Burrito West Blog

A friend texted me one night: "wanna go on an 8 day group kayak tour in Haida Gwaii in July?" and an hour later Peter and I were basically signed up. A chance to do a kayak tour in a place that has been on our 'need-to-visit' list for ages, with friends? Yes.

And we were right. It was the right thing to do. It was amazing.

View from our tent, Haida Gwaii.

We flew to Sandspit and walked along the oceanside road to our inn from the airport, being followed by swallows darting magically in the air around us and eagles flying overhead. We were definitely not in the city any more.

Peter and I and one of our friends were there a day early. We hitched a ride (common thing to do there) to the ferry and to the Haida Heritage Centre in Skidegate which was very interesting, full of history and artwork and a carving shed for Haida artists.

Me in front, Peter is in back. Haida canoe.

We walked to Skidegate to find Skidegate Days was on, partook of some bbq, and were offered a chance to paddle a Haida canoe (holds 14), which we did, of course.

The guy who took the steering position was the local RCMP dude, in uniform. It was hard work to move that thing, but super fun to get a chance to do it.
We met up with the rest of our friends that night at the restaurant/pub in Sandspit for a nice dinner and the next morning we were off!

Me, wearing all my layers + lifevest for the zodiak boat trip.

A van picked us up and drove us down a logging road to the zodiak boat launch at Morseby Camp. They told us to bundle up with all our layers for the ride. It would be about two hours with the cold ocean wind blasting at us non stop ("we can't turn off the AC"). They gave us full length rubber jackets to wear, got the zodiak in the water and we were off. And I was immediately glad not to be in front (Peter was in front) because it was very cold!

The scenery was beautiful and we were excited to be starting the trip. We motored ever further away from civilization and headed to central Gwaii Haanas.
Gwaii Haanas, is a National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site that is collaboratively managed by Parks Canada and the Haida Nation on a cooperative management model. Which is amazing.  It is  the first area in the world to be protected from mountain top to sea floor. It is only accessible by boat or seaplane. 1470km2.  It's big. It's wild. The Haida can trace their presence on the land back of thousands of years through archaeology and further via oral history. It's the first time I've ever been in a place where humans are held at bay and you get a glimpse into what nature does on its own (which is not to say the area hasn't been logged and mined and otherwise interfered with, but relative to places I've been which have been heavily modified, this place was pristine).

Our tour was in the central portion of the park. We started in Carpenter Bay and finished at Hot Spring Island, which is as perfect a place to finish a kayak trip as you can imagine or wish for. 

It's important to preface this trip summary with the fact that Haida Gwaii in July is not hot. It's a high of 16C on a good day, and easily less if it's cloudy. I wore two pairs of pants the whole trip, basically. But it's worth it.

Our days would start with breakfast provided by our guides, then paddling. Often the ocean was as calm as a lake. We would pull up on a beach somewhere for lunch, then more paddling until we reached a destination where someone was assigned to make dinner and we all feasted by the fire. 
The first night we camped at Carpenter Bay where the zodiak boat dropped us off and picked up the people who had just finished their tour. Our guides made an amazing salmon dinner for us as a welcome.

We paddled from Carpenter Bay to Jedway Bay on our first day, camping in the forest of moss and foxglove flowers like something out of a fairytale.  
There was a gravestone in the woods at this site - a lonely but well-tended grave surrounded by a picket fence. The grave is of a young Japanese woman who died there in 1913. Her epitaph was handpainted on an oar blade (then later a stone). There was once a Japanese abalone cannery in the area. More details here.  It was a reminder that people have tried living out here throughout the years - in what must have been wild and remote settlements. I imagine hard lives in beautiful surroundings.  The beach in this area was a treasure trove of old equipment pieces, broken pottery, and abalone shells. I happily scoured the beach for ages, adding to the little piles of pottery fragments collected by others who have passed by.

The next day we paddled to the start of Burnaby Narrows - an area of incredibly rich intertidal life that is the highlight of this part of the park. It was cold with blowing rain that night. We all ate dinner quickly and retreated to our tents, tired from a long paddle. 

The next day we did a lazy float through Burnaby Narrows at low tide and saw many amazing things - sea stars catching crabs, huge rocks covered completely in anemones. It was lovely and I've never seen so many sea stars in my life. We had a cold lunch on a beach in the drizzle, then paddled to Island Bay. As we approached the beach we were planning to camp on, we saw a pod of dolphins and we stopped and floated a responsible distance away and just watched until they moved on. Something about the sound of dolphins breaking the water to breath is quite wonderful. We camped in the forest by the beach, near a small waterfall. 

