San Francisco, California

San Francisco is a great city! There is so much to do and in my opinion, it has great weather. I just visited with Belen and Erika (fellow classmates & friends) this past Spring Break. Although this blog is named Summer Trippin', I find that it is a great city to visit at any time. I just happened to go in the Spring. Anyway, we decided to fly there out of Ontario, just to make the most of our time there. The flight was super short, about an hour. We didn't get a super great deal on the flight, but if you plan in advance, I'm sure there are good deals for flights. We stayed in the Fisherman's Wharf area and there was a lot of things to do at a walking distance. I suggest staying in one of San Francisco's known districts, as there is so much to look at. We stayed in the North Beach district for the most part, but also checked out Chinatown. We did not rent a car, but made good use of Uber. It was my first time trying it, and I found it to be a great option for those people who don't really rent cars. We were able to get to various places quickly and at a decent price. Overall, it was a really fun trip! San Francisco is a great option if you don't want to travel too far, but still want to feel like you're on a vacation. I highly suggest it, if you haven't been there already :)

PIER 39

MUIR WOODS

Muir Woods was just amazing! I actually had never heard of it, and was so glad to have visited it. We went early in the morning around 8ish, so it was quite cold, but boy was it beautiful. We sorta beat the crowds, since it was so early, so that was a big plus. We had about an hour to explore, since it was part of our tour package, which was just the right amount of time to walk through one of the trails of it. If you're interested in a good package, we went with Extranomical tours. It was $100/person and included going to Muir Woods (entrance for park not included), Tour and Tasting at three wineries in Napa/Sonoma area, and Golden Gate Bridge. It was a whole day thing and transportation was provided to and from our hotel, which was great.

WINE TASTING in SONOMA & NAPA

KAYAKING in SAUSALITO

 

Kayaking was super fun! It was a gorgeous day out, no Fog. What? I know, wow! It was not my first time kayaking, but I did go on a single kayak for the first time. Didn't feel much different ;) We went with Sea Trek Kayak & SUP. Decent prices and super nice! I think we paid about $20 for an hour, which is a bit higher than what I pay here, but not too bad. I highly recommend doing kayaking, or SUP (which is also pretty fun), if you visit a place near the water!

EATS

Calamari @Tony's Pizza Napoletana

Meatball Gigante @ Tony's Pizza Napoletana (MUST TRY)

Outside of Ghirardelli Factory

Snickerdoodle Yummyness!

Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

In addition to exploring the Vancouver area, we visited Victoria for a couple of days. The city of Victoria is located on Vancouver Island, which is about one hour and a half away on a ferry.  At first, I was nervous, because I didn't know how the whole ferry and public transportation would work, but it turned out to be a great two days.

We used BC Ferries, which is pretty much what everyone uses to go from the Vancouver area to Vancouver Island. Our route was Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay. There are a couple of other routes, depending on where you want to go in Vancouver Island. People who have a car can pay extra to take their car on the ferry, in addition to their fare. The fare for a person 12 years and older is about 17 Canadian Dollars one way.

We decided to try the public transportation in Victoria, and it was great. We purchased the $5 daily pass, which we put to good use. Thankfully, all of the bus drivers and residents were super nice about helping with directions.

Vancouver Island is pretty big, so I definitely want to go back and explore beyond Victoria! I will definitely take into consideration the fact that can go from Seattle to Vancouver Island. It really is a gorgeous place to visit.

Ferry Ride

Evening Trip

Day Trip

Exploring the Streets

 Things to do in Victoria

Victoria Harbor--Across from Parliament Building

Parliament Building

Caramel Chicken @ Foo

Bahn Mi @ Foo

St. Andrews Cathedral

Craigdarroch Castle

Butchart Gardens

These gardens were beautiful! Every single area was so well kept and the grounds were amazingly clean. We spent several hours just walking around and enjoying each section of the gardens. The weather was a little gloomy and it did sprinkle for some time. They provided umbrellas for the visitors, which was super cool! I guess they're accustomed to the rainy weather and want their visitors to enjoy the gardens without the worry of getting wet. Awesome!

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

After I finished my fun trip in New Orleans, I flew to Vancouver. We had a connecting flight in Dallas, but due to bad weather in New Orleans, missed our connection. Unfortunately we got stranded for 12 hours, but that's a another blog in itself. Anyway, enough about the horrible side of traveling.

Canada is beautiful! If you want to travel out of the country, but still stay somewhat nearby, check it out! There is so much to do and see. British Columbia the providence that is located on Canada's west coast, right above the state of Washington. Visitors can enjoy amazing city life and gorgeous nature experiences. A couple of things that I noticed rights away, it is very clean and Eco-friendly. Everywhere I went I noticed the cleanliness of places, both in the city, suburbs, and mountain areas. Most places offered paper instead of plastic bags. To go containers were biodegradable. Trashcans were divided into plastic, trash, and paper sections. It was pretty neat to see this kind of collaboration among all businesses and people.

The cities that I traveled to were Richmond, Vancouver, Squamish, Whistler and Victoria. All of these cities had something special to offer and I truly had a great time. I got to experience Canada Day (which is similar to our Fourth of July) with my cousins and sisters, which was great! I can't wait to explore another of Canada's Providences.

Canada Day

Stanley Park

salmon bbq in Richmond

salmon bbq

My sister and I in Stanley Park

the cousins

Grouse Mountain

Capilano Suspension Bridge

Sea to Sky Highway (Hwy 99)

Alice Lake

Garibaldi Provincial Park

Trail leading to Brandywine Falls

Brandywine Falls

Shannon Falls Provincial Park

Shannon Falls Provincial Park

Whistler

Whistler

Whistler

Squamish

Fergie's Cafe--best chicken sandwich I've ever had!

Rafting on the Cheakamus River.

I highly recommend rafting! It was probably the most exciting part of my Canada trip. Although we chose to do the level 2 rafting experience, which was more for families, it was truly beautiful and fun! The sights I saw on that river were amazing! I can't wait to go back and do the level 4 whitewater experience. We went with Sunwolf and they were great guides!