{Travel Diaries} Sun Peaks, BC

Well that was an unexpected break. Totally didn't mean to do that. I had all sorts of plans to get a ton of posts into my drafts folder and thought that I would have loads of time during Ellie's naps to get my blog in order. But I guess that's what happens when you make plans with a toddler! Ha. This post is about to get wordy...so don't say I didn't warn you. 

We had a relaxing vacation just the three of us this past week up in Sun Peaks, BC. We arrived the week before they opened for the Summer season so it was nice and quiet and laid back. 

We started off having a bit of a lazy morning...I mean considering that Ellie woke up at 5:08am. Instead of trying to put her back down I just decided to get up with her and prayed that it would mean a long nap in the car!  Finally around 8:50am we had everything loaded in the car and started on our journey.  Not long after we started on the road Ellie fell asleep...so Thomas and I enjoyed our "alone time" and talked, looked on FB and I got to do some reading. 

The directions we had took us through Sumas to go over the border into Canada. It was supposed to be about a 10 min wait but it turned into about 40 minutes and we had to bust out the laptop with some Daniel Tiger for the babe. The reason for the delay at the border was because A) they only had 2 of the 5 lanes open and B) there was some emergency where the patient had to be switched from a U.S. Ambulance to a Canadian one. Once we got through it was smooth sailing. We made a stop at a Jim Hortons (good in a pinch). Oh and Thomas was having some serious dizziness and nausea so the Dramamine would have totally come in handy had I brought it...So I took the next leg of the journe, which meant driving over the pass all the way to Kamloops. I listened to many episodes of Daniel Tiger and Mickey Mouse clubhouse (all on repeat...) while Thomas drifted in and out of sleep. Once we reached Kamloops we stopped for gas and Thomas was feeling better so he drove and I took back my job as the navigator. 

We arrived at The Pinnacle Lodge in Sun Peaks, BC around 4:15 and were ushered in to have tea (but first Ellie needed to have an outfit change thanks to an explosion...) after tea we got checked into our room and got settled.  Then we loaded up Ellie's stroller and made the 8 minute walk into town. Since we arrived during the off season most of the shops were closed or had limited hours but most of the restaurants were open. We learned that for the rest of the week we could take a free horse carriage ride your of the town so we made a note of when to arrive back the following day. Ellie had fun riding in the stroller and seeing the horses; we enjoyed swatting the mosquitoes off our arms.  Our first meal was pizza at Tod Mountain Pizza. We got it to go, brought it back to our room and only Ellie and I partook of the meal as Thomas was feeling nauseous again. But let me tell you it was so good! Then we tried to settle down for the night and Ellie finally decided to fall asleep at around 10:30pm...

Day 2:  I woke up around 5 and decided to stay up checking emails, reading blogs, and getting lost in the vastness of FB. Thomas woke up at about 7:00 and Ellie was awake shortly after. We couldn't go for breakfast until it opened at 8:30 so we just hung out until then. Breakfast was awesome, some of the best bacon I've ever had! Then we went back to our room and and got ready to walk into town. We ventured to a park so Ellie could play and the mosquitoes were out like crazy. We stayed for a while but then decided to head back and see if we couldn't get Ellie down for a nap. We were unsuccessful in that endeavor for about 2 hours...then it was finally time for tea so we went and got some sweet treats (the scones were to die for). After tea we went upstairs to the "library" and I grabbed some DVDs: Star Wars episodes  I II & III since I haven't seen them yet. I also picked up a book "The Two Week Wait". We dropped those off in our room and walked into town so we could take the horse carriage tour around town. Ellie had so much fun meeting the team and petting their noses. The carriage was full with a group of Australians and I enjoyed talking with the lady next to me. After the carriage ride we had dinner at the "Powder Hounds" I got the Wiener schnitzel with spaetzle and Thomas had a burger. Pretty sure this was the best meal we had the whole vacation. After dinner we were stuffed (the portion sizes are huge in that town!) so we went back to the room and started Star Wars. 