View on Yatza Mountain

No need to break camp and load the kayaks the next day as we were staying put. One of our guides took us on a hike up Yatza Mountain - a place with no trail. Not even the hint of a trail.

The hike started with a river crossing and then proceeded through a bog up the mountain. We were all wearing kayak shoes so we essentially hiked in wet feet full of bog water the whole day - and survived. This is not something I would typically do. It was a great hike, a chance to put our trust in our guide and just blindly follow him into the woods. I learned that bogs can extend up mountains, who knew. Our guide Joe got us back to camp safely, after a detour to a freezing cold waterfall where everyone but me went for a dip (I studiously avoid getting cold and wet and saw no joy in the activity, but it was a pretty spot to visit).  After the hike, Peter and I made dinner and everyone survived.
The next day we packed up (loading up the kayaks with all the gear is a game of tetris and it's kind of exhausting as a way to start the day). After launching, we ran into our dolphin friends again and floated and watched them for a bit. 

We got to Newberry Bay where we set up camp. This was our first really really buggy evening. Out came the bug nets/hats. I spent lots of time in the tent reading to avoid the bugs, until the cold drove me to the fire to take my chances. The beach here was covered in beautiful abalone shells. It's illegal to harvest abalone in this region and it's even illegal to have the shells. I satisfied myself by collecting some and leaving them on display on the beach for the next visitor to admire. I also learned that urchin shells, when weathered are an artwork of their own. 


It rained hard overnight but cleared up in the morning. We had pancakes for breakfast to fuel our hard paddle across Juan Perez Sound. It was a hard slog for me - I'm not a strong paddler by any means and this was our first paddle facing winds and some slight choppy water so it was work. But the prospect of a possible hot spring kept me going. 

View from the hot spring.

We arrived ahead of the sailboat that was heading the same way (the Haida watchmen sites only allow 12 people at a time to visit). We got our kayaks on the beach and ran to meet the Haida watchmen at the house - they were very welcoming and invited us to enjoy the hot spring. An earthquake in 2012 cut off the natural hot water but it had started to come back and this year was the first year it was actually hot again!  And, there were shower facilities so we could get clean first! It was AMAZING. Clean and immersed in hot water with a view of the ocean and Haida Gwaii scenery?  And we were done paddling? I was giddy happy. 


We stayed in the hot spring for an hour or more and then left so the next group (sail boat) could visit. We went back to the beach where Peter and I rehydrated our homemade chili, keeping our fingers crossed it would be edible. I brought out the heavily preserved cakes and lit candles for Peter's birthday. It was a very good day. It felt very good to be warm and done.  We got to camp on the beach of Hot Spring Island which isn't normally allowed, but because they were culling deer on the island next door (via helicopter snipers, I kid you not), we were allowed to. I fell asleep to the sound of drizzling rain on the tent which turned out not to be drizzling rain but sand fleas jumping all over the outside of our tent - something I'm very glad I did not know or I would not have slept a wink. 

At some point very early in the morning Peter woke me up saying he heard a whale. We unzipped our tent and looked out and sure enough, orca fins were slicing through the water offshore. We watched them go around the corner, listening to their puffs of breathing - grateful we caught the sight. For once, Peter being an insanely light sleeper paid off.

The next morning we made another visit to the hot spring before breakfast on the beach. The sun came out and the beach turned into what looked like a MEC yard sale as every item was laid out to dry - finally, dry things!  We had been slightly moist all week really.  


We packed up, cleaned our kayaks and hopped on the zodiak boat for our trip back to civilization. We stopped at another Watchman site on the way T’aanuu Linagaay (Tanu) 

It's an amazing former Haida village site and you can see the collapsed longhouses that are covered in moss and new trees, being reclaimed by the forest. It's heartbreaking to think of the thriving community that lived in this area that was just hammered by the arrival of white people and their diseases & oppression. Canada's history of awful treatment of indigenous peoples is something we all need to do a better job to understand.

Walking through the forest in a former village site, you really felt a sense of what was lost and you really hope the Haida people can find a way to flourish despite everything that has happened and the challenges that face them today. 

We got back to the logging camp and drove back to our inn in Sandspit, saying goodbye to our guide Joe. We showered. Amazing. showers are amazing. Clean clothes are amazing. Then we met at the pub for dinner (we'd been having amazing meals on our beaches actually). Sleeping in a bed was a delight.  Sleeping in a rainforest on a moss covered floor is amazing but after seven nights I'm ready for a bed.
I highly highly recommend visiting Haida Gwaii. If you're interested in getting out into some amazing nature - Green Coast Kayak took very good care of us.  


