On the way home from Whistler, we decided to make more pit stops, rather than zooming all the way from the sky to the sea. We stopped at Fox and Oak for donuts: 

The top one is Puppy Chow (peanut butter and chocolate), and the bottom one, chosen by S, is a gluten free Pumpkin Spice flavor. More flavors available can be found, feel free to explore their menu online.  

Can they please come to Vancouver? 

We need these fluffy bites of heaven closer to home. 

Our next stop was at Shannon Falls, and after that, everybody fell asleep except me, the driver. It was a lovely, quiet trip home. 

Everybody gets worried sometimes, and for me, it’s been more than usual lately. I’m pretty sure the season plays a strong part in it. Working in an office from 9 to 5 will do that to you. Getting to the office in the dark, leaving the office in the dark… Depressing. Drains all my energy to deal with the worries and anxieties.

That’s why on the weekends, I try to get outside as much as possible. Coffee helps.

Here’s us at Dalina:
 


I had the turmeric latte, because I thought it would be a healthy alternative to the usual coffee that I guzzle every 2 hours to keep me awake. Might be the placebo effect, but I instantly feel my skin clear up, my breathing becomes smoother, vision clears up... Maybe I'm exaggerating here, but turmeric is quite good for your health.

It turns out that ordering this drink that morning was a horrible mistake though, because I had forgotten that I didn’t have coffee the day before, and thus, was super cranky and withdrawn. Otherwise, Dalina’s turmeric latte was a beautiful drink to have at a beautiful little grocery shop. Self serve sparkling water, regular water, and even milk and soy milk along the walls for your coffee. Might have to come back to try their actual coffees, but right now… I’m headed to the East coast for a week to see what I can find.



Back to this next weekend:


I’m pretty sure I’m still very normal and healthy, but as a millenial, I just have to write about my problems on the internet, so I can feel like I’m being heard. It’s society’s fault.

Last thing this week... Tourism Squamish posted my photo on their blog post about snowshoe trails in the Squamish area! Read about it here: http://www.exploresquamish.com/news/trail-feature-6-snowshoe-trails-you%E2%80%99ve-never-heard-of-in-squamish

The last weekend of 2017!

We visited Backcountry Brewing post snowshoeing in the Callaghan Valley, in search of fries, but found something even better. PIZZA!!!!

There were a few brews on tap, including a really milky looking IPA (2nd from right in the paddle, perhaps called the Secret Handshake).

I didn’t like one of their stouts (I think it was the She’s a Lady that I liked), because it was too watery for my taste. Other than that, I really can’t wait to come back to try all their other beers, and have another bite of their latest pizza flavour, the Wake n Bacon (truffle, brussel sprouts, pork belly, and an egg). The Prosciutto was also fabulous, with a great tomato sauce base. This is really next level pizza. A must-go for a pit stop on the way back from Whistler.

Alexander Falls 2017:

Goodbye 2017! I suppose this would be a good time to look back, and think about the things that have happened this year. Travel and explore, eat, take photos… What will I do in 2018? 

My guess is I'll look for new highs and dig myself out of deeper lows. 

Weekends are fabulous, especially when your friends are down to eat and explore, even though it’s last minute. C and I left Vancouver at around 7:30 and got to Fergie’s Cafe in Squamish at around 9AM. A line up formed right after we ordered. Last time we tried to eat here, I was under a time crunch and we didn’t have time to wait, but the timing was impeccable on this trip.

Latte to start. Little jars of flowers were placed all around the bar and on the tables, probably to try making the food look better. Eyes eat first.



I had the pullrf pstk hash, on the left, C had the Dubliner benedict:



It is a bit expensive, but brunch foods typically are pricy, especially when the dishes are made with fresh ingredients. I really loved this atmosphere, just a cozy place to eat before heading out for adventures.

We went over to Alice Lake after to walk off the food. LIGHT, SHOW US THE WAY:

Just kidding. We were just jumping around in the light, and didn’t even realize that this Toyota, stopped along the side of the road was actually taking photographs. The lady in the car was really nice though, didn’t honk us or anything. Maybe we were her models? Anyways, her car is my model in this shot. The rest of the lake was nice too, the trees were all golden.

We’re so lucky to have this so close to home.

