Summer is Vancouver is a funny thing. I always hear that it is too hot, too cold, too rainy, too dry… it seems like summer can never truly assuage Vancouverites. Personally, I don’t mind the mix of conditions… definitely keeps things interesting!

Although my favourite season is Fall (the colours, hockey starts, snowboarding starts, and there’s still surfing!)… it’s impossible to not love summer in Vancouver. That small slice of sun and warmth that we get is irresistible!

My favourite things about summer:

- Surfing
- Enjoying sun on the beach
- The gorgeous sunsets
- BBQing
- Parties with friends
- Summer blockbuster movies
- The humidity
- Fresh, local, organic berries
- The vegetables and fruits that come out of our garden
- Golf
- Summer dresses
- Vacation!
- Wearing flip flops 24/7

I’ve been playing golf for a couple years now, but I usually only go 5-6 times a year or so. Each year, I find myself having more and more fun playing golf… even though I’m terrible at it!

Aside from Costa Rica, I’ve never really played a full golf course… my experience is pretty limited to the driving range, pitch and putt, and executive (academy) courses.

This was taken at the Academy at Westwood Plateau… their 9 hole course. My best shot of the day, right onto the green! I seem to be improving, albeit slowly.

Allan, Kim and Dave on the course at Westwood. What a beautiful view of the city from up there! The course, even though it’s an executive course, is very challenging… tight fairways and tricky greens… lots of elevation changes too. It’s on the side of a mountain!

I’ve decided that this summer I want to play my first real full-length golf course in Vancouver. So Allan and I headed over to Golf Town in Richmond several weeks ago and I tried about 20 different Ladies drivers.

No surprise of course, that my favourite and the one I ended up buying was the Callaway FT-9 Ladies Driver. My iron set is already Callaway Ladies so it was fitting. I am completely terrified of my driver. I feel pretty comfortable hitting my irons, but the driver is just a whole ‘nother story. It is very intimidating. I need a lot more practice and time with it, but hopefully it will come around. It’s a great club.

The head cover that comes with it is also pretty swanky! Looks like it is from the future.

The Fujikura shaft and the Winn grip are just icing on the cake. I love love love the grip.

At Golf Town, with the purchase of my FT-9, I also got $250 free credit to spend on any Callaway goods. So I bought Allan a nice free Callaway Men’s Driver, some Callaway golf balls, and a glove for myself. Great deal!

Tonight I’ll be trying out a full golf course, so I’m pretty nervous. My first time ever in Vancouver! I’ve had my new driver for a couple weeks now and I’m feeling a bit more comfortable with it. My game is improving but nowhere near where I’d like it to be. Hopefully all goes well today!

Other things I love about the summer… definitely BBQing!

Here’s a tray of food about to go out to the BBQ. The trick for good BBQing… a good grill, good BBQ sauce, lots of seasoning, good quality meat, a smoky rub…

… and hickory wood chips for extra smoky flavour! We soaked these first and then put them in aluminum foil and placed these under the grill.

Surf and Turf! Yum! Alberta aged AAA beef steak with smoky rub, and Halibut grilled over a Maple plank for extra flavour. SO GOOD! Can’t recommend the wood planks enough for grilling. I also made a side of Orzo with veggies to go along with it, and we grilled some peppers.

I also caved in and bought my Jimmy Choo sunglasses before I left for Costa Rica. I haven’t had a chance to post pics yet, so here you go. They are kind of big and silly but I like them.

Also, to end this post, Allan takes silly photos of me. This time I’m not swatting bugs away. We were just being silly.

What do you love about summer?

As promised, here are some of the Tofino pics I’ve been meaning to post from the last couple trips. Bear with me… there’s quite a few!

HD Video of Tofino is still on the way… I’ll probably have a chance to edit it this weekend. In the meantime, hope you like the photos! I’ve still got a few more somewhere that I’ll post soon.

The view from our campsite… the ocean, the trees, the sun! That’s why it’s my favourite spot to camp…

Our car just full of camping stuff… skim boards, cooking gear, coolers, food etc… yep… gotta admit food takes up the most space. Luxury “car camping”, as Tawcan would call it

A citronella candle in our campsite… I love to scatter these everywhere around the site. They look beautiful when it is dark out. Plus… a mosquito perimeter… a bonus for those who dislike bugs as much as I do

Making mojitos at the campsite…

Crista and Trev put together some yummy beer-braised ribs over the campfire…

Allan and I make up some mango-topped thai coconut Pacific halibut (caught in Tofino of course, by us)…

Tent City! And tarp city I love how camping is the perfect excuse to wear all sorts of silly non-matched things. Who cares! You’re camping!

I love the ripples in the sand.

SPLASH!

One of my fave restaurants in Tofino… Shelter. We always ask for the best spot in the whole restaurant… the couches right by the wood-burning fire that they stoke all night. Perfect.

Shelter’s yam fries (the best in my opinion), and some wings for appies.

We also like to eat at the Wildside Grill for Fish & Chips, grab a lime and mint slushie from the taco cart in the back, and grab a coffee or tea from the Tofitian. The very same plaza also has Live to Surf, which we always check out to see what new surfboards they have in… and try to avoid the mass craziness of people renting 9 ft easy-rider foamie or plastic longboards! Aahhhh!

Long Beach, on a good day.

Ready to surf! Yay for Burton snowboarding socks to keep the feet warm just before hitting the cold water.

Allan riding down the line… wheee… small summer waves.

Me riding a tiny wave… I look pretty lame here. I wish I had good surfing photos of myself! Of course, when the waves are big and the surf is epic, there’s no one to take pictures of you

Allan and I riding whitewash into the beach together, hurray! Haha.

A children’s toy shovel left on Long Beach…

Golfing at Long Beach Golf Course… 9 holes… lots of fun, with J, Trev, and Crista.

J decides to ride on the front of the golf cart…

Me chipping a ball…

Allan flying the trainer kite… blue, blue sky.

Me flying the trainer kite. Once upon a time we thought we were going to get into kite surfing, but then we realized how expensive the gear was, and that we wouldn’t have enough time to do kite surfing along with all the other sports we love. So it kind of fell by the wayside. Maybe one day we’ll get into it again… maybe kite snowboarding

Smoooooch! Allan and I in the water…

So fun! More photos coming soon