One of the places I’ve been to twice now is Pemberton, BC. Other than Pemberton Music Festival, which sadly is no longer operating, Pemberton has some other highlights that make it WELL worth checking out this summer. So—in efforts to shine an even brighter light on the beauty of British Columbia—here are 5 reasons why you should make Pemberton your next road trip destination. 

1. Camping Sites GALORE

This is definitely the biggest reason why people visit Pemberton during the summer. Surrounded by camp sites like Strawberry Point by Lillooet Lake (okay I know technically this is in Lytton, BC but I can’t possibly be the only one who considers it as a part of Pemby), it’s most Vancouver adventurers’ first thought when it comes to summer weekend fun. 

2. Visit The Infamous Au Naturale Hot Springs

Both times that I’ve been to Pemberton, it’s been to visit the Sloquet hot springs. Even funnier thing is—both times I’ve went was in the Fall/Winter months! Although it seems wild to go off-roading for 2 hours in Autumn just to get naked in the freezing to go into a hot springs, it’s actually the most amazing experience. But make sure you go prepared and don’t make the same mistake I did—take a truck or SUV! And if you care a lot about the cleanliness of your car…well I’m sorry to say…this adventure probably isn’t for you. 

I vlogged last time I went to Sloquet/Pemberton, so definitely check this video out if you want a gist of what it’s all like!

3. One Of The Most Highly-Reviewed Horseback Riding Experiences

I’m not going to lie, I haven’t personally gone Horseback Riding at Adventure Ranch but I still thought I would include it because I really want to. Not to mentioned it is rated 5 stars on Trip Advisor! Their rates are super reasonable as well—for a 2 hour tour, their packages range from $75 for children under 12 to $100 for adults. They take you through open meadows, old growth temperate rain forests, as well as offering you the opportunity to experience several creek crossings. 

Next trip to Pemberton, I’m 11/10 adding this onto the itinerary. 

4. Hiking Joffres Lake or Nairn Falls

You can’t visit a place surrounded by so many natural treasures without doing one of the beautiful hikes. The two post popular ones nearby are definitely Joffres Lake and Nairn Falls. 

Nairn Falls

Just 20 minutes north of Whistler, and located within the boundaries of the Village of Pemberton, just 5 minutes from Pemberton town center, is Nairn Falls Park. This park provides a good base camp for exploring Whistler, the Pemberton Valley or nearby Garibaldi Provincial Park.

It is an excellent overnight stop before continuing onto the Duffey Lake Road or points north or south. The falls are 60 m high and a 1.5 km hiking trail will take you to the viewpoint.

Joffres Lake

Turquoise blue waters of Lower, Middle and Upper Joffre lakes are why most visit—all three of which are located along the trail, and each more stunning than the last. Their striking, saturated blue colour is caused by “rockflour” – or glacial silt – that is suspended in the water and reflects green and blue wavelengths of sunlight. Joffre Lakes Provincial Park has opportunities for hiking, camping, mountaineering, wildlife viewing, and fishing.

5. Eating At Mile One 

Attached to the homey Pemberton Gateway Hotel, the Mile One Eating House is known for their amazing comfort food and friendly attitude. And when I say “amazing comfort food”, I truly mean AMAZING comfort food. During my last visit to Pemby, I stayed at the Pemberton Gateway and oh how I regret only eating at Mile One on our last night. They have an amazing selection of top notch burgers, delicious sandwiches, gourmet hotdogs, hearty poutines, and not to mention 7 DIFFERENT MAC AND CHEESES. They really know how to make a girl happy that’s for sure. If you’re just passing through Pemby for whatever reason, save your appetite and make a stop at Mile One. I promise you won’t be disappointed. 

Are you excited yet about your next adventure?

More soon, 

The drive was slightly unnerving I’m not going to lie. Taking the highway from Vancouver to Pemberton was easy and took us just under 2 hours. However, from Pemberton to Sloquet is a different story. To get to Sloquet you have to travel on a rocky service road for over 40 kms. You really don’t think about how this is going to be a problem unless you’ve actually done it. In a little Yaris. Thankfully my roadtrip date was awesome and maneuvered around the potholes expertly. I definitely don’t think I could’ve got us through it as gracefully (thanks dude ;)). I’ll link the directions as well as a little more information about Sloquet here. If you live in BC consider it for your next adventure. Sloquet was more than worth the drive. I’m also embedding the charming Airbnb that we stayed down below. It was a beautiful little loft-style cabin in Pemberton. 11/10 would stay there again (Y). 

The hot spring itself was absolutely stunning. It’s starts with a small waterfall of natural steaming water that leads to several man-made holes that you can tell was probably one big pool at one point. The pools are separated in such a way so that the pools closest to the streaming river nearby are the least hot and the ones closest to the waterfall are the hottest. The pools are pretty shallow so you have to lie down to get your entire body underwater. But it was absolutely amazing. Surrounded by nature and so remote… Really gives you the opportunity to just take a step back from everything that’s happening in life and just … relax. 

