GloFest at 8 Corners Tea Room

November 27, 2024November 15, 2024 / Maria / Leave a comment

I want to write about something a little different for this post. November and December are usually slower months for me while I wait for the mountains to fill with snow for ski season. This year, Seth and I decided to do something a little special in November and purchased tickets to attend GloFest. It’s an event that takes place at Camp Howdy, near Belcarra, but is hosted by the 8 Corners Tea Room.

We’ve been visiting the 8 Corners Tea Room on a semi-regular basis for several years now and we’re big fans! It’s a small Tea Room that is open on Fridays and Saturdays. They serve high tea and an a-la-carte menu. The Tea Room is located on a grassy hill overlooking Indian Arm, at the end of White Pine Beach Road in Belcarra, but it is challenging to access because of the crowds at Sasamat Lake. The park is managed by Metro Vancouver, and once the parking lot is full on a summer day, the road is closed. The 8 Corners Tea Room is technically a water lot, so land access isn’t guaranteed.

This has never been a problem for me and Seth, because we’ve always visited the tea room by kayak! I’ve written about the trip in my blog post about kayaking to Ferrar Cove. It’s a favourite for us because it’s a ~90 minute paddle from Belcarra, with a nice break at Jug Island along the way. Since it’s technically a water lot, they have a large public dock where we tie up our kayaks, and then we enjoy a nice sandwich, dessert, and cup of tea at the Tea Room.

The owner and staff are super friendly! We must be some of the only people to regularly arrive by kayak, because the staff always remember us when we climb up over the hill in our kayak gear. Although, I’m sure two people in wetsuits and lifejackets are a lot more memorable than the well-dressed clients they usually get attending high tea! Even so, they always treat us super well and over the years have shared lots of information about their organic teas, which are all sourced from Jeju Island in South Korea.

The Tea Room was closed throughout the entire 2024 season for renovations and we were really sad not to be able to visit this summer. So when I saw they were offering a tea and dining experience through November and December, I was thrilled to sign up for it. The event is called GloFest in November, and transitions to the name Christmas Tea Lights in December. It’s pricey, but the experience includes a boat ride from the pier in Port Moody to the Tea Room; a tea experience where you learn all about the health benefits of their tea and how it is produced and brewed; a 5-course meal in the heated glass domes; and a light show!

We loved everything about the experience! The renovations are still not quite finished on the tea room, so the event is running out of Camp Howdy, which is right next door. They have the forest decorated with lights on the way up from the dock and I liked all the personal touches around Camp Howdy. They have a free photo booth set up and a scavenger hunt around the property. We learned a lot from the Tea Experience and the 5 course meal was delicious! Seth had the sablefish and I had the steak. The night ends with a choreographed light show with music on the domes before you head back to Port Moody.

It is a bit of a long ride from Port Moody, but it was convenient for us since we live in Coquitlam. I believe for the Christmas event, they are also offering boats from Deep Cove, which is a shorter ride and makes it more accessible for people on the North Shore or downtown. So if you’re on the fence about the event or considering it, I’d definitely recommend if you have the financial means. We really loved it and can’t wait until the Tea Room re-opens again next year for us to return via kayak!

Whitewater Rafting the Chilliwack River

November 20, 2024November 15, 2024 / Maria / Leave a comment

I love whitewater rafting! Most of my rafting trips have been done while on holiday, with a few of my favourites including the Tongariro River in New Zealand, the Pacuare River in Costa Rica, and the Urubamba River in Peru. But there are a lot of opportunities for whitewater rafting in BC and after rafting the Elaho River in Squamish with my Girl Guides last year, I decided to try rafting the Chilliwack River this year for my birthday.