A trip of a lifetime, for sure. It's amazing to be that far away from people - we saw a total of two other kayak groups in our week-long trip. Seeing nature - what a rainforest is supposed to be when humans aren't messing around with it (much) was staggering - nurse logs with an entire forest growing on them, huge trees. Even out there though there are signs of humans extracting resources and fucking things up - including mines that were left open, draining toxins into the water.  Now that Gwaii Haanas is protected, hopefully it can heal, but it takes time. 


Despite those scars, it is a magical place, and I don't say that lightly. 

The photo album is here. 

I went on an eight day camping kayaking trip to Haida Gwaii back in July.  At some point I will try to sit down and write a post about the actual trip, but this post is something else. 

I have recently returned from travels!

This time I was in Iceland, then London, then West Yorkshire area. The last bit was an Arvon writing retreat, like I did in Scotland years ago. And it was amazing. The setting was perfect - an old mill owners house called "Lumb Bank" donated by Ted Hughes to Arvon for inspiring and teaching writers. It's in a scenic spot and offers many wonderful walks through the woods and by rivers and through tiny villages of stone buildings. It oozes charm. The area oozes history and the mysterious pathways through the woods make you think of who else walked there long ago and where they were going.

The idea of a retreat is amazing. Go somewhere, forget about all the details buzzing around in your head. You don't need to worry about groceries or scheduling doctor appointments or any of that. You pack all that up and it will be waiting for you at the train station when you head home. While at the retreat you use all this newly gained brain-space to try writing in new ways. Morning workshops with tutors push you and challenge you and then you have the afternoon to do what you want with that new perspective.

At my one-on-one sessions with each tutor I had them review some of my writing and I got really helpful feedback and encouragement.

Now I'm back in the real world and trying to keep that part of my brain going - the question is, can I push aside all the chatter of life, forget the constantly refreshing to-do list and be a productive writer?  It's definitely harder here.

I'm reading a detailed Bronte biography so I'm a bit stuck in the language and headspace of Charlotte Bronte at the moment. I flip from practical work and life brain to this richer, deeper side that thinks about an immense literary talent living in 1840s in a small village in rural England, struggling with isolation and loneliness. I think about Lumb Bank with its big wood dining table and the creative energy that has been collectively gathered around it over the years. And I struggle to carve out a bit of space each day to get my head into that place. To forget about dentist appointments and netflix and even dancing and get myself into a fictional world. Not even to get myself in it - to create it from nothing and pull it all around me. At Lumb Bank it was a flick of the wrist and some strokes on a keyboard and I was there. Here, it is so much harder to push away the real world.

Photo album from the trip, including Iceland here.

Here is the rule. I will go backpack camping if it means I get to experience places and scenery I can't any other way. The Garibaldi trip from last year is an excellent example - that is the most beautiful place I have ever been to.

I've also discovered the fun of camping with other women and I've learned tricks from them on how to make back country camping more pleasant. So, I joined three friends on a trip to Manning Park to hike Heather Trail to Kicking Horse campsite.

The weather was supposed to be lovely the whole weekend. It wasn't.

We drove to manning Park Thursday night, having booked a car camping spot so we could hit the trail head earlier on Friday. We arrived and set up our tents in the dark and enjoyed a fire. Friday morning we packed our bags and headed to the trail head. Then drove back down to the lodge to get our back country permits. Then we drove to the trail head again. Bit of a late start. And instead of warm and sunny, it was overcast and had drizzled earlier. This was where I realized I did not have a pack cover. So I shoved a plastic bag over the top and hoped the rain held off.


The nice part of Heather trail is that you start at an elevation of 2000m and get to enjoy lovely scenery immediately and wildflowers show up pretty quickly. It's pretty amazing.

We were a bit worried about the arctic wind that kept blowing over us. No rain, but it was COLD. We layered on clothing and I was glad I packed a rain coat even though the forecast said sunny. At one point we discussed turning back, given the weather. We had seen the revised forecast of a low of 6deg down at the lodge and we're we up high enough to knock several degrees off that. We were all a bit worried but decided to press on and see how tomorrow looked. It was 13.5km to the campsite.



