Los Angeles & San Diego

Leonard and I recently went on a five day mini-trip to L.A. and San Diego to escape the Vancouver rain. We took a 7am flight to LAX and were on our way by noon to our rental apartment on Melrose in West Hollywood, an excellent location. He took me on a whirlwind tour of the city, including the farmer's market, the Getty, Hollywood, Silver Lake, Santa Monica, Griffith Observatory, and downtown. We did a surprising amount in one and a half days, and ate incredibly well thanks to our food research the night before we left.

We took an Amtrak train from LA to San Diego, where we stayed with my sister and her husband in Pacific Beach.  We only had one full day in the city, and we ended up deciding to go to Tijuana for that afternoon. We parked the car on the San Diego side and walked across the border, and I was surprised at how easy it was to get across. There was no one checking passports; we simply walked through a gate and were suddenly in Mexico. Our lunch spot was a hundred times fancier than I imagined a Tijuana restaurant could be, and we even ate ceviche and raw oysters. The line-up to get back to the USA was the opposite of the other border crossing. This time, we had to wait 2.5 hours in line. At least there were churros being sold along the way.

More duck

Duck confit salad with pear and pecans

Duck and Terrine

Recently I signed up for the "Beasty Box", a box of local, sustainable, high quality meat that I pick up from the butcher shop every week.

This week I got some duck breasts, which Leonard and I ate with roasted potatoes and kale...

I also got terrine (similar to pate, but more coarsely ground). We had the terrine with crackers, mustard and a bottle of red that Leonard had gotten from Paris during our trip last year. Needless to say, this was an incredibly rich and sumptuous meal. It reminded us of our time in France, where we ate duck almost every day.

...And this is why we rarely go out to eat anymore. Why go to a restaurant when you can have a meal like this at home while wearing your sweatpants instead?

24 Hours in Tofino

I was on the island for work, so Leonard and I decided to head over to Tofino afterwards. The drive from Courtenay to Tofino was incredibly foggy, but it cleared up as we hit the west coast of Vancouver Island.

Once we arrived, we were eager to get to the beaches, so we headed to the #1 rated attraction on tripadvisor: Chesterman Beach. The beach was flat and glassy, and the fog was so thick that I couldn't see very far in front of me. 

  

The skies were clear and blue in the town, however.

We went to Tonquin Beach at the end of our walk around the town and were pleasantly surprised to see that the fog had left the beach.

Then we drove down to Cox Bay for the sunset. I was so intent on taking photos of these dogs that I didn't see a wave coming and I ended up with wet, cold feet.

The next morning, we went to the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve and walked through the forest to get to the beach.  The trees were giant!

The trail ended up at Schooner Cove, which was stunning in a beautifully quiet way.

Mid-island, we stopped at Cathedral Grove, which was also very impressive with its massive trees. One of the trees is (much) taller than the Leaning Tower of Pisa!

We were way ahead of schedule, so we were able to squeeze in a bonus before boarding the ferry - Englishman River Falls, near Nanaimo.

We even had time for a carwash, as my car was filthy after the 500km of driving.

All in all, it felt like a real vacation even though it was only for two days. Tofino was pretty great!

Snowshoeing at Cypress

I didn't know this until today, but there's been barely any snowfall on the mountains these days. This meant that instead of snowshoeing on fluffy snow like I'm used to, we snowshoed on frozen, slippery ice. It was a lot easier without the extra snow, and even going up the black diamond was a piece of cake. Going down was a different story though, as we we were slipping and sliding everywhere. 

Maui 2013

This year, I got to go to Maui during Christmas time because one of my best friends was getting married. It was nice to get away from the cold and wetness and lack of sunshine!

Our first full day in Maui started off with a 3am wakeup call and a two hour drive up Haleakala to watch the sunrise. (Last time I came here was with my family in 2011, and we opted to watch the sunset instead because we didn't think it was possible for us to get up so early). It was incredibly cold and windy. Unfortunately, we were only able to watch ten minutes of the sunrise because the clouds arrived and covered everything in sight. It poured as we drove back down, and I felt sorry for all the tourists who had chosen to do the sunset + downhill biking tour. They looked pretty miserable biking in the rain with cars whizzing past them down the mountain.

I was surprised at how stormy it was, as rain seemed to fall very randomly throughout the days we were there. The weather was very fickle, but it was still sunny and warm the majority of the time.  Our hotel was right across the street from a beach, but we still managed to visit a lot of beaches on the west side of Maui.

The boys rented a u-haul for a few days since there were no affordable rental cars available. It was a bit comical. At least it was easy to follow them on the roads!

I remember going on the road to Hana with my family, with the drive being very long (and not worth it, in my opinion). It was about three hours each way, with not much to see in Hana itself. This time, Justin wanted to do the drive, and I agreed to come along with him only as long as we went to the Seven Sacred Pools and did the Pipiwai trail, which were about half an hour further past Hana. I'm glad we did, because it was amazing! This place had everything: pools, bamboo groves, and a gigantic 400 foot tall waterfall at the end of the hike.

(I even wore the exact same shirt both times I did this drive. I think I need a new summer wardrobe).

All in all, a very enjoyable, relaxing, and beautiful trip with my besties. What more could a girl want?