The Chilliwack River is very easily accessible from Vancouver and there are several options for rafting with the Chilliwack River Rafting company. Their website advertises several different rafting options. It doesn’t really matter which one you register for, they all leave at the same time and allow you to pick between them at the site. There’s the Classic option, which is great for beginners, and there’s the Canyon option, which is for more experienced paddlers and strong swimmers. There’s nothing higher than a class 3 rapid on the Classic and there are some nice leisurely sections. The Canyon option is on a different part of the river and involves up to class 4+ rapids.

At this point, I have done quite a bit of rafting, so I eagerly signed up for the Canyon option. Seth joined me, as well as my friends Carolyn and Lien. The company tried to persuade Lien out of the Canyon option when he said he hadn’t been paddling before. This is wise advice, but he insisted on joining the rest of us and we all did fine. It wasn’t my first time doing class 4+ rapids, but what I would say is more challenging about this trip than other options is that it is consistent paddling for over 2 hours. It’s common to hit slower sections when running rapids, which provide a nice break for your arms and there’s usually an opportunity to go swimming. On this trip, you have 1 break at the halfway mark, but you’re pretty much constantly running the rapids for 2 hours straight. So it is a really thrilling adventure, but very tiring!

One nice thing about the company is that there are two options for departure. You can leave in the morning, or in the afternoon. Both options include a large buffet lunch at the rafting camp. If you leave in the morning, you get the meal when you finish rafting, whereas if you go in the afternoon, you’re served lunch before you head to the river. It was a nice touch to feed us in advance of the trip, especially since there’s no opportunity to eat on the river.

You take the bus to the launch site, split into groups for the rafts, and meet your guide to go over safety. We were the “sweep” for the trip, which means we ran all the rapids last. I had a really great time on the river, the rapids are super fun and it’s a gorgeous location to spend an afternoon. The break location is a little bit chaotic. There’s no beach to pull out on, so the rafts all stop along the edge of the river and everyone has the opportunity to go cliff jumping (totally optional). I’ve done cliff jumping on a few different rafting trips, and this was definitely the most intense one. It’s not super high, but we went in late June, which is when the river has some of the highest flows, so you definitely want to be a strong swimmer because the current is fast moving in the location where you have to swim back to the boat.

Overall, I don’t think I enjoyed this trip as much as rafting the Elaho River in Squamish, which is interesting because I’ve done that one twice and was looking forward to something new. Overall, Canadian Outback Rafting in Squamish has slightly nicer equipment, the river is more scenic overall, and there’s a nice snack break and photos along the way. Although, I will say, you have to pay for your photos with Canadian Outback, whereas Chilliwack Rafting posts them on their facebook page for free (although there are not as many). The wetsuits were definitely nicer with Canadian Outback, who give you everything you need, including shoes. Chilliwack Rafting does not provide shoes, which is a bit concerning as a lot of people don’t realize that and show up in inappropriate shoes.

But overall, I would definitely recommend! I don’t think you can go wrong with whitewater rafting. Stick to the Classic option if it’s your first time or if you’re not a strong swimmer. But if you’re looking for a thrill, the Canyon option is definitely a great choice! It’s a pricier activity, but it’s a lot of fun!

A Day in Belem

November 13, 2024October 18, 2024 / Maria / Leave a comment

This marks my last post about my Europe Trip! After a week in Morocco, we flew back to Lisbon for 1 more day before returning to Canada. Our flight was delayed, so we didn’t arrive in Lisbon until really late at night and stayed in a hostel right outside Rossi Square. Overall, I felt like we didn’t really have enough time in Lisbon. I would have liked to do a food tour and spend some time exploring the Alfama neighbourhood, but we didn’t have time for everything.

On my first visit to Lisbon (12 years previous), I had regretted not going to Belem. I don’t really think Belem is any more special than any other part of Lisbon, but the Tower of Belem seems to show up on lots of travel bucket lists and I’ve always been a little disappointed I never did it. So we dedicated our last day in Lisbon to exploring the neighbourhood of Belem.

