The bad attitude south of the border is enough to make you cancel your holiday plans to Yosemite or San Francisco and spend your money in the Great White North. The south is out.
B.C. is a staycation paradise.
Leaving from Squamish, we’re only a day’s drive from a huge variety of landscape and experience: Dry deserts and wineries? Check. Long stretches of sand and surf? Check. Glaciers and epic mountains? Yes. Marine reserves? Absolutely. Canyons and sand dunes? You got it.
Summer doesn’t have to be about where we’re going. Maybe it should be what are we going to see? Or what are we going to do?
My favourite travel memories in the province have been unexpected: watching giant sturgeon swim at VIU, photographing a rodeo in Mount Currie and snowshoeing at the top of the gondola.
As any good staycationer knows, there are lots of interesting things out there if you’re curious, ask a lot of questions and get stoked on the small things.
On our first visit up to Whistler, my girlfriend was more entertained looking for chunks of pyrite on the side of the highway than exploring the village.
Searches for hot springs, dark skies, petroglyphs and craft beer have taken us on some weird and wonderful journeys in the most nowhere of places.
So grab a stack of those tourist publications at the Squamish Adventure Centre and put your co-pilot on research duty.
Be curious about agriculture and craft food. When in season, tour a lavender farm, a cranberry bog or an apple orchard. Foraging is an interesting trend right now and guided tours can be found for mushroom picking, clam digging or crabbing.
Scour local events in Facebook’s “Discover” tab or coffee shop bulletin board. Search geo-tagged posts on Instagram: after all, if people are going to spoil local secrets in Squamish, you might as well take advantage to someone else’s town.
When in doubt, you could even try being a bit rude: anyone who says “Oh we’re just passing through Squamish, we heard Whistler was the main attraction” is going to get an earful of ideas from me.
When you live in a place, the most over-hyped tourist destinations quickly become underwhelming. So let Trumpian trade wars be a motivator to discover secrets close to home and support local businesses.
What’s your on your staycation list, Squamish?
