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Pacific Northwest (Canada/USA)
  • Tonya Philips
  • Jeremy Philips
  • Tonya Philips
  • Jeremy Philips

Pacific Northwest (Canada/USA)

A 23-day adventure by Tonya & Jeremy Read more
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  • Trip start
    April 25, 2024
    Pacific Northwest (Canada/USA)

    Vancouver bound

    April 25, 2024 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C

    Jeremy and I realised that this is our fourth international trip together, and in fact our fourth continent which we will travel to together. Call it our honeymoon :) We will try blogging this trip since there will be a lot of driving time to see the vast landscapes and wilderness of the Pacific Northwest. We have enjoyed breakfast in the Amex Centurion Lounge this morning...I believe it was our first airport lounge experience for us both.Read more

  • Pacific Northwest (Canada/USA)

    Vancouver Day 1

    April 25, 2024 in Canada ⋅ 🌧 7 °C

    We were greeted by cold wintery rain, and this is how it is forecasted to stay for the next week. I wasn't so enthusiastic to embark on Jeremy's cycling tour of Vancouver as a result and we ended up driving around for a bit instead so that Jeremy could familiarise himself with the road rules and the wrong side of the road. Our first and mandatory stop was at a Tim Hortons for breakfast. We then dropped by the Granville Island Public Markets where everything was appetising and then found our hotel. We've already had lovely interactions with about 5 Canadians as they are so approachable and easy to chat with. After getting lunch we took a stroll around Canada Place and have more or less given up on the day to hopefully get used to this timezone. We realised that we only slept 5-6 hrs in the last 50. The beautiful scenery will hopefully begin once we start heading through Whistler and west tomorrow.Read more

  • Pacific Northwest (Canada/USA)
    1

    Sea to Sky

    April 26, 2024 in Canada ⋅ 🌙 10 °C

    Today we travelled from Vancouver up the Sea to Sky Highway through Whistler and ended up in Kamloops. The language of the first peoples is a real head scratcher so I took a picture for anyone who can read it. We met Hannah, an old friend of Jeremy's for lunch and learnt that the name Whistler comes from the whistling marmots in the area. We also had our first taste of beautiful Canadian scenery. It is impressive how quickly it changes when travelling west. We did a short walk to Lower Joffre Lake, a defrosting lake which was very slippery to get to. Then our next stop at Lake Kamloops was about ten degrees warmer.Read more

  • Pacific Northwest (Canada/USA)

    Kamloops parkrun and a long drive!

    April 27, 2024 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 4 °C

    We found a great little parkrun this morning! And by "found", I researched the location, figured out the best overnight stop with the prettiest parkrun, and booked a hotel across the street.
    Following a quick coffee with a bunch of chirpy Canadian parkrun vollies we hit the road again.
    Tonya had a couple of new driving experiences today... An electric car on the wrong side of the road in torrential rain... With road rules, speed limits and lane markings being more like... suggestions. But the scenery was still fantastic, with snowcapped mountains in every direction.
    So we made it to Banff, collected our ski rental and are ready to faceplant down a mountain tomorrow.    Read more

  • Pacific Northwest (Canada/USA)

    The less treacherous part of the day

    April 28, 2024 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 1 °C

    Other than the difficulties faced on the mountains today, we took advantage of the sun for taking photos in the morning and evening around Banff and Lake Louise. Banff and the Bow River are stunning as ever and I just love the brown timber everywhere and the vivid green of the river and trees. Those colours define Banff to me. The lake at Lake Louise was only just starting to melt from the winter but we read that sometimes it doesn't melt until late June. This was lucky for Jeremy given he started walking through slush that he realised was water far too late and had a group of other tourists laugh at him. Nobody wants to end up in a 70m deep lake. It was also great watching all the tourists navigate the icy snow around the lake.Read more

  • Pacific Northwest (Canada/USA)

    Learning at Lake Louise!

    April 28, 2024 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 1 °C

    Just a short post while I wait at the bar for Tonya to finish skiing down the mountain. So we spent some time on the learning slope, where Tonya gave a valiant effort in teaching me the subtle art of turning, then the trickier art of stopping without using your face ❤️. Then after a couple of runs on "easy street" (Which isn't by the way) we worked for our lunch, by catching the gondola up the mountain, then skiing down to the upper restaurant... And when we got there the sun came out 😍. Of course we then had to get down to the base... After a bit of liquid courage and some warm soup we made it down.Read more

  • Pacific Northwest (Canada/USA)

    Sunshine and snow - part 1

    April 29, 2024 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 0 °C

    Today was another trip down memory lane from ten years ago for me and a full day of new Canadian experiences for Jeremy. Our day began at Sunshine Ski Village where the green ski runs were a bit more beginner friendly. And whether we wanted it or not, there was a solid foot of powder to the sides of the raked ski runs. It was stunning to ski through and we had a great time in the sun and snow. Jeremy got pretty confident on those slopes so we even did a run together from the top reaching 60kph on the long flattish sections.Read more