The last km went on forever but we made it to camp and found 1 spot empty so we crammed 3 tents on it and hastily made supper while trying not to freeze. At this point I was wearing a shirt, a fleece, a sweater, and a jacket. My feet and hands were getting the worst of it.

We had amazing chili made and dehydrated by one of the women on the trip. It was the best camping food I've ever had. We all agreed to skip dessert to facilitate getting into sleeping bags more quickly with the hope of being warm. I was glad to be sharing a tent, hopeful that would help with the cold. I tucked all of me into my bag with my kobo and reading light, with all of my clothes still on. I managed to get warmed up and get some sleep.

The next morning we woke up to overcast and cold weather. Maybe a bit warmer? We had a hot breakfast and I tried to look on the bright side - cold meant no bugs! We hiked to Nicomen Lake (15 km round-trip) to keep warm, since it was too chilly to relax at camp. It was a beautiful hike even with the cloud cover.

Everyone had a good sense of humour, so the weather couldn't really ruin the trip. And we never got rained on, so we were ok. We got back to camp and put on our bug hats. It had warmed up enough for the bugs to come out! We made another delicious dinner and the bugs had gone by the time we sat down to eat.


The next morning we woke up to sun! Amazing! 

We opted for a simple, quick breakfast so we could get going sooner. Broke camp and packed up, heaving packs on our backs and starting the walk to civilization. Early on one of us had a foot issue so we redistributed the weight from her pack to the 3 of us to try and avoid injury. She made it, in pain, but it didn't get worse, thank goodness. Can't say I loved the heavier pack, but it was nice teamwork and we all survived.

The hike back with clear skies was amazing - like a totally different route. Walking through sub-alpine meadows full of wildflowers with mountain peak backdrops never gets old.



We were slow partly because of heavy packs and foot issues and partly because it was so stunning. After 5 hours, I was super happy to see the parking lot. We threw our packs in the back, took off our hiking boots and we're deliriously happy. Then we went to the nearest pub for burgers. Post hike burgers are pretty awesome.


I've never camped in the cold before. I get cold so easily and it makes me pretty miserable, so I've avoided it. I will continue to do so, but the fact that I still chalk this trip up as a success says something about the fabulous company I was in. Good humour, good sports, supportive, etc. We had a great time. Good friends are good.

I do suspect I will be really over packed for my next camping trip. Long John's and down jackets, even for camping in August.

All the photos from this trip are here, including one of me in my very stylish bug hat:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/lisabrideau/albums/72157671611429325/with/28696406436/ 

Photo of  a back country camper!

After our year in Poland the travel bug left me entirely. I was so happy to be home with friends and in a place where I spoke the language and I had no desire to ever see another old church. The urge to sight-see was totally gone, it had left somewhere before our year in Europe was even up.

Peter recently went on a trip to Bangkok & Malaysia with a friend and I enjoyed it. I was honestly quite happy not to go. Which seems awful. One is supposed to love travel, right? Want to go at every opportunity?  That's not me any more.

That said. There is this writing retreat/conference in Reykjavik, Iceland that sounds amaaaaaazing. And the thought of staying afterwards and visiting Iceland seems really appealing. I can't put my finger on why - I suspect Iceland will be rather miserable in April, but it's a place I've heard lovely things about, it's a bit off the beaten track, something different... these things appeal to me. Also - it fits our new method of travel which is to have a reason to go a place, some activity or event.

So, tentatively, maybe the travel bug does still exist in me, it just needs very carefully crafted circumstances to come out.

So, I went on a cruise. Which is not something I expected to do for another few decades, if ever.
 
 I have had many people rave to me about how much they love going on cruises, but they didn't really seem to be my scene (not to mention that they are an environmental blight). An opportunity for a free 3 day cruise came up and Peter had plans to travel to SE Asia so I asked a friend if she wanted to join me and suddenly, a cruise vacation was booked!

Fortunately, I went with the same friend I went to Best Friends Animal Sanctuary with 5 (6?) years ago. She and I had similar views of our stopover in Vegas (not our scene, had to find our own fun), so I figured we'd be on the same page, mocking the same things on the cruise, both keen to opt out of the same things.

We flew to LA (LAX is a hot mess of an airport, fyi) and paid for the shuttle to Long Beach cruise ship port. The process of getting on the boat involved a lot of lines, but the moved pretty quickly and before we knew it we were on board and being told to go enjoy the buffet lunch.

The first thing we learned about cruise life is that they want to take pictures of you constantly so they can sell you photos later. At some point in the cruise we decided to stop fighting it and enthusiastically said yes to all photo ops (there were FOUR in a row when we got off the boat in Mexico, just to give you an idea).

