Travel Thanks: Five Beautiful British Columbia Trips

Give thanks for pool time in Kelowna. 5 trips in BC to say thanks for
Living it up at the Hotel El Dorado, such a lovely place.

This time of year begins the North American tradition of giving thanks. In Canada we give thanks during Canadian thanksgiving in October, in the USA Thanksgiving takes place in November. Canadian Thanksgiving which usually means road tripping to family, wearing our cutest (but stretchiest) outfit and gorging myself on a minimum of three turkey different dinners (#twosetsofparents) stuffing, gravy and pumpkin pie. This year we’re staying home and not making the 23 hour journey by car or flight -to-Europe X3 plane trip home. We’re enjoying the fall weather, hopefully will go mushroom picking (my new obsession) and eat waaaay too much pumpkin pie. 

I thought I’d round up some travel thanks for 2017 so far. I wrote earlier this year about the positive effect of saying ‘thanks daily’ and developing an attitude of gratitude, but to be honest I’ve fallen off the bandwagon lately. So why not start again in a super public way? Here goes, some travel thanks for the last few months.

Pender Island: 1/5 BC Trips that have me saying Thanks
The Woods on Pender, cute toddlers love Acapulco chairs.

 

Pender Island: 5 BC Trips to say Thanks For
Pender Island dreams: Woods on Pender

Pender Island: 1/5 BC Trips to be Thankful for

 

Glamping in the Gulf Islands Thanks

Located in the southern Gulf Islands between Vancouver and Vancouver Island, Pender Island is a set of two islands with a famous disc golf course and awesome whale viewing. It’s also home to Woods on Pender, a cute haven filled with Airstream trailer suites and good food. Have you ever found somewhere online that’s completely cute, swoon-worthy and totally photogenic? Well thats Woods on Pender. Remember that place? The aesthetic is Canadiana-lumberjack-midcentury-modern and the restaurant delicious, high end but not snooty.  We ventured to Pender for a wedding and opted to stay in the Lodge at the Woods because of it’s proximity to the restaurant and hot tub. My mom joined bambino and I to act as super grandma for the weekend. SO MUCH FUN. Pender Island in a nutshell: spread out, semi-arid, sunny, easy to navigate and full of cute places to stay, but the crown of the hipster jewelled trucker hat of an islands is The Woods with its lodge, refurbished aistreams and long-table restaurant/tuck shop. Thanks Pender!  

Victoria: 1/5 BC Trips to be Thankful for
Little Jumbo – big taste. A perfect place for a night cap.
Thanks Victoria: 1/5 BC trips to be thankful for
Crumbsby’s Cupcake Cafe
Family-friendly Victoria: Thanks a bunch

Until this year Victoria, B.C. was always had two personas to me: a slightly stodgy government/university town that was smallish or a party place of my wanton early 20s while I was studying at UVic. Now, 10-plus years later and a mom, I have a third view of Victoria: a hip big city full of fabulous restaurants, easy to access shopping, endless beaches and an easy place to vacay with your family.  Apres Pender, my mom, kiddo and I headed to Vic to hang out with a bunch of friends: a three generational trio (girlfriend from Vancouver, her mama and son who’s the same age as mine), a couple university friends and a hometown homie.

First off, let’s talk about the Children’s Farm in Beacon Hill Park. Guys, I went not once but TWICE in 72 hours. Who knew goat stampedes could be so fun? We ate out, walked along the gorge, visited playgrounds and hoovered croissants. There are so many haute restos in this town, it’s a far cry from my starving student days. Kid-friendly eateries included: Crumsby’s Cupcake Cafe in Oaky Bay – there’s oodles of toys, kid tables, kid treats and adult ones too (it’s more of a breakfast/coffee date place than lunch/dinner). Kiddo and I also stopped at the award-winning French spot Fol Epi for my big city croissant fix For a night out sans children (thanks grandmas!) we rendezvoused with our Vic-dwelling bestie for a bit of a Monday night crawl that started with a meal at the 10 Acres Bistro and then night caps at Little Jumbo. Our last night included a beach picnic and evening dip at Durance Lake with a hometown girlfriend. How I missed that little lake. Merci YYJ!

Kelowna in the shoulder season: still plenty of wine thanks
Wine time! Accoutrements by Joonie & Joe
Thankful for Wine & Women in Kelowna

One of my proudest moments this year was converting a friend into a wine tour lover. In April I went home to visit family and went to Kelowna for a girls’ weekend at the historic Hotel El Dorado on the Lakefront. Two of my best gals travelled from different corners of B.C. to join me for 48 hours of stylish hotel hangs, wine touring and power shopping. The Bernard Avenue area is better than I remember it – so many funky, indie shops and even breweries and distilleries to pop into. But really what Kelowna does well is wine.  One of my gal pals had never been wine touring before and was poo-poo’ing the plans at bit at the outset in favour of pedicures. But I managed to twist her rubber arm to join us for an afternoon of oenophiling instead. We visited Summerhill Pyramid Winery and St. Hubertus and had a grand old time. We packed lots of in-room snacks and set up a couple of hotel room parties courtesy of Kelowna-based fun-times goods supplier Joonie & Joe. One morning some other friends made us the most decadent eggs benny & pavlova brunch. THANK YOU. Oh Kelowna, who knew you were as fun in the shoulder season as you were in the summer? Thanks Orchard City!

