An Unforgettable Last Day...at Wreck Beach!

So with only one day left in Van City, and with the sun miraculously still shining we headed to Queen Elizabeth Park because I love that place!

The view was one of the best we've had, as even on blue sky days it can be a little hazy normally.

We packed a picnic and lounged in the sun.

Mara and By, always up for an adventure, splashed around with the kids in the fountains!

We wondered through their display gardens...

and I took too many pictures so this is just a snap shot! 

We parked right by this monkey puzzle tree, which is one of By's favourite trees so I had to take a pic to keep the forester happy!

We drove along Marine Drive and posed at this lookout point...

and then we showed the family the delights of UBC! Could that campus be any more beautiful? 

Let me just say UBC has made it incredibly hard for when Byron finally has to return to Bangor Uni that's for sure! He absolutely loved his time at UBC and I think you'd be hard pressed to find a more amazing campus!

Beauty in every direction! 

and it even comes complete with it's own beach....known as Wreck beach!

Let me give you the back story on this beach, before I proceed.  It is a known nudist beach, however the only other time we'd been there was in winter and so obviously there were no nudies around at that point! Also, in Europe even when beaches are designated nudist, you still have tons of people in their swimming stuff too...so I was expecting a handful of nudists, and that was going to have to be okay because the other thing about Wreck beach is that you have to walk down 500 steps to get to it.  It's a bit of a schlep! and whilst fires are illegal on all Vancouver beaches, the police don't usually venture out as far as this out of the way beach so I figured a few random nude people would be an okay enough trade off for ending the night with some tasty s'mores!

So imagine our horror when we got to the beach and found that my 90% clothed, 10% nude estimation was actually more like 90% nude, 10% clothed! I made sure I screened the pics I took carefully so as not to subject you to what we had to see, but it was pretty crazy to say the least!

I'm pretty sure Mara is either covering her eyes in horror here or she's cracking up, because the situation was pretty funny!

Mom's way of dealing with it was using a jumper to shield her eyes!! We ended up moving around to a quieter side beach with less crazies on it...or so we thought!

and that's when the naked yoga started...I kid you not!

You think a whole beach full of naked hippies is bad...wait 'til they start busting out the yoga moves!

and then just when we thought it couldn't get any worse...a full on naked man approached us and asked if someone would take a picture of him! Mara, Mom and I looked at each other and tried our best to ignore him! so By stepped up and ended up taking the picture! It was a hilarious situation, the guy was even trying to tell By how to use the zoom lens and everything!!!

You just can't make this stuff up!

Mara and By joined the crazies and ventured into the sea for a while! Despite being a sunny day, that water is icy cold! I could barely let it get past my knees before chickening out! 

Then there were some sand dune climbing adventures...

It's pretty crazy how these layers of sand look like layers of rock!

I think the route back down was the most fun part for them!

As the sun was starting to set, Byron went about building his own little 'innuksuk' - a stone landmark the natives build over here to mark travel paths or as a point of reference.  

He also busted out his awesome fire starting skills, to get this lovely little beach fire going! Our fire pit wasn't quite as magical as when we used to make it with conch shells in the Caribbean but we have to work with what we get! 

The innuksuk at twilight...

and then the s'more making got started! Fortunately Mom and Mara had brought me my favourite Lindt coconut cream milk chocolate over from England and so coconut s'mores were the order of the day!

Mom was having much more fun than this pic shows! Somehow, and this makes me a bad daughter, it was her first ever time making s'mores! I think she was a convert!

Oh yeah! the perfect toasty marshmallow!

and then things got crazy...when Mara made a malteser bunny s'more! Taking things to the next level is what we Jones girls do best! 

It was the perfect way to spend their last night in Canada! Eating delicious food, keeping warm around the fire...

and watching this incredible sunset!

It's no wonder they have been missing Vancouver ever since they got back! It's a pretty magical place!

I am super grateful to them for all the effort that went into them making this trip! It was the holiday that nearly never was! because they missed their original flights due to British Rail being an epic failure and their Gatwick Express train getting signal failure on the way to the airport! For a while it looked like it wasn't going to happen, but they booked whole new flights to come out to see us and for that I will love them forever because I was craving some family time and we definitely had the most awesome time together and got to see/do and eat so much cool stuff! 

I'm guessing when they come to visit us in Scotland next year, the visit won't be quite as exciting! haha

Spring is Here...FINALLY!

Oh man was that a long winter! It felt like the longest winter of my life...except for maybe that time I lived in Scotland! but the good news is the sunny days are just about starting to outnumber the rainy days which is a cause for celebration in itself! Although as shown in the picture above...the rain is always lurking somewhere, and it certainly hasn't gone away completely! 

Not only that, but we have been blessed with lots of blue sky days recently...

and springtime in Vancouver means CHERRY BLOSSOMS and lots of them!

and in case you don't follow me on facebook or instagram, or you've been living under a rock then you might not have realised that I LOVE cherry blossoms trees!

