November Book Update

This was not a fantastic month for reading books...

Charlotte Markham and the House of Darkling - Michael Boccacino. This book was a bit too fantasy for me, but I read it. Enough said.

Brave New World - Aldous Huxley. This book started off kind of slow, picked up, and then dragged on. I'm not sure how I feel about it! I read somewhere that 1984 is the 'hard, mean' future and Brave New World is the 'softer, happier' version. I'm not sure I want either.

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand - Helen Simonson - I'm glad I finally read this book. It was really good, well-written, entertaining and just overall good! I'd recommend this to someone who wants a light read.

The Year of the Flood - Margaret Atwood - This was a really good book. Technically it's the second of a trilogy (first is Oryx and Crake, and the third isn't out yet). I was so engrossed in this book that I missed my bus stop at work and didn't notice when R sat beside me on the bus.. This is our November/December book club book.

Hike: Seymour Canyon

Last weekend we tried to do the Two Canyon Loop through Seymour/Lynn Valleys, but there was a sign and trail name for everything but this one. I hadn't written it down beforehand so we just walked..

Gorgeous trees!

 R overlooking Seymour river with his fancy new backpack

 Gorgeous alders!

 

 And more..

 And one 'glowing' yellow tree, among the conifers

And a deer.

I think we ended up starting on the Homesteader's Trail, walking up the Fisherman's trail and then down the paved road.. for no reason other than we couldn't find the trail again... I'm not sure how!

It was really nice to be out hiking even in late October. I'm looking forward to doing some of the easier/lower elevation hikes this winter.

October Book Update

This month I finished a bunch of stuff and read a bunch more. I also joined goodreads, username Christine L.

Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins. Final book of the Hunger Games trilogy. I'm not sure that I really liked this one all that much. Sure, it tied up some loose ends and stuff, but it wasn't the best.

Letter from a stranger - Barbara Taylor Bradford. This is probably one of the worst books I've ever read. I hated the way she wrote, I hated how cheesy it was, I hated that I paid money to read it.. ugh.

Cutting for Stone - Abraham Verghese. This, on the other hand, was probably one of the best books I've read. I loved it! It was a really well told story, and it was really different from what I was expecting. Definitely recommend this one.

Speaker for the Dead - Orson Scott Card. The second book in the Ender's Game series. I liked this one too, although an almost entirely new set of characters did take me a while to get into.

Extras - Scott Westerfeld. This is the fourth book from a series that I read a long long time ago. I just found out about this one, so I figured I should read it. I'd say read it if you are young and enjoy 'teen talk'. If you're older and mature, and prefer words to be written out in a normal way, and all that.. don't bother.

The Thirteenth Tale - Diane Setterfield. Another really great read. This was the book club book for the month and I'm not sure how everyone else feels about it yet, but wow. What a twisted tale! It's one that I'd recommend, although it's not for those who don't like a bit of wacky drama in their books.

Dreams from my Father - Barack Obama. I really enjoyed learning about Obama's struggle to identify himself as black (his mom is white, his dad is black).. or his struggle to identify, period. Really well written and really good overall. I hope he wins this election!

The Birth House - Ami McKay. This was amazing! Good month for reading, for the most part. This was the story of a midwife during the time when science became slightly more important and midwives less so. Very well read, and it was set in Nova Scotia. Another book I'd really recommend.

Dragon Seed - Pearl S Buck. I read the Good Earth a long time ago, and really enjoyed it. I didn't enjoy this one that much and it took me a few weeks to finally finish reading it. I wouldn't bother (but if you want to read it, it's on my bookshelf!)

September Book Update

I started out this month reading a book that I've picked up many times, and always set it aside for another time. This time though, being on a trip and not necessarily wanting to take the book home with me at the end, it seemed to work out.

She's Come Undone - Wally Lamb. This was a really twisted, weird, captivating book. It was the story of a girl who becomes so obese that it rules her life.. and how she deals with it. It was actually a pretty good read, although I wouldn't read it again.

The Book Thief - Markus Zusak. This was our August book club book. This was one of the few that I really loved. The story took place during the Holocaust. It's hard to say much without giving a lot away, but the main character becomes a book thief. It's not at all what I expected (I've taken to not read the back of books lately  - it's kind of fun, really not knowing what to expect). I'd highly recommend this one - and while it's classified as a YA book, it wasn't childish in writing style or anything.

Every Little Thing - Pamela Klaffke. Clearly not a memorable book - I had to google it to see what it was about. Clearly wouldn't recommend this one! ;) It was about the daughter of a famous columnist who had died, and how she turns into her mom.. Exciting.

Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card. I really liked this book. It didn't seem as sci-fi as I thought it might be. I've already got the second one out to read, and I'm planning on starting it within the next few days. I think R is planning on reading this one soon, too.

