Where Art Thou The Phamlee Blogger

I must apologize for the lack of action as of late but all my free time has been spent putting new shocks on the Jeep. As it was my first try at doing anything on a vehicle it took me a while to figure out the tricks of the trade (i.e. loosening rusted on nuts) and then I had an issue getting a nut off when a screw snapped. Needless to say it is done now, I saved a tonne of money doing it myself and the Jeep is all the more safer now. The two prior blog posts below are new ones with some pictures of our trip to Salmon Arm and the kids and I hiking up at Cultus.

BC Parks: Cultus Lake Provincial Park

Last week the kids and I decided to go hike up Tea Pot Hill in Cultus Provincial Park. All in the kids made it going up for 45 minutes and then we had to head home; I found out the next day we were two minutes from the top.
I took a couple of shots as seen below:

BC Parks: Yard Creek Provincial Park

A few weeks back we all went up to Salmon Arm to see Kim and Nick and their new baby Easton. While we were there we thought the kids would like to see the salmon spawning so we took them to Yard Creek Provincial park. Pictures after jump.

Whistler Trip 2010

At the start of August Chelsey and I left the kids with Grandma for a few days and nights and took off on our second annual trip to Whistler for the Crankworx Mountain Bike festival; plus a few other things. The trip was awesome. As much as we love the twins it is nice to spend some time alone, sleep in and sit on a patio and drink beer! We were able to hammer two things off the 50 Things to do in BC Before You Die list and visit another Provincial Park.

I love heading up to Whistler for Crankworx as it is fun to check out all the new gear coming out and the vibe in Whistler is pretty good. We ate at some pretty good restaurants and had breakfast at the Wildwood Bistro in the Whistler Raquet Club which has the best breakfast at the best price in Whistler; we have been their every visit to Whistler and any first time has to try the banana loaf french toast!

The three prior blog posts on The Phamlee is about the highlights of our trip: Hiking the Chief, Zip Trekking and the Peak to Peak.

Feel free to add comments so I know you are all looking at this; it takes a very long time to upload all the pictures etc. so I just need to make sure you all enjoy our blog!

Whistler Trip 2010: Zip Trekking

As someone who is afraid of heights I was not super stoked on scratching Zip Trekking off the 50 Things to do in BC Before You Die list. We asked at the activity centre which of the two zip trekking tours were better and we were directed to the Wildplay Elements Park on Cougar Mountain; after seeing video footage of the other tour I think we made the right choice. The zip lines take you through the forest from one side of the canyon to the other and you reach speeds of up to 60mph 400 feet in the air. They warm you up with an easy one 10 feet above the fire road and then throw you in the deep end! Once you get going it is easy to enjoy the view and have fun. Stopping at the end is a bit violent, especially on the last line, but that is part of the fun; if you want a softer landing check out Zip Trek Eco Tours in the village. All in we had a blast; pictures and video after the jump...

Whistler Trip 2010: The Chief

On the drive up to Whistler we decided to knock another thing off the 50 Things to do in BC Before You Die list and make our up the Stawamus Chief in Squamish. The return hike took us 2.5- 3 hours to complete and we were lucky as the clouds cleared enough when we got to the top that we were able to get in a decent view of Squamish and Howe Sound. The hike to the top wasn't too bad but I sure am one sweaty bugger! Pictures and video of the view and the friendly chipmunks after the jump.

Whistler Trip 2010: Peak to Peak

We had scheduled for me to spend Tuesday mountain biking in the Whistler Bike Park. I felt a tad bad going mountain biking and leaving Chelsey in a spa for the day but we packed the bike on the truck and headed to the village. I offered to spend the day with Chelsey and do the peak to peak but she said no; I think she wanted to do it though. Once we got to the village we realized I was having mechanical issues with the bike and decided it was a sign for me not to ride; yes, I was in Whistler for 4 days and did not ride my bike! So we decided to do the Peak to Peak...

August Long Weekend Family Fun

We have more pictures then video clips from this past weekend so I couldn't justify a Woods Chronicles for this past week.

After our recon. mission to Jones Lake on Saturday I thought we would hit it with a full assault on Sunday and go camping! Chelsey had to work so the kids and I snuck up there early Sunday and scooped a good spot opn the lake. I had never seen the kids as dirty as they were by Sunday night; it didn't matter though as they had a good time. After setting up camp we had some lunch and embarked on some fishing, like always we never caught a thing. We followed that up with a little hike through the woods and then tried to build a raft on the beach; it took about two seconds to sink. My biggest concern was whether or not the kids would sleep and that turned out to be a non issue. They were asleep by 8:00 and slept right through to 6:15. While they were sleeping I did some more fishing and watched the buggers jump all over the lake and still not eat my bait. The coolest thing was an owl landed on a log about 15 feet away and sat there for 10 minutes watching me fish.

