10.13.13 : granville island.

If you ever find yourself in the Vancouver, BC area, I highly recommend that you make every effort to visit Granville Island for a day or even just an afternoon. I first went there two years ago and it’s become an essential stop on my trips above the border ever since.

Beyond the fact that it holds a favorite brewery of mine that brews one of my all-time favorite [seasonal] beers, it also grants a pretty spectacular view of the city. Oh…and a magical indoor market with every kind of mouthwatering delicacy you could possibly want to procure for yourself. Seriously. There’s this bakery there that does a salted caramel apple focaccia that will have you licking the bag it came in. Or maybe that’s just me.

Regardless. Go there. If my words don’t convince you, maybe my photos will.

10.12.13 : cascade falls

I skipped Washington. Don't worry, I definitely did the Washington coast, but I had a goal to be in British Columbia for their holiday weekend (Canadian Thanksgiving!) and my plan just didn't leave enough time to do the Washington coast on the way up.

Having visited the greater Vancouver area three times in the last few years, I'd have thought I'd exhausted the local waterfalls, but in fact, there was at least one I hadn't seen yet, so my friend Jeff and I headed that way on my first day there.

It was a perfectly beautiful fall day, only tainted by some unfortunate graffiti on the rocks surrounding the falls…left for us by the class of 2014. I'll try to avoid a soapbox rant, but seriously people…if there's one thing that should be left untouched by the hands of miscreant youths, it's nature. Go graffiti something manmade and leave my waterfalls alone!

Ok. Rant over.

I also have to give some photo credit to Jeff, whose hand is pictured in the photo of him taking a photo of me on my iPhone (a gal's gotta Instagram). He came up with that one all on his own.

alexandra bridge.

You can probably see a theme from my travels up north…snow and exploring. The original Alexandra Bridge was built in 1863, but destroyed by a flood in 1894 and dismantled in 1912. A new suspension bridge was built on the original footings in 1926, but decommissioned in 1964 in favor of a new bridge built a few miles down the river. Lucky for us, there's still a walking trail down to the old bridge, which makes for some awesome photo opportunities, especially when buried under a few feet of snow.