Taiwan (Part 2): Love at Second Sight (Taitung to Taipei)
One of the things people always wish cyclists is that the wind will be at their backs. I didn’t really understand the importance of this until the almost impossible headwind we encountered on our way to Taitung. So after a few rainy days in Taitung and checking the forecast and winds over and over again we decided that if the wind is not going to change directions then we will. We caught the train to Hualien, again sending our bikes and gear separately on the cargo train. When we arrived to Hualien it was still raining… We found a cute and cheap home stay and went to explore the city. …
Japan (Part 3): The Cycling Highways of Japan (Tobishima & Shimanami Kaido)
Saving the best for last is a good way to go. The previous four weeks in Japan were beautiful but they didn’t lack challenges like traffic, tunnels, climbing, and a bit of rain. After a few restful days in Matsuyama where we made sure to visit Dogo Onsen every day, we were recharged and full of energy for the last and best couple of weeks of our tour in Japan. Coming with such high expectations can be a problem sometimes but luckily we were not disappointed. We took the ferry from Matsuyama to Kure and stepping off the ferry we set foot (or wheel) on Honshu, the main island of…
Japan (Part 1): Jumping Into the Bike Trip (Takamatsu and Shodoshima)
I always claim that one of the most challenging parts of each bike trip is getting to the airport. This trip was no different. With a 2am departure and two children things were a bit tricky. But the kids were troopers. They went to sleep for a few hours at home before being woken up suddenly to come down to catch the taxi. Neil was sleeping so hard I didn’t think he would wake up. I transferred Kai easily to the carrier where he continued sleeping. On the way to the airport I kept on thinking – what kind of parents are we? Waking up their kids in the middle…
Tetrahedron: A Trail of Blueberries and a Blanket of Stars
As the Labour Day long weekend was approaching there was a feeling in the air that summer was coming to an end. Although the days were still warm and sunny we could feel that there might be a shift soon. The forecast for the weekend was generally good especially towards the end of it. I was absolutely exhausted since we had just finished a very busy season of Kids on Wheels and all I wanted to do was to catch up on some sleep. But since September is always a gamble with the weather in this area we decided to do a two day trip leaving on the Monday of…
Mt. Rainier National Park: Wilderness Behind the Urban Monster
Why? It seems to be the number one question recently when we set off on a trip by car. This time even more so, since crossing the border to the US, especially on a long weekend is brutal. Naively we thought that if we’d cross on Sunday, meaning the middle of the long weekend, the wait wouldn’t be long. We ended up waiting for an hour and a half… The only silver lining in the situation was that the kids miraculously slept through most of the wait. If they would have been awake I’m pretty sure we would have turned around. That would have been unfortunate since that first day…
Darkside Lake: The Dark Side of the Duffey
Gili probably had this hike on his bucket list for quite some time and finally it was an appropriate weekend to go. But only as we started driving I realized how far we’d have to drive to get to the trailhead. I guess Gili kept that fact hidden behind “it’s a short easy hike”. We also didn’t get an early start even though for the first time our backpacks were packed and ready to go a day ahead of time. Driving out of Vancouver was brutal and the Sea to Sky had numerous accidents along the way including one involving a bike unfortunately. As we were getting close to Whistler…
Trophy Meadows: In the Clouds of Mosquitoes
Sometimes we only think of the big problems and forget the small ones. Prior to this trip we had heard that there was an encounter with a grizzly on the Trophy Meadows Trail, so it was closed for a while. We checked every day for updates online, and Gili called the ranger station a few times. That’s when we found out what the “encounter” was – a grizzly bear had charged someone… Obviously we were concerned. Eventually we heard that the trail was open again, since the grizzly had not been seen for a while. We made sure to bring our bear spray, which expired some years ago though, and…
Newcastle Island: Same Same But Different
I never thought we’d be the type of people who do things annually, but lately it seems to be happening more frequently. For the past three years we’ve gone to Big White around Easter time (trip 1, 2 & 3), and as of last year we’ve started going to Newcastle Island in June with a bunch of other families. I like the old saying that you can never swim in the same river twice as the water is always changing. So even though it was a trip to the same destination, at the same time of year, and with mostly the same friends some things were still quite different (and…
Keats Island: From Kits to Keats
It was time to try camping with Kai. The forecast looked good, we had just purchased a four person tent and we had a destination. We decided to head to Keats Island, a place we had wanted to explore for a while. After a bit of research we decided there was really no point in bringing our bikes and that decision made our life easier. We packed two backpacks, put Kai in the carrier and off we went by bus. Our timing wasn’t perfect – we left Kits a bit too late and we arrived with just a few minutes to spare before the ferry to Langdale. We had to…
Big White: A Very Short Ski Season
Back in April, about ten days after we got back from our trip to Israel and Greece we headed to Big White for a few days. It became somewhat of a family tradition to spend Easter on Big White so we thought we’d keep it going even though our trip wasn’t exactly in Easter. We found a reasonable Airbnb on the mountain, rented a car and packed all of our ski gear + two kids and went on the five plus hours drive towards Kelowna. Our timing to leave in the early afternoon after Neil’s daycare was good and both kids were sleeping in no time. We managed to push…
