Emerald Lake is such a lovely little gem. A mere 2.5 hours away, it's nestled in the mountains with a rustic but comfortable lodge, good food, and beautiful scenery. Tom proposed to me at Emerald Lake, and the last time we were there, in 2015, I was six months pregnant with Lacey. Emerald Lake was the destination for our first family getaway since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
We picked the girls up early from dayhome and made the drive to the lodge. The girls did not enjoy being in the car for an extended amount of time, and there was a lot whining. But we made it to the hotel, and to our room, and then came the first challenge...
This was our first time sharing a "normal" hotel room with the family. Scarlett has been an unsettled sleeper for most of her life, so we've always booked suites with a separate bedroom, or multiple hotel rooms so that the entire family isn't woken up at 2:30am when Scarlett randomly screams in herr sleep, or at 5:15am, when Scarlett chooses to start her day. Every. Day.
It didn't go too badly. Scarlett and Lacey shared a bed the first night, and they both slept fairly well. Although if I'm honest, Scarlett fell out of bed at 3am, and she did indeed wake up at 5:30am, as per usual.
So we started our day early with breakfast, and then we headed out to the lake for a little canoeing!
Lacey and Scarlett liked being out on the water, but Scarlett started to get bored after about 35 minutes. They took turns helping me paddle. But again, if I'm honest... Tom did most of the paddling. Have I mentioned that I don't really like canoeing?
While Scarlett was napping in the afternoon, Tom and I took turns doing mother-daughter, and father-daughter dates with Lacey. We enjoyed the one-on-one time with each other , and we enjoyed the quiet time while Scarlett was sleeping. Lacey and I had Shirley Temples on our mommy-daughter date, they were a big hit!
The following day, we decided to do a short hike around the lake. If you've been to Emerald Lake before, you know there is a lakeside path that follows the perimeter of the lake. It is highly, HIGHLY frequented by tourists and hikers, and we had only made it about 10 minutes away from the main parking lot before Lacey and Scarlett started complaining. A few minutes before we had passed a man who had asked us if we'd seen the bear he'd heard about-- we told him no, and continued on our way. Once the girls started complaining, we found the nearest bench, and sat down for a snack. As we were finish our snack, Tom stood up and turned around to pack our backpack-- and calmly told us, "Well, there is the bear, watching us, just off the path". And indeed, there was a black bear watching us intently from some bushes on the side of the path. We quickly hustled the girls behind us, and stuffed our food into our backpack. After a moment of contemplation (how do we get back on the path? We'd have to get closer to the bear, before we could get away from it), we heard voices approaching. I called out to a couple who was hiking towards on the path to warn them about the bear. The couple called back to us, and their voice was enough to spook the bear back into the brush. An unpleasantly close call, in my opinion! We headed back to the lodge after that-- warning other hikers on our way that we had seen a black bear!
The girls were on intense slug-watch for the trip. I always forget how big the banana slugs get in BC... Gross.
In the evening, we roasted smores in the fireplace in our room, and snuggled in bed with some Netflix. Overall, I think it was a successful trip!
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