Art of Lights

I had my eye on this particular event since the summer time. It's unusual for Surrey to get this sort of thing and it looked legit based on the advertising. Things sounded a bit less legit when they failed their electrical inspection with the city of Surrey three times. They then had to post pone to the new year due to weather. It's a good thing they had multiple themes including Christmas, Canada, New Years and Chinese New Year because they didn't open until well into January.

You might ask why something that appeared so professional would fail their electrical inspection. The Fire Distinguisher signs were a pretty good indicator that something wasn't right. The electrical boxes were also all imported from China with no Canadian signage on them implying that they were not exactly CSA approved. With all the cables running through mud puddles I'm glad the City of Surrey stuck to their guns and made sure things were done properly before approving the opening.

Most of the Chinese themes displays were very well done and you could tell they came from a company that specialized in Chinese Lantern festivals. The Canadian wall was a little less impressive with what appear to be cross eyed beavers. I think if they had stuck to the professional exhibits and held the event in a drier and smaller area like Surrey City hall it would have been a much cosier and better experience. Having said that, the family definitely had good laugh.

Snowshoeing at Callaghan Valley

One of Kerry's friends from work recently purchased snowshoes for the family and they needed a vehicle to take some things to the dump. A quick trade later and the Schwab family was set to go snowshoeing. I've been in the past but we have never been as a family and although there was no local snow when we went we're close enough to the local ski hills that we had several options for destinations. Callaghan Valley near whistler was recommended to us and although it's not cheap considering all you are doing is walking in snow with your own equipment, it's still a great destination.

Callaghan Valley is the same area that held the cross country skiing events during the 2010 Olympics and they have many kilometres of both groomed and un-groomed areas for you to go. The main trailers are for a mix of cross country skiing types and you can also show shoe on them. We started down one of these trails thinking we knew where we were going but soon realized that there were better options for us. There was a pre-walked track that was no wider than 2 show shoes that ran alongside the main trails and zigzagged through the trees. I was a little nervous when we hit the first hill because it seemed a bit more extreme than I was expecting for a novice trail but once we got over the first hill and into the woods the travel was much easier.

Carter had a good time at the start and insisted on going on some flat areas with actual deep snow. He really wanted to try out the snowshoes and they worked as designed. Once we got into the woods however things were not quite so enjoyable and by the end I was carrying his poles and shoes. Next time we might get him some grips for his boots instead. He enjoyed being outdoors but didn't really see the point of the snow shoes if you are on groomed trails.

I think we travelled about 5k which was not too bad for our first trek. We aren't ready to purchase our own equipment yet but we definitely plan on going again. If we lived in Prince George still I definitely think I would own a pair of my own. Much more enjoyable when you can just drive to the end of a road and head out on trails you're already familiar with.