Spring Break Escapades

This past week was our very timely spring break at VSBM. After three weeks of Swedish Massage, four weeks of deep tissue, several joint release sessions, countless hours of anatomy lectures, enough emotional-heavy body/mind classes to last me a lifetime, and a scattering of Anusara yoga workshops, we were all ready for a week off. I was excited to spent some time with Mom, showing her around my new stomping ground and exploring the islands by car. She flew into Vancouver late Monday night and I met her at the airport, then we took navigated our way through the city via bus and finally arrived back home around midnight. 

On Tuesday (sunny skies, thankfully!), we hopped onto our bikes and I gave her a tour of the mansions of Shaughnessy then led her through the wooded pathways of Pacific Spirit Park near the University of BC. After, we ate our lunch while browsing through Banyan Book’s extensive selection and then took Geordie’s yoga class at Yaletown, where Mom unabashedly expressed that “he talks too much”.

I don’t think I would have gotten away with not giving Mom a massage while she was in town, so on Wednesday morning I took her into school and gave her a 2 hour treatment.  She seemed to like it! After, we went to pick up our rental car, which is when Mom discovered that her driver’s license had expired… in 2007! (This is after realizing the night before leaving for Vancouver that her passport had expired). So… the car had to be rented under my name with a fee because I’m under 25, and since it was so expensive, we decided not to get insurance. I hadn’t driven since December and now I had to navigate city streets, city traffic, and unknown roads. No pressure. The first thing I did after leaving the parking garage was turn right on a one-way street…

Despite our difficulties with the car, the rest of the vacation went surprisingly smoothly. We spent a day and a half on Vancouver Island exploring Victoria, Butchart Gardens and driving all the way east to Renfrew, stopping along the way to explore coastal trails and interesting spots. We camped the second night, but I hadn’t brought a mat to lie on, so the cold seeped up from the ground and neither of us got a good night’s sleep.  

On Friday afternoon we caught the ferry to Salt Spring Island, of which I had heard great things about from a number of different people. It was late in the day when we arrived in Ganges, the largest (a very relative term) and we were both hungry, so we booked a room at the Salt Spring Inn, ate a quick dinner, and were in bed by 7:30. 

Saturday’s are renown on Salt Spring for their farmer’s market in the center of Ganges, so Mom and I spent an hour or so browsing the stalls, sampling goat cheeses (yes, I’m back to eating goat cheese), and admiring the multitude of locally-made crafts, none of which we could afford. Our plan for the afternoon was to hike up Mount Maxwell, but nowhere on the drive up did we see a trail or even signs for a trail, so we ended up at the top in our car, feeling very much like tourists. The views were amazing, though, and we befriended two German students who ended up catching a ride with us to Ruckle Provisional Park where we set up camp for the night. Ruckle is a beautiful area and Mom was beside herself when she finally found her first purple starfish. Before we had to board the ferry to take us back to Vancouver, we toured the rest of the island and stopped at Salt Spring Island Cheese farm where we sampled more goat cheese and played with their stick-obsessed Border Collies. Then it was onto the ferry and back to rainy Vancouver. I think we both had a really good time, but also glad to be out of the car and back in a familiar bed. 

Here are some pics from the week!