Do you want to know how Whistler came to be a popular weekend resort? It involved a dream, a chat, and this stunning lake full of trout. Around 1911, Alex and Myrtle Philip left Maine for British Columbia. Alex came to manage the Horseshoe Bar & Grill in Gastown, Vancouver. In the spring that year,…
Month: December 2018
Lost Lake (Whistler Part 3)
Lost Lake used to be Whistler’s longtime nudist beach naturally enclosed with a border of luxuriant evergreen trees. Since lodging structures have been built around this secluded lake, it has become a lively picnic park in the summer and part of the municipal park’s cross-country skiing trail in the winter. From Whistler Village, you can…
Whistler Village and Food (Whistler Part 2)
What can you find in a “remote” village in the wilderness? You’d be surprised! Since the 1990’s, Whistler has always garnered top votes among North American resorts for alpine skiing. It gained further global recognition when it hosted the 2010 Winter Olympics which The Village icons, stores, and memorabilia will give you nostalgic reminders of. This village…
The Road to Whistler, B.C. (Whistler Part 1)
“The journey is equal to the destination,” Brent declared about our trip to Whistler as he drove the tour shuttle from downtown Vancouver onwards on the Sea-to-Sky Highway. With a 7am pickup, it would have been nice to nap all the way but Brent’s compelling, juicy narration kept me awake. He talked about the history…
Las Casas Quezon City
One-of-a-kind Filipino setting for Christmas dinner catching up with lovely friends. Loved my new favourites— prawn-stuffed egg, beef tenderloin with rosemary, baked halibut, mackerel pasta, fresh grape juice, and churros con chocolate [perfectly crisp outside and soft inside] at Las Casas by Chef @margaritafores. Exquisite artistic details in the natural wood marquetry, inlaid tile mosaics…
From Storm Survivors to International Performers: REO Brothers
With the shirts on their backs, guitars on their hands, this foursome brothers survived the fury of Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan); as REO Brothers band, they might just take the world by storm! I had the opportunity to meet them as they provided the dance music for a 1960’s Beatles-themed party. (Their band name honors their parents,…
Afternoon at Lynden, Washington: Day Trip from Vancouver, B.C.
When I thought we were lost amongst farms of waddling ducks, the vision of Mount Baker’s poetic and pretty triangular snowcap on the horizon kept me focused. [It’s actually just thirty minutes from either Fairhaven where we came from or from US / Canadian border in a triangle.] Set near the Nooksack Indian village, Squahalish,…
Mid-day at Fairhaven, Washington: Day Trip from Vancouver
Just twenty-one miles from the US-Canada border in British Columbia, the Fairhaven, Washington (USA) community was established in the late 1880’s; it became one of three cities [the other two being Whatcom City and Sehome] that formed Bellingham, the largest city of Whatcom County, Washington —famous for Vancouverites to do their US outlet shopping (think lower tax)….
London Heritage Farm, Richmond B.C.
Along the Fraser river by the coastline city of Richmond (British Columbia) stands the London Heritage Farm— a historic site complex consisting of a farmhouse, family barn, heritage and herb gardens, memorial rose garden, hand tool museum; with antique farming equipment, chickens, Honey and Blue Orchard bees (with picnic tables). In the farmhouse is a tearoom…
On A Given Sunday
This was my Sunday as a visiting body part. Usually I’m able to catch up with services of my home church, CCF (Pasig) via livestream when I am away from Manila but on this particular day, I wanted to see my teacher and dear friend, Heidi, so I went to her home church, CCF Vancouver. A…
BUTTERFLY IN THE SPRING 