We walked into the buffet food area and were assaulted by NEON and loud music. It was sensory overload. When I posted a photo on facebook, a friend suggested it was a Battlestar Galactica theme. We helped ourselves to fruit and soft serve ice cream and commented on the disappointing lack of sprinkles for the ice cream.

(photo above: lobby/atrium area of the ship. Subtle design aesthetic.)

The first stop for our cruise was Avalon on Catalina Island, California. We sailed there overnight. Which is odd because there are boats that leave Long Beach and get there in 1-2 hours. I really don't know how we managed to take so long, it must be really hard to be a cruise ship navigator and make it take 10 hours to get somewhere you can get in 2 hours.

We went for a wander around town, hiked up a steep dirt path at the suggestion of a local (great view), discovered a sweet pet cemetery with heartwarming memorial tributes to various pets ("Will, RIP, you were a great fish"), and had tacos.

It was strange being part of the cruise ship hoard (I usually flee the cruise ship hoards when they land in Vancouver). Avalon was nice but we had a really hard time finding any shops that sold any Avalon-made stuff which was a bummer.

They were having an extreme water shortage, with signs in their main plaza. FYI. Droughts - soon to be increasingly normal.


There was a section of the cruise ship called "Serenity" that I was keen to experience. I was a section of deck with lounge chairs and two little hot tubs that was kid-free. YAY! Unfortunately that doesn't mean it's free of loud drunk people who sit in the hot tub for two hours talking loudly nonstop the entire time.  At some point when it was cold and windy we tried the poolside area (more sheltered) and had music blasted at us while kids cannon-balled into the pool and drunk people at the bar screamed for no apparent reason. We tried sitting outside the cafe area inside the ship, but staff were setting up for an art auction (?) so there was a lot of commotion. We visited the library, which was cool, but it was off the ship lobby atrium and they had a guy at the lobby bar playing music which was amplified to ensure all 6 decks could hear it clearly. Our cabin was generally the only option for a quiet place to hang out. The intention of this cruiseline was to HAVE FUN, not relax and nap in the sun, clearly.

The next stop after Catalina was Ensenada, Mexico. We signed up for a kayaking excursion here because I'd heard the town was a tourist trap and I've never been to Mexico before so I wanted to get off the ship and see something.

The kayak trip was wonderful. It was well run and our guides were excellent. We went out into open ocean over some fun rolling waves, got to see a cool blow hole, learned to use giant kelp as an anchor.  Good times. We did get off in the town thinking we would find some food but the hawkers trying to get us into their shops were so persistent and obnoxious that instead we just walked back to the ship as quickly as we could. It was pretty awful.

We enjoyed some 80s music trivia and the Diva show, had dinner at a shared table with a random collection of people. Read books in the sun, chatted a lot. Did an 8am yoga class (yoga on a moving ship is interesting). Ate. There is so much food! Definitely gained weight.

Overall, we enjoyed ourselves... but mostly despite the cruiseline's efforts to manufacture fun. This was the party cruiseline. The kind where they ask "is everyone having a good time" and the crowd screams.  I'm not the kind of person that screams on cue. But, a few days of sunny weather and good company and no need to worry about things is always good.

The day I got back I sat in my apartment with two cats and enjoyed the lack of neon and loud music. I went the entire rest of the day enjoying the quiet.

Imagine this being really really loud.  Super relaxing.

I always marvel at how good it is to go away and travel and at the same time how very good it is to get home.  Peter returns from his crazy adventure in a few days; will be fun to share stories.

Trip photos are being uploaded here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/lisabrideau/albums/72157666415994404 

Every ball at a royal palace deserves its own post!

Going to Vienna to dance is an extravagance, but man oh man is it nice. This year going to Vienna from Vancouver we were much more charmed by the old European architecture than when we went from Poland, so it had a new veneer of specialness to it all.

First, the dress.
I spent a ridiculous amount of time dress hunting online. Searching for something really affordable, ideally not made by child labour overseas. Impossible, you say! And you'd be right, I think. So I started checking thrift stores, hoping for something I could take to a local designer to make acceptable. And I got lucky. Found this satin ball gown as good as new for $20 and it fit almost perfectly. I actually left it at the thrift store, went home, realized I was being stupid and went back to get it.

I went to local designer, Shelley Klassen of Blushing Boutique and together we modified the dress to be 1) not strapless, and 2) a bit more dramatic with a gathering of lace falling from my shoulder and trailing down the back.

