Do you like to ski down a mountain all day by yourself (and not have to hike back up)?  Enjoy the sunny cool crisp days, with 30 cm of fresh powder snow.  Then Manning Park Resort is where you should come. From the lower mainland the drive to Manning Park is about 2.5 hours.  It is very similar to the drive (in duration) to the drive from Vancouver to Whistler.  But unlike Whistler expect to pay less than half the price for a day on the hill.  Don’t get me wrong the amenities are in no way comparable.  Manning Park […]

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Known as the warmest and cleanest lake in BC, Christina Lake should be one of the must sees in British Columbia.  It is a very popular summer destination.  I would suggest booking your stay several months in advance for the mid-July to mid-August peak period.  There are several choices of accommodations: motels, campgrounds and rental cabins.  Several of the campgrounds and rental cabins offer beach front locations.  There are not as many campgrounds as there were 20 years ago.  Many have been converted to privately owned-permanent trailer or mobile home sites.  So if you are in a buying mood you […]

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Some days it’s fun to play tourist in your own town.  On a recent trip to Victoria from the mainland, I had the pleasure of taking a trip on one of the new ferries – the Coastal Celebration.  The trip started in Tsawwassen with a breakfast at the Tsawwassen Quay.  We enjoyed crepes – yes really!  One of us had a ham & egg crepe and the others had fruit crepes – very yummy.  We then grabbed our Starbucks addictions and headed back to the car to wait for the loading call. Once on board with a lovely window seat […]

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Looking for Indoor Tennis while travelling on the Sunshine Coast? The Suncoast Racquet Club has opened the only indoor tennis facility on the Sunshine Coast, offering residents from Pender Harbour, Sechelt, Roberts Creek, Gibsons and Langdale an affordable year round option. Currently it is available only to members for court bookings, however it is open to the general public in regards to clinics, workshops and specific drop in times. The club anticipates it will be available for specific time bookings to the general public sometime in the summer of 2009. Our coach Jacques Joyal is offering programs specifically geared for […]

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On a clear sunny day in the spring after a cold wet winter nothing better suits me than this great mountain biking trip, which I’ve been riding for the better part of twenty years. It’s a classic combining Vancouver‘s seawall, beaches and the natural beauty of single trails through Pacific Spirit Park. From start to finish the ride takes roughly 2 1/2 hours and covers 35 km of off road riding. The starting point is at the Coast Guard station at the entrance to False Creek on the south side of the Burrard Street Bridge. If you look up at […]

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This year marks the 25th anniversary of Vancouver’s annual fitness love fest, aka “The Vancouver Sun Run”; it also marks my second anniversary, at age 52, of participating in this quintessentially Vancouver experience. Before you start gagging, let me reassure you that this is not one of those fat-turned-fit-over-fifty stories, in which erstwhile couch potatoes start running half-marathons in their sleep in order to combat the ravages of menopause. Rather, this is a story of a woman who is resolute in her determination to solidly advance (retreat?) to the back of the 55,000 plus pack incrementally.  I want to age […]

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Our trip into McGillivary Pass (August ’09) in the South Chilcotin Mountains was a wonderful experience. We flew by helicopter from Whistler on a beautiful sunny day, above valleys, over mountain peaks and landed next to our lodge in a bed of untouched wild flowers. McGillivray Pass Lodge occupies a picturesque valley meadow at an elevation of 6100 feet (1860 meters) in McGillivray Pass, which lies between the Bendor and Cadwallader Ranges on the Southern edge of the Chilcotin Mountains. Each day our guide would take us on an unmarked route through the flowers, up 1000 feet above the tree […]

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Local and foreign news has been covering the birth of eagles in Sidney BC, on Vancouver Island, that has been on a live web cam provided by the Hancock Wildlife Foundation.  This is a remarkable way to watch bald eagles. In Vancouver, however, you don’t need to go further than Vanier Park, which is on the north side of English Bay and is right next to the Burrard Street Bridge.  It’s not exactly a peaceful in the summer down there.  The tree the birds nest in is close to where cars park when they come to the annual Shakespeare Festival, […]

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Vancouver makes cycling fun. From the many cycling events hosted in Vancouver to its kilometers of marked bike routes, make your next trip around Vancouver by bike. Do you want to take in the Aquarium and Science World? Why not rent a bike at one of the rental shops at the North foot of Denman Street and make the short cycle over to the Aquarium, almost exclusively along the Stanley Park seawall. Ready to head to Science World? Get back on the bike, take the short trip along quiet side streets of the historic West End and connect onto the […]

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Only four and a half hours east of Vancouver, nestled in the Okanagan Valley is Apex Mountain Resort. With a view of the Apex Mountain Peak in the background, the resort is actually built on the wide face of Beaconsfield Mountain, that rises 2180 metres high. Downhill skiers and snowboarders have all they can ask for here with 68 trails to chose from that vary from the easier green runs to the most challenging black diamond runs. But skiers and boarders are not the only ones attracted to this mountain. It offers cross-country skiing, an outdoor skating rink and outdoor […]

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