sunshine coast Archives

Hello from cold Vancouver

Can you believe it’s already winter? With the year coming to an end fairly soon, let me put together another one of my season overviews… After that packed summer I had, by comparison here’s my hibernation-ish last quarter of 2024.

Filipino Feasting

For my birthday, my family gifted me a dinner voucher for a Filipino restaurant in Vancouver. It was such a coincidence, because I had been looking at Kulinarya‘s menu for quite a while and had mentioned it to friends months ago. We didn’t get around to going there as our summer winded down and we moved to a new apartment, but early October we invited our friends to join us and experience a bit of my Filipino culture. We had some planning to do for our group’s Friendsgiving weekend, so why not do that over a delicious meal?

And it wasn’t just a dinner. We went for a Kamayan meal, a traditional communal dining experience, where food is artfully arranged on banana leaves and shared without utensils. It’s also known as boodle fight, as this way of eating has its origins in the Filipino military. Soldiers shared meals this way in spirit of camaraderie and equality. I had to do some research to figure out where this term came from, but it seems “boodle” refers to food, and “fight” symbolizes the fun, competitive feel of grabbing the food with your hands, making sure you get what you want 😉

It really was fun to all eat with our hands and see everyone get really into it; grabbing a bit of rice from here and finding some vegetables and seafood over there, and asking your buddy 2 seats over if you can have that last delicious piece of grilled meat… I must say, everything was absolutely delicious, and the flavours certainly matched what I am used to from my mom’s cooking. Big fat stamp of approval! I can’t wait to go back and try more of their food.

Friendsgiving

After being MIA (short trip back home) last year for Thanksgiving, this year was truly special. We booked an incredible Airbnb on the Sunshine Coast with a group of 8. It was a display of both impressive team work and of our shared love for food. The first night, we transformed the massive dining table to a snack feast. Boards and boards of deliciousness. See for yourself below.

On night two, the guys were responsible for dinner. They cooked a fantastic seafood paella. We all looked… rather interesting, as they had picked ‘funny’ as the dress code for the night. If someone had wandered in on us, they would have thought they were high. Munching on rice and mussels were a mime, a Spanish Señorita, a female Salvador Dalí, a shopping bag, a mine visitor, a Hawaiian, the Joker in a purple suit, and Hot Mess Tarzan. Tell your imagination I said you’re welcome!

On night 3, it was the ladies’ turn, and we spent 4,5 hours working on our carefully planned out Thanksgiving dinner. Our dress code was fancy, so everyone was looking dashing ✨

Things ‘quieted down’ from here. I took a (second) three-week Change Management course which took lots of time reading and working on assignments after work. I had my remaining wisdom teeth taken out (not fun). So I was mostly cooped up inside for a bit there. Just before my final assignment, it was a long weekend. We drove out to Pitt Meadows to walk around the marsh in that area. It was nice to get some nature time before diving back into making my deadline.

Tyler Hilton at the Biltmore Cabaret

You know me, I love concerts. Tyler Hilton came to Vancouver on 20 November and of course I wanted to go! I’ve seen him live in Amsterdam in 2013, The Hague in 2016, and Amsterdam again in 2018. Aside from that, for many years I saw him on my favorite tv show, One Tree Hill, as the gruellingly annoying Chris Keller. This November, I saw him just as himself, a dad of two now, and soon to be Canadian citizen! Anienke joined me as I enjoyed the songs from my teenage years until now. Of course, grabbed a CD from merch to add to my collection.

Binging through winter

Since moving to our new apartment, it’s been nice to make it cozy in here and ease into fall and winter. With more time spent at home, I’ve been enjoying my books and shows. Here’s what we’ve been binging on:

Shows

Silo | Apple TV+
Outlander season 7B | StackTV on Prime
Only Murders In The Building | Disney+
Loot | Apple TV+

Books

In my attempt to beat my own record of 16 books in one year, I’ve been trying to finish a few books I had lined up. Really enjoyed these reads the past few months:

Dinner for Vampires: Life on a cult TV show while also in an actual cult by Bethany Joy Lenz (mindblowing!)
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus (also a show on Apple TV+, next on my binge list)!
Gut: The inside story of our body’s most underrated organ by Giulia Enders (who knew poop-science could be fun and engaging to read)
Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice from Dear Sugar by Cheryl Strayed (also beautifully made into a television show on Hulu)

If you have any book tips for me, please let me know, so I can start building my list for 2025.

