there. They had them all over the place in the little park they had there. The whole park was extremely well maintained, and it was pretty impressive!

Had I ventured across this bridge as a kid, I would have been TERRIFIED! As an adult, it wasn't nearly as momentous.

On the other side of the bridge, they had a whole maze of paths you could take, as well as these cool tree-top bridges all over. My kids would've been in awe!

I stopped at the really awesome souvenir shop and picked up a few things for the kids, an ornament, a sweatshirt for myself, and then headed on my way downtown to catch my facial.

Overall, I found myself highly impressed by the suspension bridge. It isn't something I'd probably buy a season pass for if I lived in the area or anything, and it wasn't probably as exciting experiencing it just by myself as it would have been if I had gone with the kids, but it was a neat (albeit EXPENSIVE) way to pass an afternoon. I'd recommend it!