The Road to Pemberton (+ Win Passes to Pemberton Music Fest!)
We are big fans of the Pacific Northwest, road trips, and of course, the soundtrack that comes along with road trips. The Sea-to-Sky Highway is our favourite drive ever, and luckily for us this year all our favourite things are coming together for Pemberton Music Festival in Pemberton, BC which is just a bit past Whistler. We are super excited to attend the festival this year from July 16-19th, (and see MISSY ELLIOT!) so we've put together a list of our favourite places along #theroadtopembyfest for everyone who's planning a summer road trip up into the mountains!
But...we want you to come too! To celebrate the wonderful province of British Columbia, we're launching an Instagram contest and giving away 2 General Admission passes for the festival, PLUS your choice of camping or shuttle passes. All you have to do is:
1. Post a photo of one of your favourite places in BC to Instagram using the hashtag #theroadtopembyfest between now and July 6th
2. Tag @localwanderer @pemberton_fest
3. Tell us which artist you're excited to see
That's it! We'll randomly select 1 winner on July 7th, and we hope to see you at the festival. If you don't have a photo of BC (maybe you want to visit?), feel free to re-gram any of ours. Now, here's our favourite places to stop along the way...
Whytecliff Park is less than an hour from Vancouver, and it’s one of the best places for a quick escape from the city, and it's usually full of adorable seals. It's also home to scuba divers in the summer, which can make for a very unique pit stop!
You won't need your car for this one: Bowen Island is only a 20 minute ferry ride from West Vancouver, and it's small town charm will make you feel worlds away. Shika is a tiny take-away restaurant on the pier full of modern Japanese goodness, and Ethical Flower next door is succulent heaven. Local tip? Hitch hiking is encouraged (and safe) to get around the island.
No trip to Bowen Island would be complete without a lil' kayaking adventure! Whether you're renting one off the pier for a couple hours or a couple days, the Howe Sound's blue waters and mountain views are the perfect backdrop for a beautiful adventure on the open sea.
Porteau Cove is a cool place to pull-over on the Sea-to-Sky, and there's a few weird steps and old ports that make it a pretty cool photo spot, while Brittania Beach is a great pit stop to stretch, grab a treat at Galileo Coffee, and visit the Britannia Mine Museum!
Squamish is home to a ton of good hiking, rock climbing, and bouldering, including the famous views on top of the Stawamus Chief. But it also takes a lot of sweat to get up there! Enter the new Sea-to-Sky Gondola, which takes you to amazing views in just a 10 minute ride. From there, there's tons of hiking trails that will take you even further, and a pretty cool suspension bridge.
There's tons to do in Whistler, but if you're looking to get a little crazy...bungee jump? The bridge at Whistler Bungee offers ridiculous views from a ridiculous height, and is a beautiful spot to check out even if you don't have the guts to jump and go tumbling alllll the way down.
And last but certainly not least: don't forget to fill up your growler at Whistler Brewing!
We can 't wait to see all your favourite places in BC with our Instagram contest! Don't forget to hashtag #theroadtopembyfest and tag @localwanderer!