We're having another book club meeting this month after not meeting in September, so I'm hopeful that more fun things will be read this month :)

Hike: Joffre Lakes

Today we finished out first overnight backpacking trip. We headed to Joffre Lakes, three alpine lakes which are quite accesible (11km RETURN!) from the highway just outside of Pemberton.

We left yesterday morning around 9:20am, and headed north. The drive was pretty, quiet and felt shorter than three hours. After a quick stop in Squamish for some last-minute groceries, we got to the (busy, full, crazy) trailhead around 12:20pm.

The first lake was visible within about 5 minutes, and the colour was incredible. It was pretty exciting to see the colour of the lake already, with the glacier in the background.

The next part was nice with some uphill parts. There was a good chunk of boulders to hike over, which would have been slightly more fun without my camera and giant bag, but.. that's life, right?

The second lake got me even more excited - we could get close to it and see it more than the first. Unfortunately there were still tons of people there..

 So beautiful! The colour is incredible.

Yay!!! :)

So. Then we started on the switch-back section. Not quite that lovely, but still nice. From this point it was only 1.5km to the third lake, our final destination (for the night).

 First glimpses..

 Can not get over the colour of these lakes.

 View from our campsite.

After we set up camp, we hiked (walked?) towards a rock bluff and some waterfalls.

 Impossible to get the colour from up there, but.. what a picturesque place!

Lovely!!

After that, we made dinner, played some cards in our tent (yep, 5 people sitting in a 2 person tent!) and went to bed. The downside of the gorgeous place is that the valley is quite narrow, and the sunset quite fast.

This morning we got up slowly (it took about 2 hours for all 5 of us to get up and out), had a leisurely breakfast (with chocolate cheesecake. Yeah.) and got a bit packed up. Then we headed for a hike towards the Tszil Glacier. We didn't really know how far it went, so we just headed up.

 The view before the sun came out this morning.

 And the view with the sun.

 That's the third lake down there.

This glacier looks much nicer in this photo than it did in person, but.. still awesome.

So.
Total length: 11km (plus glacier hike, ~5 km)
Time needed: 5 to third lake, 3 to glacier from third lake.
Difficulty: Not too bad. After the Hanes Valley hike, nothing is hard ;)

I think that's all. I'm excited to do more backpacking trips, now that I have a water filter, awesome stove, good friends, etc.

August Book Update

Better month for reading, thankfully!

A Little Night Magic - Lucy March. Weird book about 'night' and 'day' magic. It was fast to read, which was a bonus for it, because it wasn't that wonderful. Somewhat.. Sabrina the teenaged witch.

The House on Fortune Street - Margot Livesey. I really liked this book. It was written from four different points-of-view, and it was really well done.

A Painted House - John Grisham. Not a typical law-related book. This was about growing up in the south in the 1950's on a cotton farm. I really enjoyed it.

Beyond Beflast - Will Ferguson. This took a while to read - a true story of Will Ferguson walking the Ulster Way (around Northern Ireland). It was entertaining, although it did drag on a bit.

Black Heels to Tractor Wheels - Ree Drummond. I love the Pioneer Woman and her style of writing. If this is an entirely true love story, then lucky her. Well-written and entertaining.

I am Number Four - Pittacus Lore. Somewhat Hunger Gamesish, but it was really good. Definitely young adultish, but I think I'll read the rest of the series.

That's all for now! On to another month.

Hike: Hanes Valley

After we got up to Norvan Falls almost two weeks ago, we saw a sign that said "Grouse, 9km." We instantly decided that we should hike it the next weekend, and so we did.

The first 10k was gorgeous - nice forests, a little hilly but not too bad, lots of creek crossings.. 

 I bet that this would be a stunning view on a sunny day..

 Then we started to climb up stuff like this, with the rocks getting smaller and smaller, and the hill steeper and steeper..

I stopped taking photos after this point because it wasn't fun anymore. And stopping meant losing some momentum, which took forever to build.

We got to a 'false top' and then celebrated.. and then realized that we still had to go up. Not very fun! Eventually we made it down to Grouse and celebrated with beavertails devoured in about 2 seconds flat.

Location: Lynn Valley to Grouse.
Length: 15 km
Elevation: ~1000m gain
Time: Approximately 8ish hours.
Notes: Need two cars, or to take a bus to get to and from the trailhead/ends.

I don't think I'd ever do the full hike again, but the first ~10km to the boulder field (which I don't have photos of!) was really fun and beautiful. 

Hike: Norvan Falls

Today we headed to Norvan Falls, in Lynn Valley.

R and I are planning an overnight hike in mid-September, and in order to prepare for that we decided to pack our big backpacks with our sleeping bags, tent, stove and some other stuff.

