Canada in October- Hotels and City Views

I flew up to Canada to spend a magical long weekend with Dan during the third week of October. This was my second trip to Canada, but the first on the west coast. Just like America, the east and west coasts of Canada are very different. I experienced snow on both coasts (my only exposure to heavy falling snow) and the both had Tim Hortons, but really, completely different landscape, architecture and vibes. The west coast is just more laid back and what we noticed most of all, were the people seemed mostly fit. Vancouver is an active city with lots of walking and bikes. We felt like the fat Americans (well British for Dan) visiting Canada and we lived up to it through many indulgent meals to be detailed in a future blog post. The focus of this post is hotel views and overall impressions of the two cities that we visited, Vancouver and Whistler. I spent the first and last night of trip at the Holiday Inn Downtown Vancouver. This was Dan's home base for over a week, as he was there on business. The location can't be beat. It's right in the heart of the city, with stores and great restaurants in the immediate vicinity. I felt like I was staying in Manhattan. The hotel itself was no-frills, but it was comfortable. It had a good restaurant and great bar. The best thing about the hotel was the staff, who were incredibly nice and helpful. Dan made friends with a bartender who gave us two fantastic restaurant recommendations and loaned us his personal umbrella to go out into the rain. The hotel has an indoor pool and a newspaper delivered to the door in the mornings. The only strange and very minor negative is that it must be the only hotel in the world to not have movies in the room. We had hoped to rent a movie, but had to make-do with watching a Storage Wars marathon instead. Storage Wars is very gripping!

Vancouver is a gorgeous city. It rained while we were there, so everything looked extra green and lush. We noticed how a lot of the buildings had floor to ceiling windows and everything was filled with light and nature. It's definitely the prettiest major city that I have ever visited. It has a lot of Starbucks. Holy Cow! We saw one Tim Hortons (I don't think a majority of the Vancouver citizens go for Tim Bits) and about a hundred Starbucks. Not exaggerating. It was overwhelming.

We saw a bunch of Smarts in Vancouver, including one that was a police vehicle!

The Smart Patrol!

Stalking Smart cars in Canada!

Here are a few pictures that we took while exploring beautiful Vancouver.

Beautiful Downtown Vancouver.

Vancouver marina on a rainy Thursday.

Vancouver has a lot of windows.

A rained-out park in Vancouver.

A beautiful drive.

I was utterly blown away by Vancouver and then we drove to Whistler. Wow. Whistler is so stunning, that I can't believe people actually get to call it home.

Whistler is stunning.

We stayed right in the heart of the village at the Crystal Lodge and Suites.

Our hotel, The Crystal Lodge and Suites.

This hotel was perfect for us. It was cozy and romantic, which big fluffy robes in the room. I am a sucker for big fluffy robes. It was the type of hotel room that you are just happy to never leave. In fact, the second night, we stayed in and rented a movie to the room.

Warm and Cozy, perfect for hiding from the snow.

The only negative to the room was the bathtub. It was very deep, but not very long. I'm only 5'6, but I was crunched in the tub. This is minor though, because the room was beautifully appointed and the bed was ridiculously comfortable. We also had a decent view and woke up to snow falling on the first morning. Magical.

Our view.

I would highly recommend staying at the Crystal Lodge. The staff was not only friendly, but gave us recommendations and booked last-minute activities for us. The only problem we encountered was finding the lodge when we first arrived. It's tucked away up a hill and Whistler has many, many different hotels. We used GPS and still got lost. Once we found it, we couldn't figure out where the parking is located. It's on the side of the hotel in an odd place and is tricky to find. It's not marked as such, but you can park in the circular driveway while checking-in. We opted to pay to park at the hotel, but it was kind of steep. They are other less expensive parking options, if you don't mind walking. In general, Whistler was a very expensive place to visit, not just because of the exchange rate, but because it's a resort town. Although it was a hundred percent worth it, we spent a lot very fast.

Here are some pictures of gorgeous Whistler...and a few of me, drunk with an ice cream cone!

Fall in Whistler.

All decked out in yellow.

Welcome sign.

Park art.

Whistler stream with fall colors.

Sculptures near the stream.

Somewhat creepy animal skull sculptures.

The most popular picture spot in Whistler.

The most popular photo spot in all of Whistler.

Ice cream cone provided by cows..both the animal and the ice cream shop!

If I had known that the hotel had an Aveda Salon, I wouldn't have made that last-minute pre-trip mad dash to the mall for my products! I really love Aveda!

I'm an Aveda product junkie.

Coming soon..epic culinary adventures, ATVs in the snow, riding in a mine car and so much more, including how this Southern California girl sat outside in the snow wearing nothing but a wet bathing suit without complaining about the cold!

Getting Out of L.A. with Dan's Parents - The Palm Springs Air Museum

Amid the lure of outlet shopping, aerial trams and date shakes, exists one of the hidden gems of Palm Springs, The Palm Springs Air Museum. Located right next to the Palm Springs Airport, the museum boasts one of the worlds largest collections of WW2 era planes, many of which are in flying condition.

