Azores, Portugal

James and I took our first trip together (without E and A) since we’ve had a family! **thanks, mom & dad** We loved exploring the ocean, mountains, and hiking trails! Being able to navigate the entire island in one week was awesome, and we definitely felt like we’ve seen most of Sao Miguel and are so grateful for this experience. We started out with whale watching, which was great to see a couple of sperm whales, but also the inside of a plastic bag due to the rough weather - eek. Exploring and staying in Ponta Delgata was incredible. We loved the historical downtown and marina, and we always felt safe and were impressed with its cleanliness and wildly small places that cars park and squeak by!

Checking out Furnas and the steaming ground and water was cool! We saw the cozidos (stew) cooking in the hot ground and later ate it at Tony’s.  Parque Terra Nostra had an incredible botanical garden featuring hydrangeas (which are EVERYWHERE on the island) and bamboo forests, as well as a unique hot springs with iron rich water. Later we made our way down to Vila da Franco da Campo and ate queijadas morgada (cheese tarts), the stunning church on a hill (chapel of Nossa Senhora da Paz) and ate some fish (with heads) for dinner! 

James dusted off his scuba tank and dove for a morning (seeing blue lobster and eels), while I did canyoning at Salto do Cabrito. What a cool experience repelling down waterfalls and jumping into basins! 

We enjoyed checking out Ribiera Grande, the second largest city on the island. Santa Barbara beach was worth hanging out on (black sand beach), and the historical centre and aquaduct allowed us to see into the past. 

The breathtaking Sete Cidates “7 cities” lakes were a definite highlight! The hardest part was waiting for a cloudless day to see all of the outstanding vistas from various parts of the west coast. But, the wait was worth it (and the cloud covering live webcams around the island helped, too!). Before chasing all of our lake views, we began our day wading in geothermal water mixed with Atlantic water. This was in the west coast, at Ponta do Ferrario. Best time for this is low tide, and it felt amazing! After taking in all of the green lakes, we headed northwest to Mosteiros, a lovely village with black sand beach and spectacular sunsets!

The east coast is a vibe! I think it can be overlooked because it’s the farthest point from PDL, but it offered us a beautiful day of sights seeing, walking down a wild decline to see the lighthouse in Nordeste, and a really special ocean piscine. We also lucked out and saw the priolo bird, which is endemic to the east side of the island. 

Lagoa do Fogo was a knockout to see from atop the viewpoints, but we also enjoyed walking down around part of the lake, learning later that it is a sunken volcanic caldeira. This entire island is full of cool science landscapes! Azores Brewing Co. was the best way of us to end our afternoon with some cold beer and loaded fries from their food truck! 

Janela do Inferno (window to hell) was definitely not hellish. This hike was so cool. It led us through caves, tunnels, windows in caves, and a waterfall. This was our favourite hike with so many surprises! Later we cooled off at the island off of Franco do Campo, taking a short ferry over and exploring the fish underwater while also relaxing on some volcanic rock. 

Poco das Calhetas was our favourite hot springs, offering more of a rustic spa feel that left us feeling relaxed and tanned from the iron rich rocks! We capped off our trip at Rabo do Peix at a delicious and affordable steakhouse called, Assocaicao Agricola! 

We feel relaxed, sun kissed, full of salty and iron rich water, and we definitely scratched our itch for adventure and natural discoveries. Obrigato, Portugal for giving us an incredible 7 year anniversary trip to remember!!

Quebec City

Quebec City and Carnival!

What better way to explore your amazing country than a road trip? Then add in winter beauty, a big snowman, and snowy landscapes ... and voila! Quebec City was the perfect destination to see explore and immerse our children in Canadian culture. 

The main reason for going was to attend the Winter Carnival and meet bonhomme, the large snowman that everyone learns about in elementary school! It was kind of like a dream come true to see this massive, french  snowman walking around his palace with his big, red scarf around his waist. After one night's stopover in Cornwall to meet friends, we kept on trucking the 8 hour drive to Quebec City, or as the locals call it, just, Quebec. After pulling over to admire the semi frozen St. Lawrence river, we drove up the big hill in the middle of old town and enjoyed a warm, Quebecois meal (sheppard's pie and caribou drink!). The following couple of days were dedicated to carnival activities. Our first stop was bonhomme's palace, where you could walk through and see ice sculptures within and get almost lost in the labyrinth of ice walls. Once you got to the top, it was a beautiful vista looking across at the carnival activities. We later had a hot toddie at an ice bar, some poutine by the heaters, and bumped into Bonhomme himself to take some photos. Next, we wandered down the road to see the very detailed ice sculptures in a park and even played on musical ice drums. Everly enjoyed the ice slide the most and was very brave to go down on her own. Everly and Addison both thought it was fun to sit on the ice bed and then we gave maple taffy making a try in the snow, yum! Warming up by the heaters in the cabins was key, as we were contending with -25C weather, c'est la vie! The following day we did some ice tubing, ice hockey, icey ball pit, and admired some more sculptures. 

