Birthday Sweets & Treats

So it's sort of a tradition that on my birthday I like to go out and eat as many sweet things as possible! Last year I did it in London, the year before that it was in London again, the year before that in Shropshire! and this time I was celebrating in Vancouver!

So we started unofficially on the 21st by a trip across the border! It was just a short one because we had to get our visa for entering America reissued in time for our epic road trip (which I am eventually going to blog about in 2 more posts time...well done for being patient!) and so apparently we had to have a reason for crossing the border, the border official would not just let us cross to get our visa issue cleared up so we told him we were going for milkshakes at Sonic! He looked rather confused...as in why would you drive to a whole other country just for milkshakes - clearly he's never been to Sonic before! 

Neither had Byron, so this was his excited for Sonic face! 

The last time I went to Sonic I was 17, it was in Georgia and I remember being completely enthralled by the fact you could sit in your car...place your order and someone brought it out to you on roller skates! For me...it was as American as you can get! For some weird reason I didn't get a milkshake all those years ago, I'm thinking I must have got side tracked by root beer. This time around I was spoilt for choice - Sonic has an amazing shake collection!

 but in the end coconut cream pie (of course) won out! and it may have been the most delicious flavour ever!!

There goes our little rollerskating waitress!

 

For me...we could have ended my birthday right there and I would have been happy - I'm easily pleased! but the birthday fun continued all weekend long.

Cassie and Peter had a games night at their place with all our friends and lots of delicious cake! 2 in fact since Cassie and I are nearly birthday twins...with our birthday's just 2 days apart! They came from an amazing patisserie bakery and were super delish..

 

 



The next morning...on my actual bday we opened a few prezzies.

   This was the envelope By decorated for me, it's meant to have all my favourite things on it like toasting s'mores around the campfire, cupcakes, the beach but somehow the rain and Scotland made it on there so I'm thinking they were the ironic additions!

 

 After present opening we headed out to this farmer's market at Trout Lake I'd been excited to check out. Sadly, it wasn't really like a UK farmer's market and literally just had veg...where were all the cakes and meringues and treats?!

 

 

and there was only one food truck, aside from a crepe truck, called pig on the street...

 

Fortunately it sold this really amazing bacon wrap that was pretty special.  It was double smoked bacon, with sausage, bacon, sage and apple stuffing and apple chutney!

 

 so I sort of forgave the market for not having a better selection. It also left me room for all the other treats I'd planned for the day...

Like passion fruit and coconut truffles from Cadeaux Bakery.. and a coconut and raspberry pinwheel jelly sweet from Beta 5 Chocolates

 

and this amazing Oreo layer cake from The Last Crumb Cafe, one of my faves.



We also stopped off at The Baker and The Chef



to check out their cookie situation...

After a spot of baby shopping in Old Navy and picking up these cute onesies..

We dined at Tacofino...finally! I have been wanting to visit this place ever since we moved here!



 Vancouver is spoilt for choice with Mexican restaurants but I had heard the best reviews about here! It is over in East Van and not somewhere we go too often but since our lovely friends from church had lent us their car for the weekend we were able to make the most of going wherever we pleased!

 

So we headed there for an amazing birthday dinner! Definitely some of the best taco's ever...



pork jowl with pineapple salsa - yummy!

 

duck carnitas tostada with apple!

and chicken karaage with avocado! Oh man, I'm wishing we could indulge in some of these again! and when you're meal is accompanied by a Jarritos in a jar you know it's going to be good! 

and oh my, this deconstructed key lime pie was definitely the sweet treat to top all other sweet treats!

I could not have been happier as we sauntered back to our car, feeling incredibly full, and checking out the setting sun over the Van City skyline. 

To top it all off, our friends Jeff and Jessie invited the whole gang over after church on Sunday for an amazing pulled pork feast! 

and too many desserts to top it off, that's just how we roll! 

 It was an amazing birthday weekend, but heartbreaking to think that in just a few weeks our Canadian fun would all be over!

Sloquet Hot Springs...and a Surprise!

The weekend before my birthday back in June we had planned a trip to these hot springs I had heard about.  We'd been talking about it for a while but we knew it was going to be a bit tricky to organise.  The hot springs are at the end of a logging road (dirt road) that's about 3 hours beyond Whistler, we knew none of the usual hire cars we rented would make it there and were told you have to have a 4x4 to drive there.  Luckily, my lovely colleague came to the rescue again and offered us his 'truck' for the weekend...and we were all set to go! 

However, on the thursday night I got really sick! I was off work on Friday and just being sick and feeling awful all day.  I assumed it was some kind of food poisoning or 24 hour bug thing.  I knew Saturday morning was fast approaching and I wasn't about to put off our trip! We only had 3 weekends left in Vancouver and had plans for every other weekend so it was now or never! I assumed I'd be fine in the morning, but still felt awful but told By I could either be sick at home or I could be sick at the hot springs so I just got on with it! 

