Canada Camping

So now back to that trip that we took at the beginning of the month. After we left Vancouver, we made our way East for our first night of camping in BC. On the way we stopped off in Hope, BC, which we soon found out was a shooting location for a few movies. How do I look as an action star?

While in Hope, we heard from the tourist center guy about some railroad tunnels nearby. I am a sucker for old railroad tunnels, especially long and dark ones. The Othello Tunnels did not disappoint.



After we left Hope, we drove another couple hours on the Crowsnest Highway. Our final destination for the next couple of nights was Manning Provincial Park. Here is our campsite:

Our campsite was near lightning lake. At the head of the lake was this really cool bridge.
The next morning we took a hike around the lake. The views were pretty spectacular.
Near the recreation area of the lake we saw a ton of ground squirrels. Here is Stephanie in her attempt to make friends with the little guys.
Later in the evening we went across the highway from our campsite to check out a lookout that we had seen on the park map. The view was pretty awesome to say the least.
Stephanie points out the lake that our campsite was next to:
One of the cooler/funnier things about camping at Manning was the programs that the rangers put on. We saw one on the schedule that we needed to check out: A deal or no deal spoof called "Real or Not Real". It was pretty funny for about 10 minutes, then we ditched out.
We opted to instead play Phase 10 back at camp while drinking hot chocolate. Excellent choice.

Overall, our time in Manning was great. It was a little chilly considering that we were higher up in the mountains, but the scenery was quite remarkable.

Summer Hikes (so far)

We had a slow start with a bunch of stuff happening this summer, but in the past couple of weeks Steph and I have made a concerted effort to catch up on our summer hike quota.

Last week, we ventured up Highway 2 to hit Bridle Veil Falls. The hike was a slow and steady climb, with a bunch of stairs. Bridle Veil Falls is on the trail to Lake Serene, but we had read that the trail to Lake Serene was pretty brutal, so we decided to stick with the easier hike. The hike had a nice payoff in the end however:


On Wednesday, we left early in the morning and drove up past Granite Falls to hit a hike on the Mountain loop highway: Heather Lake. Steph wanted to revisit the hike after doing it as a 2nd year at girls camp. She told me that at the time she thought the end of the hike was one of the prettiest places that she had ever seen -- she wasn't lying:


Once you get up to the lake, there is a nice half-mile loop around the lake.

Here is my swatting stick to combat all of the spider webs.
This photo is by Steph who is well on her way to becoming a renowned nature photographer.

Hopefully we'll get a few more hikes in before the summer ends. Let us know if you want to tag along!

Molson, WA

Remember forever ago when we went on that trip to Canada? While we have neglected to post about the last few days of our trip, I wanted to take a moment to share one of the coolest places that we visited: Molson, WA. While settling up for the night in Oroville, WA, we saw a map which listed Molson as a nearby ghost town. We took the 20 minute drive and found a small town of a population of about 50. In the entrance to the town was the ghost town, with several old abandoned buildings that tourists could walk through. But what was even cooler was that the old high school had been turned into a really awesome museum.

Now the museum wasn't really cool because of what was inside it, but more because it was an old high school with many of the classrooms left in tact. It made me nostalgic for a time that I had never been in.

4th of July Weekend

This 4th of July weekend we spent time up at Kayak Point. This is something that the Farrars have been doing for over 20 years. The added bonus this year was that we got to see much of Stephanie's extended family who was also camping up their as well as friends from our ward who joined us for the 3rd of July food and festivities.

Here are some scenes from that day. Enjoy!

random food thoughts

I couldn't think of a single thing I wanted to eat for lunch, it's too hot. So, cereal it is. I miss my cereal-eating days. Mainly because I miss my Provo-days. I miss the boxes of cereal that lined the top of our refrigerator and I miss eating cereal in the living room for, what seemed like, 60% of my meals. I guess that's the same time that my other meals consisted of Costa Vida, Smoke House, and JDawgs. Geez, that was some good eating.

I'm not one of those people who forget to eat. Are you kidding me? The only exception to this is when I'm shopping. I don't forget to eat then, though, I just don't need to because I'm busy fulfilling my other vice.

I always eat breakfast. Some people have to try to get in the habit of eating breakfast because it's (supposedly) healthier. I, on the other hand, wake up each morning excited for three more meals.

Organic, whole foods do not concern me. However, I really should stop buying and eating fat-free american cheese slices. Occasionally I'll bring fixings with me to work and just make my sandwich at work. My cheese embarrasses me, I think I've even shielded my cheese from the rest of the break room as I peel away the plastic sleeve from the limp, pale cheese slice.

gelato nation

One last Vancouver-food post. We stopped at La Casa Gelato on our way out of town, spent 20 minutes trying to decide on flavors (we shared a mint-brownie/nutella). It's expensive, but you've got to see the place!

(Rob showed me how to use Picasa collage, so you'll be seeing more of these... like, a lot more)

Vancouver: Day 2

The day started out with a workout, although it was a little longer than we first anticipated because we kept seeing places we wanted to go - the beach, the bridge.6.4 kilometers later (4 mi), we had followed the following route:

Later (much later), we got ready and headed to Granville Island for the public market. We had heard that it rivals Seattle's Pike Place Market so we were excited to check it out.

We found mangosteen! It has a history of being banned in the US. After a little internet researching I found that the ban was actually lifted in 2007, so I don't know why I've never seen it in the US.

Mmm. It looks and feels like it's alive, but tastes less scary. Rob, who has eaten mangosteen in Thailand, said that it wasn't as good as the ones he'd had - but I thought it was really delicious.

Monica, this is for you. Remember the dragon fruit we saw at H-Mart? Here's what it looks like on the inside. Has anyone ever had this? It looks like it would be like kiwi fruit.

We also went over to the kid's market, which is a building full of toy stores. Note to my future parent-self: never take my children here.

Granville Island is very small, but it was still worth it to explore it via bike. It really was a neat place, very beautiful.

Then we went to Costco. Rob was planning on getting poutine: french fries covered in cheese curds and french gravy. After a few samples inside he decided against it. The healthy choice, obviously, but he might live to regret it. We love checking out different Costcos, by the way.

In the late afternoon we rode bikes from the hotel down onto the Seawall, a great bike trail that pretty much circles the entire Vancouver West Side. By the time we got to Canada Place, however, my bike was making an awful squeaking/rattling sound when I peddled. We figured it was probably okay, but we ditched the bikes anyway to walk to Gastown, Chinatown, and the Library.

Gastown's steam-powered clock. We waited 5 minutes to hear the chimes that go off at quarter after the hour. 4 short chimes, then it was done.

At a Chinese Garden in Chinatown. This koi was as big as my arm - from my shoulder to my hand, it also had a funny "crook" shape to it's body. It stayed here at this spot for five minutes and Rob wouldn't let me gently toss a small rock at it to see if it would move.

Our route for the late afternoon: (bike update: WD-40. Sounds like new)

It was such a nice evening that we decided to keep on going on the seawall on our bikes. There were so so many people out on bikes, walking, on the beach, and rollerblading. With all the people, it didn't feel too crazy. In Seattle the most popular public places are also a hassle, with parking, etc. We think that because Vancouver is so urban and has so many great paths, people just walk to the beach.

giant bikes

Beautiful evening in Vancouver. This was taken around 9:30 in the evening, when we were riding back to the hotel via the same route on the Seawall. If you could ignore the darkening skies, you'd think it was 1 in the afternoon - still a ton of people out at the beach and riding bikes.

That's it for Vancouver. That's also it for the blog updates of our trip - 4 days of camping and no internet!