Happy Friday everyone! I hope you are ready for a great weekend! After days and days of stormy, rainy, cold weather here in the Bay Area the skies cleared out the last couple of days and we had glorious sunshine 🌞. Sunny skies were beckoning me to get outside and do something nature oriented – that’s why when my friend Padmini asked if I wanted to join her on a hike on the Sierra Azul trail off Hicks Road in the Santa Cruz Mountains I didn’t think twice – I just said YES! Continue reading Sierra Azul Hiking Trail. Mount Umunhum Area. Santa Cruz Mountains, California
Category Archives: Travel Logs & Excursions
Peanuts!
I absolutely love, love, love Peanuts! Not the peanuts, but the cartoon strip Peanuts by Charles Schultz. The one with Charlie Brown, and Lucy, Lionel, Snoopy, and the gang. I don’t know what it is about this cartoon strip that has me smiling even thinking about it 😊😊. Maybe it’s the simple story lines that convey meaningful messages or maybe it’s because the stories are just that – simple life lessons conveyed humorously through the trials and tribulation of a bunch of young kids in their daily lives with their friends. Or maybe I like Peanuts because the comic brings a sense of nostalgia when kids played outside and worried more about which friend to invite to their birthday party, or what games to play. Continue reading Peanuts!
Grape Juice Tasting in Anderson Valley. Mendocino County, California
Anderson Valley Wine Trail is an undiscovered area of the massive California’s wine country that is our family’s all-time favorite wine trail. I say undiscovered because where else in California can one go for wine tasting where the only other customers are another couple? At Anderson Valley in Mendocino County. What makes Anderson Valley so special is that it is a treat for the entire family – kids and adults. Continue reading Grape Juice Tasting in Anderson Valley. Mendocino County, California
Vancouver EATS
For all you foodies out there, this one is for you! I’ve heard from so many folks that Vancouver, Canada has an outstanding food scene. Restaurants, food trucks, and cafes with an international flair. So naturally when heading to Vancouver on holiday this summer I was looking forward to trying out some great food places in this Pacific Northwest Canadian city. We got recommendations from many people familiar with Vancouver; from friends, from Hitesh’s office colleague who vacations in Vancouver often, from Hitesh’s friend John who lives in Vancouver, from our hotel concierge, and even our shuttle-bus driver; when you mix them all together what we ended up with was a smorgasbord of food places that were all awesome. Here is a look at where we ate and highly recommend for any of you planning on visiting Vancouver, Canada. Continue reading Vancouver EATS
Capilano Suspension Bridge Park. Vancouver, Canada
Want to walk among the top most branches of tall 100-feet redwoods? A walk on the Capilano Suspension Bridge will do the trick. Capilano Suspension Bridge Park is a must see in the Vancouver tourist book. What makes this park so special is the 450-ft long suspension bridge that stretches above the Capilano River among the tops of giant redwoods at a height of 230-ft. This is a bridge like no other. Continue reading Capilano Suspension Bridge Park. Vancouver, Canada
Granville Island, Vancouver. British Columbia, Canada
Granville Island was an artisanal find in Vancouver. We found out about this creative place from our friends John and Lorraine and their kids Meghan and Mathew with whom we had dinner the night before while vacationing in Vancouver this summer. We were talking and casually asked them where we could find artisanal shops, local goods and farmer’s market type of street or area to roam around in and unanimously got the answer Granville Island! It was obvious this was the place to go for our craving for artisanal faire. The girls and I were excited. We love anything farmer’s market oriented, handmade, and local. Granville Island is a gem of place in Vancouver! Continue reading Granville Island, Vancouver. British Columbia, Canada
Dinner at John and Lorraine’s in Vancouver, Canada.
On day four of our Vancouver summer holiday we had dinner at Hitesh’s long time friend John’s home. John is Hitesh’s elementary school friend from Kenya who now lives in Vancouver, Canada. The two grew up together in Mombasa, Kenya and were best friends until they graduated high school. After high school Hitesh came to study at University of Texas at Austin and then started working in Santa Cruz, California, while John went to college in London and then moved to Canada for work. Both got married and had a family and through it all they have kept in touch. They have been friends for over 40 years! Pretty awesome! When John heard we were coming to Vancouver for a holiday he invited us for diner at his home, how could we resist? Continue reading Dinner at John and Lorraine’s in Vancouver, Canada.
In Flower Heaven at Butchart Gardens. Victoria, Canada
If there was a heaven for flowers Butchart Gardens in Victoria, Canada would be it. Butchart Gardens is flower heaven on earth. I visited Butchart Gardens over 25 years ago and it left an indelible impression on me. I had never in my life seen such a beautiful place. That visit was way before Hitesh and I had kids and became a family of five. That trip stuck with me forever and I have wanted to share that awe-inspiring feeling I had when walking though flower heaven with my girls. One of my ulterior motives for going to Vancouver on a family holiday this summer was so I could take the kids to Butchart Gardens. Did it look as spectacularly beautiful as the first time I saw it? YES! YES! YES! Continue reading In Flower Heaven at Butchart Gardens. Victoria, Canada
Sea-to-Sky Highway. BC Hwy 99
The town of Whistler is located in the Coast Mountains of British Columbia and is two hours north of Vancouver. BC highway 99 that goes through the mountains to Whistler is called Sea-to-Sky Highway and is a beautiful scenic drive with the ocean to one side and the majestic mountains on the other. The town of Whistler is a popular ski resort that is as popular in the summer for it’s gorgeous scenery and summer activities such as hiking, rock-climbing, kayaking and more. We were heading to Whistler on the Sea-to-Sky Highway more for the scenic road trip than the destination. With stops on the way to see beautiful waterfalls and to ride on a gondola to the top of the mountains, the Sea-to-Sky Highway was a gorgeous scenic drive. Continue reading Sea-to-Sky Highway. BC Hwy 99
Summer Holiday in Vancouver, Canada
Hello everyone! Hope you are having an awesome August! Our August has been great. We just returned from a fun one week summer family holiday in Vancouver, Canada. This holiday is exactly what the family wanted for a summer vacation this year. The twins had already been on a itinerary-packed school trip to Italy, Sri and I had already been on a fun Yoga and Art inspired trip to Paris, and Hitesh had been on a couple of international business trips this summer as well – we were all looking forward to a family vacation that was going to be relaxing while giving us enough things to do to keep it interesting and fun. Vancouver fit this criteria perfectly!! A short 2-hour flight from San Francisco to Vancouver made this our fastest airplane ride for a family vacation. Continue reading Summer Holiday in Vancouver, Canada
