I love road trips. I love traveling in general, but road trips have a special place in my heart. Something about waving goodbye, hitting the open road and watching the scenery unfold is pure magic. A part of it is certainly the lack of formality – no timing airport arrivals, no security checks, no agenda and fighting with rental cars or cabbies. Just a car and a seemingly endless stretch of pavement that places you right in the middle of the story, not simply an observer hopping from A to B.
I love stopping in tiny towns with a main street and a few hotels. I love exploring odd little beaches, and asking locals for their favorite restaurant. I love scenery that leaves you speechless, and I will always, always take a detour to see something interesting.
Like many people we don’t travel as much as we’d like to, but we’ve had some epic road trips over the years. A drive down the pacific coastal highway was so impressive that we did it twice, and intend to drive it again. A simple visit to BC coincided with the lightning storm that grew into the massive fire that devastated Kelowna the next day. There was nothing like the experience of driving the tiny dirt road (with no guard rails) for 6500 feet up to the Seven Devils in Idaho (and surreally seeing a momma cow with a calf near the top). And driving the road that happens to be one of Canada’s coolest highways is an adventure in speed and scenery each and every time.
Oregon coast - pacific highway
The beauty of road trips is that you hardly need to go far. Plenty of times we drive twenty minutes out of town to have a coffee in the neighboring town of Bragg Creek, or an hour for a lunch in Banff. Each trip leaves us invigorated by the new scenery and energized by getting away from our busy but mundane lives.
So in the spirit of road trips, we are embarking on another small one – to the neighboring province, to go spend a few days on a ski hill near Vernon. In the summer Silverstar converts to a mountain biking destination, with the village uniquely, halfway up the mountain, and it’s a very cool place to visit. We visited for the first time last summer and loved it. Not only did they have awesome hiking trails:
Silverstar - the village
Hiking trail
the view from the trail
But also one of the best little bakeries in the world. Which I don’t have a photo of, as I was too busy drooling to operate a camera. Seriously. Every single thing I had from that bakery rocked. Not just the homemade croissants and pastries, but also amazing soups and wicked sandwiches. I lived at that bakery from nine to noon. I woke up early to get to that bakery before they were sold out of my faves, and people, that’s no small feat.
So this time around I’ll wear a drool bib if I have to, but I’ll take some photos of the amazing sumptuousness, and you can drool along with me. Please feel free to share your amazing road trip stories, if you’re into that sort of thing, as inspiration for new destinations is always welcome around here.