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, 

I fell in love with this one because of the simplicity of it as well as the jersey fabric that seems to hug me in all the right places. I like that the extra fabric on the sides makes it look like I have hips, and the elastic band waist cinches me in at the waist. Not to mention the thin t-shirt material is extremely comfortable and breathable for the summer time ?

I definitely see myself rocking this skirt a lot more this summer, especially with the mini heat waves we’ve been experiencing. Can’t wait to see what other pieces Bench comes out with for the summer!

Caught up with some olds friends, made some new (doggy) friends, ate pasta, and had ice cream for dessert. Can you think of a more perfect summer day? 

How was your Tuesday?

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, 

One of my favourite discoveries from my day trip to Victoria a few weeks ago was this amazing little alley in the heart of their Chinatown. I don’t know if it has a name or not but I’m just gunna call it the Heart’s Content alley (or HC for short) because there’s a cute little sign (which I’m pretty sure is actually for the shop but whatever) right at the start of the alley that says “this way for your heart’s content”. 

The little brick alley opened up to a slightly larger space that is filled with cute little store fronts. Unfortunately we went there a little late and we didn’t get to go into any of the shops but it was still such a cool area to discover. It definitely made me feel some mad Harry Potter vibes. Diagon Alley anyone? 

And of course, as bloggers do, we had to do a little shoot to capture the cool vibes of the place. And please don’t mind me hiding my face in 90% of the photos. I can’t do a smize or a bitch face if my life depended on it, so we’re just gunna cut that part out and PRETEND that I’m super street and cool. Okay. 

I’m trying to pair more contrasting pieces together lately because I want my style to encompass everything that I love. I like dressing girly sometimes but also more casual and boyish other times. I like wearing all tight clothing sometimes, but also loose baggy jeans and tshirts. So I’ve been trying to mesh that all together and wear at least one contrasting piece in every outfit. 

For this one it’s definitely the girly knit shirt with my badass new Alexander Wang mini marti bag and my super distressed One Teaspoon denim skirt. I loved how the outfit turned out and think it is a good representation of my style as a whole. 

So that leads to the question, what does your style encompass? Are you more girly? More street? Sophisticated? Classy? or a little bit of everything? Let me know in the comments! 

Until next time, 

I started collaborating with this amazing brand called Peace Collective a month or two back and oh man I’m in love. They are a Toronto based brand that not only sells cute ass clothes but also serves a greater purpose. They work with a lot of different influencers and content creators around Canada and strive to bring communities together in either empowering each other or for a greater cause. They also give $4 of the profit from selected garments to Breakfast to Learning, which provides a hungry child with two meals and a healthy snack. 

A big thing that Peace Collective focuses on with all their garments is their love and pride for their home. Whether that’s Toronto specifically or Canada in general, all of their pieces reflect that love by featuring phrases such as “Toronto is Home”, “Home is Canada”, and “Canadian as fuck”. 

I love that the concept behind this and am so proud to rep their brand and our home. 

I was blessed enough to receive this amazing pink bomber as a birthday gift from PC. So not only are they a great brand with a bomb message but everyone is also nice as hell to boot. *Dies from disbelief*. 

Definitely going to be creating a lot more content with their brand so stay tuned for that! But for now, if you want to get your own Peace Collective gear and rep Canada with me you can use my coupon code “speakoftheangel_” for 15% off. My favourite pieces so far are definitely their Denim Jacket and the Canadian as fuck hat. 

More soon, 

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,