[smirnoff]

So I flew out from Winnipeg, to Vancouver, to join my parents (avid cyclists) on their two week vacation. I'll caption the pics for some context.

This is what turned out to be our approximate route. For these five days it was entirely by bike. You VanIslander's will probably be able to pick where I took some of these picks



Rode from my parents house in Vancouver to the ferry terminal that would take us to Vancouver Island. On the way we stopped at the truck scales to weigh the bikes. With all the gear the bikes were somewhere around 100lbs a piece And like the Vancouver yuppies we are we got a couple starbucks coffees




Not far off the ferry we found a campsite. MacDonald somethingorother provincial park.



My ass hurt so bad after that first day (it's been a while since I last rode) but tipping the seat forward about 10 degrees from horizontal made all the difference. It never bothered me again for the rest of the trip.




Walked down to some lake that evening and there was a great sunset.




The next day on route: Holy shit, look a moose! After it didn't move for a couple a minutes we concluded it was a fake.




The antithesis of camouflage.




It's hard to not love nature in this part of the world. I mean just look at it


Arbutus tree. Oh how I miss thee.



Some private campsite at Thetis Lake. Day 2 over.




Day 3 we road out to Sooke on the route of an old railway converted to a trail. The trail was called the Galloping Goose, it was a wet day but still beautiful. The trail is so well groomed that even your skinniest-wheeled road bike would be at home on it.


When we got to Sooke we found a campsite unloaded the bikes and made our way out to the Sooke Potholes. Someone else posted pics of the potholes before, I think it was Jake. In any case it made me want to check them out too. You cross a couple of cool tressels on the trail out there.


My pictures don't really do them justice, jake's were much better.



Here is the Chimney of some massive resort they were building out there. They bankrupted before they could finish unfortunately. To put it in perspective I think you could've driven a minivan through the opening of the fireplace. It was pretty neat.



You can see some remnants of the construction in this picture. They sure picked a good spot...... Hmmm, I wonder if that water is cold.


FREEZING! I swam for about 2 seconds.



Day 4 It rained on us all the way back to Sydney and we ended up in a motel, by a vote of 2 to 1. (I still wanted to camp ). I think we wimped out a bit .




Day 5 heading back home to regroup.








On the ferry off the island.



Gulls looking to steal some unsuspecting tourists lunch.



Just off the ferry, managed to snap this shot on the fly. Noticed him just in time.



Here we are just utilizing the free service that gets cyclists through the tunnel. Nifty little trailer this guys got. The guy on the left was from Denmark just finishing a 3 week tour of the island. We'd hoped he'd come stay at our place before flying out the next day but he'd allready paid for his hostel elsewhere. Anyways, it was nice to pick his brain for an hour while we waited for the shuttle.



Oh noes! The rain followed us home. It may rain a lot in Vancouver but some of us still like to complain about it




The second part of our trip was going to be in the BC interior. We decided to use our truck to take us to different areas we wanted to go and then just do day trips on the bikes. It felt like cheating a bit, but whatever.



Camped out in a site just south of merrit called Kentucky-Aylenne. Great spot.



Some great roads to ride in the area. Lots to see.






Hey, a deer.



Hey, a deer peeing.



Ah July, shoe trees everywhere are in bloom.



Now down around penticton and the okanagan lake.


Everyone who lives here must own a vinyard. Seriously there is a tonne of em.



About a million frogs just hanging out at Chute lake.




Okay now for the highlight of the trip imo. We headed down to Manning park, just east of hope and hiked up Mt. Frosty

Round trip 15miles
Took us 7 hours and 5 minutes.
High point 7900 ft
Elevation gain 3900 ft

I'll let most of the pictures speak for themselves.








To the summit! Some parts were kinda freaky. Loose rock and nothing on either side. There is a person in this picture if you look close.





Pretty good view, heh.



And a few more shots coming down.







Anyways. That's it. Met some great people on this trip and saw some great sights. I've been enjoying seeing other peoples holiday pictures so much, I thought I'd better return the favour.

I've got so much tweak talk to catch up on, I feel totally out of the loop.


Oh yeah and here is a special Tweak3d shot I setup while near the top, just for fun

[Phant0m51]

Wow, that looks like an amazing trip. Those pictures are beautiful.

[super_Chris]

Those are some awesome pics.

I'm jealous of that forest silhouette.

[Sparky]

Woah, who knew that Canada could be so beautiful?

Excellent pictures man, that sounds like it was a blast.

[jake]

Nice pics man, I like the tweak3d with a view.

[SoulAssassin]

Sweet pics

[mistawiskas]

Some of those are the best pix I've ever seen posted uppin' here. Great vacation! We have those naked trees here, we call them madrones.

My favorite:

actually it's a toss-up between that one, and the shot through the fog.
Thanx a bunch for sharing your vacation with us.

[smirnoff]

Thanks for your kind comments guys. Tweak3d, where you can really feel the love. I missed it here.

Wiskas my mom will be pleased to hear that someone singled out that shot as special, as she was responsible for it. It'll make her day.

[Amazing_Creep]

Hahahaha, Man... it's surreal seeing Sooke on the internet.

[Chris]

Wow, that looked like a blast man. I'd love to do something like that.

Excellent pics, thanks for sharing them with us

[ivanolo]

That, too, is my fav pic, wiskas!

I gotta get the fuck outta Springfield!

[mistawiskas]

Originally Posted by ivanolo

That, too, is my fav pic, wiskas!

I gotta get the fuck outta Springfield!

Hey, there's some neat Canada just north of Illinois. well, about 1200 Km north.

[Torx]

damn man, lovely pics! this is my fav

[randomtask]

awesome photos!

[NoPunIntended]

Wiskas, that was my favorite!

I want to go now, great pictures.

[MSP]

Wow, those pictures give even Mistawiskas a run for his money! Very cool.

[tweakmonkey]

Those are some of the best vacation pics I've seen yet on the site. It looks like you had a hell of an adventure. We should archive all our vacation pics into a section somewhere.

[ninefivezero]

I've done a few trips in Vancouver island, and each time I am impressed by how beautiful it is.

[mistawiskas]

If I were to get a dying wish, it'd be to see BC and Vancouver Island.

[MaesterB]

Originally Posted by mistawiskas

If I were to get a dying wish, it'd be to see BC and Vancouver Island.

I love driving to BC. The view is just awesome all the way.

Smirnoff, those are some nice pics. I love views like that, all the time. My wife hates "scenic" shots.

Seeing those makes me wish I could have driven to BC again this year. *SNIFF* Damn procreation.