Getting Outta Dodge – The Sunshine Coast

Last weekend, I needed to escape.  I really didn’t care where or how or with who, if anyone. I don’t remember the last time I had a full day off from work.  I was tired, pretty cranky and feeling like I was verging on crossing that line between simply overworked and burning out.

So you can imagine, I was pretty pleased when Ethan from Tastes Better With Friends texted me and asked if we could go up the Sunshine Coast for the day on Saturday.  Answer: an unequivocal YES.

We left early and drove out to West Vancouver and caught the 9:40 ferry to Langdale, drove up the coast to Sechelt (pronounced “see-shelt”), puttered in the local farmer’s market, hit the main street, poked through some thrift stores, bought some food props and then bought lunch.

The rest of the day consisted of:

• eating lunch on the beach
• lying on the beach
• walking along the beach
• wading in the waves at the beach
• taking pictures on the beach
• throwing rocks on the beach
• eating dinner by the beach

And then we hopped the last ferry of the night back to Vancouver full of salt air, sunshine and feeling a little more chilled out.

Here is our day in pictures:

We started off with a lot of cloud and cool breezes. E had never been on a BC Ferry before but I was right chuffed when we pulled up at 9:35, expecting to catch the 11 o’clock only be be waived right on to the 9:40 sailing. No parking, no waiting, no nuthin.  That’s timing baby (I only mention this because in all my years taking a ferry, that’s never ever happened…).

That’s right… leave your redneck vehicle off the beach… how can you not love a park called Snickett Park?  And talk about dog friendly… I wish I’d brought Sam.  There were dogs everywhere we went!

The beaches on the sunshine coast are not sandy at all… but surprisingly those rocks weren’t as uncomfortable to sit on as they looked.

This was about the point of traipsing around the rock edges that Ethan called over from his higher up perch to ask me if I knew how to swim…

Tidal pools even in all those big rocks.

That little pup at the top was too scared to follow his humans into the water so he sat oh so patiently watching them and waiting…

Then we carried on back down to Gibson’s Landing for dinner and more waterfront.

This wall stretched along a good section of the seawall in Gibsons open to the public to share there dreams. I think the guy who said “buy a casket” is probably a planner..

Graffiti under the pier. I loved it 🙂

Halibut and steamed mussels for dinner at Smitty’s Oyster House in Gibsons, happy feet… and it was suggested by a fellow who’s always telling me how charming he is, that I might be at the age where I would like to invest in some knitting needles… ahem… I did not throw that glass of water in the top picture at him while he ate his dinner… I showed great restraint, no?

Since it’s pretty much impossible to replicate my earlier feat of driving right onto the ferry, we had a much much longer wait on the way home.  So we took pictures of our props in the ferry terminal parking lot… cuz that’s what food bloggers do, right?  You can see me and E saying hi in the reflections!  If you want to see more of E’s parking lot prop photos, you can here!

 And then I moved on to other things… like the sunset at the ferry terminal… taken through a chain link fence.  It was so beautiful… except for that fence!

The ferry ride back was chilly.  But I sucked it up long enough to take this photo of the funnel and the moon.  I only wish I’d had my tripod with me… but now I think about it… it would’ve been useless with the rocking of the boat.  Oh well… it was very pretty in the moonlight.

People who live on the coast know how the sea air and the rhythm of waves can push away almost any problems you have and even though it was too short, it certainly soothed my soul.  Hope you enjoyed your virtual trip with us!