Food and the Great Outdoors in Vancouver

I visited Vancouver once before, probably sometime around middle school. It was so long ago all I really remember from that trip was eating some seafood and driving around somewhere with a lot of trees (that would be Stanley Park). We’ve heard so many rave reviews about the delicious food and great outdoors scene there, that we decided to tack on a few extra days to our Whistler ski trip so that we could spend some time touring Vancouver.

Day 1 - Pre-ski Eats

By the time we flew in and checked into our hotel for the night, it was already mid-afternoon. We had an early bus up to Whistler the next day so we couldn’t stay out too late, but there was still plenty of time to head over to Granville Island and get a first taste of the local cuisine. Our first stop was the Granville Island Public Market where we were completely blown away by the sheer number of food vendors and produce stands. The original plan was to snack a little bit here and then later get dinner back in downtown, but we ended up snacking so much that it basically became our dinner. Highlights were the donuts from Lee's Donuts and fresh made meat bagels from Siegel's Bagels. Yup, donuts and bagels. We are simple people.

Granville Island Market

We did leave some room for a little beer tasting at Granville Island Brewing. You could order their “Full Map” tasting flight which includes samples of all ten of their current beers on tap. We weren’t quite up for that much beer, so we just got a normal flight of four. This being Canada, we obviously had to try their maple flavored beer. It was pretty good, but my favorite was the seasonal Winter Wit. We didn't stay too long because we still needed to get up early the next morning to head up to Whistler, but I would be down to come back and try more of their beers sometime. At $7 CAD for a flight of 4, the price really can't be beat.

Beer and poutine from the Granville Island Brewery

Day 2 - Post-ski Sightseeing

One of our must-do’s while in Vancouver was to head over to Richmond and have some good dim sum. After getting back from skiing at Whistler, we decided to go to Kirin Seafood Restaurant, the second highest rated dim sum restaurant there on Yelp (their opening hours worked better for our schedule than the highest rated one). Despite it being a weekday morning, the restaurant was almost completely full. We were able to get a table, but the hostess told us we would only have an hour to eat. Challenge accepted. We ordered all the typical dim sum dishes. Surprisingly, they did not have XLB on the menu, but they did have some amazing spring rolls and shrimp dumplings.

Vancouver's famous dim sum

After dim sum, we went over to the Aberdeen Center mall to walk around and digest. This being Richmond, it made sense that the mall would cater to Asians, but I was surprised just how Asian it was… It’s definitely the most Asian mall I’ve seen outside of Asia with stores selling massage tables and ginseng, and even a multi-story Daiso - it was actually kind of disorienting. We grabbed a drink from the food court (consisting entirely of Asian vendors) and continued on our way.

It was raining so we didn’t spend too much time outside, but we did make a stop at Queen Elizabeth Park to take a few pictures and see all the tropical birds at the Bloedel Conservatory. Once it got to evening, we made our way over to the UBC Museum of Anthropology where they were having their weekly discount night of $10 admission instead of the usual $18. The museum was pretty big and had a massive collection of artifacts from cultures all around the world. The main focus is still on Canada’s First Nations cultures, with lots of towering totem poles and ceremonial wood carvings to see. You could easily spend a few hours here exploring all the different exhibits, and if you’re only going to see one museum in Vancouver, this is the one I would recommend.

Wood carvings at the Museum of Anthropology

Day 3 - Fun in the Sun

With sun and clear skies in the forecast for our last day in town, we decided to spend the day mostly outdoors, checking out a few of the best parks in and around Vancouver. First stop was Stanley Park, a must-see for anyone visiting. If we had more time, I would have liked to do a walk or run around the perimeter of the park along the seawall trail. The park is pretty big, around ten kilometers around, so it would’ve taken awhile. Instead, we picked a few segments of the trail to walk, and the views were absolutely stunning. We parked by the totem pole area and walked out to the eastern tip of the park, where we could get a great panoramic view of downtown Vancouver on the right and North Vancouver on the left, separated by the deep blue waters of Vancouver Harbor. 

View of downtown Vancouver from Stanley Park

When it got close to noon, we drove north across the Lions Gate Bridge and over to Lonsdale Quay, another indoor food market. The selection of food there was great, but it was surprisingly  much less crowded or touristy than Granville Market. It’s probably because Lonsdale Quay is much farther from downtown and basically requires a car to get to. In any case, we appreciated the fact that we had a rental car and enjoyed a nice quiet lunch of salmon chowder, artisan pizza, and Korean fried chicken, for once not having to jostle with other tourists to get food.

