A Beautiful Place Called British Columbia

I've travelled a bit now here and there, seeing ancient ruins, postcard beaches, and New York's posh streets, but I must say, my recent road trip has reminded me of something so important. My best friend and I made the 4 hour drive to 100 Mile House, British Columbia, which if you don't know, is a cute little town nestled in the interior region of British Columbia. The entire drive is beautiful starting with the expansive green fields of Abbotsford dotted with trees, cows and even lamas. Making your way to Hope, the scenery becomes more lush and dense, and you feel like you are truly driving through a rain forest.

Leaving the lush greenery of the lower mainland behind, you eventually drive through the canyon, over hills, dips and corners. The Fraser river looks beautiful from above, and at some points of the drive you are right at eye level with the furious rapids roaring over the car sized boulders. I find the orange coloured sandstone cliffs to be the most amazing sight to see, as the eroded layers reveal briefly just how old the land is.

Next are the narrow tunnels (remember to hold your breath), which take you through the sides of the mountains leading you eventually onward to Cache Creek, Clinton and finally to 100 Mile House. It is amazing to think how within 4 hours you can reach two such opposite landscapes and climates! British Columbia is such a beautiful province that offers us absolutely everything, from glacier covered mountains, world acclaimed vineyards, sandy beaches and hours of hiking. I am so proud to call British Columbia my home and although I want to travel the world, I know that I am indeed standing in one of the most beautiful places on earth. So, close your Sunquest travel book, close your Cancun desktop screen saver, and take a moment to look at your own paradise, it's right outside your window.

I cannot believe it has been over a week since I have returned from San Francisco already! Where does time go? Well, anyways I am finally able to sit and write about my fun little weekend.

The only way I can explain San Francisco is picturesque. It just somehow felt like you were peeking into a postcard here with all the pastel coloured homes perched on hills with cute little doors and porches. I've seen the pictures and movies with the Golden Gate Bridge, looking so vividly red against the ocean and always wondered how much photoshop was added. The funny thing was, thats not the case. The Golden Gate bridge was brilliant. It was so massive and it did truly "pop" against the ocean just like I had seen in pictures. During my breif 3 day visit, it seemed like everywhere I looked, the cities colours were endulging my eyes.

We first adventured to the Coit tower on Telegraph hill. The hike up the hill I'll admit gets your heart rate going a bit, but the view and the walk itself is well worth the effort. From here, you can see the Bay Bridge and Alcatraz. You can actually go up the Coit Tower for $10, but as we are travellers on a budget, we stood up on a high post and snapped pictures instead.

After the Coit Tower, we walked down to Fisherman's warf which only took about 20 minutes or so. I enjoyed walking around the wharfs and exploring the less touristy end. The so called "must see" Pier 39 was, I will say....unpleasant. I believe we spent all of 20 minutes there before escaping from the crowds. Pier 39 consisted of tacky tourist shops with "authentic" goods (Somehow I doubt this), and massive crowds all standing aimlessly around.

Further down from Pier 39, the crowds die down a bit and you can stop and look at a massive submarine they have on a display along with a fun museum filled with antique wartime arcade games (FREE). We asked a local where he would eat some chowder and he suggested a place called Boudin's. It was a basic concession style restaurant with pretty good chowder (not chunky enough for me), served in a fresh sourdough bowl for around $8.

After filling up, we walked to Lombard street (as pictured above). My first thought was, "Who in their right mind would even think to build a street like this?" The way it zig zagged vertically down the hill made me cringe as I watched cars slowly make their way down. It is definitly a sight to see when in San Francisco. On our way back to the hotel, we caught a trolly! It was so fun to hang off the side with no buckles orrestraints, and the crsip air felt wonderful as we flew up and down the rolling streets.

Later that night we went to Alcatraz and got to explore the cells and grounds of the world known prison. It was amazing! The audio tour which I was hesitant at first about, turned out to be fantastic and the actual guides we had for the Escapes portion of the tour were great too. We got to see the cells, the kitchen, library, showers, the Hole, and where families actually lived on the island. For $60, the tour was well worth the money and was the highlight of my trip.

The following day we rented bikes from Bike and Roll for a easy price of $28 for the day. We rode to the Golden Gate Bridge and back, stopping for amazing crab on the way home. The Golden Gate Bridge was amazing (and windy), and the sights below of the ocean and coastline were beautiful. You could actually continue on up the hill and explore Bonita Point or to Muir Woods, but we looked at the massive climb and distance to get there and thought it was not a good venture for the day.

On our last day, we visited The California Academy of Science centre. It was also very fun and educational and the displays were fantastic. They had tons of marine animals, a gigantic rainforest you could walk through, a planatarium, and the living roof. For a little over $20 it was a fun way to spend 3 hours or so in San Francisco.

Overall, my experience in San Francisco was great. The people were kind, the sites beautiful, and the food was tasty. I would definitly recommend spending a weekend here if you get the chance to.