I've been to Palm Springs many times and had never even heard of this place until my most recent trip with Dan and his parents. I really think that it is the best attraction that the area has to offer. It was made even more interesting by Dan's dad, who is a retired flight engineer. However, barring having your own guide, the museum is filled with knowledgable volunteers eager to answer questions.

The museum is enormous and mercifully air-conditioned, as we visited on a sweltering hot day in September. We started off with viewing the aircrafts that are on display outside. I could have spent more time looking at them and reading the displays, but it was just too hot. One of the best aspects of the museum is the accessibility of the exhibits. Visitors are able to walk around all sides of the planes and get really close views, even climb in a few planes or up steps to peek in the cockpit. Here are pictures of some of the planes outside.

Inside, the museum is broken up into two giant hangars, one for each theater of war, Pacific and Europe. The planes are in the middle and around the edges are displays and artifacts of the era. In particular, I enjoyed the section on female pilots in the Pacific. They had a great documentary that I spent maybe twenty minutes watching that featured interviews with female pilots, primarily focusing on the obstacles that they had to overcome due to their gender.

Many of the exhibits in both hangars dealt with personal stories of military personal, not just the bigger figures that everyone knows from History. The museum had an overall personal touch, with many former military men and women acting as volunteers, ready to answer questions and point out interesting facts and their own experiences. Here are some pictures from the interior part of the museum. This is a very small sampling, as the museum was huge!

There are lots of grandpas to keep an eye on in this place, but they might not belong to you!

Interactive..visitors can walk inside this plane and take a seat

Upstairs the museum has a huge library that would be a great place for History or aviation buffs. This museum is a tremendous resource and a great place to learn WW2 History in an exciting way. Many years ago in college, I took a semester long class on the Military History of both the World Wars and I wish that I had known about this museum. It is worth the drive from Los Angeles. Most of the museum might be dull for little kids, but they have made the effort to make it as family friendly as possible. There are many displays geared towards younger visitors and the highly interactive components would probably keep their interest. They also have a nice little cafe to take a break. The museum could easily take a few hours to most of a day depending on the visitors interest.

Here are a few last pictures from the front of the museum, where they have even more exhibits!

Me, standing with an enormous propeller.

I have absolutely no idea why the statue is in this pose, but I had to join him.

Getting Out of L.A. with Dan's Parents- A Morning on Big Bear Lake

Dan had the great idea to rent a pontoon boat to explore Big Bear Lake. The last time that we were on the lake, Dan and I had rented a jet ski, which although a lot of fun, didn't allow us to take pictures or really enjoy the lake. Unlike last time, when it was so crowded that we lucked out to be able to get a jet ski for an hour, this time the marina was dead. It's always a good idea to book in advance, but we really didn't need to on a Friday morning in mid-September.

The first thing that you see when heading to the boat office is this great statue carved from a piece of wood and a memorial for "Spike".

A duck named Spike.

Marina Shack.

We didn't rent the pontoon to go fishing, but here is the records for the lake. There are some big fish in that water!

Big fish!

Dan has his boating licence, which was reassuring. He definitely drove the pontoon better than the guy working at the marina, who crashed it into the slip before handing it over to us. I am fairly certain that the marina doesn't require a licence to rent the pontoons, as it is such a tourist operation. They gave Dan a map and about five minutes of instructions before we set off into the lake.

Here is our pontoon.

Our Pontoon

Off we go!

Let's head out for an adventure!

Picking up speed

This advertisement was a little late, as we had just left the marina.

Snacks?

We had the rental for an hour, which was just enough time to go around the boundaries of the lake. Next time, it would have been nice to pack a picnic and have lunch on the water.

We saw many things on the lake, like a flock of birds.

Pretty birds!

A big observatory with a little observatory.

Observatory.

Beautiful clouds.

Surreal clouds

Beautiful lake-side estates.

Let's move in here!

And pirate ships!

Ahoy!

Luckily, we escaped a pillaging.

After the boat ride, we headed to the Big Bear Village shops. As one might expect, there are a lot of bear themed shops. I found the ultimate tacky bear themed item... it is never to early to think about Christmas Decor.

The Holy Family in bear costumes.

Wise bears.

A bear in a camel costume?

I tend to think that every object, no matter how ridiculous, has someone out there who would want it. The old adage, "One Persons Trash, it another person's treasure". Mine is a Billy Bass Fish that sings Chinese Happy New Year song, in Chinese. I couldn't imagine that my friends wanted to throw away something so awesome and I even painted my bathroom orange to theme around the fish. Not kidding. The orange bathroom was repainted within a month, after I dealt with mortified family and friends. I stand by my unusual home decor design. It was awesome.

The bear nativity, I just don't get. Anyone who would have a nativity scene up for Christmas, won't want bears and anyone who would buy one with bears, wouldn't be the sort to have a nativity scene. I imagine this is the only one of its kind and it's gathered dust in the shop for years. I got a good laugh from it though. It's just so silly!

Lastly, here is a picture of something that I NEED for our front window. So adorable!

The cutest door decoration ever made.