Lonsdale Quay Market

Last stop of the trip was Lighthouse Park, a small hiking area way over in West Vancouver. The park is pretty well hidden in a residential area and definitely had a locals feel, with groups of students hanging out and rock climbers hiking out with all their gear. The trails were short, but the vista points were spectacular. On one side of the park you could see Stanley Park and downtown Vancouver across the bay. On the other side were breathtaking views of Bowen Island and the vast Salish Sea. It was a bit of a trek to get out here, but I thought the views were worth it. Just don’t try driving back into the city at rush hour like we did…

View of the Salish Sea from Lighthouse Park

Overall we had a great time in Vancouver. The food was delicious, the sights were great, and the people were all super nice (especially the elderly British lady running one of the restaurants we ate at who assured us she would personally make a call to Trump if we had trouble getting back into the US). I’m glad we took the few extra days to explore Vancouver after getting back from Whistler, and I definitely wouldn’t be opposed to a dedicated Vancouver trip in the future!

Lassen Camping Trip

Hello again, long time no post!

I haven't had the chance to travel much lately, but a few weeks ago we took a long weekend to go live in the woods up in Lassen Volcanic National Park. Camping is the type of vacation that takes a bit more preparation and work than, say, an all-inclusive resort where all you have to do is throw money at people to have things taken care of for you. But there's something to be said for roughing it in the wilderness completely off the grid, and cooking your own food over an open fire as you gaze up at the stars, unobstructed by any light pollution or smog.

Banana smores are surprisingly good

We stayed at the Summit Lake campsite, a medium sized site conveniently located right in the middle of the park close to most of the major hiking trailheads. As the name implies, we were also right next to a small lake, which turned out to be a great place to dip our feet after a long hike, and also to get some great views of the night sky. My only complaint is that a few of our neighbors did not seem to care about quiet hours. (PSA: Quiet hours at most campgrounds are 10pm - 6am, and people will think you're a total ass if you're too loud during that time.) Oh well. Maybe we'll go to a more remote campsite next time.

View of Lassen Peak near our campsite at Summit Lake

National parks are great places to hike, and Lassen is no exception. Here are the hikes we did on this trip:

1. Lassen Peak: 5 miles roundtrip, 1950 feet elevation gain. Lassen Peak is the tallest mountain in the park, and the hike to the top is one of the most highly recommended hikes for the grand, sweeping, panoramic views at the top. It’s also a thigh burner - you’re climbing for 2.5 miles straight to the top. I would recommend this hike for anyone who hasn’t done it before, but I would also recommend being in decent shape and/or taking frequent breaks on the way up. Hiking at 9000 feet elevation is no joke.

Top of Lassen Peak

2. Cold Boiling Lake: 1.4 miles roundtrip, 40 feet elevation gain. Our second hike was more of a cool-down walk after finishing Lassen Peak. The hike started at the Kings Creek trailhead and followed an easy trail through the woods to a small bubbling lake. It was a nice walk, but nothing to go out of your way for. 

Cold Boiling Lake

3. Bumpass Hell: 3 miles roundtrip, 800 feet elevation gain. This is one of Lassen’s signature hikes that I would consider to be a must-see for anyone visiting. Lassen is known for its many geothermal features, and Bumpass Hell is one of the best hikes to see them from. The trail starts out flat and then descends into a small valley where you can get up close (but not too close!) to steam vents, bubbling mudpots, and boiling pools. It’s one of those things you don’t get to see just anywhere, so I would highly recommend checking it out.

Bumpass Hell

Lassen tends to be one of the more underrated parks, which is fine because that means less crowds to deal with. It’s a great place to get away and go on some nice hikes, and I know I’ll be back to explore the other regions of the park.

Seaside Day-trip from Taipei

Hello from Taiwan! We’ve been spending our first few days over here exploring, recovering from jetlag, and eating all the delicious food. I am currently on the high speed rail now finally with a bit of downtime to write about our recent day trip to the northeast coast of Taiwan. 

Our first stop of the day was Yehliu Geopark, about a 40 minute drive from Taipei. It was kind of like a huge rock garden measuring a few kilometers out the long way, but with most of the rock features formed naturally. There were some really interesting mushroom and checkerboard rocks shaped by the wind and waves. It’s a neat attraction worth at least a quick stop.

Yehliu Geopark

Mushroom rocks in the park

Most of our afternoon was spent 30 minutes east in Jiufen, a picturesque seaside town that was also the inspiration for Miyazaki’s “Spirited Away”. The town itself is pretty small, with mostly small streets and shrines and a few larger buildings. Looming over the town is Mt Keelung, a tall peak from the top of which you can see panoramic views of the ocean and Taipei 50 miles away on a clear day. We didn’t hike all the way to the top, but even from the lower platforms you can get some great views of the surrounding area. 

