The end to our Canadian Journey: The Beautiful British Columbia

#CanadianRoadTrip #coupleswhotravel #TravelCanada #exploreCanada #BritishColumbia

Our adventures in British Columbia started on Aug. 2, 2018, when we arrived at Yoho National Park. We attempted t spend the day exploring, but ended up finding ourselves stuck in traffic for 3 hours. While we waited we made Mr.Noodles on our plug in lighter kettle, and played a few games of Yahtzee.We made the best of the situation, and by the time we finally made it through traffic it was already late afternoon, beginning to set into evening. We stopped at Finn Creek, where we took in the most amazing views of the mountains reflecting in the small creek, and enjoyed a nice hot meal cooked on our BBQ. We settled for the night at a Husky Truck Stop, and enjoyed warm showers in the morning. The drive from Yoho into Golden, was one of the craziest drives we've encountered so far!

The drive was entirely cliff side, in no stopping avalanche areas. There were runaway truck ramps located along the side of the road for Truckers who couldn't stop their rig, that's how intense these roads are. We also drove through a massive canyon, which the road was completely center of, along the drive we saw mountain goats all along the side of the cliffs.

Since we felt like we missed out on Yoho the day before, we decided to go back and hike Emerald Lake. This was an hour long loop trail along the turquoise waters of Emerald lake, through the forests. This was one of our favorite hikes, and definitely worth heading back for. The rest of the afternoon was spent exploring a naturally made bridge, made from the erosion of rock, and an evening spent at Feader Lake Picnic area, to cook up a nice dinner. We found a rest stop called Redgrave, to sleep at for the night. We spent the next several days waking boardwalks through the giant cedars, in the rain forests, and taking in the sites along our scenic drives.

Another highlight for us in BC was the "Meadows in the Sky Parkway", in Revelstoke National Park. This was a really beautiful experience. Revelstoke offers the opportunity for you to drive a super winding road to the summit of Mount Revelstoke. When you reach the top you have the option to walk the remaining kilometer or take the shuttle. We were forced to take the shuttle, as the trail was closed to due Grizzly Bear activity! Once we got to the top, we walked up to the top, where they have a fire outlook tower. The views looking around were breathtaking! Mountains in every direction you look, overlooking wildflower meadows, it really was spectacular. We also ventured out on an additional trail, called the Koo koo trail to the wildflower meadows. They really are a sight not to be missed! The hike took us about an hour each

way. It was a day well spent in Revelstoke. Next on the agenda, was to board the free taxi ferry across the bay to Nelson! We were off to spend a week with my cousins Rob & Fiona before they departed for there trip to Europe. Jesse and I were thrilled to spend the remaining three weeks in Nelson, house sitting their beautiful home and lovely cat while there were away. Our week with Rob & Fiona was special. First of all,

they have the most stunning views of the Selkirk Mountains right from there deck. That was a sight we would never get sick of. Rob treated us to a flight in his 4 passenger sesna. We were spoiled with an hour long flight, high among the mountains, above the Kooteney River. The flight really was amazing! There are no other words to describe it, the views were like nothing I have ever seen. The ride was so smooth, and breathtaking! After our ride in the air, we joined both Rob and Fiona for a taste of Nelson's amazing Food! Our favorite spot to eat while we house sat, was The Falls Pub. The service is friendly and the food was exceptional!

The next day, we joined Rob on a Hike up to Pulpit Rock about a 45 minutes hike each way. The hike is steep, but the city views of Nelson are worth it! We cooled off with a nice swim afterwards, at a local beach. Our next adventure was with

Fiona, who took us for a float down the rapids of the Slocan River. We were out rafting for about 3 hours. We stopped about midway the float to indulge in a nice swim. After the exciting day on the water, we went down to the local market for lunch. Rob and Fiona spoiled us with delicious food, and great company. We had a fantastic visit with them. We saw them off at the airport, and the house sitting journey commenced. During our three weeks in Nelson,

we took a small road trip to visit a friend we knew from Welland! We took a day to drive from Nelson to Langley, where we were greeted by a welcoming familiar face. Our friend Brandon, who moved from Welland to BC a couple of years ago welcomed us into his home with open arms. We spent 3 days exploring his neck of the woods. He took us to Alouette Lake, a beautiful provincial park in BC, where we spent the day swimming at the most beautiful secluded rocky beach, with the clearest waters. After our swim, we hiked some trails of the park, among giant cedars, ferns and moss. The hike looked like something out of a Jurassic Park movie! After our adventures, we went out for dinner at the "Black sheep Pub" before heading back to Brandon's to unwind with a couple of drinks. Our final day with Brandon was spent in Vancouver,

on a tour with Vancouver Whale watch to see some wild Orcas. The tour was amazing! There was NO shortage of any type of wildlife! We had the incredible opportunity to see 2 pods of orcas, a handful of seals, 3 dolphins, and 3 mountain sheep. All three of us had an amazing time! The tour took us out to the Gulf Islands, in the Pacific Ocean and filled our day. It was the perfect way to end our visit. Brandon spoiled us with great meals and drinks. It was so nice to catch up on lost time, even though the visit wasn't nearly long enough! Back to Nelson we went!

The remainder of our time in Nelson was spent relaxing! The smoke has become thick by the time we returned from our visit in Langley, which encouraged us to spent time reading, and watching netflix. We had several game nights, and took advantage of having accessibility yo a full kitchen, and made some fantastic meals. We had several beach days, including a day spent paddle boarding. We made several attempts at

hiking the wonderful nearby trails, however many were closed, and when we did finally find an open trail (Wilson Falls) there was a bear on the trail, so we decided to give it some time and head back to the truck. However, when we arrived at the truck we noticed we had a flat tire. Lovely, no hike today. We spent the remainder of our day changing the tire, and driving back to Nelson. We made plenty of wonderful memories exploring Nelson, and ended off our trip with a souvenir which will never be forgotten. A trip to Strange Society Tattoos left us prepared to move on to our final destination in BC, Wells to visit another cousin, Allison. The drive from Nelson to Wells

took us 14 hours to complete. We stopped along the way and spent the night at a rest stop before finishing the drive. We were greeted with the warmest smiles when we arrived to there beautiful log home located right on the Bowron River. Upon arriving, Allison, Ian, and her girls Devon, and Caitlin treated us to an afternoon In Barkerville. Barkerville is an old historic gold mining town.The town is still set up as it was long ago, with shops of all kinds of interesting trades. Allison and Ian treated up to the most amazing Asiago Cheese and freshest bread ever for lunch. We throughoutly enjoyed our day together. The evening was spent helping Allison set up her classroom, which was right up my ally. Ian cooked amazing meals for us each night we were there, and we spent each of our evenings with great company and plenty of laughs. The following day we were invited to bring Devon and Caitlin to move in to their residences for University and the remainder of the evening was spent getting to know Allison and Ian. As per our latest blog, Jesse and I spent a week out on a canoe trip on the Bowron River. Allison and Ian ensured we were prepared for the week long adventure and set us on our way. We returned to Allison and Ian's after our canoe trip for a final night. When we arrived we were treated to plates full of appetizers, and a fun evening of creating and indulging in Samosas! We had such a fantastic time with Allison and Ian, and were treated so great. Our visit was short, but unforgettable. As you have read, BC was the opportunity to meet and catch up with many family members and friends. We are forever thankful for the memories we were able to make with family we never get to see. We were spoiled rotten, and couldn't possibly thank each of the individuals mentioned throughout this blog enough!