Monday, August 6, 2012

Let's Go To The Beach!!

 
I love my husband when he makes on the spur decisions.
Like on Friday. He suddenly got up and said:
LET"S GO TO THE BEACH!!
Wife! Go find us a hotel!
So trusty wife sat down to look for a hotel which was next to impossible
considering the late date and the fact people book way in advance to go on holidays. lol
I looked and looked .....and looked.
No luck.
Then I found one Best Western Rainbow Hotel in Chilliwack on Industrial Road.
They said they had a room.

 

OK it wasn't at the beach but it was just a few miles away.
So we threw our bags into the car. I am usually all set up for such travels but of course
things never work out the way you want them to cause the guys took everything out of my car and didn't want the job of putting things back.
Luckily my husband took one chair but I had the half tent for the beach, chairs, umbrellas.BBQ
Nope. Everything left at home.If I don;t pack it, it doesn't get packed and then they need to share your stuff lol
The first thing we did was look for our hotel.
We found it in this very industrial place, surrounded by trucking and gaz companies.
Needless to say we were disappointed. We said:  Man, this is a truck stop, not a vacation resort.
In any event they didn't take our registration till 3 and it was only 10 am so we said we'll come back.

 
Such a pleasant view

 
We drove out to Harrison Hot Springs.
It had this huge glacier lake, very deep and very dangerous.
Lots of tourists, shops, restaurants but still a small town kind of appeal to it.
People have a choice to swim in the lake or man made lagoon which is warmer.
We stopped to eat at the first place we could find to park because now parking was an issue.
The town was packed.

 
We stopped at this little place and ordered burgers and fries.
I have to say I have not tasted such a good burger, in a long time.
It was actually grilled on charcoal.
Of course prices were sky high to buy them at peak season.
While eating, my husband was calling the local hotels to find if they had any cancellations.
Only one place had one bed, no air con, for 289.00 It wasn't even a nice place and we needed two beds.
So we said no, for that price it should have two beds and air con. lol
Then we looked for a place to park by the beach but no luck.
We found parking in a hotel parking lot which cost 10 dollars for three hours.
They advertised that you could rent a ski doo for 90 dollars for an hour.
So I told my son to try to rent one to have some fun.
Well they don't tell you all the extra charges on top of the 90 dollar charge.
It wasn't worth the trouble. We rent cars cheaper than that.
It came almost to the same price as buying your own Ski doo. lol

There was a mineral pool but they also charged about 90 dollars for half an hour.
So we went to the beach. I put my chair into the water and enjoyed a good cool soak.
It was very refreshing considering the heat.
When we were driving, the sun already burnt my arms from the windows, so feeling crispy,
 I tried to put on lots of sunscreen.
The view was spectacular. We were surrounded by snowy and lush green mountain views.
You feast your eyes on all this beauty and say to yourself, God is Wonderful !
This is heaven!
Around 5 we decided to go back to our Best Western Rainbow Hotel
Well, did we get a surprise of a lifetime.
We had a great room that opened out into an atrium full of lush tropical plants with a sort of Japanese garden look to it.

 
It had the cleanest pool and hot tub and a small wall separated this from the eating area which was equally so pleasing to the eye. We all jumped into the pool again and the hot tub.
It was super GREAT!!
Then we decided to go eat at a restaurant and stopped at Earls.
The guys had this giant burger which came topped with huge onions rings.
The presentation was unbelievable.The chicken wings were so delicious!
I wish I ordered it but I ordered a Caesar Salad with clam chowder which was exceptionally good as well.
I could actually taste the fresh seafood in it.
By the time we got back to the hotel I was pooped.
I don't think I had such a nice sleep in a long time.
The beds were so comfortable. The room had wonderful aircon. The TV had all the channels you could want.The guys even slipped out to check out the local pub next door with live entertainment.
It was heaven.
The next morning we woke up and rushed for breakfast.It was already getting hot!
 They had a huge buffet brunch set up with even
a fountain of melted chocolate to dip strawberries in. You didn't have to ask for coffee refills .
The staff was soo friendly and obliging and gave you advice as to where to go to see what. If you had animals, this beach had off leash. If you had this this place was good.
We left that hotel extremely happy.
Sometimes it pays to make on the spur decisions.lol
You find places you would otherwise never go to.
To top it off, we saw the same people we saw at Harrison Hot Spring, staying at the same hotel.
They were probably people like us.
Last minute vagabonds who got a fabulous last minute idea .
LET"S GO TO THE BEACH!!

:)
xoxoxoxoxox

5 comments:

Diana said...

All I can say is WOW! What a neat lobby! Love Di ♥

A Lady's Life said...

Diana this isn't a lobby. This is your back yard from your room.lol
It's like a Japanese garden with a pool hot tub and restaurant. You don't even have to lock your sliding doors cause you can always watch your room.It's very private and gives you the home away from home feeling. Great for the kids to run around in even in winter.

Akelamalu said...

WOW what a great place!

A Lady's Life said...

Akelamalu- Yes it was a pleasant surprise because we were disappointed when we saw the location.

A Free Spirit Butterfly said...

Love the story and the photos. So pretty and I'm super hungry for a burger now. I can't remember that last time I had a really great burger.

I read a great poem today on my lunch break that reminded me of you. I got the book from my Alaskan cruise. Send me your email address, I'd love for you to read it.

Love and hugs,
China