Whistler: scandinave spa

We haven’t been skiing yet, but we did drive up to Whistler at the start of December to tick off a different bucket list item.

The Scandinave Spa in Whistler was an absolute delight. The way there was such a nice start, too – it had been a while since I drove the Sea To Sky Highway. Even after living here for two years, driving there is just magical. It’s ridiculously beautiful. It doesn’t get less jaw-dropping. The view of this snowy mountain top reminded us that it’s winter now.

It was a little bit overcast/foggy at first when we arrived, but the clouds disappeared, and while sitting in hot baths and saunas we enjoyed the views over gorgeous snowy mountains and blue skies.

Running

With limited daylight hours and winter temparatures, it’s a bit challenging to get out and run, but I have gotten back my routine and am working on being able to run a casual 10K at least once a week. From there, it’s building up further to 21K, and eventually… 42K. In May, I’ll be running my first full marathon! I have lots of work to do, both in terms of building up my long distance runs but also getting my abs and back in shape to be able to keep myself upright for hours on end 😮‍💨

I’m both intimidated by it and excited for it. But Vancouver will pull me through it – I mean, the views as I run through the city and/or around Stanley Park do really add to motivation. The photo above was False Creek at 4.18PM on 2 December, just before it got really dark soon after. I ran back over that bridge you see in the distance, and hit 10K again for the first time since early September.

And now? Now, we pack… Homebound for Christmas and New Years! 🤗

P.S. Don’t worry about me, winter really doesn’t get that cold in Vancouver.

Travel Nov 03

The summer trilogy

Hello! How are you all doing? An incredible summer season has come to an end over here. I know I’ve been a bit MIA on the blog here, but I do want to make sure I share a bit about my summer! Apart from all kinds of spread out summer activites, we had 3 big things on the calendar: two visits from back home, and one trip to the east coast of the US.

visitors and sunshine coast

Tom’s parents came to visit us in July. It was so lovely showing them around and giving them a glimpse of what it’s like here!

They explored Vancouver while we worked during the week, but we did really want to take a day off so we could spend a full long weekend with them. And what better way to do that than to get away from the city like people do here?

On Thursday evening, we took a ferry to the Sunshine Coast. We had heard such great things about it, and we loved the idea of seeing a new island in the area.

It was fantastic weather, and we hadn’t been there ourselves yet, so it was nice to explore something new all together. Part of that trip was also the Skookumchuck Narrows – a nice read there if you want to know more about it. And here’s a little reel of our time on the Sunshine Coast!

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canadian rockies

Not long after waving Tom’s parents goodbye, we had another special couple over at the end of August! We met Tom’s brother Erik and his girlfriend Aga in Calgary and spent a week road tripping through the Canadian Rockies. It was amazing slowly making our way back to Vancouver with them. We saw Banff National Park, Yoho National Park, and Jasper National Park for the first time. There’s so much to share and tell – so I put together a separate (rather lengthy and photo-filled) post about that. Go read that if you’re interested! But yeah, my oh my, what an unforgettable experience. The rockies are overwhelmingly beautiful.

happy accidents

OK, silly story. I’m an early ’90s girl that grew up listening to the Jonas Brothers. So when they announced their tour, I did my fangirl dance and looked for Vancouver on the list. Sadly, they were going to skip my city, and so I scanned the list for alternatives. Toronto? Ugh, flights are so expensive and it’s so far away! Why don’t I just find something in the US, instead? The US border is just a 1,5 hour drive away, so lots of people from Canada go to cities in the US to see shows. Washington it is. A 2 to 3 hour drive will get us there.

One morning, I was preparing for a full day of training when I was reminded about ticket sales starting at 9 AM. I sent the Verified Fan link and information over to Tom, asking him to get us 2 tickets. Any tickets. Doesn’t matter where we sit, I just want to be there.

A little while later during my break, I check in to see how it went and if we got some tickets. Yep. We did. Then Tom goes: “You do realize it’s for Washington, DC, right?”

!@#$%^&*()(*&^%$#@!

