- Hiking & Scrambling, Kayaking and Canoeing, Metro Vancouver & North Shore, Trip Reports, Trips with Kids
Widgeon Creek: Trying Something New
The first time I took out our new canoe, I flipped it. The two kids who were on it with me, Neil and a friend, were shrieking with excitement. Or was it the shock of the cold water? Either way, they just kept on shouting and laughing for at least a half hour afterwards. I admit to wondering previously –…
Spring Local Bike Rides at a Six Year Old’s Pace
Spring. The season of change, the season of bloom and for the past two years the season of COVID-19 restrictions. Yes, in spring 2021 COVID-19 was still a big part of our lives. The number of cases was rising daily, anxiety was in the air and a travel ban was in effect. We spent much of last spring doing local…
Viewpoint Beach: The Same Trip Again?
After doing a trip to a certain place, how do you feel about doing that same trip again? On the one hand, there are so many other places to go, that it might seem like a waste to revisit a spot you’ve been to. On the other hand, as Heraclitus apparently once put it, so beautifully: “No man ever steps…
Alouette Lake: Missing Goat
When does summer officially start? Is it on June 21st? Or when school is out? Or is it on the first sunny weekend when you go on an overnight bike-camping trip? This year it seemed especially important to start summer early. In mid May when the forecast showed sun and high temperatures for an entire weekend we felt it was time. Neil asked to sleep in the…
Red Heather: A Backcountry Skier is Born (Again)
As children growing up in Israel, we barely ever saw snow. Snow was this novel thing that you would see in movies or drive for hours to touch, briefly, and then forget about for another couple of years. No wonder then that when Maya and I arrived to Canada in 2006, we didn’t know how to ski. At all. We…
Hemlock: Binge Skiing and Toddler’s Fracture #2
On the sandwich week between spring break and Easter we headed to Hemlock for a week of skiing. We rented a small Airbnb apartment on the mountain and were quite excited as we hadn’t really left the city since October… We tried to escape before the Friday afternoon rush hour but of course we got stuck right in it. Then a diaper emergency required…
Bike Parks in Vancouver and Nearby
Our kids love going to our local bike park (Vanier Park) so in the fall we decided to explore a a few more bike parks in metro Vancouver (and Squamish). Both kids love this activity and never seem to get enough of it. We love it too, it’s fun, free and gets the kids to be active and tired (which…
A Mini-Guidebook to Cycle Touring with (Two) Young Kids
Four years ago I wrote a detailed mini-guidebook to cycle touring with a baby/toddler. Since then we have had a lot of changes in our family, and two major additions. The first addition was our second son Kai who was born in 2018. The second addition was our cargo bike, a bright yellow Bike Friday Haul-a-Day (AKA Big Bird), that…
Hiking the Juan de Fuca Trail with Two Kids in Tow (Video)
Hiking the Juan de Fuca trail with our two kids was mostly type two fun. Meaning that hiking the trail didn’t really feel fun, or at least some sections of it. In fact at times it felt more like a survival trip, but in retrospect it was a lot of fun. It was a tough journey for us and the…
2020: Our Local Year
It’s strange to look back at 2020 and to realize that it actually started quite normal, or at least what normal used to be. For us the beginning of 2020 was all about getting back into our normal life in Vancouver after a long pause. Not only did we spend the last three months of 2019 bike touring in Japan…