March 26, 2009 | Tips from Travellers >
Sooke, Attractions
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The Sooke region is only an easy 30-40 minute drive from downtown Victoria, B.C. Our guests at Markham House Bed and Breakfast, continually comment on the wonderful outdoor activities available in our area. Hiking in East Sooke Park is a must--one of the finest marine trails on Vancouver Island. To be able to travel west to Botanical Beach at low tide is a treat--the acres of tidal pools are filled with sea life.
Many of our slightly more adventurous guests try out the zip line , Adrenaline, in the hills of North Sooke--just behind the historic 17 mile pub--a great place to refresh after an exhilarating 2 hour wilderness experience.
Last week, some guests returned, agog, after their 3 hour Zodiac marine eco tour in the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
If one likes the outdoors, Winter or Summer, The Sooke Region is truly a premier place to visit. Our guests say it is so.
March 23, 2009 | Tips from Travellers >
Fort St. John, Dining
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My husband and I had a great dinner at Jackfish Dundees Pub out at Charlie Lake last Thursday. The food is always good, but they a special weekend menu that we ordered from.
For an appetizer we had crepes stuffed with cream cheese, capers, smoked salmon, and fresh celery. And for dinner we each had the roasted duck breast over orange slices with potatoes, mixed veggies, and portabello mushrooms. Yum!
Needless to say, there was no room for dessert that night.
It is definitely worth the short drive from town to enjoy their food and hospitality.
March 23, 2009 | Tips from Travellers >
Vancouver, Culinary Tours & Schools
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I ate lunch here about a month ago - was good, fast and well priced. Not really a sit down place (they just have a few stools), but worth a visit if you want a quick sushi fix:
Full-screen
Sendai Sushi![]()
?Address: Removal requested ()Restore requested Placement on map is approximate
2-601 Hastings Street West Vancouver, BC V6B 1M8, Canada
604-681-9892
March 20, 2009 | Tips from Travellers >
Victoria, Museums
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St. Ann's Academy is one of the places in Victoria that a lot of who live here drive by, but never go in. At least that's my impression. This all changed the other day when I organized a tour there for some other mom-friends of mine along with our babies. Our tour guide was full of really interesting facts about the history of the Academy and the Sisters of St. Ann who lived and worked there. The building and grounds are beautiful, as is the chapel contained within. Well worth a visit if you come into town; admission is by donation.
March 15, 2009 | Tips from Travellers >
Kicking Horse Mountain Resort, Snowshoeing
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I have skied Whistler Blackcomb a couple of times - and a number of times in the Colorado region, but never before in the Canadian Rockies - Banff, Lake Louise, Kicking Horse and Revelstoke.
We almost cancelled our trip because of the lack of snow - but upon checking sites saw that a weather front was on its way, with good falls of snow expected.
Well - we got lucky.
Our first day was at Sunshine and we got about 6cms of fresh
Our second day saw us driving from Banff to Lake Louise at 7.30 - and it was dumping snow...approx 30cms. On the drive up we counted 11 semi trailers off the road and 8 cars - in a 48km drive.
We had a fantastic day skiing the trees and bumps off Ptargamin and Larch - the fresh snow making us look like heroes - and once we arrived back in Banff heard that 18 semi trailers had gone off the road...and that there was a 2.5hr queue to get up to Lake Louise.
So we got lucky - very lucky given it hadnt snowed for a month or more.
We moved on to Revelstoke, where we skied with some friends from Canmore. On our first day there we had the BEST corduoroy skiing I have ever experienced (who would have thought that corduoroy could have been so much fun) and ripped the mountain from top to bottom all day. Given the vertical at Revelstoke it was one of the most tiring (and exhiliarating) days skiing I have had in years.
The next day saw another 6cms fall - so once again we got lucky.
On to Kicking Horse. Wow - what a mountain. Easily my favourite ski filed in Canada - the terrain is magic. We stayed right on the mountain at the base of the lift, so were able to visit the local English pub...which was sensational and served the best beef stew I have had - possibly ever.
And then back to Lake louise, where we got another 6 - 10cm of fresh. There was virtually no one up the mountain and we spent all morning sking fresh tracks in virtual solitude.
This part of the world is absolutely stunning - we like to think our Queenstown is pretty special but its not even close to this place - awesome mountains, snow and facilities.
I will be back in summer to backpack and flyfish the backcountry rivers - if its this good in winter I can only imagine how good it would be on a warm, sparkling, sunny day with the fish rising.
March 13, 2009 | Tips from Travellers >
Dawson Creek, Attractions
Located in the traffic circle, near the historic Mile 0 Post and Cairn is a statue which is a portrayal of a surveyor that worked on the building of the Alaska Highway. His clothing and survey equipment are true to the 1942 time period and he pointing the way to Alaska. Karl Mattson, a local artist, created this amazing statue by welding and shaping scrap metal that he found discarded on farms in the region
March 12, 2009 | Tips from Travellers >
Prince Rupert, Fishing
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Over the years Prince Rupert has become a Tourism Destination for Fishing Charters. Recreational fishing charters have sprung up everywhere. I just wanted to share a picture of a shot taken from Frohlich's Fish Guiding in Prince Rupert.
March 11, 2009 | Tips from Travellers >
Terrace, Skiing & Snowboarding
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Inspired by a North America-wide Burton contest that encouraged growth and participation in women’s snowboarding, seven friends and I embarked on a six-mountain, seven-day snowboarding tour of northern BC in February 2009. The sixth and last hill we hit was Shames Mountain, homebase for seven of eight of us on the tour.