Jones Lake Recon. Mission

A little birdie told Chelsey that Jones Lake is a good spot to camp so the kids and I scooted up there this morning to check things out. The road up is a tad bumpy but when you get up there it is bloody gorgeous; you get a wicked view across the lake of Mt Cheam. I think this would be a nice spot to go to early fall when the snow is starting to fall on the mountains. I am pondering taking the kids up there to camp tomorrow but it looked pretty busy and there were some people heading up as we left so I am not sure if we will get a spot or not. Also, with the camp fire ban on it takes a lot of the fun out of camping if we can't have a fire. Pictures after the jump...

BC Parks and I Always Forget the Camera

In the past two weeks I was able to hammer off another two parks from The List but we forgot the camera both times. Since I am forgetful I have stolen other people's pictures from the net.

Last week we drove out to Silver Lake Provincial Park. It was a very cold lake but had a decent camp ground. We just drove out there for the day to check things out; I think it would be too cold for the kids to swim so I am not sure how much fun it would be to camp there.

Yesterday I spent the day fly fishing the Skagit River, within the Skagit Valley Provincial Park, with a couple of dudes from work and I must say it was awesome. There is something about standing in a river in the middle of nowhere fishing that is very relaxing. It was hot enough that we didn't need hip waiters and were able to stand in the river in our shorts and flip flops - the river was a bit cold at first but got nice after a few minutes. The drive out to the fishing holes is about 45 minutes to an hour on a dirt road so make sure you don't mind a few chips on the paint. The area is very scenic and well worth the drive. We drove the extra 2km to Ross Lake which has a wicked camp ground; there is also a park for the kids and a large grassy area. The weird thing about Ross Lake is that it is part of the hydro system in Washington so it only has water in it a few months of the year; the border, which has a US Park Ranger Station, is only a hop skip and a jump from the lake. I am not sure of the full history but apparently we almost lost this lake/park due to the dam. We didnt catch any fish but the scenery and the relaxing fishing were well worth the drive. Pictures after the jump.

REDO: The Woods Chronicles - Episode Three

I just made a clip less then 10 minutes long as the last video did not work as it was too long. I did not edit it at all so if there are pictures of boobies or fat people I apologize. Original post on new video below...

In this, the third installment of The Woods Chronicles, I am able to turn a business trip to Kamloops into more of a fun trip to Salmon Arm. Chelsey had to work most of this past weekend so I took the kids up to Salmon Arm Thursday night for some fun and to give Kim some company. We spent the weekend there, I went to Kamloops Friday, and did some fishin', swimming in the lake, went to the water park and spent time in Kim & Nick's pool.

The kids were great the whole weekend, they saw LOTS of trains, ate like crap, stayed up late and caught some little sucker fish. This episode shows us doing some of that fishing and the kids running around the water park! Hope you enjoy!

Video via Youtube here

BC Parks

Those of you who have been following this blog since its inception will recall one of the original posts regarding the 50 Things to do in BC Before you die; those who missed that post can find it here. My goal was to start from the beginning as of mid-last summer and scratch them off as we go. One of the things to do was to visit all of BC Provincial Parks. This post contains a list of all of the BC Provincial Parks. I will cross them off as we visit them and link to the post with the pictures from the visit. So far this year we have only been to Sasquatch Provincial Park. I am sure we have passed through others but have no pictures to prove it. I was mountain biking on Silver Star two weeks ago but don't have any pictures. I will say Silver Star is by far my favourite bike park - the trails are comparable in quality to Whistler but at a 20% less cost and NO LIFT LINES!!! Enjoy the journey, I am sure we will!

Sparkling Hill Resort

The weekend of June 26 we spent 4 days in Salmon Arm/Vernon again as we had a wedding at the Sparkling Hill Resort at Predator Ridge in Vernon. Needless to say the place was not my type of joint but I could understand the need for 8 different scented sauna's and one that goes down to negative 110 ?!?! The food at the wedding was good and I must admit it was one of the better weddings I have been to. The room we were in was pretty cool, except for the dirty handprint above the bathtub (somebody got lucky!). After the jump there is a videoclip of the room and some other random pictures of the pool and saunas.

Fishin' at Hicks!

I have been lucky enough to discover Hicks Lake which is located within Sasquatch Provincial Park. I have taken the kids fishing their a couple of times now and this past weekend Chelsey, Colleen and Darcy came along too. If it wasnt for the fact that one of the reels went flying and I had to strip down to my boxers and go for a swim to fetch it the day would have been perfect. We hope to take the kids camping here within the next couple of weeks! Yes we are wearing sweaters on July 4th, summer didnt start until today this year. It is supposed to be in the mid 30's for the rest of the week. Pictures after the jump...

Buffalos, Bikes, Bugs & Brides

No edition of The Woods Chronicles this week as we left the camcorder at home when we went to Salmon Arm. We spent the past weekend up there as we had a wedding to attend in Vernon and Kim's baby shower in Salmon Arm. The kids had fun at the lake and we took them to the animals at one of the local attractions. I was able to sample some of the local mountain bike trails and the views were great and the trails were fast and flowy; thanks for the drive up Marc! Below is a slideshow of some of the pictures. Sorry about the poor choice in music but I havent figured out how to add songs from I-Tunes yet. If anyone wants a copy of any of the pictures let me know and I can fire one off. Pictures are a bit bigger if you go directly to the You Tube page here.