Summer is finally starting to wane here in Phoenix, which is very exciting for us desert dwellers! We can almost smell the cooler weather coming our way. 🙂 On that note, in this blog post, I’ll briefly recount a couple of short trips in the past month to escape the heat, visit family, and ride bikes!
First, I took a short trip to Victoria, Canada to visit my family. Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia and, as the name suggests, it has a ton of British-inspired touches evident everywhere due to its history. Some highlights of my trip include breakfast at The Empress hotel, walking around the harbour area, and checking out an amazing market.
Fun bakery a couple hours outside of Victoria.The inside of the Empress is just as lovely as the outside.The iconic Empress.Lovely evening walk.Another cultural icon: Rogers Chocolates!Some of the fancy chocolates.Luka, an adorable 4 month old puppy!A cute little area in the downtown core.The legislative building is in the background.Flowers are everywhere you look.Pretty cool Orca!
I did some more walking at Ogden Point another day with the family, followed by a trip to the prettiest grocery store I’ve ever seen.
Wild berries!More wild berries!I was super happy to see a kitty during my trip!I found it pretty cold during our walk at Ogden Point. This amused me very much.Very different landscape than the Phoenix desert!Such a pretty market!The market is in an old house and each room houses a different food / item, complete with its own unique decor and chandelier! This is the chocolate room.Soaps and lotions room.The wine “cellar.”The market has a grand piano! Yes, I played it. There was some music on the music rack and I fumbled through a Chopin nocturne.I still can’t get over how pretty this place is.I wanted ALL the chocolate.
In another attempt to escape the brutal Phoenix heat, we drove to Big Bear, California over Labour Day weekend to do some downhill mountain biking at the Big Bear Resort. Such a beautiful place and a reasonable drive from Phoenix. We enjoyed the cooler temperatures, fun riding, and our cute Airbnb with all of the wood features and decorative bears and animals! (Sadly, the Big Bear area has been closed for the past couple of weeks due to the current Line Fire.)
The Airbnb kitchen. Our fancy bathtub with its brass fixtures!Some walls and all of the doors are solid wood.Kicking off the weekend with a margarita!I thought this sign was funny!More bathroom humour.On the chair lift!On the lift again!Striking a pose.View of Big Bear Lake.Shuttling the bikes up to the trailhead on day 2 for some trail riding.We rode the Skyline trail and it was absolutely beautiful. Most of the following pictures are from that ride.Obligatory group picture!Bye, Big Bear!
reluctantroadie 