Immigrating BC: Squamish with Teenagers!

Mission: Find an affordable midweek trip for the whole family!

Prerequisite: Not too much hiking or walking please!
 No sightseeing through tranquil, picturesque city streets.

 Fancy restaurants are not required either. 

 A burger joint like 5 Guys Hamburgers will do just fine,

Accommodation: Needs to have a pool please! And comfy beds! And WIFI, a TV
and a kitchen with dishwasher if possible!

Location: Within a three hour radius from our home in Maple Ridge, with guaranteed sunshine!            

If it wouldn't be for the word affordable Whistler comes to mind for our midweek trip! But then, we've done Whistler twice already and we as parents of three just don't see the value of this village!
At second thought SQUAMISH came up. A name so frequently used in combination with the (now famous) Squamish Valley Music Festival.

This is our fourth year on the North American continent and yep, we have never made it to the city of Squamish. We hiked to Shannon Falls, saw pictures of the Sea to Sky gondola and yet,

Photo, courtesy of Vancouversun.com

never ever have we stopped at The Outdoor Recreation Capital of Canada!

Photo: Courtesy of SquamishReporter.com

I heard it's quirky. It's real. It's active! It's beautiful! It has a Bohemian chic and feel to it!
I love quirky. I love undefined, rough, rugged and non formal.
We as parents love easy going, non formal restaurants, easy access to outdoor activities and most of all, lower than high end prices!

Photo credit: SquamishReporter.com

The advantages of having older kids (in our case older means 18, 15 and 12) is, they have mastered the basic rules of engagement (they can talk intelligentl ) and are comfortable on a bike, on skies, in the water, on a kayak or anywhere else we 'force them to participate in!

If  we want happy, compliable children on our various trips we have to come up with something pretty groovy!
If I wanted our boys off their devices and tune into nature I needed to do some research! And most importantly, I needed an ally to help me mastermind the trip!

Without further ado, let me introduce you to Katherine Folinsbee and Heather Kawaguchi at Tourism Squamish!
My mission became theirs! After a few phone conversations and emails back and forth this mother of two delivered (must be a mother thing. Heather knows what kids want)!
Let me show you what Heather organized for us:

Squamish is really only a skip and jump from our home town Maple Ridge. In less than 1,5 hours we arrived at our hotel, the gorgeous Executive Suites Hotel and Resort.

But first you need to check out the picturesque Sea To Sky Hwy (Hwy 99):

Here is the hotel, shimmering in the early morning sun:

The hotel suites are comfortable, spacious enough for all five of us. It has an in built kitchen and get this, a clothes dryer! Very cool! This is the perfect stay for every traveler who travels light! 

It comes with hot tube, pool, restaurant, meeting rooms, golf course, gym and its own activity center:

After checking out the amenities and the immediate ground of the hotel, The Best Man of All, Dominic (aka husband) gave our Squamish Adventure Guide a quick read through,

We needed something easy and not too strenuous to do for the fast approaching evening.

The Squamish Oceanfront Trail is a Local Favourite. 

We cheated and drove right up to the Oceanfront and parked our car next to the shore! The trail is only 2 km long and is a very easy, flat hike, run or stroll from one of the main roads.

The views from the shoreline are spectacular,  Beauty as far as the eyes can see. You will see the peaks of the Garibaldi Park, Stawamus Chief and in front of you the glistering water of The Howe Sound! Spectacular!
As always, it's the small thing that makes a boy's heart grow fonder: balancing over a piece of driftwood or climbing up on trees will do just fine!

We loved watching the kite surfers:

These women and men put on a show for us, unbelievable! In racecar speed they gushed through the water, helped by a steady, healthy breeze! They did flips, turns, somersaults, This, dear friends, is 10x better than watching TV!

Growing boys seem to always be hungry. The above mentioned Fat Burger did the job for our first Squamish dinner!

A full day of activity was waiting for us the next morning:
We headed off to Squamish Adventure Center for picking up our gear!

Thanks to the organisation talents of Heather Kawaguchi

we had our bikes waiting for us.

WooHaa, BigFoot Fat Tire Bike anybody? This is going to be insane- and a pretty stable ride for sure!

Allister of the Squamish Adventure Center just needed to go over the gear and we had some time to chat some more,

Or not...

We took the trail map and headed north. At least I thought that's where we were heading! I always leave this to The Best Man, he is pretty good at reading maps! Funny enough, we headed south...

Our first stop, SORCA (Squamish Off Road Cycling Association) Mountain Bike Trail Park

 We lived near Amsterdam for many years. In other words, we are highly skilled flat terrain riders; not accomplished when it comes to anything a bit more fancy!

God had a great day when he decided to create Squamish! The whole area is, for lack of a better word, beautiful!

We were drawn back to the ocean, Here we are, watching more kite surfers at The Spit - the best place to kitesurf in BC (their words not mine)!

I haven't felt sand this smooth since...since when actually?

 Even the BigFoot Flat Wheels need a break...

Squamish loves mountain bikers! They show it with little gestures like this:

 or this: This is a bike repair - maintenance kit, at a public parking lot. Pretty awesome, isn't it?

Our next stop was Brohm Lake for some SUP-ing:

Yes, I was pretty pooped that night: While I was enjoying quality bath time the boys were testing out the hotel's appliances:

On our departure day we wanted to squeeze in climbing up the Stawamus Chief and going for a ride up the Sea to Sky gondola.
As with all good plans this one was changed halfway through the day!
Our boys made it 3/4 up The Chief - and that was enough stair climbing for them!

 Look what I found on one of the steps,

Three thirds is better than half way up. The view is pretty spectacular from this height too. So we turned back!

At the beginning or end of the trail is a rope course waiting for you!
Our boys tried the tight rope balancing act, to my delight and their dismay. This is easier said than done. Especially after you walked up and down the steep stairs. Your legs still feel like jello.

Believe it or not, the boys didn't want to go on their gondola ride. They wanted to go home instead! Our gondola tickets are safely tucked away, waiting to be used for our second trip to Squamish!

It's not really necessary squeezing all the tourist attractions in when travelling with your teenagers. Still, at that age they are happy with the small stuff like the driftwood on the beach a bike ride and a lovely hotel!
Sometimes I do wonder, why am I making it so complicated for myself?

A big shout out to Heather at Tourism Squamish and Squamish Executive Suites Hotel & Resort for making our trip so memorable, adventurous and active!
You conquered our hearts. THANK YOU!
We will be back!