 The view at the "Third Debris Chute." Gorgeous day!!

 The bottom of the falls, where M went swimming.

 The falls.

 

Lunch - Hawaiian chicken with rice. Pretty good, actually. It did take quite a while to cook though (says 13 minutes, I'm not sure how long we left it) and they are pricey. We're going to work on making our own for upcoming trip.s

Lunch!

 Random suspension bridge. I believe this was a rebuild of a small wooden bridge. I guess it's a busy enough trail that they need it.. but it seemed a bit overkill to me. The other three really enjoyed bouncing on it though :)

Length: 13.5 km
Time: 5 hours (including ~1 hr lunch and meandering on the way down)
Difficulty: Easy

Hike: Ripple Rock

This past weekend R and I headed to Campbell River on Vancouver Island for a weekend of camping with my family.

On Saturday, we headed to north to hike to a viewpoint of Ripple Rock. The history of this place is pretty cool -- a huge explosion to destroy two rocks? Cool in my books! The straight where the rocks were is VERY narrow, even now, without the rocks. The tide was insanely fast too, which looked like fun for the boats playing in the narrows.

 Suspension bridge that R LOVED because he could bounce everyone on it.. my sister, not so much love.

 View of one of the beaches. Such a clear, hot hot hot day.

 Another 'viewpoint.'

 And another. Gorgeous.

 Somewhere near where the whirlpools are is where Ripple Rock was.

More whirlpools. So pretty!

Location: 19km north of Campbell River on highway 19A.
Time: 2.5ish hours, not walking super fast.
Total length: 8 km, although it felt a bit longer.

July Book Update

I'm happy to say that July had much more reading than June! This month, I finished:

Bel Canto - Ann Patchett. This was June's book club book. I didn't read what it was about, and was surprised (or shocked, even) to find out that at the end of the book, the main scenario that started right away was the premise of the whole book. It was really good, don't get me wrong, but you definitely learn something when you read the back..

The Peach Keeper - Sarah Addison Allen. A quick story about the popular and unpopular girls who become friends through a story from their grandmas..

Fifty Shades of Grey - E.L. James. The highly read (by females) book.. what to say. I didn't really enjoy this book. I wasn't excited by it, or thrilled by it. I read it because I wanted to finish it. I am not going to bother reading the next two, even though R's mom says that they're better.

Water for Elephants - Sara Gruen. Probably one of my favourite books this year! This was another circus story, one where a suddenly orphaned man hops on a train and then finds out that it's a circus train. Very well written, amazing to read.. :)

Eating Dirt - Charlotte Gill. Written by an ex-tree planter, this was basically a huge essay about tree planting, life of tree planters, and forests. Some parts were interesting, some weren't. It was a very slow book to get through, and I don't think I'd really recommend it.

The Broken Teaglass - Emily Arsenault. This was lent to me by a coworker. It was a very strange tale of two coworkers at a dictionary company that discovered a story within the citations that they used to define words.

The Art of Mending - Elizabeth Berg. Book club book for August. This was a quick read about family values and what we really know about our families. Kind of an intense read, but it was really short, so it was pretty easy to read without getting too caught up in the tragic story.

Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins. This is book two of the Hunger Games series.. and it was good. Completely unexpected and better than I thought. I'm way far down the waiting list to get the third, Mockingjay, though. 

That's all for now, but I've got plenty on the go :)

Hike: Minnekhada Regional Park

We were furniture shopping not too long ago out in Poco and we decided that we should go for a walk. D was dog-sitting a few dogs that weekend, so we decided to find a hike that he could bring them on. M ended up joining us as well and we headed out to Minnekhada Regional Park.

 The boys, and two VERY enthusiastic dogs.

 Some seriously giant trees.

 So green and pretty.. :)

 Moss. Love.

 Gorgeous wetland.

 R and one tired puppy.

Tired puppy number 2..

I think we 'hiked' for about 2 hours, but we probably could have done it in less. The walk itself was fairly easy, with little elevation gain. Trying to get the dogs to walk like normal dogs was almost impossible, and I think that was the reason that we were all kind of tired at the end.

Hike: Diamond Head

Ok, so the title isn't entirely correct. We did go for a hike starting from the Diamond Head trailhead, but we only hiked about an hour up, because we hit snow. We were also not planning on going for very long, considering that we left at noon from Squamish and weren't really in hiking gear.

Nevertheless!

We did go for a hike, I did take pictures..

 Nothing like starting off with lupines to make this girl happy..

 And then a pretty creek through a gorgeous forest..

 And then misty foggy stuff with trees poking through!

 Then we came to the snow.

 And decided that this beautiful waterfall was a good turning point..

I think someday we'll have to hike the rest of it. This part (and I don't know about the rest) was nice.. an old logging road makes for nice hiking!