Review: Harrison Hot Springs Resort

My family and I went for a domestic mini family trip before end of Summer.  I figured that we have never stayed at the Harrison Hot Springs Resort before, and I would like to see their hot springs pools.

Here is my review:

This hotel needs some serious updates. I will attempt be fair and describe our experiences with the hotel. Overall, I will give the hotel a 2.5 star.

Check in: 

We have arrived just ahead of our check in time of 4pm, but had to sit in the lobby and waited for 2 plus hours for our room to be ready. I understand that it is the summer high season, and staff was apologetic, but I still had to ask them 4 times about the check in status during the 2 hours. Result is angry and stressed parents and kids. The staff did compensate us with 15 percent discount for our stress and precious time.

Front Staff: They were understanding and reasonable. Perhaps, housekeeping was taking time to get rooms ready, and there is nothing much they can do about it.

Wifi in Rooms:  I stayed in West Wing.  There is barely Wifi.  Our cellphones barely had one bar of Wifi.  Sometimes, it gets cut off for an hour or two.

Windows: Old and dirty, bug net broken. They should clean the windows during the summer.  

I mean...the view is good, but when you close the window, you see the bird poos and broken nets.

Fridge: old and small. It is the smallest I have seen. It is 1 feet by 1 feet. or 30cm by 30cm. We cannot fit regular coke bottles in there.

The fridge side pocket seems broken.

TV: lots of regular channels with radio interference. (The HD channels were ok.) TV itself is 40 inch.

Lighting: The lights are old, some broken.

Dryer: Standard weak hotel dryer. Ours had a broken holder but usable.

Air conditioning: Very loud and old, probably built in the 70s. I am glad they have one. It is hard to sleep with it.

Parking: It is a little far from the building.

Gift Shop: Only 1 shop is open during Covid. However, they are running out of stuff to sell.

Pools: They do have 5 heated pools, which is their selling point for the high price.

Overall, I think their staff is trying their best, but since they changed ownership in 2013, I think things are not being updated. Perhaps, it is hard for a hotel to operate in Harrison Hot Springs. It does not offer skiing during winter like Whistler.

More Hummingbirds Coming More Often

 We planted more flowers that hummingbirds like to drink.  They are coming more often from different directions.  In fact, I think there are at least 5 or 6 different hummingbirds coming by in regular intervals.

They are more active during breakfast and dinner time I find.  They are less active during the afternoon and on very hot days.

We find female hummingbirds are more curious and like flowers more.  They will still use the feeders, but they will also smell the flowers.

Sight of Finches

 We noticed that there are Finches around the building recently.  

From August, they randomly pop in and dropped by.  They leave quickly if they see us.

I can't figure out if they are House Finch, Purple Finch or Cassin's Finch.

I only caught the picture from the back as he or she is leaving.

From this angle, it looks brown, but I think the front is red or pink.

I will leave some seeds or sunflower seeds to see if they come more often.

Daddy and Baby

 Many sources say hummingbirds don't really share the same feeder.  Also, some say that male hummingbirds don't take care of kids.

However, we noticed that a baby hummingbird comes early morning, along with the father.

The baby is small but chubby and cute.

The dad sat down at the same feeder and drank together with the baby.

I am assuming that once the baby becomes an adult, they will start competing for territories.

Right now, they are still in peace.  

Cute Squirrels

 I found these cute squirrels near by my area:

He is like: "oh, do you have food for me??"  So cute like a cartoon.

Golden Eagles and Bald Eagles; Do They Attack Hummingbirds?

Over the years, I have noticed that there are Golden Eagles and Bald Eagles flying in the sky, searching for preys.   (I have seen them catching big fat rats around here.)

Bald Eagle in blue sky

Hummingbirds are small with extremely quick movements.  They are not easy preys to catch.

