Having just returned from a bit more than a week on Canada’s west coast, I can say something very assuredly:  this trip did nothing to diminish my desire to someday live near the Pacific Ocean.  My mixed work and pleasure trip was made a wee bit sweeter knowing there were some snow flurries back home in Halifax while I was away. It wasn’t that warm in Vancouver or Victoria, but I never once wondered if I needed to put gloves on to go out.  After this past winter, I’m considering that a wonderful eight day gift from the travel weather gods.

This being my second time in Vancouver, I dug a little deeper into the city including a very early morning hike around the Stanley Park seawall, some urban exploring for public art, generous west coast craft beer tastings including visiting four craft breweries, and a Saturday evening Whitecaps FC soccer match. Those experiences were so much fun that I can even forgive the Canucks for choking their way out of a game seven match up with the Flames for which I had a ticket.

I left Vancouver by ferry to see Victoria and to explore a bit further afield on Vancouver Island.  Victoria was full bloom in colour and I realized that I had almost forgotten what flowers and green grass looked like.  A few nice street meals, some more craft beer sampling (sense a trend?) and a healthy dose of general exploring gave me a nice taste of Victoria.  A day long road trip around the southern part of Vancouver Island was a mix of small town visits, west coast beach hikes and a memorable meal at the Sooke Harbour House with a clear view of the snow capped Olympic Mountains across the Juan de Fuca Strait in Washington State.

I had a lovely time in British Columbia.  There were some very special and unexpected moments that reminded me that many times it’s the little “experiences within the experience” that make a trip memorable.  I’m looking forward to writing about this trip and a few of those moments over the coming weeks.

It’s been a long, brutal winter out here on the east coast. If the torture of the weather wasn’t enough, every once in a while I’d sneak a peek at the weather forecasts for Vancouver and Victoria. It’s something everyone does in Canada starting in February once you’ve seen the first news report on the CBC of flowers blooming on the west coast.. it’s a bit of an annual self flogging ritual.  You repeatedly ask yourself “How am I navigating iced up sidewalks in a parka while someone is jogging on a beach in a t-shirt and shorts somewhere else in my country?”

In a few days, I’ll be living out the second best alternative to my dream of one day moving to British Columbia to escape winter forever. I’m heading out west for a week: partly for work, partly for leisure. A good chunk of this upcoming trip will be a return visit to Vancouver, a city I fell in love with on a trip there a couple of years back.   I’m hoping this time I’ll get to the top of Grosse Mountain on a clear day or evening, do a long hike around and through Stanley Park, and dig a bit deeper into the city’s public art around the downtown. Add to that a Whitecaps soccer match, some craft brewery hopping and a cross section of international eating (including a return visit to La Taqueria for the best tacos I’ve ever had)… that should fill up the time in Vancouver pretty well.

I’m then going to head a bit further west, taking a ferry to Victoria to spend a couple of days in and around the city. I’ve booked a rental car for a one day road trip around the southern end of Vancouver Island and plan to visit the totems in Duncan, the large murals in Chemainus, and the coastal beaches south of Port Renfrew. On the way back to Victoria will be a highly anticipated meal at the world renowned Sooke Harbour House.

A week on the west coast should fix me up pretty well. There’s even an outside chance that all the snow will be melted in Halifax by the time I return home.