I felt silly telling anyone that Brady and I were off on yet another trip after our May backpacking and July Iceland vacations, but when it's a work trip and you're spending next to nothing for the experience, AND you have Cory volunteer to take your kids, you go.
But the avocado toast they got stood up for by cartoon mural guy was the BEST breakfast of my life.
First up was a charming bike ride around Stanley Park. We did this with our kids when I was pregnant with Owen. It was pretty and quaint.
We found a roadside pizza overlooking the water on our way to hike. It was in a container with a food-fire stove and a very tall bar. I felt like a little kid ordering.
Brady and Nic spent time looking for accommodations and adventures, and I was just along for the ride. I really appreciate all the research. I remember Brady telling me that there were several trips he had to convince himself he wanted to take because it was so difficult preparing to be away. I felt that with my job for the first time, too, scrambling to get every lesson plan ready.
Main attraction! A hike up the Stawamus Chief Trail in the Garibaldi Highlands.
After our non-stop rain experience in Whistler years ago, we were so happy to bask in sunshine.
We checked into the Westin and off to our dinner reservation at 21 Steps.
9pm: Scary movie / robe party at Edwards room. Karen chooses. Brady to provide movie theater quality 🍿. Everyone is required to wear the hotel robes.
9:45 pm - pause movie at climax to finish later
The group input on our itinerary cracked me up as we tried to make the trip just like three years ago when we watched "The Quiet Place." The movie terrified me. After dinner, we attempted to watch a scary Halloween flick ("Scary Stories in the Dark") and lasted about 6 minutes. Turns out that only Brady likes scary movies and the rest of us had our eyes and ears covered. Instead, we switched on "Untold" stories on Netflix and paused them halfway because we all get sleepy at 10pm.
The first time we visited Whistler, I was pregnant with Owen and considered "high risk" because of my cramping and spotting. It was our infamous trip resulting in emergency services rescuing our family off the mountain because the lifts were closed. The second time, I had given up running permanently during my 2.5 years where I didn't even run one mile due to foot pain/bone spur/plantar fasciitis. Each trip, I listened happily as Brady related his stories of running trails up the mountains here and I would be lying if my heart didn't ache a little, wishing I could run up those trails, too. Now that I run 1-2 days a week, I knew I could explore those trails. Brady was less than thrilled that I'd be heading up for hours by myself, but I assured him I'd stick to trails where I saw plenty of people and obvious paths. I do have a reputation for getting lost easily...
I looked up trails and used my phone maps and trail guides. The first trail was a no-go, and I was crushed realizing that my efforts resulted in a lame dirt path instead of a lovely mountain summit. As I ran back down the hill, I saw several hikers taking off on another trail and raced after them to find whatever they knew that I did not. Success! I had one of the best mornings of my life, listening to books, finding these signs that define the way I feel about the outdoors, and feeling like for once, for once, I had found a path--almost on my own.
We had an hour between the boys finishing their conference and decided to walk to the lake. It was so gorgeous and warm outside, and I could not resist jumping in and swimming.
It was hysterical to find artwork that is so classically Kauai:
When we reached the top, we convinced Todd and Megan that it was worth the walk up the gravelly and dusty hill to take photos in the world's best lighting.
Next up: a day on the downhill mountain biking terrain. I was more anxious than last time, knowing how fast and how big the hills can be, but after my first run, it felt like "riding a bike." Harhar.
We met up with our group to go to the sauna and steam room. Brady and I are wimps with those things, but both committed to 15 minutes in each and made it! It was actually lovely as long as I could see the exit and my stopwatch.
Next, we traveled up the gondola. My favorite part of the ride was Todd's excitement over the views, the popcorn, and the sparkling lemonade stops.
We enjoyed crisp weather, a huge, full moon, and work relationships that have blossomed into friendships with our Canadian hosts.
After the gondola down, we looked everywhere for hot cocoa because we were a bunch of cold, adult Mormons that don't drink adult beverages. We even drove to 7-11 several miles away and their cocoa machine was broken. Ha! We settled on Canadian candy and watched documentaries on identity theft after hearing Todd relate stories about real estate clients losing hundreds of thousands of dollars with wire fraud.
The boys took off early for another day at conferences and I went right back up my new favorite place. I had the trail to myself all the way up to the almost-summit (so close before I ran out of time), and thought that was a little suspicious. I found out why on the way down as hundreds of racers passed me on their way up.
Brady got action shots of everyone and we have none of him. I try hard to contribute the photo bank but failed on this one.
We had another quick sauna/steam room excusrsion before heading out attending a reception. Afterwards, we had a late dinner at a Mongolian grill with Todd and Megan. As we assembled our by-the-pound plates, I felt like a college student again, wondering if I would regret the food I put on the cart when it came to checkout. It was delicious a fun concept, especially once we realized our plates were all around $25 each instead of $75.
Brady researched adventure options prior to the trip and settled on Joffree. It's an hour in the wrong direction and despite all the preparation, it was not clear that we needed permits to hike. We were turned around and this is the best picture we captured...from the internet.
We had limited reception and time as we scrambled to make a plan B. Heidi had hamstring issues and we had no bug spray, which eliminated several options. We finally settled on Nairn Lake, which looked underwhelming initially but turned out to be Shangri-La.
On the way, we passed a Mama Bear and her two cubs.
I wish I had a photo of the last remarkable event of the trip: no, not the one where we waited 2 hours for a very okay meal, but the part where Nic and Brady watched an entire BYU football game huddled around a phone. It went into overtime and ended a big win for our team, and although I fell asleep early, I roused with their cheers and grinned.
We intercepted Cory and Walker briefly in the airport and realized again what a huge relief it was to have someone we love watching our kids.
Until next time.
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