North Van Is Where It's At! Lynn Valley & Deep Cove

I realised during Mom and Mara's visit just how much we LOVE North Van! In fact we pretty much ended up there every day! We drove across the bridge one night to Lonsdale Quay to pick up some flowers at the market there, and I took them up the lookout tower to get this incredible view! 

It was pretty windy up there, being so high up! but oh those views! 

Byron also took Mom and Mara to check out Lynn Valley one day while I was at work...

to see those larger than life trees!

and to take a walk over the suspension bridge!

and generally take in the greenery all around!

A few nights later we drove up to Cypress Provincial Park, which has the best lookout point in the city in my opinion! and we caught another amazing sunset.  

We nearly didn't because it said it was closed for filming! but we asked one of the security guards if we could snap a few pics quick and he kindly obliged.  It turns out they were filming the new Godzilla movie up there! 

So when it comes out at the cinema and you see scenery that is meant to make you think you're in California, just know it was actually shot in Vancouver! They had even changed the provincial park sign on the way in to say 'San Francisco Bay Park'! Pretty funny! I hope they weren't hoping for rainy and cloudy weather, because it was beautiful blue skies during the time they were filming! 

On an amazingly sunny Friday afternoon we headed to Deep Cove, because after everywhere we've been it's still my very favourite place around! and my mom also declared it her favourite part of the trip! 

The little cove is so cute, and the backdrop is just the icing on the cake!

Byron and Mara decided to try out paddle boarding, I was kind of exhausted from my day at work and so I gave it a miss this time but I definitely want to do it before we leave! 

because look how tranquil that looks!

They picked it up pretty quick and luckily there was no falling in! Despite the sunny weather and blue skies, the water was still super chilly! 

Mom and I sat on that little wall watching them and just taking in the view!

There were tons of other people around enjoying the gorgeous weather, but somehow I managed not to capture them in any of my pics!

Even their street signs are pretty here!

They were actually filming out on that pier to the right, for a little T.V show they're making called Cedar Cove! So watch out for some paddle boarders if you ever see it and it could just be Byron and Mara!

The little street in Deep Cove is also super cute, 

and filled with little independent shops like this one that I just love! It has the best most stylish greeting cards and unique home furnishings and gifts.  

and La La's gifts are apparently so good that they've been 'saving marriage since 1996'! haha

As the sun started to go down, we headed back to watch the paddle boarders come back in.  

How fun does this look! The water is so calm out there!

We headed back into town for some refreshment!

Ice cream for the paddle boarders...

and a shaved ice bigger than my head for me! I'd seen a group of girls walking down the street sharing one so I thought they'd asked for x-large size or something so we all thought it was pretty hilarious when I came out the shop holding it just for me! The lady asked me how many spoons I wanted, so I said 2 just to appear less greedy! It was my first time trying a shaved ice, and it definitely wasn't the last! I got coconut and lime flavour which was just oh so tasty! 

I stopped to admire the cherry blossom on the way back to the car! 

and to pose with my shaved ice, which was going down surprisingly quick! 

We asked a nice guy to take this picture for us, which I think is the only pic we got of the four of us the whole trip! It is a great memory to have of one of the most idyllic evenings we've had in Vancouver! 

Deep Cove - how are we ever going to leave you?!

Spring Break Part 2: Whistler, Cypress & Las Margaritas!

So it was inevitable that Spring Break was going to involve some sort of Whistler fun! It had been a month since our last visit and we were getting restless! Plus with the warmer weather finally coming our way, we know our time on the slopes is limited so we need to fully make the most of it while we can!

It was a beautiful clear day, which is pretty unusual for Whistler so we were loving the awesome views! I think I've mentioned before but Whistler ski resort is made up of two mountains: Whistler and Blackcomb.  We decided to dedicate our whole day to Blackcomb, because we've spent way more time on Whistler and wanted to see what we were missing out on!

As we got to the top of 'Seventh Heaven' the sun was just shielded behind the clouds and making this rather cool glow!

We also got some really awesome views from up there! We tried out some pretty fun runs, but the snow wasn't as thick as we'd have liked so we decided to venture even further up to Blackcomb Glacier.

I had to go on my first t-bar to get there! which I was a bit worried about but luckily it wasn't as hard as it looks and we made it up to the very top.  When we got there we realised to then get to the top of the glacier you had to walk quite far up, so there's Byron in the picture below (in black) with his snowboard on his back hiking up to get a good spot! 

The glacier was full of pure powder...and it was really deep! We were kicking ourselves that we've been to Whistler so many times and never discovered the glacier before!

The pictures don't really do it justice, but it was pretty amazing! I wiped out pretty big at the bottom of our first trip down it, and landed on my head...so my feelings on the glacier were skewed slightly because of that!! but at the end of our day I gave it another shot, thanks to Byron's insistence and this time just enjoyed whizzing through some awesome snow...and this time I stayed upright! 

While Byron did another run of the glacier bowl, I had some of the other runs all to myself! It was so quiet and it ended up being one of our best days we've had on the mountain in a while! 

A few days later, we got our gear together again but this time we headed to Cypress, one of the local mountains.  It takes us about 1 hour, 45 mins to get to Whistler, whilst Cypress mountain is only 45 minutes away from our house.  The reason we usually ski Whistler instead of the local mountains is just because it's so much bigger and the quality of the runs and the skiing there more than make up for our longer travel time! However, the chairlifts at Whistler close at 4pm whereas all of the local Vancouver mountains offer night skiing and this is something I definitely wanted to try! 

So we ventured out on an unusually clear and blue sky day in Vancouver, because we knew that would make for the most awesome views and we were certainly not disappointed! 

We stopped at Cypress Provincial Park on the way to check out the awesome view...

Although it was blue skies, it was a little hazy.  

We had a little picnic at the picnic spot, it as pretty crazy to be sitting in t-shirts and then 10 minutes after lunch we were wrapped up in our skiing gear in the snow! 

Byron thought I looked like a pro because of the backpack! Really, it was just so we could take our big SLR and get some better quality shots this time around.

Icicles!!! 

Despite there being frozen trees at the top of the mountain, it was still surprisingly warm and probably the warmest day of skiing I've experienced so far!

As you ski down, on one side you have views of the ocean and the islands in the distance...

on the other side you have views of the skyline and Vancouver city below! It's pretty incredible!

I was loving it! and kicking myself for being so snobby about the local mountains!

Can you believe these views?!

We snuck over this fence at one point to get closer to the edge, luckily a french man had done the same and so he was able to take this picture of the two of us!

and I had to take a feet shot to add to our new collection!

As the sun set, the floodlights came on, most of the other skiers went home! and we were left with the slopes to ourselves practically! Often we were the only ones riding the chair lifts in the dark! It was so fun! and unfortunately I managed to delete the night pictures I took which wasn't very clever! but we did take a few mini video clips...and I had a go at editing all our clips into a video for the first time!

So here for your viewing pleasure is a little snapshot into our day on the slopes! Forgive the shaky camera...there was no go pro involved! Only an SLR we hung around our neck, and so every time we went over a bump the camera experienced the bump too - hence the shakiness! 

We finished off our action packed Spring Break week with some Margarita fun at our favourite Mexican restaurant - Las Margaritas! because nothing beats some strawberry-lime, raspberry-coconut and pineapple-coconut virgin Margaritas! 

and all meals that start with free chips and salsa...

and end with churros are great nights out! Especially because these were the yummiest churros! and nothings better than good Mexican shared with good friends!