Prince Rupert: A BC Trip to be Thankful For
The North Pacific Cannery is worth the meander out of town.
Prince Rupert: 1/5 BC Trips to be thankful for
Canned history at the North Pacific Cannery
Thanks for a mid-week zip to Rupert

I feel like my skin might be evolving to be as waterproof as Goretex or duck feathers. In August, a friend treated kiddo and I to a quick trip to Prince Rupert. It rained cats and dogs for half the time. But the rain DID not stop us from exploring. Each morning began with kid-friendly Americanos at Cowpuccino’s Coffee House in Cow Bay complete with small stints for the kiddo in their gated, toy-filled kid’s corner. We also visited many playgrounds, the public library and Coastal Fibres because my yarn obsession is real. One afternoon when it stopped raining for about 52 minutes we zipped out to the North Pacific Cannery National Historic Site in Port Edward. So informative, a real glimpse into one of BC’s founding industries: our west coast fisheries. Prince Rupert has always been a place I stop in exhausted on the way to or from Haida Gwaii. Imagine to my surprise that it’s a city full of great shops, ethnic food (Indian! Thai! Greek!) and lovely architecture that harkens back to it’s heyday as a logging and fishing metropolis. I highly recommend spending a day or two there – rain or no rain, it’s got a lot going on. Cheers Prince Rupert!

Gray Bay: A BC Trip to be Thankful for
Wetsuit fun at Gray Bay
Thanks for the great breakfast Gray Bay. A camping trip in BC to be thankful for
Breakfast time on Haida Gwaii
Thanks for Fun days at Gray Bay

Our annual camping trip to Gray Bay in the Kunxalas Protected Area on Moresby Island was beautiful, sparse in human contact and adventurous. While the weather was a bit meh, our meals were fab, our little tent sturdy and our wetsuits well used. The thing with camping on Haida Gwaii is you want something that’s close to the ocean, exposed to sun but not wind. With the truck’s help we managed to find this exact spot. One day we frolicked in the waves and sort-of-sun in our trio of family wetsuits. And the second day we went for a little hike on a super easy one kilometre trail to Secret Cove which was wild with dumper waves. Lots of shells and atmosphere with ancient gnarly trees acting as borders and resting places for beach finds. Gah! I love you Haida Gwaii, haaw’a.

This list by no means exhausts all of our BC adventures – there was the sweet trip south for my niece’s 1st birthday or my work trip back to Kelowna for my first public relations conference. Or my quick stop in Vancouver on the way back from said conference. And of course there were my work trips into the most beautiful protected area in Canada, Gwaii Haanas, but these five were all so different and lovely that I decided to single them out.

What adventures or trips are you thankful for this year?

Thanks for the great trip: 5 BC Adventures to be thankful for

Secret Cove: thanks for the fab afternoon


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Comments

11 responses to “Travel Thanks: Five Beautiful British Columbia Trips”

  1. Doreen Pendgracs Avatar

    Thx for the great post! I’ve not yet been to the Gulf Islands but would love to go. I’ve heard great things about them all, including Pender.

    1. mpost Avatar
      mpost

      Pender was fantastic – rural feeling with a few big city amenities. I’m also a fan of Galiano, Denman and Saltspring 🙂

  2. Julie Avatar

    British Columbia is such a beautiful place – I only spent one day exploring the natural parks but I have promised myself I would go back and this post is full of ideas to explore the area!

    1. mpost Avatar
      mpost

      Glad I can help! Yep, the national parks in BC are stunning. There’s a bit of everything – mountains, ocean, islands. 🙂

  3. Meghna Malhotra Avatar

    Thats such a wonderful set of travel accomplishments to be thankful for! So proud that you were able to turn a friend into a wine lover!! That’s surely something to celebrate about! Here’s wishing you another year full of exciting travel adventures!

    1. mpost Avatar
      mpost

      Ha! The wine tour was super fun.

  4. Adrienne Avatar

    Thanks for sharing these beautiful spots in BC! Hoping to see some for myself next year 🙂

    1. mpost Avatar
      mpost

      By all means contact me for any travel tips before you come. I was born and raised here.

  5. Kay Avatar

    I’ve always wanted to visit BC. For work I was traveling often to your next door neighbor, Alberta, but I never actually got to do much exploring outside of that province. Loved this post, definitely inspired me to plan a trip in the future 🙂

    1. mpost Avatar
      mpost

      Nice to hear Kay. Alberta is pretty gorgeous, too but BC definitely has my heart.

  6. […] Whereas kid-free trips can be fun girlfriend getaways full of champers, shared hotel rooms and late nights or romantic date nights and leisurely mornings, travelling with kids often means sticking to a schedule, eating three square meals a day (and snacks, so many snacks) and planning things out a little more. Don’t fret. That first big city trip you plan with your family doesn’t have to be expensive and can most definitely still be fun. Here are a few ways I’ve learned how to save dollars and still have a mental (or cell phone) full of travel memories to be thankful for. […]

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