Old Quebec did not disappoint. The view from the top of the city and of the river was captivating. The cobblestone streets were darling and very European, offering gift shops, confectionery stores, restaurants, and stunning photo opts. We loved exploring the grounds of the Chateau Fairmont and the battlegrounds on and near the hill. We did some ice skating in the city and also celebrated Valentine's Day with our favourite people at an Italian restaurant. 

The girls' favourite part was seeing bonhomme and playing in our Air BnB! They thought it was fun to make forts, sleep in big beds, and watch a movie on the pull out couch. They were easy to please! In the meantime, James and I took turns parenting to do some 'kidless' activities. I spent the day at Strom nordic spa on the St. Lawerence. The infinity pool over the river, the lazy river with tubes, the eucalyptus steam rooms, the outdoor swings, face mud masks, massage salt rub, relaxation rooms, saunas, and cold plunges were all so dreamy. James spent his kidless time wandering the streets, taking in the sights and popping in for a flight at local breweries. 

We took one day to get out of the city and see some natural wonders. We did a hike at the Jacques Cartier provincial park and borrowed a chariot stroller on skis! The girls were so cozy for our hike, nestled in the valley of mountains and we ended up a cabin with a wood fireplace where we could warm our hands and toes. It was a picturesque spot and we hope to return sometime in the summertime. We also went to Montmorecy Falls, which was super cool because it was all frozen. It's much larger than Niagara, so you can imagine its beauty. 

The Aquarium of Quebec did not disappoint, either. We all got to touch stingrays and sea stars. We saw sea horses, sea jellies, and octopi. They also had outdoor exhibits (brr) of polar bears, arctic foxes, and seals. It was outstanding!

The drive home wasn't so bad, especially because we beat the winter storm that hit Ontario and Quebec by just one day! We highly recommend a trip to Quebec City for anyone who wants to feel a taste of Europe within our own borders! 

 

Beautiful BC

Beautiful British Columbia! That’s definitely an accurate description for this amazing province that we call our own. Addison and I took a trip out west in September of 2024 to visit with my friend and former colleague, Amanda and her almost 1 year old son, Lachlan. 

Our friends live in Victoria, but they met us on mainland in Vancouver and we took a road trip to Whistler. What a stunning ski town with a warm and vibrant village! We enjoyed cruising the village, hiking around glacier lakes, and checking out Olympic Village. 

Our trip continued down the breathtaking sea to sky highway to Squamish, an eclectic and chill town that has excellent coffee and great views! We took the gondola up the Chief Mountain and were awestruck by the 360 degree views of the mountain and ice blue glacier lakes. Throw in a few waterfalls on that tour of Squamish and area and we had ourselves a perfect day full of beauty and good company.

Next we toured Vancouver and checked out the highlights of Stanley Park, including the brewery and totem poles, drove some iconic neighbourhoods, like Gastown, and stayed close to the downtown at Amanda’s cousin, near Little Italy (aka Commercial Drive). We felt very grateful to have wonderful hosts. The following day we spent cruising around Granville Island on foot; eating Lee’s Donuts, artisan pizza, and baked goods. Next stop? Vancouver Island via the ferry!

This next leg of our trip was so special because we were able to live with Amanda, Kevin, and Lachlan for several days. They were such gracious hosts and we felt right at home. The babies got along so well and we meandered Victoria and surrounding areas on foot and bike. We climbed Mount Doug to get spectacular panoramic views of the city, hiked the perimeter of Thetis Lake for stunning landscape imagery, saw the sun set along the beach facing south with a view of the Olympic mountains in Oregon, enjoyed some seafood chowder at Fisherman’s Wharf, admired the marina with a chai latte in Oak Bay, walked the sea wall and other trails along the ocean with delicious artisan coffees in hand, admired the downtown and parliament buildings, drank craft beer at the Drake, toured U Vic, biked some cute neighbourhoods, dined with friends, saw sea stars/bull kelp/sea jellies along Ogden Point, marvelled at the plentiful and tame city deer, and did a dip in the cold and exhilarating Pacific Ocean! Addison and I were so lucky to be invited to stay and were treated so well by our friends, their friends, and basically everyone we encountered. I was grateful to spend some 1-1 time travelling with Addison (as I did with Everly in California when she was a baby). Cheers to many more family adventures and learning opportunities!