Sigh. This is such a first world problem, but yeah, we decided to see it as a nice opportunity. So 6 months later, we hopped on our flight to New York City. We spent 4 days exploring New York City for the first time, then took a train to Washington DC to continue our trip. We ticked off countless must-sees and recommendations from friends. And then, on Saturday 23 September, my brain effortlessly downloaded all the lyrics to songs by the Jonas Brothers from 2007 to today.

hello, autumn

Returning home from the US was like a baptism into the fall – rain, storm warnings, urges to buy knitwear, all of that. Or at least that’s what it felt like at first – soon after, repeated whiplash followed, as we went from cold to warm and back again several times. But yeah, by now, fall has definitely kicked in.

I’ll try to be good and keep up with posting a bit more in the fall. It will be our first fall and winter here, so it will be interesting to transition to new activities and experiencing what the colder seasons are like in Vancouver.

Thanks again for reading along, and see you next time!

Travel Aug 14

Skookumchuck Narrows on the Sunshine Coast

July was a very special month, because Tom’s parents came to visit! We had such a lovely time showing them around and giving them a sense of what life is like here in Vancouver. But it was also a chance for us to go on a trip and explore something new! We decided to book a ferry to the Sunshine Coast, an island we had heard good stories about. In particular, something called the ‘skookumchuck narrows’ was at the top of our list of things to experience there.

reaching the skookumchuck narrows

“Skookumchuck” is a word of Chinook Jargon origin, an indigenous trade language used in the Pacific Northwest. It translates to “strong water” or “turbulent water.” Located on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, the Skookumchuck Narrows is a natural marvel where the tides of the Pacific Ocean converge with the waters of the Sechelt Inlet.

This sounds very familiar to me now, but before going on this hike, all I knew is that we would see a ‘narrow’ place where water does something special when the tides change. I had no concept of what it might look like, nor had I had time prior to our getaway to research it. For me, this preamble 100% added to the experience, because I was so in awe when I reached the water!

The moderate-level hike was approximately 8 kilometers round trip through lush coastal rainforest, and took us* through a diverse landscape of ancient trees, ferns, and moss-covered rocks. On this Sechelt Inlet Trail, you can expect some rough paths with exposed rocks and roots. With the elevation changes, you’ll find yourself needing to catch your breath here and there.

*By ‘us’ I mean Tom, his parents, myself, and several other hikers. There was one man in particular, let’s call him John, who brought our hike enjoyment to the next level! He walked with us for several kms on the way there and back.

the rapids

Prior to the hike, Tom had figured out that that particular night at 8.20 PM, the tide would be at its strongest. The statistics told us the rapids would be ‘XL’ in size tonight. Still not fully understanding what that meant, we followed the schedule and timed our hike accordingly. With a steady pace, we kept following the trail, and listened to John’s previous experiences. As a resident of the island, he had walked this trail many times before. He promised we would not be disappointed.

The sound of silence, hiker conversations, and birdsong suddenly changed into a roaring sound of rushing water. I remember being surprised by how much louder it grew as we approached the furthest point of the hike. It makes you step up your pace in anticipation of finally seeing what the fuss is all about.

The trail ends on a large rocky area which you can safely stand on. As we emerged from the forest onto this ‘observation deck’, our mouths dropped and all we could say was, “wow!”

what a place!

What a spectacle – churning waves, whirlpools, heaps and heaps of water surging. As the tides shift, the water rushes through the narrows with incredible force. The waves are much larger in person than it seems in the video above. Apparently, the waves can get up to 5.5 meters high!

My expectation was some kind of narrow passage that water would rush through, but it looked like quite a wide river. If you look it up on Google Maps though, you’ll see it’s indeed the narrowest section the water from the ocean goes through as it travels into the Sechelt Inlet.

taking it all in

John explained that this place is popular to professional kayakers and surfers. Cool as that may sound, it does not always end well. Several people have died, including search and rescue volunteers.

Once you have a chance to peel your eyes away from the water, you’ll see that the views are also stunning. As you can see in this picture, I particularly liked that section where two mountain dip and bring a mountain top further away into view. The picture here is basically: Indira: Tom, can you take a picture of that bit there? / Tom: What bit? / Indira: That bit! / Tom: What bit? / Indira: THAT B… / Tom: *Takes pic*.

It was getting late and it would get dark soon, so we had to start making the journey way back to the car. Not to fear though, John cheerfully joined us with his daughter, sharing not just nice conversation but also his spare flashlight.

Another experience richer, we returned to our Airbnb to rest up for the next day on the Sunshine Coast. If you’re ever making the trip… Don’t skip this hike and make sure to check the tidal schedule to see when the best time would be to see the Skookumchuck Narrows!