Friday – travel day, and a long one. We were organised and packed by 9:30 and check out of accomm before 10:00 leaving the car parked in the visitor parking area for an hour or two while we went for breakfast and coffee at Ecology, a nice coffee shop at the back of a boutique clothing store near Olympic Plaza. We left Mikaela & Quade after that and headed to Squarmish for a look around there before making our way back to Vancouver and the airport. (Mik & Quade are heading back to airport later in the day to fly home).

Squarmish is about half way back to Vancouver on the Sea to Sky highway and at the north end of Howe Sound. Very popular for rock climbing and bouldering these days due to a huge granite massif right on its doorstep. Nice little town.

Good run back to Vancouver until we reached the city then very slow due to bumper to bumper traffic but still reached hire car drop off and airport in good time before boarding plane at 6:00pm for a 6 hour flight to Honolulu. Picked up at airport by a pre-arranged Uber and settled onto air B&B with no hiccups. On 20th floor of Waikiki Sunset looking directly at Diamond Head. Nice

Saturday – We were all awake fairly early (still on Vancouver time – 3 hours ahead) so headed off for a beachside breakfast, then a walk along the beachfront which is already busy.

then watched a parade before heading to the zoo for a couple of hours. Thought Hendrix would like it but he slept half the time🤷‍♂️. It was quite good though and quite close to where we are staying.

After a rest back at condo the girls went shopping while I went walking and exploring, then for a swim.

Dinner at Tiki Grille & Bar overlooking the beach on a balmy evening

Sunday – started the day about 6:45 with a run/walk around Diamond Head which is a volcanic cone. There were lots of people out running at this time.

Then after some breakfast and a freshen up Justin and I caught the local bus to Diamond Head and then walked into the visitors centre and climbed the volcano rim to the lookout. Great views but a hot and steep climb on rough path, through tunnels and up lots of steps. We walked back to condo grabbing an iced coffee on the way.

After a rest and cool down is was off for some more exploring / shopping then later in the afternoon a swim with the other thousands of people on the beach and in the water. Not a place to go to ‘get away from other people’ but a good place to sit and watch the world (people) go by. Late afternoon swim with the thousands of other holidaymakers then dinner, including guava margarita, at a Mexican taco bar overlooking the beach. Good way to finish the day

Monday – Transit to Maui. Didn’t start well with the booked Uber driver being 25minutes late to pick us up then we lined up int the wrong check- in line then line through security was 200m long and we thought we’d miss our flight for sure but it moved surprisingly quickly and we arrived at gate in good time. 😅. Then flight was delayed once we were all boarded due to ‘a minor technical problem’. Eventually got away for the 45 minute flight.

We had a much smoother experience with renal car this time when we arrived. Good old Avis. Very slow drive to accomm due to an amazing amount of traffic, in both directions. Arrived about 4:15pm. None of us had eaten since breakfast so we headed straight to the nearby Dollies Bar & Cafe for a feed before driving back down the road a bit to Safeway for groceries for the week. Exploring will start tomorrow.

Tuesday – First up an exploratory walk to check out the nearby beach and shops then a visit to the Activities Outlet (Snorkel Bob’s) to see if we can book a Luau but amazingly nothing available locally until August🤷‍♂️. ‘Cloe’ was very helpful though and found a lunchtime one available in Hana on the other side of the island, about a 2 1/2 hour drive away. That will suit us nicely as we planned to drive to Hana anyway. She recommended it as a better option too as it would be more ‘genuine/authentic’…. we will see on Thursday😊

Early afternoon we headed into Lahaina about 15 minutes away. Originally a small fishing village Lahaina became the capital of the kingdom of Hawaii back in the early 1800. It’s now a national historic landmark district. It’s also a much more vibrant and touristy area than where we are staying. Heaps of shops, waterside pubs and dining and where all the water based activities leave from. Also famous for the huge Banyan Tree which reaches 20m high and shades an area of almost an acre of a beachside park. It has 16 aerial trunks in addition the the original central trunk which help support its branches

Quick stop at Safeway on the way home to top up supplies for our Taco dinner tonight.

There have been a few squalls of light rain today but nothing to stop us exploring. The hills behind us have had their heads in the clouds all day and you can see it raining up there but only a few miles to the beach and coast and it predominantly fine and sunny. Quite a contrast.