Day 3: again I woke up around 5:30am but this time I started to read the book I borrowed. Oh my gosh it spoke so many of my feelings as someone who has been fighting infertility for so long. When Thomas woke up we decided to make the drive into Kamloops to go to the mall after we had breakfast. The drive down the mountain wasn't too bad and we managed to take a wrong turn (I'm the navigator and I didn't bring a map...) but we were able to get back on track and make it to the mall. One of the first things Ellie spotted when we got into the mall was the bus, so we put in a "Loony" and she had a ride. Girlfriend loves herself some buses and would have stayed there all day if we let her!  The only way we got her to come out was to tell her we would go look for another - and we found a car.   Ellie refused to go in the elevator (no surprise there) but we did find some good things at the Gap Factory. She got her first pair of flip flops and a cute Canada shirt and I got a fun tank top! After our mall trip we headed back toward Sun Peaks but I was starving so we stopped at an A&W on the way back...I don't know the last time I ate at one but I'm for sure going to frequent them more often!! After we got back in the car from lunch Ellie finally fell asleep (hallelujah!) but that was a short 45 min nap.... Back at the resort we settled in the room for a bit (I may or may not have read more of my book) and then we went for tea and back into town so Ellie could play on the playground again. And yes the mosquitoes joined us once again. For dinner we chose to grab a slice of pizza again and then returned to the room for more Star Wars. 

Day 4: pretty much the same thing as day 2 including my 5am wake up and Ellie's nap refusal for 2 hours. Except this time I was so into the book I borrowed it consumed my day.  While we were in town we shared a double scoop of ice cream, had some Sushi and a Bento for lunch, and every time we passed the square where the horses were Ellie would shout out "neighs!!" Even though they weren't there. For dinner we went to Bella Italia and once again the portions were huge but the food was so good. Also Ellie has now decided she like spaghetti, so that's good. After dinner we walked back to our room and watched episode III of Star Wars. 

Day 5: I woke up early again and was able to finish my book. I cried reading the last three pages and it was so good. I am so glad that book was available for me to read, if you haven't read it before I highly recommend it whether you've suffered from infertility or not. We had breakfast and went on a long walk then into town and played on the playgrounds, swung on the swings, tried to convince Ellie to ride on the chairlift (no such luck), got bit by mosquitoes and had some gelato. For lunch we had our spaghetti leftovers and then we had tea (oh how I wish that was a thing in the states!) Ellie refused her nap until nearly 5pm and then we walked back into town because I was hoping to take Ellie's 2 year photos by the bridge because it was so beautiful but girlfriend was NOT having it. So we decided to just go get dinner and then head back. We shared a burger from "the best burger in town" and it was pretty good. Then we watched episode IV of Star Wars and now I feel all caught up. 

Day 6: again I woke up early and did some magazine reading and got lost in FB again...when Thomas woke up we talked about maybe leaving a day early since we felt like we had pretty much done everything we could in the town. But then after further discussion we decided to just leave right after breakfast. So we checked out early and got on the road. We were making record time over the pass, Ellie was sleeping away, when there was a sign alerting us to an accident ahead and we were stopped for nearly an hour, an ambulance passed us with its sirens on and that woke Ellie up and it was Daniel Tiger, Mickey Mouse, and Sheriff Callie to the rescue. The accident was horrible on the other direction. It included a tour bus, small vehicle, and a semi truck. They had two triage tents, several ambulances, helicopters and tons of police. It would have been so scary to have been in that accident or to have witnessed it happen. Unbelievable. When we finally passed the accident the cars going that direction were stopped for miles. People were tanning on the side of the road, they were trying to cross the grass median (getting stuck and practically causing several more accidents) and others had turned around and we're driving down the shoulder the wrong way.  It was terrible and they had no hopes of moving anytime soon. Did I mention that it was nearly 95 degrees?? It was so fucking hot and miserable. Once we finally passed hat mess it was smooth sailing and we had decided to cross the border at Lynden though neither one of us have gone that way before and since we were in a different county we couldn't use the data on our phones to check a map...thankfully Canada is almost ad good as the U.S. When it comes to road signage so we were able to find our way. The border crossing seriously took us less than 5 minutes, which we were so grateful for considering the mess on the pass. We stopped at a bakery for a late lunch in Lynden and then we were home by 5:30. 

Ellie got to watch a lot of Sophia, Daniel Tiger and Mickey Mouse but seriously she was an awesome traveler and we couldn't have asked for her to be any better! We had a great time but are so glad to be home!