  • Pacific Northwest (Canada/USA)
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    Sunshine and snow - part 2

    April 29, 2024 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ -1 °C

    After skiing we drove to see the memorising lakes at Kananaskis which are one of my favourite places in the world. It started snowing quite heavily on our hike to the lakes but we trotted along, bear spray in hand. Back in Banff we had a delicious meal at The Maple Leaf, which included a devine maple butternut squash soup, and other more familiar dishes. As we were eating the snow outside engulfed all the roofs, cars, benches and bikes in a white blanket. And that's spring in the Rockies for you.Read more

  • Pacific Northwest (Canada/USA)
    1

    Winter isn't over

    April 30, 2024 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ -2 °C

    The weather did a 180 degree flip from the sunshine yesterday, so we started out today by getting another photo at the Banff sign. This town really looks magical in the snow, but the trees up in the mountains even more imposing. Our day's events are mainly logged on Strava today and consist of around another 30-40km of skiing at Banff Sunshine. We did some new routes despite the visibility being poor, including a small jump we reached by accident when trying to escape a route we didn't like. It was wild but ultimately enjoyable. Now that skiing is done for the trip, Jeremy is asking me when we are going again 😅 This evening we wandered around the shops in Banff, including my personal favourite, The Spirit of Christmas 🎄Read more

  • Pacific Northwest (Canada/USA)

    The Icefield Parkway

    May 1, 2024 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 1 °C

    So today was full of rollercoasters. Started with planning the trip up the Icefield Parkway from Lake Louise to Jasper, which was incredibly scenic and beautiful... However with no chargers and limited phone reception it was a little stressful... Especially when the Tesla was accidentally put into valet mode halfway through, which disabled a bunch of functions. We still managed to see some fantastic canyons, waterfalls and glaciers on the trip. But we made it to Jasper and sorted out the car. After a lovely hike, we headed to the local pub where Tonya introduced me to further weird sports involving ice and ramming people into walls.Read more

  • Pacific Northwest (Canada/USA)

    Back to Vancouver

    May 2, 2024 in Canada ⋅ 🌙 11 °C

    Nothing overly exciting to report, just another lengthy drive, starting with the incredibly scenic Mr Robson National Park, where we spotted a couple of cuddly black bears on the roadside, then down the Yellowhead Highway all the way to Vancouver. It was fascinating watching the mountains turn to plains and farms, then back to mountains again! Then we hit the infamous Vancouver traffic, which is probably on par with some of Sydney's worst.
    Back in Vancouver we've settled into our little AirBnB for the next few nights, and went for a little run to Queen Elizabeth Park and scoped out the marathon starting line. Additionally I made the pilgrimage to the Bloedel Conservatory, one of the more accessible filming locations from Stargate SG1.    Read more

  • Pacific Northwest (Canada/USA)

    Some stairs

    May 3, 2024 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    To make up for sitting in the car all day yesterday, we spent today seemingly climbing endless stairs. We started off with a warmup at Lynn Canyon. It's the smaller version of the more famous Capilano Canyon and bridge. Lynn Canyon has it's own little suspension bridge, and a gentle stroll down to a beautiful river and pool. When we were researching it, Tonya realised she had done it already but this was a great refresher.Read more

  • Pacific Northwest (Canada/USA)
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    Too many stairs

    May 3, 2024 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    On to the main event! The climb up to Grouse Mountain on the Grouse Grind. 800 metres of vertical elevation over about 2.5km. It's basically a combination of Nellies Glen and Furber Steps (If you know, you know). We successfully made it to the top, rewarded with an amazing view, lunch and a stroll to see the grizzly bears. Apparently they had less snow than normal this year... but it was still over our heads in places! After taking the easy way down we went for what we planned on being short walk to see the Capilano Dam... which turned into a slightly longer walk with even more stairs!Read more

  • Pacific Northwest (Canada/USA)

    Central parkrun Burnaby

    May 4, 2024 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    So today was our second Canadian parkrun. We ended up choosing Central parkrun in Burnaby, with no regrets! It's a lovely 2 lap trail through a forest, with squirrels, geese and ducks hanging around. Topped off with a coffee and a chat with some of the locals.Read more

  • Pacific Northwest (Canada/USA)

    Vancouver Marathon Expo and gatecrashing

    May 4, 2024 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    After Parkrun this morning, we had a fairly relaxed day. We collected Jeremy's bib for the marathon tomorrow, together with thousands of other runners at the convention centre, and Jeremy posed for some pre-sweat photos. We then caught up with an old friend from my days at Macquarie University Singers, Fiona, who kindly invited us to gatecrash her brother's birthday party.Read more

  • Pacific Northwest (Canada/USA)
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    Vancouver Marathon

    May 5, 2024 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    From Tonya's experience - I was all geared up and ready to ride a Mobi (share) bike in the rain and looked quite ridiculous compared to all the other spectators. However, the bike worked out well and because Jeremy ran so fast, he finished before the rain started. Got to see some familiar sights and give Jeremy all his warm clothes at the finish line.