So I have been snap happy all over the city every time I come across some! which is literally every other block! Our neighbourhood in South Vancouver has some especially great ones so we've been taking lots of walks to enjoy them as I know it will be short lived.  One night I headed over to Kitsilano, I was meant to be meeting up with Byron but I got sidetracked by some cherry blossom lined streets and ended up being late! When he called me and asked where I was he said he knew I would have been cherry blossom hunting! I just can't help myself! 

Spring evenings also mean it's been staying lighter later! So we've been able to play more! 

We went to La Taqueria Taco Shop with a couple of friends to try their tacos which are gaining quite a rep around Vancouver! I was pretty excited about their Jarritos Soda's too - I do love a pineapple soda! 

We were impressed with their tasty tacos.  The Al Pastor one with pork and pineapple was my fave, but I think next time I'll give the Mole a miss - the chocolate and chicken combo just wasn't working for me! 

In other news, Byron had his last lecture a few weeks back and then a week of exams and now he just has a field trip to finish and then he is all done at UBC! It seems like it has gone crazy fast! 

The weekend he finished his exams, yes he had an exam on a Saturday - who does that! we headed to Queen Elizabeth Park on a sunny evening.  We don't really have any good parks round near us, and it always seems a bit crazy to hop 2 buses just to go on a nice evening stroll but since By didn't have any work to do for once there was nothing stopping us! 

I LOVE that place! I loved it in summer (when we first arrived, in autumn, in winter...and I'm completely loving it now spring is here! 

I've never seen these crazy flowers before but they reminded me of pineapples...and I like them!

It was approaching sunset...

so there was a lovely golden glow making all the flowers look even more magical!

I loved the shape of this imperfectly formed cherry blossom! 

I love how many amazing sunsets we've had recently! It is getting me SO excited for the many more we have to come with summer on the way!

Speaking of summer did someone say milkshakes?

I've been wanting to try The Templeton on Granville for aaaages, based purely on the fact that they had a large milkshake selection I wanted to check out! 

The fact that each booth came with it's own real working jukebox was an added bonus! 

I picked the key lime flavour...because have you ever been anywhere that has served key lime milkshakes? I haven't, and so that had to be rectified! They got my seal of approval for serving it in the silver cup...but it could have been thicker in my milkshake perfectionist opinion!

By is pretty much always happy with what he orders! 

My burger more than made up for my milkshake disappointment though! Not only was the actual burger served with pineapple salsa which was a nice twist, but I upgraded my side to poutine because I just can't get enough of the stuff - it was delish! 

Last week, By finally hiked the chief in Squamish! as a little post exam celebration! with his friend from Bangor Uni.

The trail starts off at the base of Shannon Falls...

and then progresses through the forest.

There are 3 different peaks...I think this was the view from the first one, and then you just keep climbing...

It looks so scenic and beautiful in all the pics, I was sad I missed out!

To get to the third peak you had to use chains to help you along the rocks!

They made a furry friend at the top...

and this was the view from the 3rd peak! So awesome! Hopefully we will get to go back and do it together at some point before we leave...preferably when there are less clouds around!

On Saturday night we headed out on a Jerk Chicken quest to The Reef.  Our friends Cassie and Peter were craving some Jerk, and By and I didn't need much persuading to join them! Remember how much we used to love Jerk Friday's at Chinson's on the island?

We don't usually order starters when we go out to eat or 'appies' as they call them here! Is that a North American thing or just Canada? I'd never heard of it before! Funnily enough at The Reef they referred to them as 'Small Tings' but anyways...when there is Jerk Poutine on offer then we bend the rules! Jerk Chicken Poutine?! 

You know I love poutine anything! So crossing two of my favourite foods together was either going to be dangerous or wondrous.  Fortunately it was the latter! If I ate there again I'd just order 3 bowls of this and nothing else! It was amazing! 

After our small tings, they brought us some complimentary Johnnycakes with mango and coconut butter! These were so delish as well, like a fried cornbread doughnut! I could have gone home without even needing a main course and I would have been perfectly happy! 

By went for the straight up Jerk Chicken with Rice 'n' Peas - of course! It wasn't quite in Chinson's league but then this is Vancouver and not Turks and Caicos! 

I had a Jerk burger with pineapple and yam fries! 

Our friend Brock had a Jamaican roti, which was jerk curry wrapped in a flatbread! 

Afterwards we were feeling like some kind of chocolatey treats! Luckily Sweet Revenge was only two doors down!

and their chocolate treats filled the dessert sized hole in our stomachs perfectly! I had an amazing chocolate gateau filled with ground hazelnut and raspberries.  

Kristen's chocolate mousse cake tasted pretty good too! and I didn't snap a picture of By's mammoth sized double hot chocolate! 

It was such a fun place to end the night eating decadent over the top treats...and drinking tea! and we love our Vancouver friends so much! I'm trying not to think about how sad it will be to say goodbye when we leave!