Here are the before photos - not bad for $20, right?


Here's the after:


So for the second time I got to go to a fancy event wearing a custom-made one of a kind gown that cost me less than $300. I was very pleased.  Here's a link to last time, if you're curious.

This time I made sure to have it hemmed short enough for ballroom dancing! Win!

The Ball.
We went to the TU Ball (technical university ball) again this year. It's one of the more affordable balls held in the royal palace and we enjoyed it last time. Also there's a race car parked in the lobby of the palace, so that's a bonus.

My sister and her boyfriend joined us from London and attending the event with other people was fun - that's what was missing from our first event for sure.

Arriving at the palace is a bit surreal - walking up to a place that would otherwise be a tourist attraction and getting to walk right in. After getting tickets and coat/shoe check taken care of, we headed up the grand staircase (red carpet included).

We skipped the opening performance because you really can't see anything of it unless you have a table in the main ballroom. I have heard other balls put screens up in the other rooms so more people can watch, so maybe one day we'll see what happens. Sadly we showed up late enough that we also missed the photographers they have stationed on the stairs taking souvenir photos. My cellphone photos would have to do.
We toured the palace, checked out all the rooms. Kicked people out of our reserved table in the Wintergarden room and had some drinks. Spent our evening alternating between dancing and recovering at our table. Michelle brought her GoPro and I did a few dances holding it on Peter's shoulder so you can see what it looks like from my perspective when doing the viennese waltz - see below for a hastily - assembled video.

Dancing in these beautiful, grand spaces is amazing. I can't really put it into words.

The 2:30am quadrille (formation dance) was insanely crowded and a gong show. I think maybe 30% of people actually know what they're doing. Watching the quadrille is a highlight; very entertaining. Here's a video I took of the quadrille in 2014 (the one in the video was less of a gong show, for reference).

Michelle and Nathan were very good sports, being non-dancers. They left at 3:30am and Peter and I only lasted another hour. The dance floor gets wonderfully open starting at about 3am. Maybe next time we'll show up very late and stay until closing at 5am to maximize our dancing fun. I'm curious to see how they get everyone out of the palace at closing.

The Photos. (The rest are on flickr here)

Peter and I dancing around 3:30am. I am holding a go-pro. You can see the blue in my hair matches my dress. ;)

The video
I put together some of the clips so you can get a feel for the dancing.  Included is gopro footage of what a Viennese waltz looks like from my perspective (answer, dizzying).




Pressing questions I know you must have:

Were we able to do the viennese waltz this year?
Kind of? We were definitely more prepared than last time (practice and many lessons) and we did do better, but it's still very challenging. The dance floor is sooo crowded for most of the night and the music is sooo fast. And traffic jams on the dance floor happy so easily. A few more years of practice and I think we'll nail it.

Think you'll go again?
Probably. We really like Vienna, it's a relaxed place to visit and the ball is really fun for us - a chance to use all the dance skills we've aquired. It's surprisingly hard to find opportunities to waltz and foxtrot in regular life. We might try to join this Waltz Week thing to meet other dancers, it sounds fun:  http://www.waltzweekinvienna.com/

How hot and sweaty was it?
Dancing in formal wear is very hot and sweaty. All those images of civilized people being all proper at balls back in the day - erase those now, everyone must have been incredibly hot and sweaty.

Pro tip if you ever go to a ball - dancers who know what they're doing will rotate around the outside of the dance floor.  If  you can't keep up with that, you want to hang out in the centre of the dance floor so you aren't in the way. Traffic jams during a viennese waltz are awful.

Since our return from sabbatical Peter and I have not taken a vacation together longer than a week, so our two week trip to Austria, once booked, became something we were both really looking forward to!

Yes, we booked a trip to Austria in January, which is a bit strange. But ball season in Jan/Feb and Vienna is lovely without the crowds, so it's actually a great idea.

I even remembered to check my passport expiry date and get myself to the passport office over a week before departure (instead of the day before departure like last time)!

We left the night of the 24th and arrived late on the 25th very confused about what day it was. Jetlag hit us hard on this trip. Small price to pay, I think but it definitely hits us harder as we get older.

Central Cafe, our fave.

Our hotel was lovely (it had a bed, which after 11 hours of travel is a wonderful thing). Vienna was warm. We spent our first day in a cafe near the hotel, because one of the primary objectives of the trip was: "sit in cafes". Vienna cafe culture is really really wonderful.