View of Jiufen from Mt Keelung

Top of the main food street

As the sun started going down, we made our way over to Shifen, another small town farther inland known most for being the tourist destination for lighting sky lanterns. All along the main Old Street were stores selling lanterns. They were pretty cheap, only about 200 NT per lantern, and really big with plenty of space to write all your hopes and wishes for the future.

Lighting sky lanterns in Shifen

This day trip was a nice contrast from the big city sightseeing of Taipei. For anyone in the area looking for something different and relatively close by, I’d recommend checking these places out.

Beautiful Hawaii - From Mountains to the Sea

Sun, sand, and relaxation were all on the menu for our most recent trip to Hawaii. Michael and I spent about five days on Oahu, and this is the first of a series of three posts sharing some of the highlights of our trip. We spent a lot of time both at the beach and on hiking trails, experiencing the natural beauty of the island from mountains to the sea, and here were some of our favorites...

Diamond Head

Overlooking Waikiki is a massive crater known as Diamond Head. It’s close proximity to the city and relatively easy trail makes it one of the most accessible hikes on the island. The downside is that this also makes it one of the most crowded hikes. We got there about 30 minutes before sunrise which was plenty of time to make it up the 0.8 miles to get to the top. It was an interesting challenge finding a spot up there along with the other tourists arriving by the busloads, but at least the view up there was nice.

Diamond Head overlooking Waikiki

Literally busloads of tourists up there

View of sunrise from the top

Koko Crater

About a 30 minute drive east of Waikiki is another crater hike, the Koko Crater. Like Diamond Head, Koko Crater is a straightforward uphill climb to the top, and then downhill the way you came. But unlike Diamond Head, Koko Crater is actually a quite strenuous hike. It’s only about a mile to the summit, but it’s really more of a stair climb, with each step about a 1-1.5 feet in height. The view is definitely worth it though. Rest breaks doubled as photo breaks, and at the top we could see an amazing panoramic view of the windward shore. 

Who needs a StairMaster when you can climb this?

Reward for making it to the top

Hanauma Bay

We were a bit hesitant about going to Hanauma Bay after hearing about how crowded it could be. It actually wasn’t too crowded when we went though, probably due to a combination of us being there during the off-season and going there in the afternoon when most people had already left. We ended up arriving just an hour before closing, so as an added bonus, the guy at the admissions gate let us in free of charge! I would’ve liked to have more time there, but even with what little time we had we were still able to see some really interesting fish.

Hanauma Bay, one of the best snorkeling spots on the island

North Shore Beaches

Most visitors to Oahu never see anything much beyond Waikiki Beach, which is a shame because there are so many great beaches on the rest of the island. Although this might be a good thing - it means less crowds everywhere else! Kualoa Beach was one where despite its beautiful views and clear waters I could count the number of people there with one hand. Waimea Bay and Laniakea Beach on the north shore were a little more populated, but there was still plenty of room on the beach since most other people there were in the water riding the famous Hawaii waves.

Midday at Kualoa Beach

Surfer spotted on the north shore

Hawaii is one of the most scenic places I’ve been to, with it’s dramatic landscapes and natural wonders. There are so many great hikes and beaches to choose from, but I definitely recommend all of the above as a good starting point. Stay tuned for my next post about some of our favorite Oahu attractions and activities!

Journey to Wizard Island

My Oregon trip has come to an end and I’m back in the bay area again, but during the last weekend before I left, I decided to take one last adventure down to Crater Lake with M who was also visiting. Most people who visit the national park spend their time driving around the lake on the scenic Rim Drive. But we decided to try the road less traveled and take a boat out to Wizard Island, the small(er) volcanic mountain in the middle of the lake.

Wizard Island as seen from Crater Lake Rim Drive

Our day started with an early morning drive to Cleetwood Cove on the north side of the lake. We picked up our tickets the moment the ticketing office opened at 7:30, then started hiking down to the actual dock. The trail was pretty steep - makes sense considering it’s on the edge of a crater. We made good time going down and even had time to take some pictures before catching our boat at 8:30.

The dock at Wizard Island

The boat ride was wet and cold. A thick fog covered the entire lake, and the sun had not yet pierced through. As we kept going, a mountain suddenly materialized out of the darkness, and we were at Wizard Island.

On the way to the summit

There are two hiking trails on Wizard Island. We started with the summit hike, one mile of going straight to the top of the mountain, and then one mile back. 