It was actually raining when we went and although it would’ve been beautiful in a sunny setting as well, it definitely made the whole experience a lot more special. The feeling of the cold crisp air and raindrops on your skin while you’re sitting in a hot spring pool is absolutely perfect. 

Oh and did I mention there’s no cell service pretty much as soon as you get onto the service road? This trip was a great way to just unplug from the world a little. 

Doesn’t hurt if your travel buddy doesn’t mind helping you snap a few pics when you’re there. The location was a dream and definitely somewhere I want a few pictures of to remember forever. Not to mention I’ve got to share it with you guys DUH. 

I’m really glad I decided to go on this spontaneous little adventure. It was much-needed with school pounding down on us hard this fall/winter. It’s also left me feeling really motivated to go on more micro-adventures! It didn’t cost a lot but was worth so much. Definitely a trip that didn’t exceed my student budget too much. Not to mention the awesome content for the blog is a huge bonus ;). 

I’m going to leave you guys with a great little article written by the Travelettes about micro-adventures and finding time in your busy schedule to relax. I’ve been following their posts recently and it has definitely given me some serious travel cravings so check them out for adventure-inspo. 

Until next time, 

Funny thing is I actually never really want to make jack-o-laterns anymore. That shit is way too tedious. This year I think I’m going to try to make something edible with my pumpkin instead  

I’ve got to say, everytime I go to a pumpkin patch I feel like I’ve been transported back to my childhood. One year in elementary school, our entire grade went on a field trip to the local pumpkin patch. Although I can’t say I remember everything about that day, I definitely will never forget the feeling that day gave me. Now everytime I go back, even if I go to a different pumpkin patch, I can the strongest sense of nostalgia. Back to when things were carefree, classes were easy, grades and bills didn’t exist, and my biggest worry was what the school was serving for lunch that day… 

I mean what I eat for lunch is still a serious consideration of mine but since when did everything else become so important, time-sensitive, and stressful as well?!

My look of pure joy when I found my perfect pumpkin. Does anyone else just try to find the most aesthetically pleasing pumpkin? 

The 12-acre corn maze was pretty intense. Due to the rain in the past couple of weeks, the entire maze was pretty much one big mud puddle. The mud was pretty much up to your ankles the entire way through. I will say that I did love that I could use my rain boots finally though. Bought these bad girls two years ago and barely have had the chance to wear them since. I forgot to warn my corn maze partner to wear boots so his shoes got ruined real bad, real fast hehe. Even with all the mud it was really fun trying to navigate our way out of the maze. We didn’t know that you were supposed to get a map and we pretty much just dived in head first. Thankfully we caught up with some people and they let us take a picture of their map. And that’s when we found out we weren’t even at the big maze and we’ve been pretty much walking in circles so we gave up. Who knew that mazes would be so hard? 

I probably had more fun and got more excited than any kid at the place (as per usual). Definitely an activities girl and the Chilliwack pumpkin patch and corn maze was the perfect little half-day getaway that I needed desperately after exams. 

I actually have another little adventure planned soon so keep your eyes peeled for that! 

Outfit Details: 

Black cropped turtleneck sweater: Aritzia

Blue skinny jeans: Citizens of Humanity (Aritzia)

Rain boots: Hunter 

Jacket: Lululemon

Until next time, 

Had the most exciting Monday ever this week. Just so happened that Monday was one of my days off this week so Vern and I decided to conquer another BC hike. We wanted to do one that we’ve both never done so we decided to tackle Garibaldi Lake. The Garibaldi Lake trail is a 18 km (roundtrip) hike that leads to a beautiful glacier lake. It’s different from the Chief or Grouse Grind because it doesn’t really have man-made stairs/steps that help with the incline. Instead it is just a inclined trail, which got pretty hard on your calves and knees especially on the way down. 

About 5 km up there’s a small divide where you can choose to take a quick 100m detour to Barrier viewpoint. If you’re planning on doing this hike I DEFINITELY recommend going to check out this viewpoint. It was magnificent. You can look into a beautiful valley and see all the mountains behind it. It was breath-taking. 

Once you’ve passed the 6 km mark where you get to decide whether you want to continue on to Garibaldi lake or take on a (WAY) larger challenge, The Black Tusk (I’ve heard people cried on that one) you will reach an amazing little waterfall about 15 minutes in. There’s a bridge that lays just on top of the falls for you to cross and it is SUCH an amazing photo opportunity. Not going to lie it was a little daunting at first but the beauty of it really takes the fear away. 

And there you have it! That’s my awesome Monday hike to Garibaldi lake. Overall I definitely wouldn’t recommend this hike to you for your first hike of the summer. It was pretty intense. I’ve got to say my body has never hurt more than after walking down 9 km on a steady decline. My knees, hammies, and lower back definitely took a toll. However, it’s definitely one to tackle if you and a friend are up for a challenge. We felt AMAZING when we finally reached the lake. It was definitely well worth it. 

