Once we got back to Vancouver after our Colorado Ski trip we got another Whistler ski session in. We now realise this was our last for the season 😦 We had a great day out, with some early morning powder and we even went and found an ice cave!
We also recently learnt about a little mexican food place in Squamish. After a days skiing in Whistler we are always so hungry, but we got a top tip from a friend about this place. Think of a Burrito, and then deep fry it, and coat it with sauce. That is what this place specializes in! It is amazing after a days skiing – we are going to come here so much in the summer!
We also managed to get one more Cypress Mountain ski in after work, which is one of the local Vancouver ski hill’s. We caught an amazing sunset at the top, and had a great time skiing down with lots of red and orange colours in the sky.
Ellen and Harriet shredding
Then, around the 10th of March…. the America’s and the majority of the world felt the full brunt of Coronavirus, or COVID-19. Everyone’s day to day lifestyle was forced to take a dramatic turn, and the luxury’s of life such as pubs, bars, cafes, SKI HILLS, gyms, parks were forced to close here in Canada by mid-march for an indefinite amount of time. Fortunately for Ellen and I, both of our workplaces sent most people home to work from their dining room tables to stop the spread – we have both been able to hang on to our jobs during this crazy downturn, which we are grateful for. Work for me has gotten a lot busier since COVID has occurred which at first seemed bizarre. But with all the cars off the roads, the City of Vancouver and other municipalities are seeing this as an opportunity to do roadwork and utility replacements at busy intersections which usually takes years of planning!
For the majority of March and April we stuck to our little apartment as much as possible, doing our bit to limit our own contact with people. We used Zoom & Skype chats to catch up with friends and we even got involved in a weekly trivia! It got dark though, we even did a Tik Tok dance… wow how did we fall so far! See below for a few snapshots of what our life was like for a good three weeks during the full lockdown due to COVID!
Ellen has even taken up running now, it has been great weather and is also spring season. This means lots of pretty flowers for Ellen to pick and take home!
Once things COVID related started to ease a little bit, the government said it was ok to go outside a bit more and it is safe to do so. But we were still to avoid being in crowds and to still keep 2m distance from others. Feeling a bit heavy from all of my Oreo icecream and Uber eats delivered beers, we took this as an order to get outside as much as possible but to stay away from people.
One Saturday we went for a whopping big bike ride down to Iona beach jetty. There was so many pro looking bike riders on the way there too, we were just slogging away in our t-shirts and big backpacks getting overtaken by all these $10,000 bikes! It was fun though, might need to get more into bike riding and get myself one of those slick looking bicycles.
We also ventured down to Kitsilano beach a few days a week to catch the sunset after work. Everyone knows Ellen loves a sunset! Some days we wouldn’t get home till after 9:30pm as Ellen wanted to wait until it was pitch black and be sure she wasn’t going to miss anything!
As the weather heated up in late March and April, we managed to sneak off on weekends and do a few little hikes not too many people know about and aren’t within the BC Parks areas as all of those areas were closed. We are practically locals now, avoiding the tourist spots! Few pics below.
Jug Island
Cake Lake camping
We didn’t even do a hike on this trip. We just lounged around the lake in the sun on the jetty and drank beers and read books! The beauty of COVID is no one wants to come near you, so we had the entire Jetty to ourselves all day!
Mount Crumpit
Little local mountain in Squamish which has great views of the huge big rock called The Chief.
Mount Frome
A lot of vertical gain was in order to the top of this mountain. It is located in North Vancouver. Views were totally worth it.
Crooked Falls
Hike from Northern Squamish to a waterfall! It was raging due to the amount of snow melt.
In the last week the government has opened most of the BC Parks again here, except for the famous ones which get super busy. Camping is also opening from the first of June in BC parks. We cannot wait to get out and do more big hikes and backcountry camping. Summer is here and the bears are out. Yogi has already been spotted!
More pictures and videos here.
Justin & Ellen's travels 