Mini crater at the top of Wizard Island

It was a struggle up the steep trail with the oxygen deprived air at 7000 feet elevation, but we made it up right as the sun was just starting to peek through the clouds, making for some great photo opportunities.

View from the top of the island

After going back down, we had some extra time before the boat came back to pick us up, so we decided to take the other trail to Fumarole Bay. The trail was incredibly rugged. 

Look how rugged the trail was

We were basically walking on huge piles of volcanic rock, making it quite hard on the ankles. In order to preserve our joints, we just went to the first vista point of the bay and then turned back.

Beautiful Fumarole Bay

The boat ride back to Cleetwood Cove was a lot more pleasant than the journey out. By then the sun was completely out, turning the lake a brilliantly blue color.

We could actually see the island during the return ride

Despite having to wake up at the crack of dawn and make a final steep climb out of the crater at the end, it was totally worth seeing the amazing sights and getting to hike on trails orders of magnitude less crowded than those on the mainland. Wizard Island was definitely the highlight of our trip, and I would highly recommend it to anyone spending at least a full day at Crater Lake.

Hiking and spelunking at Pinnacles

Last week was National Parks week, meaning free admission at all parks. Taking advantage of the event, I went with a group of friends to Pinnacles National Park for a day hike. We decided to start out at Old Pinnacles trailhead, which was just as well because the Bear Gulch trailhead had just run out of parking by the time we got to the park (note for the future - 10am is not early enough to get a parking spot at the Bear Gulch day use area). 

View of Balconies Cliffs from the trail

Rockier terrain closer to the cave

We followed the Old Pinnacles Trail for a couple miles through relatively flat terrain. Several creek crossings later, we finally reached the entrance to Balconies Cave. 

Last bit of light before entering the dark cave

Flashlights were very much needed in the pitch black first section of the cave. We scrambled over and under fallen rocks and squeezed through tight crevices and eventually got to the other side of the cave.

Fallen rocks in the caves to crawl under

On the way back we took the Balconies Cliff Trail to see some different scenery. 

View of the high peaks over the ridge

We got a great view of Machete Ridge on the right, and watched a couple hardcore rock climbers scaling Balconies Cliffs to our left. After a little less than a mile, the Cliff Trail merged back with the Old Pinnacles Trail which we followed back to the trailhead.

I think this is Machete Ridge

This was my first time going to Pinnacles, and was a great introduction to the park I had heard so many good things about. I look forward to coming back sometime to explore the whole south side of the park and high peaks!

A Night Under the Stars at Fremont Peak

A few months back, M had bought a tent on a whim. With ski season and weekend Tahoe trips coming to an end, we decided to finally put the tent into use with an inaugural camping trip. Now as most bay area outdoor enthusiasts would know, it’s nearly impossible to get a campsite reservations at the big parks like Yosemite and Big Sur without booking months in advance, so we settled on the lesser known Fremont Peak State Park, a little over an hour southeast of southbay. Though it lacks the big name appeal, Fremont Peak was a nice place for a weekend camping getaway with great views of both the surrounding landscape and the stars.

Fremont Peak, a park above the clouds

We stayed at campsite 8 in the Valley View campground. The campsite was small, but had more than enough room for a single large tent. It was a little inconvenient not having a water spigot or trashcan in our site, but both were just a short walk away, and in exchange we had probably the best view of the valley out of all the campsites there. 

View of sunset from our campsite

Fremont Peak is a relatively small state park. We spent the afternoon hiking the only loop trail (~4-5 miles) around the park with an offshoot going up to the summit. The landscape actually changes rather dramatically from one side of the park to the other. On the west side we hiked through mostly dense woodland (despite the segment being called the Valley View Trail, it had the least view out of all the trail segments), to the north was more dry and sparse, and the southeast part of the trail was on the edge of a steep incline, covered in green grass and blooming purple flowers. 

Hills full of flowers

The actual peak summit was definitely the highlight of the hike. The ascent started off fairly moderate, but by the end we were scrambling over large rocks to get to the top. The weather was great the day we went, and we could see for miles in all directions. You could see Monterey bay, a lot of the central valley, and even a little bit of Silicon Valley peeking from behind the Santa Cruz mountains to the north. The descent was a bit precarious - there were a lot of people at the summit who we thought were just chilling up there, but we suspect they were just stuck and not sure how to get down because a large group left right after seeing us make our way down - but we eventually made it down and back to the campsite.