Hope you guys enjoyed this little adventurous post and I hope that I’ll be able to do more of these throughout the summer. 

Until next time, 

It’s crazy how quickly time has gone by. I feel like I just turned 16 not too long ago. The idea that I’m really not getting any younger sank in this past year, and it really did freak me out a bit.

YES, I know. I’m only 20. I’m SO young. I’ve got years and years and years ahead of me. But that still doesn’t mean that I should be wasting my time ! The older I get, the less reckless I become… and so I think if I don’t get the exciting things that I want to do out of the way now, I may never even get a chance to do them.

So here’s the first !

Hope you guys enjoy this little vlog !

More soon !

On Sunday, some friends and I decided to make good use of the sunny day, and do something productive ! We’ve been talking about hiking for some time now, and so we finally found a nice day when everyone was free. It was probably not the best idea to do the Stawamus Chief hike as our first hike of the year, BUUUUUUUT what the hell, definitely showed us how unfit we’ve all become after the winter, and motivated us to be a lot more healthy this Summer.

It took us about an hour and a half or two to make it to peak 2 of the Chief, and only about 20 minutes to get back down. There were signs right at the beginning of the trail that warned us that the Chief is NOT a walk in the park, but oh man, we were a little surprised. After about a half hour, our bodies finally started to adapt to the incline and it became a lot more manageable the rest of the way.

There were even parts where we had to climb along the edge of a rock, or scale a rock, with only a chain to hold on to. It was extremely fun to say the least.

Although it was definitely a challenge for my unfit body and lungs, the spectacular view at the top made it WELL worth it. NONE of the photos or videos I took did it any justice. It’s definitely one of those experiences that you’d need to see for yourself to understand. Absolutely breath-taking.

(and yes I am sitting on the edge of the cliff. YOLO.)

I will leave you guys with this amazing photo of my friend Stephanie KILLIN’ IT on the top of the mountain with her flexibility….

…. And then there’s me. LOOOOOOOOOOOL. so bendy (NOT.)

I will definitely be taking a lot more hikes this Summer so keep your eyes peeled if you want to see more of “beautiful British Columbia” !

ALSO I’m going bungee jumping next week ! Definitely come back for an exciting video !

Much love,

Now I know what you’re probably thinking…. “WTH Angel, you took YOURSELF on a date? F’kin LAME.” But you know what ! You need to know when to treat yourself, and it was just one of those days. I started off at Pacific Centre, which is a mall in downtown Vancouver, and did a little bit of shopping. I bought myself the Aritzia blanket scarf that I’ve been eyeing down for a while now. It was on sale for $25 off the regular price, so I took it as a sign and hastily paid for it before I could regret it. Next I went into Lush and purchased some new skincare items. I’ve recently ran out of my acne care regime by Vichy, so I picked up a new toner and a spot treatment in replacement. I also grabbed a deep cleansing mask to really give my skin a treat. (I talk about them here if you’re interested in seeing what I bought)

After the mall, I wandered over to the Art Gallery area and just took a walk past the Robson Skating Rink. The picture at the very top of the post also shows this area. I think one big reason I have a slight obsession with this side of the Art Gallery is because of Gossip Girl. The steps (once again, shown in the picture at the top of this post) remind me a lot of the steps of the Met. where Blair and her minions would sit and have lunch. If you watch Gossip Girl you would know what I mean.

There are a lot of interesting structural designs in this area too. All the different sets of steps, the skating rink… It’s definitely a fun area to explore if you ever visit Vancouver.

Here’s another view of the museum. This photo was taken at the end of this little garden area that I feel like not enough people know about.

When it hit about 3:30 pm, I started making my way, by foot, towards English Bay. Even walking through the city, on streets I commute on so often, I was amazed by the beautiful details of my city that I was only just discovering. I tried taking twists and turns that I would usually not take by foot, and was aiming to see as much as I can en route to the beach.

I found myself arriving at English Bay almost exactly 20 minutes before the sun set that day. I took my time strolling through this little park I found south of the intersection of Bidwell and Davie street. And then finally reaching the beach, I planted my bum down on a bench and waited to see the first sunset I would witness in 2015.

I’m writing this post partially because I wanted to show you guys my beautiful city that I am so so grateful for, but also partially to remind everyone to just spend some time by yourself every once in a while. Take yourself on a date, go explore your city, buy yourself some gifts, take a long (and I mean LONG) walk… Do something solely for your OWN happiness for once. It’s great to spend time with your loved ones, but I think everyone forgets to really give themselves some quality alone time. I didn’t think about school. I didn’t think about what was stressing me out. I just focused on being present; Lived in the moment. I made sure I was giving my full attention to my surroundings and the activities I was doing at the time. And you know what? I discovered new quirks about streets I’ve traveled on my entire life. When I pay attention, my city still surprises me with new things that I’ve never seen before. And I appreciate that so much.

Love yourself, because honestly, you’re pretty damn great.

Cheers,