Wednesday – We made a visit to the Lava Fields today, about a 1 1/2 hour drive away along the coast. Resorts along the coast nearly all the way. It is obvious Hawaii survives on tourism these days. It was sugar cane in earlier days

Thursday – Road trip to Hana today to have a look around and go to the lunchtime Luau (Cultural Show). We left nice and early to account for the slow traffic and any stops we might need to make for Hendrix and got there with 1/2 hour to spare. Only one stop needed. The last 60kms is very slow and windy with a 15 & 20 mph speed limit. Some sections are only one lane so lots of stops to let traffic on opposite direction pass. On top of that it rained most of the last 60 kms.

As it turned out we got a personalised show from the husband and wife hosts as the tour group who were also booked had cancelled. It was a great 2hrs. Very informative of local culture and very tasty local food. Hendrix was very intrigued by the dancing and the lady was very taken by Hendrix. The whole facility is relatively new and has been developed by the husband and wife over the last two years. They not only preformed but cooked and served the food. The show has only been running for 7 months. We felt very privileged and were very impressed. Highly recommended.

The drive back was very slow as there is nowhere to pass and the driver in front of us did not seem confident driving on the windy narrow roads in the wet conditions.

Friday – Quiet day at condo today as it our last full day before travelling home. Justin’s playing golf, the girls are planing on shopping for a while at Whalers Village before we pick up Justin from golf and I’m just taking it easy and exploring.

Dropped Justin at golf at 9:00. We all went back to Whalers Village (next to golf course) at 11:00 and shopped/wandered there for a while. I went and had a beer with him when he finished about 1:00. Afternoon spent at the beach (me and Hendrix) and relaxing at condo before dinner at the local Kahana Brewery.

Saturday – Transit day to Honolulu. We were organised and left accom at 10:00. We thought that would give us plenty of time for our 1:00pm flight as it is only a 1hr drive to airport, but not so🤷‍♂️. Drive was ok with only one ‘jammed’ and slow section (which we expected and had planned for). Filled car up and dropped it back at Avis in good time. Then ‘shuttle tram’ to airport. Then there were people everywhere, and I mean thousands of people. We checked in ok just before 12 noon then the problems started. We had to line up in a loooong bag drop line. Then after bag drop a massive long security check line that started on the footpath outside the airport and wound it’s way back and forth into security. It took 1 1/4 hours to get to & through security. Ridiculous. Consequently we, and others, missed our flight. Luckily Hawaiian we’re able to get us onto the next flight. Flights leave every hour to Honolulu and they’d need to to clear the amount of people at the airport. So we arrived in Honolulu and our bags were waiting for us as they made the first flight😆. Shuttle to airport hotel and we were checked in by 4:00pm. Dinner at 5:00 and an early night. 4:45am start tomorrow to give us plenty of time to get through security in Honolulu for our 8:30 flight home. Fingers🤞.

We brought a Gondola pass today and went to the top of Whistler then across to Blackcomb on the Peak 2 Peak then down Blackcomb gondola to upper town centre. Perfect day on the mountain

Toronto to Whistler. Long day made longer when stroller didn’t make the plane in Toronto and we spent an extra 1 hour at airport sorting that out, then we had to shuttle bus it to Europecar where they took another hour to process us and give us a car. Eventually got on the road at 4:30pm. Bonus was we had a great run to Whistler with very little traffic this late in the day. We were worried about it as it is Canada Day today. Once we got to whistler it was evident everyone was already there. The place is buzzing.

Sunday – Wet day pretty much all day so only ventured out a couple of times into village to explore and browse the shops. Dinner at Taco bar including lime margaritas 😋. Did get a run in early before the rain.

Monday – Rained overnight and a bit drizzly this morning but I got out for a nice walk before anyone else was up. Then another walk with Denise & Mikaela to Alta Lake. Some beautiful (expensive) houses to be seen and plenty of lakeside properties.

Tuesday – overcast but improved as the day went on. Quieter now that 4th July is past but still surprisingly busy, particularly with the mountain bikers Justin & Quade mountain biked all day. Quade crashed to avoid another mountain biker and he has skin off and is sore. Mikaela did a 2.3k zip line ride. Bec & Hendrix, Denise & I kept exploring.

Wednesday – while the boys did day 2 of their mountain biking (and sustained more injuries) Mikaela & I did a couple of walks

Then a few drinks and dinner at the Mongolie Grille.