View from the summit

Aside from the great views, one of the biggest defining features of Fremont Peak is the observatory. A group of friendly volunteers work at the observatory and hold astronomy talks and viewings every Saturday afternoon and evening without a full moon. We stopped by in the afternoon in the middle of the hike to peek through some of the telescopes they had set up to see prominences and sunspots on the sun. Later that evening, we returned to attend the talk on solar eclipses. It was a little cloudy that night, but we were still able to spot multiple constellations, the International Space Station, and galaxies much farther away. My favorites of the night were the views of Jupiter and a few of its moons and the globular cluster M3. 

Fremont Peak observatory at night

Before deciding to make this trip, I had never even heard of Fremont Peak, and most other people I talked to hadn’t either (“Is that in Fremont?”). It’s definitely a hidden gem in the increasingly overcrowded bay area, and a great place to go for some peace and quiet in the wilderness. 

The Lonely Mountains of New Hampshire

Last weekend M and I went hiking in one of the most isolated places I’ve ever been. Maybe it was because it’s already considered the off season in the New Hampshire state parks, but we could literally go for miles without seeing another human being. Big difference from certain other parks that even require lottery ticket systems for their most popular hikes. (Yeah, I’m looking at you, Half Dome.) You would hear nothing but the wind howling through the trees and the leaves crunching beneath your feet. It was kind of nice.

The area we visited is called the White Mountain National Forest, a huge expanse of woodland stretching over one portion of the rugged Appalachian Mountains. We went to two of the more prominent parks within the White Mountains, Crawford Notch State Park and Franconia Notch State Park.

Silver Cascade

Crawford Notch is most known for its waterfalls. As California natives, we were exceptionally excited at the prospect of seeing real waterfalls with actual water in them, so we spent most of our time in the park trekking to as many falls as we could. The Silver and Flume Cascades were easily accessible right off highway 302. They were small but photo-worthy.

Flume Cascade

Arethusa Falls took a little more effort to reach. We decided to hike the Arethusa Falls Loop, the most highly recommended hike in Crawford Notch. The trail started by going up, and continued to go up basically until we reached the falls over a mile later. With a drop of over 200 feet, Arethusa Falls was very impressive and well worth the climb. We took a nice snack and photo break there and continued along our way.

Majestic Arethusa Falls

The next part of the loop climbed up some more up to the Frankenstein Cliffs. The cliff overlook provided a great view of the surrounding mountains and the valley below. If you looked hard enough toward the west you could even faintly see the top of Arethusa Falls poking through the trees. It was all downhill from there. Though I actually thought the downhill was the most difficult park of the hike - that part of the Cliff Trail was quite rocky and steep, and leaves covered the trail to the point where it was often difficult figuring out where the trail was. Luckily there were painted trail markers at frequent intervals, and slowly but surely we made it back down.

View from Frankenstein Cliffs

Franconia Notch is one of the biggest state parks in New Hampshire and contains a variety of attractions. Unfortunately many of them were closed when we went. But we did get to see the Basin just off of I-93, a giant pothole at the base of a waterfall, carved perfectly smooth by the forces of nature over thousands of years. 

The Basin

Also right next to the highway was the Old Man of the Mountain. Or at least, what’s left of it. Look on the New Hampshire state quarter and you’ll see what the Old Man used to look like, a natural rock formation resting on the top of a cliff hundreds of feet high. If you looked from a certain angle, you would see the face of an old man, hence the name. But a few years ago, the rocks fell, leaving a gaping hole where the face used to be. Unable to let go of their crown jewel, the state of New Hampshire installed metal rods at ground level in what is now known as the Old Man Plaza. If you stand at just the right angle, the metal rods form a silhouette that lines up with the former Old Man, recreating what it used to look like.

The new Old Man of the Mountain

The last thing we did in Franconia Notch was go on another big hike up to the summit of Cannon Mountain. We made our ascent up on the Hi Cannon Trail, and it was extremely rugged - we were basically scrambling over boulders the entire way up and at some point there was even a ladder we had to climb. At some point we crossed the snow line and continued our way up tromping in snow. When we finally made it to the top, wind chill brought the temperature down to 20 degrees F, but the view was unparalleled. We could see for miles in every direction. I would’ve stayed up there longer if I didn’t feel my fingers start to go numb from the cold. 

View from Cannon Mountain summit

On our way down we took the Kinsman Trail down to Lonesome Lake. The trail was just as steep and rocky as before, and we were quite worn out by the time we got to the lake. Luckily there was a hikers hut there run by the Appalachian Mountain Club, where we could warm up and take a short break. The last segment of the descent down the Lonesome Lake Trail was the least difficult park of the hike, good news for the weary travelers.

Lonesome Lake, aptly named

I think one of my favorite parts about the trip was simply getting relatively far away from civilization. Sometimes it’s nice just to take the path less traveled and spend some time communing with nature.