- Carfree, Cycling & Cycle Touring, Metro Vancouver & North Shore, Trip Reports, Trips with Kids, Urban
Vancouver to Surrey: The Boy Who Biked 105km in a Day
For the past few years Neil has been biking 10x his age every year. It started with a 72km ride to visit friends in Chemainus. The year after that we rode out to Coquitlam and PoCo on an 80km ride. Then we rode to New West and around Richmond on a 90km ride – oops, I didn’t write that one…
Marriott: A Doohickey Campsite
We were looking for a scenic and relatively short and easy overnight hike to do with my dad. Marriott Basin came to mind. What I didn’t take into account was that our previous trip was in September. This time it was mid-summer and we were accompanied by a blood-sucking cloud of mosquitoes that hovered around us constantly. Shortly after leaving…
Cuba: Bike Touring at a Different Pace
We spent winter break cycling in Eastern Cuba, where the pace of life is different and cars don’t dominate the roads. Due to fuel shortage, among other issues, “traffic” is more likely to be a horse-drawn cart, bulls, cows, or the occasional old American cars. The empty roads make it a cyclist’s dream, but the reality for Cubans today is…
Red Heather: Two Dads and Four Kids Go Snow Camping
Somehow, two dads and four kids, we ended up making plans to take the kids snow camping in March. It was a semi-secret goal of mine, so I was quite pleased and excited that we were finally doing it… Our friend picked us up, and we stopped at Tim Horton’s in Squamish. It was only at this point that we…
Keith’s Hut: A Functional Coffee
Before this trip, Keith’s Hut was a distant memory. You see, this hut is popular in winter with backcountry skiers. That’s something we used to do most weekends in winter, but seldom do now that we have two young kids. So when we were planning a weekend fall trip with friends and they suggested Keith’s Hut, we were quite excited…
Mt. Frosty: Definitely Not Frosty
We set out on a three day hike in Manning Park with the goal of getting to the summit of Mt. Frosty. We were looking for a doable hike with the kids, but also challenging enough and one where there was snow (the kids insisted). With an attractive name like Frosty we set high expectations. Not an early start for…
Japan: 100% Unpredictable Hokkaido
We’d been dreaming of exploring Hokkaido for years, even though we had already done two previous bike trips to Japan. This summer, it finally felt like the stars were aligned. We discovered that ZIPAIR offered surprisingly affordable flights, and kids under six could fly practically for free. With Kai’s sixth birthday approaching, we knew it was time to embark on…
- Camping, Carfree, Cycling & Cycle Touring, Gulf Islands and Sunshine Coast, Trip Reports, Trips with Kids
Saturna Island: The Long Way There
This trip was very loosely planned. Our friends asked if we would like to bike to Saturna Island on the May long weekend and we happily agreed. We were there with them two years ago so we knew more or less what to expect. May long weekend on Saturna What we did not expect was that the way there would…
Garibaldi Lake: An Unexpectedly Snowy Weekend
Locals (including us!) often complain about how you have to book campsites months in advance. This is the case for Garibaldi Lake, and it sure is annoying. So, when I saw a site come open due to a cancellation for the weekend I jumped on it. I realized well why the cancellation had happened – the forecast called for a…
Mexico: Big Roads, Gravel Roads, and Friendly People
Not all things go as planned. In fact most things don’t. This trip was also not what we had originally planned for the winter break. Certain known world events made us change our plan of a family visit in our home country. We had to come up with a Plan B with reasonable flights from San Francisco where we were going…