When we rolled into the parking lot at Shames Mountain we immediately saw friends, partners and friendly local staff who were excited to welcome us home. Our new mountain manager Marty invited us up to the lounge where he and the food and bevvy manager Gerry had set up a fantastic breakfast to welcome us back to our favourite hill in the north. Pancakes, fruit and orange juice and champagne! Seriously, we felt like superstars. What a great welcome home. There was even a tablecloth on the table.
Super sweet Gerry also busted out some photo albums with Shames Mountain stickers on them because he knew we'd have photos from our trip we'd want to load them up with. How very thoughtful. Thanks for making us feel so special boys!??
Sam Lewis, our only PG rider, hadn't yet experienced the awesomeness of Shames so we all loaded up to the top of the T and went for a boot pack right off the bat. Walked up to the first knoll and rolled down some heavy, sort of crusty powder (still no fresh snow anywhere in the north on our trip) and back to the T.
We had lots of breaks in the sun as well as watched Stacey hit a jump that shot her like a rocket straight up in the air. She landed butt first in the snow but shook it off like a pro and kept on down the hill.
We hit up the terrain park with some of our mountain friends and made our way back to the chalet to enjoy the rest of our champagne and bask in the glorious Shames Mountain afternoon sun with our friends.
We had an incredible week-long journey that none of us will forget, and we adored every hill we visited, but there really is no place like home. We realized how very lucky we are to have chair and T-lift access to some of the most glorious snow in the province.?
Shames is owned by a small group of community shareholders who operate the hill because they know it is good for the community. It's not a huge money maker and we are truly grateful to the people that keep this hill operating every year. Without them we wouldn't have this terrific resource right in our own backyard.
Big thanks to those folks that keep Shames going!
March 11, 2009 | Tips from Travellers >
Smithers, Skiing & Snowboarding
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Inspired by a North America-wide Burton contest that encouraged growth and participation in women’s snowboarding, seven friends and I embarked on a six-mountain, seven-day snowboarding tour of northern BC in February 2009. The fifth hill we hit was Hudson Bay Mountain in Smithers.
We were once again blessed by fabulous sunny weather at Hudson Bay Mountain. (We couldn't have ordered better weather for all the photos we were taking at each mountain – seven blue bird days in a row!)?
When we arrived we saw a lady snowboarder sporting one of our tour ‘Shred the Gnar‘ hoodies we had shipped to the mountain before we left home and we were once again given a great welcome.
With only the afternoon to ride we loaded up on the chair and rode down to the T-bar and enjoyed zero wind, a nice treat for us Terracites who like to visit our nearest mountain neighbours from time to time.?
It was ladies ski day at Hudson Bay Mountain so it was fortuitous that we were there on the same day. We met up with some long lost friends from the snowboard industry and ate a delicious lunch in the lodge.
Hudson Bay Mountain wins our award for best menu in the north - those spicy burritos were fantastic and the menu offered lots of unique options. We also really enjoyed the live music in the chalet (which is a gorgeous building, by the way) and were super impressed with the attention to detail at the hill. It was a real treat to see how much was happening at Hudson Bay Mountain!
The highlight of the day was getting a chance to ride the new Rotary Trail to Town - a ski-out that goes right from the top of the mountain all the way to the Smithers townsite.
Two women on our tour, Tara and Sarah Z, are both Rotarians in Terrace and were really excited to see what a terrific asset to the community their sister clubs in Smithers helped create. The wide groomed run winds its way down the mountain all the way to a wide open field. It was a fantastic way to end the day.
Folks at Hudson Bay tell us lots of the young folks will take the bus up to the hill then ride down to get picked up by their parents. That's pretty awesome when you're a teenager with no drivers’ licence. And loads of fun when you're an adult and don't feel like driving 24 km down the access road!??
A huge thank you to the Hudson Bay Mountain crew for great hospitality! And a special thanks to the great staff at Hudson Bay Lodge hotel in Smithers who graciously provided us with accommodations on our last night of our big adventure. (Oh, and the pub and menu at Hudson Bay Lodge is fantastic with great service too!)
March 11, 2009 | Tips from Travellers >
Mackenzie, Skiing & Snowboarding
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Inspired by a North America-wide Burton contest that encouraged growth and participation in women’s snowboarding, seven friends and I embarked on a six-mountain, seven-day snowboarding tour of northern BC in February 2009. The fourth mountain we hit was Powder King near Mackenzie. We stayed there for two nights and two days.
After two phenomenal days at Powder King, we are tired! So much sun, good times and mountain lines. Last night was craziness. After a wicked day of riding, a wicked afternoon in the bar with new friends from the hill, and then a wicked homemade spaghetti dinner, we all passed out before midnight.
Powder King hadn't received new snow in a few days but we still managed to find some pow while there thanks to our lovely local guides.
Today we hiked up to an incredible 360 degree mountain view, took a sweet photo of all eight of us that we plan to blow up and frame, then had one of the best rides of the whole tour from the peak to the valley. Cruising through the trees, we did get split up and a little worried about each other's safety – but of course, we all connected in the bar at the end of the day.
We rushed back to the incredible two-storey log cabin we'd stayed at while there. (Did I mention that the cabin was massive and kick ass and just a few minutes walk from the bottom of chair lift!?!?). We packed and returned to the bar to say goodbye to all the awesome people we'd met over the last couple of days.
It was hard to leave! Everyone had been so warm and welcoming.
All I can do is repeat what every woman on our tour can't stop saying. The people we've met during our snowboarding tour of Northern BC have been incredible and treated us like the hardcore princesses we've always wanted to be. Thank you everyone!. We are so proud to be part of you and so proud of the amazing riding and gorgeous scenery our region has to offer.