Tried to find a waterfall, got lost and didn’t really have enough gas (probably because Mercury is still retrograding hard), so we tried to save the day with a walk around a few lakes and good coffee at Galileo Coffee:

I was pleasantly surprised by the cute heart on top of my latte and the strength of their coffee beans. I knew I needed some extra energy because I was heading to the Monstercat Compound after the hike, and I was already drained. B and A both liked their coffee enough to buy some freshly roasted beans. The baked goods looked decent, but I didn’t go for it, because I’m really trying to save up. This seems like a great spot to start off any trip north along the Sea to Sky. I’ll be back.

Here are a few shots from Sparkle the Drone at Stump Lake, one of the four lakes along the trails at Alice Lake:

Easy trails, relaxing views.

Also, we’ve found a pineapple floaty. Let the floating will begin.

It’s the little things that add up to make a big difference. Here’s a list of “little” things that I thought about today while H is guiding his kids in Nova Scotia and I was hiking (if you have any questions about this bottom of Brandywine Falls hike, email me using contact info on About page):

1. This little plastic squirrel (beaver? whatever.) that I thought was a candy and that I tried to eat because I was hungry, waiting at Milestones on Robson:

I could’ve choked on this little pointy thing. There was also the small portion of popcorn shrimp that was deceptive at first, because of the real popcorn underneath all of it. This really bothered me. I’m paying close to $14 for a handful of POPCORN?! If the whole container was full of shrimp (which were also little), then I wouldn’t be so upset at the price. A’s seafood pasta was oversalted and I’m sure my kidneys are suffering from just one mouthful of the spaghetti that she shared with me. I only came to this place because it was A’s farewell party, and she’s sort of amazing so I had to say bye. Not coming back unless I have to.

2. Little habits and mannerisms add up, and become glaringly obvious to the point that they’re all I notice. Legs shaking, nose twitching, chewing loudly, unnecessary remarks/actions for attention or for whatever reason. Now I know this could be an uncontrollable physical/psychological thing, and I am trying to let it go. BUT SOMETIMES…!!! Tonight for example:

Scene – Soup is done, in the pot on the stove. Everybody is finishing dinner around the table, and to wrap up the meal, like true Asians, we drink soup.

Person1: Let me get you some soup. *starts to get up from the table to get me soup

Person2: OH I’M GOING FIRST. *jumps up quickly and heads to the pot first to get first dibs from a huge pot of soup

Now, I asked questions because I’m trying this new thing. I tried to be kind and understand why Person2 needed to be first to get the soup when there was so much and Person2 had been just sitting there with an empty bowl for at least 5 minutes prior to Person1 getting up from the table. The soup was already done a while before dinner started.

Me: Just wondering... Why did you get up when Person1 decided to get up?

Person2 had no good response other than a scowl and“What’s the problem?” in a very defensive tone.

3. Small acts of kindness, like Person1 getting up to get me soup out of the kindness of their heart. M asking D how his leg was, because she noticed a huge cut there and is a caring person. J planning a party for A. Friends going out of their way to keep showing up and be supportive. Food sharing even though you love what you bought for dinner and the portions are small!

4. Human beings are actually really tiny, adding our mark on the world (see photo above of waterfall). We did the Brandywine Falls hike again. One of the rocks we walked by ended up tumbling into the water. My big picture side makes me wonder... What will that fallen rock do to change the grand scheme of things?

As a finale to the long weekend, M, D, and I went to Brandywine Falls:

We got to the viewing platform. We saw the lake at the 2nd viewpoint. We tried to get to the bottom of the waterfall, because our thirst for adventure was not satisfied by the 15 minute walk to the platforms. We didn’t make it because we got lost while wandering through the bush and were devoured by the mosquitos. The bites are really swelling up now…

Let’s not let the fun end there! It was only barely 3PM, so we drove up north to Cows at Whistler:

It’s bumpin’ on a hot weekend afternoon, and we spent more than a minute trying their punny flavours. I ended up getting a blueberry milkshake, because milkshakes all I crave after hiking. I don’t remember what the other two got, but they’re in the video in this post and you can try to guess. The ice cream was absolutely necessary to bring our moods back up from the fail hike, and went well with the music played by the street performers there. Although the milkshake melted too quickly, the ice cream overall is quite tasty.

We also made a pit stop at Shannon Falls. Very busy tourist stop.

I think what I learned from this day was that I need a drone. If I had a drone, I could’ve flown it down to the base of the waterfall, rather than physically climbing down for that base shot. Needless to say, I am now obsessed with going back and finding the proper way down.