    From Jeremy's experience - Running. Pain. Cold. Warm. Cake. Beer.

    In all seriousness, it was a great race. We were lucky to be staying nice and close to the start line, so Tonya could see me off then head home for breakfast! I didn't go into my first North American race expecting a good time, my training had been a bit sporadic, then skiing and climbing a mountain... But I was feeling good for the first half, and gained a fair bit of time over my goal time, once I realised that then I just tried to maintain it. The scenery was beautiful, the crowds were amazing through most of the course, a bit thin around Stanley Park, but the course was lined with crowds through the final couple of Ks. And some of the crowd realized I was from Sydney (Australia) not Sidney (Canada)! Seeing Tonya at the 32k, and 42k mark was amazing!    Read more

  • Pacific Northwest (Canada/USA)

    After the marathon

    May 5, 2024 in Canada ⋅ 🌧 10 °C

    After Jeremy's recovery cake from Breka Bakery (our new favourite chain), we went home and my rain gear was put to the test. To reward himself after a hard day's work, Jeremy suggested we go to a brewery in the evening. It was a good opportunity to explore Olympic Village, an awesome sports shop with a bouldering wall, and Jeremy's lack of flexibility in his runner legs.Read more

  • Pacific Northwest (Canada/USA)

    To Vancouver Island

    May 6, 2024 in Canada ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C

    So after our last night in Vancouver, we headed to Tssawassen, for the ferry to Vancouver Island. While waiting for the ferry (and the car to charge) we did some window shopping at a gigantic outlet mall.

    Soon enough we were on the ferry. It's interesting that the Tesla is classified as a "undersize vehicle" .

    Our first stop in Vancouver Island was the famous Butchart Gardens which deserves a post of its own.

    But after that we headed to our hotel for the night, up in the hills above Victoria, overlooking the bay.    Read more

  • Pacific Northwest (Canada/USA)

    Malahat Skywalk

    May 7, 2024 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    Had a quick little trip to the Malahat Skywalk, which had views all the way to Vancouver, and to the Olympic Peninsula, where we'll be heading tomorrow.

    It's about 800 metres to the top where we could see the views. There was an awesome net at the top which you could walk out on and look straight down.

    We also opted to go the fast way down, and did that a few times to make the pizza around the fire pit at the bottom well deserved!    Read more

  • Pacific Northwest (Canada/USA)
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    Quick tour of Victoria

    May 7, 2024 in Canada ⋅ 🌙 10 °C

    Our quick tour of Victoria involved taking photos of the outside of Hatley Castle (which was being used as a film set and the large film crew were a bit protective of us taking photos) and Craigdarrough Castle (closed today but happens to be in the back yard of where we are staying tonight, which itself reminds me of the Faulty Towers hotel by its decor). We also saw a fort, port and lighthouse for Jeremy's interest. Oooh and we saw an otter swimming in the wild which was a first for us both.

    Dinner tonight was in downtown Victoria (Taco Tuesday of course) which allowed us to take photos of the buildings in their lit up splendour in the evening.    Read more

  • Pacific Northwest (Canada/USA)

    To the US of A

    May 8, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    We started our day with a breakfast in the dining room of our Fawlty Towers style hotel. I thought about going to cook my own egg (as one of Fawlty's guests had done) but we did get our breakfast eventually - turns out the cook was late to work.

    Jeremy surprised me with a photo stop to take photos of the US snow capped mountains on our way to the ferry between Victoria (Canada) and Port Angeles (USA). Everybody boarding the ferry was bossed around as usual by the US immigration officers and snapped into line very quickly.

    When we got to the US we first drove up Hurricane Ridge to see the beautiful view of the US Olympic Mountains and took some photos in the snow between the pines. There were no fences as they were probably covered by snow, so it's a good thing we didn't slip off the edge.

    As soon as it came to lunchtime, I remembered how hard it is to find something edible in the US that doesn't cost too much. We ended up eating lunch at Wendy's (iconic but fairly awful). To appease me, we went to a grocery store and bought plenty of snacks for the road.

    On our way to Lake Quinault (where we would spend the night), we drove windy roads through the forest. The first stop was Marymere Falls....tbc.    Read more

  • Pacific Northwest (Canada/USA)

    US beaches and lodge

    May 8, 2024 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 10 °C

    We continued our drive down the west of the Olympic Peninsula stopping at the beach at La Push and Ruby Beach. This coastline has a huge amount of driftwood and enormous trees on the beaches, so it makes for a very different experience. 

    After photographing the sunset at Ruby Beach, Jeremy drove us through the dark woods which crowded the road to arrive at Lake Quinault Lodge. It really was a relief to get there as it had felt like we were visiting Little Red Riding Hood's grandmother. Our accommodation turned out to be a beautiful timber lodge rebuilt in 1924 and had a huge inviting fireplace and lounge, antlers on the walls, decorated timber trusses and historic photographs.    Read more

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