Favourite 2016 travel photos. Vancouver, BC. September 2016.
Million dollar view
British Columbia
Back from the (other) coast
I’m just back from a few days spent in Vancouver. Vancouver has always held a special, almost mythical place in my heart. Growing up on the east coast, and having spent a good portion of my adult life within walking distance of the harbour in Halifax and never too far out of sight of the Atlantic Ocean, the coast on the other side of the country always appealed to me. I didn’t make it out to Vancouver until I was 39 when my wife and I stretched out a work trip and spent a week falling in love with the city. Even before that trip, I had often dreamt of Vancouver. Truth is, I was in love with Vancouver before I had even set foot in the city.
Favourite travel experiences of 2015
Another year has passed, and I again feel fortunate to have watched a great deal of the world pass below me out an airplane window on journeys east and west of Halifax. After a stretch of years traveling where food wasn’t as much of a focus, for a second year in a row, many of my favourite travel experiences have to do with food and drink or have a meal as a focal point to a memorable moment. The other unifying theme this year was “quiet” with many of my favourite experiences being unexpected, subtle, or reflective in nature. After time spent in British Columbia, Southern California, Mexico, Texas and Spain, here are my favourite travel experiences from 2015.
1. Tapas with my wife in Madrid – Thinking this would be a more difficult trip for my wife to enjoy the food culture of Spain (as she must eat a strict gluten-free diet on account of Celiac disease), we were both blown away by Taberna la Concha in the La Latina neighbourhood near our rented apartment. The dedicated gluten-free menu and the quality of the food gave my wife an authentic Spanish experience. It was so good, we went back another night and had a second amazing experience. To see her face light up on those two nights (like mine was for the other nights of the trip) was a great thing to see.
Morning yoga
Favourite 2015 travel photos. Victoria, BC. May 2015
Victoria: Two days in pictures
I really enjoyed my first visit to Victoria back in April. It was a very picturesque city, especially under two days of blue skies and warm temperatures. I didn’t do any formal tours or visit any museums or galleries, instead, I chose to do some urban exploring. I gave my wandering a bit of structure by visiting some public art installations within walking distance of my downtown hotel, but outside of that, took it pretty easy for two days. Here are some of the sights and activities from around Victoria that caught my eye over two days.
Although not in Victoria, the journey there on the ferry from Vancouver gave me gorgeous views throughout the ninety minute trip:
The water plays a key part in the ambiance of Victoria. This is the inner harbour with the city’s downtown on the other side:
Touring Victoria’s public art
Victoria has a very compact and walkable downtown. Using the incredibly helpful Public Art Inventory website, I created a walking tour of Victoria that would take me past many of the public art installations around the centre of the city. The travel gods were also nice enough to give me two perfectly sunny days for my urban exploring. Map in hand, I started off close to my hotel near Victoria’s Chinatown. The first piece that caught my eye was the striking “Red Dragon” by Ping Tsing at the corner of Pandora and Government.
About a block and a half north on Government just outside the Chinatown gates was “Dragon Dance” by Robert Amos. This mural was painted by children from the Chinese Public School and commemorated the 150th anniversary of Victoria’s Chinatown – the oldest Chinatown in Canada.
Rainy Day in Port Renfrew
Favourite 2015 travel photos. Port Renfrew, BC. April 2015.
A meal with a view
When I pulled into Sooke, BC, toward the end of my day long road trip around Vancouver Island, I knew I was in for something special. Down the hill from the main road through the town and perched just above the Strait of Juan de Fuca is the Sooke Harbour House. This award winning restaurant and hotel has long been on my bucket list, and when I knew I was going to be in British Columbia this past April, I arranged my plans around dining here, going so far as to make a reservation four months in advance.
I arrived a bit early for my reservation so I could wander around their picturesque property. After living through a winter unlike any before, it took some head shaking to realize I was standing in a fully in bloom garden in April.
A road trip to recharge
On my trip out west back in April, one of the things I was most looking forward to was a day long road trip around the southern part of Vancouver Island. All added up, I put about 350km on my rental car on a journey from downtown Victoria to Duncan and Chemanius along the east side of the island, then across the interior to Port Renfrew, before heading down the west coast to Sooke, before heading back to Victoria. My main concern leading up to the road trip day was the weather – the forecast had been calling for very heavy rain. But as I pulled out of Victoria early in the morning and made my way toward Duncan, the skies were almost perfectly blue. My first stop was at Malahat Lookout, about 30km outside Victoria to take in this outstanding view. Not a bad place to enjoy an early morning coffee.
A Vancouver craft beer crawl
One of the significant advantages of visiting a city for the second time is that it affords you plenty of time to dig into it much deeper. For my most recent visit to Vancouver, one of the things I wanted to explore was the thriving craft beer community on the west coast. On my previous trip there a few years back, I had a quick taste of west coast craft beer on a night at the Alibi Room. On this visit, although I had more in depth explorations planned, I found myself back at the Alibi for a couple of sampler trays and a delicious bison cheese steak. My favourite beers? In the first sampler tray (photo on the left), the Brassneck Staircase wit (beer on the far right) and the Four Winds pale ale (beer on the far left) were outstanding. In the second sampler (photo on the right), the Red Truck lager (left most beer) was a wonderful easy drinking sessional. Another Brassneck beer, the white IPA (second from right), was truly exceptional – a piney, citrusy mashup of a west coast IPA and wit. My multi-day Vancouver beer crawl was off to a great start.
Bluenose Traveler 