Happy 2013...from Cypress mountain!

Our New Year's Eve was perfect...night skiing on Cypress mountain.

The night was clear and we had an amazing view over the city:

After exhausting ourselves on the slopes, we came home to delicious wine to see in the New Year. Welcome 2013...we are excited you are here!

CS

Hemlock

What better way to spend our Christmas holiday than exploring new ski resorts?

Our first venture - Hemlock - is a local resort that's a three hour drive from Vancouver. The weather was stunning, and despite only have three lifts, it offered plenty of terrain for us to explore.

If you look closely at the picture below you'll see David traveling fast in a snowball. Impressive.

  
The drive to the ski resort was stunning, and we saw plenty of bald eagles along the way. Hemlock is small, cosy, snowy, and definitely worth a visit.

CS

Kat and Steve venture

We decided to show Kat and Steve some of our favourite Vancouver haunts.

First stop, the picturesque inlet of Deep Cove...

Followed by Maple Wood, a wildlife hot spot, where we met this little fellow...

We finished up with a tour of Stanley Park, cycling 10 km around the sea wall. Delightful!

CS

Christmas party - Vancouver Club

My work Christmas party consisted of a glamorous evening of wine and dinner at the Vancouver Club, a stunning venue in the downtown core.

Here are some group photos of our celebratory evening:

 

 

And me with my trouble-making British counter-part, Clare: 

CS

First Whistler venture of the season...

With the arrival of Steve and Kat, we thought it was a good excuse to head to our favourite winter spot...Whistler.

It was great to see snow again. Steve was excited, and David was pleased to have a 'powder hound' to play with:

It was snowing for a lot of our visit, ensuring the ground was soft and the scenes beautiful. Here is our weekend in pictures:

CS

What happens in Seattle...

...Stays in Seattle.

Well, that's not quite true otherwise I wouldn't be blogging about it.

It was Helena's Stagette so we headed to Seattle, my first visit to the city.

Getting there was a venture in itself. We were drinking alcopops on the bus, and wearing 'I love Cox' (Cox is Helena's surname...) t-shirts.

Our itinerary included a pole dancing class and burlesque show. We may not have been the sexiest dancers but we had fun:

We then hit the town, having dinner in Amber and braving a visit to Cowgirls. Think Coyote Ugly and you've got the picture of Cowgirls:

 It was a wild night and the Stagette was on spectacular form, completing every challenge we set. Amazing.

CS

Vancouver Writers Fest

Having missed the festival last year, we were determined to go to the Vancouver Writers Fest in 2013.

It's a week long event that attracts well-known authors from all over the world.

As keen readers, we booked to see three shows:

• Women in Literature, starring Kate Mosse (not the model), Susan Swan, Gillian Jermone and Gail Jones
• What If?, starring Margaret Attwood (!!), Cory Doctorow and Pasha Malla
• The State and Fate of this Small Planet, with David Suzuki and Tim Flannery

All three events were thought-provoking, and it was great to hear these legendary authors speak. Looking forward to next year's festival already!

CS

Our engagement!

Wow - what a life-changing weekend!

We travelled to Ucluelet late on Friday, a pretty spot on Vancouver Island. Monday is a bank holiday here so we took the opportunity to go for a surf.

Little did I know that David had much bigger ideas for our romantic weekend away.

We stayed in a gorgeous place called 'Happy Cabin' - a quaint place for two with views overlooking the inlet.

David was uncharacteristically lively on Saturday morning. He's not a morning person yet he was bouncing off the walls and eager to get up and out for a walk.

It was a stunning morning & deserted (not a surprise as we were out just after 7am). We walked along the Wild Pacific Trail and watched sea otters playing in the water.

We pulled over at a scenic spot and took in the views while the sun was rising. David said this would be a great spot for whales, so while I was watching for spouts on the horizon David got down on one knee and asked me to marry him.

It was the perfect moment. Beautiful setting, stunning ring and us being our usual selves in our scruffy walker/surfer world.

Here are pictures of THE ring (which has been the most commonly asked question throughout our announcement!) and us just afterwards:

Such a perfect and life-changing moment.

CS

Other tales from Ucluelet

We had an epic weekend in Ucluelet. Not only did we get engaged (!!) but we had many special moments throughout our three days away.

Top of our list was a close encounter with a Mummy bear and her cub near a salmon hatchery:

We surfed every day - making the most of the incredible weather & perfect waves:

We saw pretty wildlife:

We hung out and watched the sun rise and set...

We drank plenty of wine & ate amazing food in 'Happy Cabin', a place that lived up to its name:

This weekend will stay with us forever. It was truly perfect.

CS

One year today!

Just a small acknowledgement that today is our one year anniversary in Canada!

And what a year it has been; bring on the next!!

CS

Cultus Lake & an unexpected Tea Party

So our weekend didn't entirely go to plan.

We were meant to be hiking in Baker in the U.S., however due to crazy queues and frustrations at the border, we gave up and stayed on Canadian tuff.

Instead we went to Cultus Lake Provincial Park and hiked 'teapot hill' - yep, amazing name:

It was an easy 4km walk, but nice to get outside. We were also delighted at the top to find...you guessed it...teapots!

Unfortunately the teapots didn't have any tea in them (now that would have been a real treat) but fun times none-the-less!

CS

Conquering The Chief!

Today we conquered 'The Chief' - three different summits on a granite cliff in Stawamus Chief Provincial Park.

I'll be honest - it was way harder than we imagined. It took four hours and involved using chains, climbing tactics & scrambling.

The only downside was how busy it was; it's well-known & therefore a popular route. However it's a stunning hike & gives views over Howe Sound & Squamish.

We also got to play with chipmunks at the top - clearly my personal highlight. Check it out:

Yes it was hard work, but undoubtedly worth it!

CS

Sunshine Coast: Bay hopping

Our final day on the Sunshine Coast was spent 'bay-hopping' - to ensure we saw everything there was to see.

We begun with Tuwanek, a small village alongside Porpoise Bay:

This was followed by a brief stop at Half Moon Bay. This is deemed to be the 'romantic' area on the Sunshine Coast.

Next on the list was Secret Cove, which essentially turned out to be a private port:

We finished our bay hopping experience with a quick stop at Smugglers Cove, before going back to our favourite spot - Sargent's Bay.

CS

Sunshine Coast: Gibsons & Roberts Creek

As David was going back to Vancouver a day earlier than the rest of us, we took the opportunity to stop off at Gibsons.

Gibsons is a quaint seaside town that celebrates all things arty and crafty. While I failed to take any photos of the town, I did capture the wildlife, which predominantly consisted of herons and seals:

On route home, we also stopped off at Robert's Creek - a gorgeous spot to watch the sun go down. I was loving the bongo player & his hippy vibe...

CS

Sunshine Coast, Triangle lake & Trail running

We want on a more adventurous walk near Sargent's Bay in search of the nicely named 'Triangle Lake'.

It was a rather challenging walk and as we were tight on time, David and I did some trail running to get back to the car in time. Here are some pictures:

CS