Holland Creek Trail

Action shot!

The leaf that looks like it's attached to my headband is a illusion, I swear!

The path had lots of little wooden bridges throughout it. It kind of gave the area a Snow White-ish feeling to it, minus the gnomes.

This past Tuesday Brandon and I enjoyed our afternoon hiking the Holland Creek Trail and having lunch at a cute little cafe called In the Bean Time. We got to the trail parking lot just before noon, and it took us a little over an hour & 15 minutes to complete the loop. We did a 5.8K loop - could've completed 6.4K if we had found the other trail that lead up to another look out - and there was tons to look at! We climbed rolling hills & could hear the crash of the waterfall throughout the entire hike. Eventually, we came to a look out that had a rocky edge and a spectacular view of the waterfall! Note: I had uploaded more pictures, but my internet connection has been super sketchy & decided to select it's favourite pictures, so those are the ones you got - the survivors! Anyway, both Brandon and I were glad that the trail had maps posted every few kilometers, otherwise it would be like Mt. Tzouhalem all over again & getting lost! Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating there, but the maps truly did help. Once we were on the home stretch back to the car, we were getting hungry. Lunch time at In the Bean Time!

ITBT was new to the both of us, and I was impressed by their menu. They had a wide selection of sandwiches & wraps - however, I wasn't too thrilled about their side selection. Brandon ordered a BLT sandwich that came with a side of nacho chips (plain, unsalted, scattered on the plate). I debated whether I wanted to add a soup or salad to my veggie wrap, but considering the wrap was already $8.50 and adding soup or salad was three dollars, I decided I would just stick to the veggie sticks that came on the side. Don't get me wrong - I LOVE me some veggies - but five (combined total of) celery/carrot sticks isn't that much. Nevertheless, I honestly enjoyed the actual wrap & the added bit of veggies didn't hurt either. In addition, I also got a fabulous vanilla latte, so that kind of balanced out the bland nacho chips & sparse veggies. All in all: I would come here again, but maybe just for coffee & sharing a dessert with someone. The food is good, but not totally the WOW factor we had been looking for in a new eatery.

Happy Friday to YOU! What are your weekend plans?

Mt. Tzouhalem

Good evening, bloggies! Above are only a few pictures out of the 70-some odd I took today during the hike.

My day began with a 4K run, thinking if we didn't go hiking, at least I'd get a work out in. Well, it turns out that today was absolutely GORGEOUS. I took it easy on my run this morning, stopped to stretch before I came home and stretched it out (again) while watching some Eat, Pray, Love from the comfort of my yoga mat. That juicy grapefruit up there complimented a chocolate green monster (smoothie accompanied by spinach for added greens!), and I was ready to rock n' roll with food in mah bellay!

Do you ever have those days where everything just turns out how it's supposed to? Today was one of those days, thankfully. I got a $25.00 gift certificate from my boss at the spa for a garden & flower store in town (I'm going to get some bright coloured flowers to plant in the front & Spring things up around the yard), had an awesome hike & it was SO SUNNY. Seriously. It also helps that I had today off too (and another day off tomorrow, yesss!)

More about the hike: We parked on one side of the mountain, made it up to the cross in one shot (there were so many intertwined trails!), but somehow made it down the other side of the mountain and ended up in a farm's field. Since the car was parked hours away, we ended up having to WALK all the way back to the parking lot - all up hill. We were so fortunate that it was sunny though, and I honestly didn't mind the walk. It made me grateful for my legs and feet - I love you, limbs!

Have a fabulous night everyone!