Thursday – slept in. Must be relaxed🤣. Coffee. Bagel. Loop walk through town and Blackcomb (in the rain) with Justin and Hendrix while the girls had a massage and facial?? (They don’t look any different🤷‍♂️). Whistler Valley Tour in the afternoon (Australian owner and guide). Very informative and should be a first up activity to give you a good overview of the whistler valley and intro of history, nearby towns, walks, skiing, mountain biking, other things to do, best cafes, how winter olympics came to be here, restaurants, etc.

Evening meal at Caramba restaurant to celebrate Mikaela’s 26th birthday (for next week) as she and Quade head back home tomorrow.

Transit day tomorrow

We decided to do a short bush walk this morning and headed off to ‘The Tree Museum Trail’ about 20 min drive away. We turned off onto a dirt trail like a dirt driveway and drove about a k in before the trail got quite rough and definitely not suitable for a hire car. I wound the window down to check behind so I could turn and we got inundated with deer flies so we pulled the pin on that plan and headed back into town. It turned out we should have walked where we drove 🤷‍♂️.

So we walked a bit more Gravenhurst and called into a Canadian Tire store which is a huge Kmart/Bunnings type store so Denise could buy some luggage straps to hold her case together😆. Then we caught up with Justin and Quade at, you guessed it, the brewery where they had settled in to sampling some more of the 18 beers on tap (4 new ones today).

We decided to head back to Toronto late in the afternoon today, on Mat’s advice, to beat the inevitable Canada Day and long weekend traffic tomorrow. It was a good run in light traffic until we hit Toronto. I’m pleased we did it, it would have been a stressful drive to the airport in the morning. Traffic on the other side of the road, heading to Muskoka, was a very different story. There was 100k of a solid traffic over 3 lanes. Ridiculous. Apparently it would be worse tomorrow.

Arrived at the hotel near the airport about 5:30pm, checked in then met Mat, Michelle & Heath at nearby Turtle Jacks for dinner before sad goodbyes 😢 …. until November.

Off to Vancouver and whistler tomorrow

Raining this morning but cleared mid morning so we did a walking lap of the Main Street then went to Bracebridge for a lap of its Main Street and to view the falls

On the way back to Gravenhurst we called into Muskoka Brewery, renowned for its craft beers. Lazy late afternoon and evening at accomm.

Then at dusk (9pm) we took a drive to Torrence Barren Conservation area to view the Milky Way in the night sky but it was a bit cloudy and we were getting eaten alive by mosquitos so we didn’t hang around long. Got a nice sunset shot though.

We drove to Gravenhurst today. Approx 170km. It’s in the Muskoka region north of Guelph and Toronto. Very picturesque. Much like Westport but a bit more ‘up market’. We stopped again at Elora for a coffee/brunch and to visit a shop that Mikaela wanted to go to but was closed when we were here a few days ago. We stopped again at a park in a town called Orangeville so little Hendrix could have a feed, a swing and a change. He then slept all the way to Gravenhurst.

We arrived at about 2pm and as we were too early to check in we went to Boston Pizza on Muskoka Lake for a drink and a bite to eat. It’s a quite time but still people in boats and jet skis coming and going from their lakeside cottages.

After checking in we walked 500m to a nice little beach on Gull Lake where the boys had a swim.

Then us boys (including Hendrix) had a wander through town to the Sawdust City Brewing Co pub to sample the local beers. There were only 18 beers on tap to choose from🤷‍♂️

Family walk this morning around Royal City Park before a late coffee/brunch at a riverside cafe. They can’t make a good cappuccino here though🤷‍♂️ going to have to change to lattes ☕️

Local exploring/shopping in the afternoon including some going climbing at nearby Grotto’s Climbing Gym.

Family dinner tonight at Wooly’s Pub. We say goodbye to our little Air B&B tomorrow morning

We made a visit to Aberfoyle Antique Market this morning which was pretty impressive and much bigger than expected. I could easily spend half a day there.

Then on to Paris, a picturesque town 42kms from Guelph. Lots of cafes, boutique shops and riverside dining.

Back at unit by 4pm for a bit of quiet time if that’s possible?? Justin, Bec, Mikaela & Quade went off to explore (and find a cocktail bar) in the ‘red rocket’, Mat & Michelle’s 2nd car that is on its last legs with 280k’s on the clock. Denise & I were left to babysit Hendrix.