Sunset at Eric and Sheri’s birthday party.  Thank you for coming! What a good looking family! Pike Place Fish Mongers The Mermaid House at the West End Marina in Victoria Now this is “living on the water.” We went to Victoria and all you got was a pic of lousy t-shirts, courtesy of the Cruise Boat gift shop, Beauty in Beacon Hill Park, Victoria, BC Angry Birds We loved this VW micro-truck in Victoria. Cars lined up for the BC Ferry Community Gardens in Vancouver Rowing in Vancouver harbor under cloudy skies. Bicycling under the bridge to West Vancouver in … Continue reading Pictures we wish made the blog

After an 11 hour day of traveling 140 miles in a 4WD Tundra, 200 miles flying in a Beechcraft 1900, 10 miles riding an electric SkyLink, 334 miles on Amtrak Cascades and 1/2 mile walk for a grand total of 684 1/2 miles, we crashed hard at our familiar loft until 5am until harshly woken by the former tenant’s alarm settings. Tip: always check the alarm before going to bed if you want to sleep in. It’s a sunny day in Seattle, sitting here in Zeitgeist Coffee House noshing on homemade granola with blueberry yogurt, a morning glory muffin and … Continue reading June 15, 2012 – Sunshine in Seattle

We met for breakfast at 8:00 to hear Brian’s plan. Little did we know, Ashish threw him a wrench and decided he and Swati were also ready to return to Vancouver. The clouds opened up and the rain did fall, leaving us with no bush pilot willing to brave the deteriorating conditions. While we got our sugar high on fruit filled crepes with whipped cream and granola, Brian rounded up the 4WD vehicles and said, “Today we drive.” With the two of us in the Tundra pulling a 14 foot trailer with Brian and the Indians in the Land Cruiser … Continue reading June 14, 2012 – Planes, Trains and Automobiles

It was our last day at the lodge, whitewater rafting was out (water level too low), we’d already attempted the hike to the summit of Mount Tullin (stopped by snow), kayaking was a bit of a bust due to improper rigging (flashback to Jenika) and we’d thoroughly canvassed the grounds so everyone sat around the breakfast table eating eggs benedict and asking, “what now?” Eric opted for fishing with the boys – Phil, Brian, Jamie, Ashish and he went out to cast some lines in hopes of scoring dinner. Us five guys headed to the dock at the north end … Continue reading June 13, 2012 – Freewheeling

Operating a 5-star resort off the grid requires the lodge to be entirely self-sufficient. In the lodge, people run dishwashers, laundry machines, big screen TVs, and hundreds of lights. Outside the lodge, Mikey keeps the ‘trons flowing with two generators, a panel of solar power cells, and a 10,000 Amp-Hr bank of lead-acid batteries. The power plant is a short walk away and runs off of a large propane storage tank at the edge of the woods. In addition, a 160 foot well supplies water to the residence while an enormous pump down by the lake provides water for fire … Continue reading June 12, 2012 – continued

Th number one reason I chose this multi-sport adventure in Chilko Lake, BC was for the Class 4-5 white water rafting. Eric and I had taken a 3 day OARS camping trip on the wild and scenic Tuolumne River near Yosemite and have been chomping to go again. This trip added more adventure features with deluxe accommodations so we decided to go for it. Unfortunately the unseasonably cool Juneuary prevented us from activities like whitewater as the water is too low and reaching the summit of Mount Tullin as the snow has not melted. Sometimes you just have to roll … Continue reading June 12, 2012 – Roll with it

Backtracking to our arrival on Day 7, Ashely gave us a tour of the property to choose our cabin from one of five – we chose Annie’s House. Each cabin was built by a team of local craftsmen who worked and lived onsite for three years during construction. Built by master carpenter Martin Frauenknecht in 2002, the gorgeous cedar log home with its enormous windows facing the mountains and lake and metal roof is built to survive at least 500 years of Chilko winters. The interior is a mix of luxurious comfort and museum quality art with custom carpentry detailing … Continue reading June 11, 2012 – Making Tracks

Trip-It is a useful app for organizing your travel details. Eric recorded our itinerary there, complete with maps and flight, ferry, bus and train schedules. The plan for Sunday was to take the TransLink (light rail) from Yaletown to Vancouver International Airport and take a taxi 10 minutes to the jumper site, Million Air. From there we’d take Cessna 6 seater direct to Chilko Lake at 11am that Brian McCutchen, the owner of R.O.A.M. had chartered.Since we had the better part of the morning to prepare, we were leisurely taking our time getting ready. Eric checked his email around 8am … Continue reading June 10, 2012 – ROAMing