We stopped at Whistler village on the way, we had planned to do some touristy shopping and pick up some t-shirts and things as we knew it would be the last time we'd be visiting.  However, I had to tell Byron to leave me on a bench sprawled out whilst he went off to stop, because I just felt too terrible! He even got ice cream from Cow's - which is like world famous ice cream and I had to pass on it, it was so sad!!

It was an amazing drive to the hot springs! Well, from the 10 minutes I saw of it in between waking from napping! By had made me a bed in the back of the car and so I just slept the whole way! Going on an incredibly bumpy road when you're already not well is not the smartest of ideas! 

This was our trusty truck that helped us make the trip! You have never seen a dustier car when we got back to Vancouver, it was insane! 

This cool church was in the middle of a random reservation in the middle of the forest! Gotta love B.C and all it's secludedness! 

Finally after what felt like forever, in my unwell state, we arrived at the hot springs! We were going off some dodgy directions I'd found online via someone else who'd been there before...GPS didn't work and so we were glad we hadn't got lost! 

We headed straight for the hot springs! and I decided they must have had healing magic powers because for that evening I wasn't sick once! 

There were about 9 individual pools of water, and each one increased in temperature! 

The one closest to the river was the coolest, and the one I was sitting in first was one of the hottest.  I didn't stay in that one for long and I couldn't even make it into the top one which was the hottest, it burnt my toe even as I dipped it in! 

This was our fave pool! The second in from the river, it was snug and small enough to just have room for the two of us and it's temperature was toasty warm! We could also take a dip in the f-r-reezing cold river if we got too hot! 

These were some of the top pools that I didn't dare try! 

and there behind By you can see the water running down straight from the source! 

This waterfall was probably the hottest water I've ever touched! 

It was so peaceful and relaxing, and such a cool experience to be there! 

It was about a 5 minute uphill climb back to our little campsite, but I didn't mind it too much as I felt rejuvenated after being in the water! 

Here's a close up of the river, the water was sooo clear! 

We set up our little tent, and got a fire going for dinner! 

Later that night we headed back to the hot springs after dark.  This time I had left the camera behind at the tent which I sorely regretted because when we got there little tea lights had been lit all the way around the outside of the pools and it was completely magical! There were even floating pieces of wood in the middle of each pool that had more tealights on, it was the perfect ending to day which turned out better than expected for the sickie! 

The next morning, after another quick dip we started the drive back to Vancouver.  I was feeling slightly better than before and was able to enjoy more of the scenery on the drive this time! 

We stopped off at Alta Lake, just beyond Whistler because it's somewhere I had always wanted to check out! Would you look at that scenery! 

It was amazing! The sun was out in full force...

and By worked on topping up his tan! 

We watched people going out on their boats, and even their kayaks and we watched some people jumping into the lake from the swimming docks.  Sadly, I wasn't feeling up to it myself so we just watched from the side! 

How can you ever tire of that view! 

I loved all the lily pads too! and the snow capped mountains in the distance! Crazy that it was mid June and 25 degree plus weather yet there was still snow up there! 

Another stop off I had always wanted to do was Brandywine Falls.  You all know how much I love a good waterfall and I was determined to check out as many as possible before we left B.C! 

We had to cross this railway track to get to the falls, doesn't that look good enough to be a postcard?! 

Brandywine Falls did certainly not disappoint! and even though I was being sick again, I was glad we'd stopped off! 

Check out how ferocious that water is! 

I fell in love with it even more than Shannon Falls! and wished we had known it was so awesome sooner..all those times we drove past it on the way to Whistler! I would have loved to have seen it snow covered in winter! 

The view across the Cheakamus valley was incredible! 

Soaking up the last few rays of sun of the day, we stopped off at Porteau Cove, another provincial park! 

It's just a little scenic viewpoint and an area where boats launch, but it was beautiful to check it out.  

Despite being so unwell, we had an incredible weekend and got to see so much beauty! 

The surprise part came 2 days later when I was still being sick and By half joked that I might be pregnant! So we bought a test and those 2 little pink lines said I was! It didn't even cross my mind that I could have been, I thought morning sickness was just that...in the morning! but no mine lasted all day long for 5 days! Fortunately when we went to the Dr to get everything confirmed he gave me some anti nausea pills so I could get on with the day to day without feeling so awful! The picture above was us just after we found out the super happy news! 

So ever since we've been busy thinking of names to call our little Canadian baby...Sloquet? Whistler? Columbia? Yeah..I'm not a fan of any of those either! 

Just 2 more Vancouver posts to blog about and then I can crack on with our US road trip pics!