This weekend we celebrated our 4 year Anniversary and rented a log cabin in HalfMoon Bay.  The Sunshine Coast is technically part of the mainland but because of the terrain, a road has never been built.  We boarded the ferry to Langdale/Sunshine Coast at 11:55am.  It’s a short ride, only 40 minutes long compared to the hour and a half sailing to Vancouver Island. The scenery is stunning; imposing mountains lined the horizon as the ferry trudged up the coast due North under grey skies and rain.

We stopped for snacks and wine to take to the cabin and pulled in to Enchanted Woods 40 minutes later.  It was raining quite heavily when we arrived so the fireplace was first priority and we were soon toasty and settled in with a glass of sparkling wine and cheese puffs of course – my snack of choice when on Vacation. You’re allowed to eat anything on vacation.

That evening we went into Sechelt for dinner and despite the lack of sunset, the view was still lovely all dark and brooding and cozy.   Back at the cabin we played a few rounds of Monopoly Deal then had a delicious sleep in the humongous king sized bed.  That night it rained and rained and I could hear it whooshing over the cedar shingles on the roof.  I think if I ever left the coast I’d need to take a recording of the sound of the rain just so I could fall asleep kind of like the main character from Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil had to carry around a recording of the New York City traffic to lull him at night.

The sun was shining the next morning and by 11am we were at the beginning of the Skookumchuck Trail ready for our 8.2 km hike. But before we marched into the woods, we filled our bellies with cappuccino for Seth, a hot chocolate for me and breakfast sandwiches with eggs, jarlsberg and organic greens, served on the porch of the Skookumchuck Bakery, nestled in the trees.

We weren’t expecting the hike to be as long as it turned out to be and were poorly prepared in terms of snacks and most importantly water and we figured after our workout we’d earned some “real” food. We dined at the Lighthouse Pub while sports played on the flat screens and 80’s tunes from the speaker then spent the evening back at the cabin. We had a hot tub under the stars then snuggled on the couch in front of the fire while watching old movies on T.V., a luxury we don’t enjoy enough of in the city.

Our last day we awoke about 9am, warmed up left overs from the night before then did a 1.7km loop to a beautiful waterfall just minutes from the cabin.  We had a couple of hours before catching our ferry back to Vancouver so we took our time driving down the Sunshine Coast highway and stopped for Starbucks before going to the ferry terminal.

After having moved just a week before, this trip was not only a nice way to celebrate our anniversary, but also a very welcome time away to relax, sleep in and enjoy each others company.

Until next time,

Love,

Jennifer