We went to the Tech Museum and looked at old things and enormous industrial things, and waited for kids to get out of our way so we could play with the displays. There was a cool automated writing machine from 1760 - amazing.

The next day my sister and her partner Nathan arrived! Yay! I'm so glad they were able to pop over from London to meet us.

We walked the pedestrian street downtown and Michelle and I recalled when we were in Vienna together in the summer of 2004!

After dinner we went to the Elmyer Dance School for the private lesson I scheduled in the hopes that they could a) show Michelle & Nathan some basics for the ball and b) tell Peter and I the secret to navigating a crowded dance floor during the Viennese waltz. Michelle and Nathan are not dancers and they were very good sports about it all! Viennese waltz is one of the hardest dances, our studio doesn't even attempt to teach you until you're in level 3 - we were curious to know if the dance school would have a magic way of teaching it (not really).


Going to the ball was different this time because we had a better idea of what to expect, so we could relax about the details. We walked to the palace in our finery and had a lovely evening. Peter and I did better on the dance floor this time (still a challenge to do a Viennese waltz).

Gotzens/Mutters ski area

Peter made it to the funeral and visited with family, then got norovirus, then had a delayed flight but eventually made it to Innsbruck a few days after me. We took a bus to a local ski hill where he picked up the gear he had rented in advance and we gondola'ed up a mountain. I hung out in the restaurant at the top enjoying the view while he got in some runs. Snow conditions weren't awesome, but okay. It was nice to get out to the mountains.

We headed back to Vienna and enjoyed some more time in cafes, then it was time to leave.

We have a history of our flights getting buggered up. Most famously when we returned from a trip to Scotland specifically to catch a flight to Ottawa for my convocation (undergrad). And got stuck in Chicago where our flight to Ottawa was cancelled - so my mom and grandmother went to my convocation without me. Bummer. Which is all to say we generally expect to get delayed at some point.

This time our flight to London never left Vienna. We all sat on it for 2.5 hrs but it never left the gate. They let us off and Peter and I made a b-line for the check in counter (which meant going back through passport control) and each got in a line to try and figure out if there was any way to get to London for our flight. By the time we got to the counter it was too late for that so we had them book us on the same stuff the next day and they put us up in the airport hotel.

Fortunately, we had booked to come home early so being delayed a day caused no grief other than missing the cats. We spent the afternoon in Museum Cafe and enjoyed a free dinner at the hotel. We did feel bad for everyone in the airport line behind us (we were at the very front of the line and it took 25min to get us sorted out; the poor people at the end of the line!).
Second time was a charm - all our flights flew as scheduled and we made it to Vancouver!

Sadly, our checked bags did not.

And I had stupidly put our house keys in the checked bag.

So, after a side trip to our cat-sitter (thank god she was home) to pick up spare keys, we were home. Home is so glorious after a long trip. It's comfortable and has all the stuff you need, and cuddly cats who are glad to see you.


Vacations are nice. Coming home is also nice.

By the canal at night.

This trip to Ottawa and Montreal is the first vacation travel that Peter and I have done since returning from Europe, which is a horrifying summary of how busy and sucky work life has been.  It`s also a bit related to the fact that our urge to sightsee/explore new places disappeared entirely after Europe.

This trip has been dipping our toes back in the travel waters to see if we enjoy it still.  And the verdict is mixed. Vacationing is nice. Sightseeing.... meh.  Ottawa was lovely because I vaguely remembered the place from when I lived there long long ago and it is pleasant to be in a city where you know enough to navigate and can revisit places you once knew.  Also - exploring an english-speaking place is so easy! Giddy-making easy!

Montreal has been interesting - we have never visited here properly despite living in ottawa for 4 years.  We have done a lot of walking and gone in a museum and visited parks - so we are playing tourist fairly well. We are sure to put in a lot of down time so we return home rested rather than exhausted.  It's nice, but the urge to explore didn't last long if I am honest.  We spend a lot of time in cafes.

I do love how bilingual this city is (in the downtown core at least) - I understand the French mostly but I can reply in English and no one seems offended. I'm amazed at the number of people here who are bilingual (and many of them probably tri-lingual). Makes me jealous - if only I had gone to French immersion school, I too could have been bilingual!!  *sigh*

We're trying to make plans for our February trip to Europe for the ball in Vienna(!) and we are honestly scratching our heads trying to figure out what to do with our time in Europe since our usual approach of wandering around cities doesn't work so well in cold winter places. Our general lack of sightseeing curiosity isn't helping.  We're currently thinking we go to Vienna, then Innsbruck for Peter to go snowboarding, then maybe to Munich before ending in Krakow or Prague to visit Peter's sister.

