This morning we left beloved Chiang Mai very reluctantly. It has been a great 4 days here and not nearly long enough. Oh how I wish we had 6 months, not 6 weeks in SE Asia.  We hopped on a 5 hour bus to Chiang Khong on our way to Laos. Across the border we […]

I love arriving in Thailand. Bangkok’s smell is recognizable the second you step off the plane.  Humidity, blossoms, sewer, a touch of smog, and a smell of general green lusciousness. I’ve had a love affair with this city for over a decade and it feels so good to be back. We’re still recovering from our […]

Murakami has long been one of my favourite authors. After being in Japan, so many scenes have come to life for me, and I cannot wait to dive back in to his surreal creations with the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of this wonderful place fresh in my mind. Our hotel wouldn’t do a late […]

Wonderful signs everywhere you look.  Even the customs signs at the airport are word bubbles from an adorable customs official puppy.  We think a motto in Japan is perhaps “why not make it cute?”

Today was a wonderful day of reunions. We met up with Masa, my brother’s old classmate from LSE.  The last time we met up was in Vancouver 7 years ago! It was really fun to see him again. We ate soba noodles, explored Ueno Park (home to a beautiful lotus flower pond filled with koi and […]

On to a meet-up with one of my favourite people, Keenan Cooper. My teenage romance every summer at camp yukon. Keenan is celebrating his marriage next week!  It was so wonderful that he was able to meet up with us despite busy wedding planning.  We met up at Shibuya station, home of the famous Hachikō […]

Shinjuku is the town that never sleeps, and we are jetlagged so neither do we. Today we explored a Shinto Shrine, Goldengai, Kabukicho, Metropolitan observation deck and went shopping! We encountered beautiful ravens that made a garbage can alley seem like pure nature. Goldengai in the day time is totally deserted and really relaxing but […]

This picture perfectly sums up our day because we started in Seattle under the shadow of Mt. Rainer and ended up in Tokyo where we were found a coffee with a picture of Mt. Rainer. A big shout out to our beloved friend Jenn for driving us down to Seattle to meet up with more […]

Introducing J-Ride, our sweet wheels for the trip throughout BC.  J-Ride is our 1998 Subaru Forester and somehow we managed to cram her full of all our stuff, and all Jordan and Tyra’s stuff, and our bodies.  On our way up Vancouver Island, we added a cargo box to her roof, so now we can […]

We took a Zodiac tour down Moresby Island right to the the southern tip.  We’ve now explored Haida Gwaii North to South, although truly getting to know this wonderful place, would take a lifetime, not a couple of weeks. Our guides were Haida Style Expeditions. This is Jaylene Shelford, an amazing Haida singer and guide. […]

Balance Rock is a huge boulder balancing on a tiny point on the coast of Graham Island.  It is a natural tourist attraction.  We stopped on our drive up island to check it out on a beautiful afternoon. I haven’t been able to find any Haida stories about the origins of this rock formation, unusual […]

After a beautiful drive from Agate Beach   We arrived at the delightfully welcoming Moon over Naikoon Bakery.  It’s a bus with delicious bread, pizza, cinnamon buns, coffee and so much more.  We started with a cinnamon bun, but didn’t want to leave so we got pizza and sat cozily around the table.  At this […]

A very misty and atmospheric walk up Tow Hill for a beautiful view over Rose Spit, North Beach, and Agate Beach. Here is our intrepid adventure team The walk through the forest is on a raised platform so visitors don’t disturb the forest floor.  I was very impressed at the posted accessibility information at all […]

Tow Hill has a very interesting origin story, which I read on the plaques in the park, but I found this really cool animation of it as well.  Here is the story of this unique place on Haida Gwaii. Despite arriving in gale force winds, the blow holes were not blowing when we visited, but […]

The weather changed dramatically as we drove North.  I was driving and the wind was moving the car!  We looked up the weather before we lost internet and read that gale force winds were coming.  This was accurate. We arrived at Agate Beach, on the north coast to wild wind and waves. It wasn’t raining […]

On Saturday mornings there is a great little farmers market in Charlotte.  We got coffees, rye sourdough, chocolate zucchini cake, mini pizzas and more.  They farmers are really chatty and welcoming and the community is very tight-knit.   The best part of the market was Yoshi, a Japanese Shiatsu practitioner who gave both Tyra and […]

Edge of the World Music Festival in Tlell was one of the best music festivals I have ever been to.  The whole community came out, from toddlers to elders (see the elder parking photo below). It was so family friendly, the perfect size, with good food and a great vibe. We had a great afternoon […]

Beautiful afternoon at glorious Misty Meadows beach in Tlell.  Swimming in warm clear water, surrounded by big clear moon jellyfish and the closest of friends with soft sand underfoot. Paradise, I tell you.  

We arrived to a very, very busy Skidegate and Queen Charlotte City due to the music festival this weekend.  We drove to Hyden Turner Campground in Charlotte and found it very full, with people even sharing campsites.  It is very obviously music festival weekend and it’s buzzing with people as well as wildlife.  We solved […]

The 2nd early morning in a row to catch a ferry.  This time, we comically repacked our car with our stuff and J & T’s.  Our car seems a bit like a clown car, and even BC Ferries employees seemed surprised that we had 4 adults in the car with all our stuff.  But we […]