First we got up and had a nice brunch in Lisbon city centre, and then we caught the iconic 15E tram line that runs all the way from City Centre to Belem. It’s supposed to be one of the best routes for tourists and it gets really busy as a result. I didn’t find it too bad on the way there, but we forgot to top up our Metro cards and had a hard time getting tickets. The tram runs right through Belem and we got off at one of the last stops to walk over to the Tower.

Emily had purchased tickets online in advance, but they are not timed entry. We thought the tickets would save us from the worst of the line-up, but talk about a scam! The line-up to buy tickets is really short, but the line-up to get in the tower is still really long. It made me mad because once you buy the ticket online, you’re committed to going. You’ve already spent the money and can’t opt not to go if the line is long (without losing your money). I don’t know why they don’t do timed entry like in Sintra.

The line-up wait was forecasted at 2 hours, but it was moving pretty quickly and we ended up getting in after ~45 minutes of waiting. The downside was that it started to rain while we were waiting in line with no shelter. A few opportunistic vendors came by selling umbrellas, but we opted to wait it out in our rain jackets.

Fortunately, the tower is really cool, and because they only let so many people in at a time, it’s not crowded. The tower is constructed on a rock formation on the beach and was built by the King as a military fortification in the early 1500’s. The structure has been expanded on over the years and it underwent a full restoration in the 1990’s, after which it was added to the list of the seven wonders of Portugal. Also on this list is Pena Palace, which we visited in Sintra, and Jeronimos Monastery, which is located just down the street.

We could have made it a double feature and visited the monastery as well, which in my opinion, was a much larger and more architecturally interesting building. But we wanted to actually relax on our last day of vacation and didn’t want to spend another hour waiting in line. Instead, we spent the afternoon walking along the waterfront, where we saw the Belem Lighthouse, the Padrao dos Descobrimentos (a monument to Portuguese navigators), and did a little bit of shopping at a local market.

We walked along the main road to see the Jeronimos Monastery from the outside, and then decided to visit Pasteis de Belem, which is a famous pastry shop. It is absolutely massive, so we didn’t have trouble getting seated, but we also waited a long time to be served. We enjoyed tea and pastel de nata (Lisbon’s famous egg custard pastry), along with a mille feuille for me and chocolate cake for Em. It was all delicious!

We caught the bus back to Lisbon at rush hour, which was extremely chaotic, but also hilarious because I was seated in front of a Portuguese woman who was emphatically chastising her friend Maria for the entire journey. She said her name approximately 10 dozen times and I couldn’t help but feel I had let her down somehow.

We finally made a trip to the local liquor store to stock up on wine to bring home. I ended up getting more bottles than the duty free allowance (which also happened to me in Patagonia), but like Patagonia, no one questioned me or made me pay duties on the extra wine, so definitely don’t be limited by the allowances when returning to Canada (yes, I did declare it)! We picked a nice restaurant in the City Centre and had a fantastic meal before preparing to return home.

It was a long journey home. We flew through Montreal, where my absolutely massive flight to Vancouver got cancelled. Luckily, I got the notification on my way to the gate and I immediately took off running to customer service to be the second person in line. So I immediately got re-booked for the following morning and booked into a hotel. The bigger problem was that they did not release my luggage. I had (even more) duty free wine that I bought in the airport. It had to go in my checked luggage once I left the terminal, so I had to wait around for 3 hours while they tracked down everyone’s luggage. I seem to have inordinately bad luck flying, but I did get a $1200 Air Canada voucher out of it, which I immediately used on 2 flights to Newfoundland, so I guess it wasn’t the end of the world.

This was the first time me and Emily travelled internationally together since we went to Costa Rica in 2016, so we were long overdue for a sister trip and we had a great time! The Azores were my favourite part of the trip, but Morocco was also a very unique experience and unlike anywhere else I’ve been. The food was also a big highlight, with the seafood in the Azores and the flavours of Marrakesh being particularly memorable. And of course, seeing Taylor Swift in concert is worth every bit of the hype and an experience I hope to repeat one day soon!