If anyone has suggestions for things to do other than sightseeing, let me know. We're excited for the ball and seeing people who live over in Europe, but we aren't as excited as we should be about the rest. Looks like our year in Europe broke us.

First world problems for sure, I know.

Peter happy to be in a quirky live music venue in Montreal

In the craziness that has been the past month (losing Kitty, Peter working insane hours... again), I failed to blog about my August long weekend camping trip!

Last year it was a hike up to Garibaldi which was the most beautiful trip I've ever done and my first time camping with ladies only. Also, someone brought a water filter so we didn't have to ration water which changed the entire camping experience for me. It was lots of fun. So when Amanda, the mastermind behind that trip was planning for this year, it didn't really matter what she proposed, I was going.

This time it was a kayak camping trip in Sechelt Inlet.

Peter dropped the 3 of us and our gear off at the ferry and we headed to the Sunshine Coast and then caught a bus that took us within walking distance of the kayak rental/launch at Halfmoon Bay. We took some time to load our 2 kayaks (many dry sacs and lots of water) and headed out!

We quickly learned that I am terrible at steering a double kayak, hopeless actually, so we found some shallow water and switched out. Other than that, it was smooth paddling in pretty scenery and perfect weather.

We stopped on a beach to rest and have some food and admire the view. After a few hours we landed at Nine Mile Point and decided to try to find a campsite (busiest camping weekend of the year).

We squished our two tents into a spot that was kind of occupied (they were very understanding) and breathed a sigh of relief because we were far too tired to kayak to the next camping site. We unloaded our kayaks and moved them up above the tide line.

I was very happy to be sitting on a beach a and our hangout spot was pretty awesome.

We had some tasty re-hydrated food for dinner (no really, it's not bad), some wine, and conversation and watched the sun set.

The next day Amanda and Sara took the double kayak and went exploring. I very happily stayed on the beach with my book, got cozy in the shade and did a lot of reading.  I also pondered why I don't spend more time reading on the beach, it's possibly one of my favorite things to do.

We had another lovely evening (this time with fresh pineapple and champagne) and remarked on what a good idea this trip was.

We were really lucky because it was unusually warm, even at night so we could sit out on the beach after the sun set and watch the stars and check the water for luminescence (it is sometimes really bright in this inlet). We went wading in the water in the dark and there were some sparkles, but nothing dramatic enough to make it worth dragging the kayaks out. We chatted with the guy whose campsite we had crowded onto and discovered he's in the sustainability biz - always nice to run into good people randomly.

The next day we had to head back to reality. We packed everything up and headed out.


Unfortunately, the winds were blowing against us and the water was quite choppy. I was in the front of the double kayak to start and I got
soaked immediately by some waves. It was pretty funny actually. I've only ever kayaked in calm water before.  This was harder. A lot harder. If you paused to take a break or drink water, you would go backwards. There were some corners we went around where the wind blew really strong where we kind of doubted if we would make it around. But we did!

It took us 5 hours of paddling (with just 1 beach break) to make it back to the kayak launch. I've never been so happy to land on a beach and exit a kayak before.  We had survived though, which gives one a sense of accomplishment. Also, we happened to paddle by a rock covered in seals which was pretty neat.

We had been looking forward to visiting the pub that is conveniently located next to the kayak launch, but getting back took much longer than expected so we had to run to catch the bus to catch the ferry. The kayak launch owner gave us and our gear a lift to the bus stop, thank god - the thought of walking with all that gear, ugh. And we caught the ferry, yay!  And Peter picked us up at the ferry terminal on the other side, saving us from cramming onto a crowded bus to Vancouver, double yay! (Peter is very popular among the girls I go camping with because of his heroic efforts to always pick us up.)

Things I learned on this trip: after 5 solid hours of kayaking, my fingers will twitch for a few hours which is very unsettling. Then they will swell up the next day. Also, I learned I don't hate pineapple the way I used to - guess I just needed to have it in the right setting.  Finally, I took the day after our return off work which was the best idea ever - gave me time to recover (so sore) and unpack.

I'm grateful to my friend Amanda for dreaming up these excursions and for teaching us newbs about camping stuff. I still don't consider myself an outdoorsy person, but I enjoy excursions like this once a year.  :)

Trip photos uploaded to flickr here.