Also, they are too light to be a meal for eagles and hawks.  Therefore, hummingbirds have close to 0 enemies in nature.   (except for wasps competing for area)

Anna's Hummingbird Male Color and Feeding Time

During summer, Hummingbirds tend to feed more in the early morning in Canada.  Typically, from 5:30am to 9am when the days are the longest, and gradually shift the time.  For example, during July, the hummingbirds would come at 5:30am.  In September, they come a little later from 7am.

You will notice that a male's head for Anna's Hummingbird should be pink or bright red.  However, on a cloudy day or based on different angles, it will appear "black".  

A male hummingbird's head color can change based on the situations and sunlight reflections.

Very interesting.

The above picture is a fairly young hummingbird.  For a male, the pink color comes out gradually over few weeks.

Hummingbirds in BC, Canada

 In Western Canada, we have 2 kinds of hummingbirds in BC.  One kind, Anna's Hummingbird, is here in British Columbia year round.  The other one, Rufous Hummingbird, is migratory, so they come to Canada from the South (Mexico and USA) only in the summer.

We just discovered that we have a few hummingbirds nearby and decided to buy some plants and feeders to attract them.  

Guess what?!  It worked!  

The longer and more we put the feeders and plants out, they come visit often. Because they will breed each year, they will even bring their kids here to show them places to feed.

This is an Anna's Hummingbird male.  Very cute, right?

The hummingbirds fly fast and they will fly and drink from the feeders.  For feeders with footrest, they will like to sit and take sips from them.

My Grandma's Passing

On New Year's Eve, my dad's side's grandma passed away.

I was very shocked when I heard the news before boarding the bus to work.

Then, I called my father after arriving at the workplace.

I was very sad and I had to say I was relieved that no one came to work till 8:40 am on that day.

I had the time to washed my face and put eye drops in my eyes, but it was a difficult day for me.

Actually, it was a difficult week for me.  All the memories comes back all the sudden, and memories are what is left.

(Also, on a unrelated note, there was an earthquake near Vancouver the night before the eve.)

Happy 2016

It is 2016 already.

I think I won't get used to the number 2016 till March of this year.  It is still 2015 in my mind.

Every year seems to pass faster and faster especially with so many things going on.

This New Year's Eve, as previous year, we stayed home and watched fireworks on TV and on our balcony.  It is too cold and costly to go outside to celebrate.

As usual, we watched the annual "Kouhaku Utagassen" on Japanese channel in the evening.  Then, we watched Pitbull's live concert and New York's live count down on TV.

I hope this year is a prosperous and healthy year for everyone!

Hawaii Is Paradise (November 2014 Trip)

I have always dreamed of going to Hawaii but life usually gets in the way.
I usually think, "is it really like a paradise?"
We finally had a chance to go end of last October, and I can confirm.

It is paradise.  Everyone had so much fun that nobody wanted to come home.

 Beautiful white sand beaches, always blue sky, warm tropical air...need me to say more?

Chum Salmon 2014 at Stave River, Maple Ridge

This posting is for the Chum Salmons I caught last November.  I know I have not posted for a while.  Too busy with different priorities in life.

The biggest one I have caught was about 83 cm.  They usually range about 60cm to 90 cm for Chum Salmons.  I have caught some big ones last November.

Chilliwack, BC is also a good place where rivers converge for fishing.  We also went there on a cold but super sunny November day.  (middle of November, about -5 in the morning).  There were still lots of Chum Salmon swimming.  I forgot gloves, but thankfully, my friend actually had spare gloves.  I wore double layers of socks plus wader, but still my toes were frozen.  I had light frost bite and could not feel my toe for about 1 to 2 months.

Next year, I should be more prepared.

Restaurant Review: Miku (Downtown Vancouver)

During Canada Day weekend, I decided to bring my wife out for a good outing for an awesome meal.

We decided to try the high end restaurant, "Miku".

The presentations are absolutely beautiful, and the foods are amazing.
Even the ice creams taste so good with decorations!

2021 Update:  The prices has gone up significantly just like other Canadian restaurant.

Before, I felt it is overpriced.  Now, it is even more overpriced.

Japanese food is best in Japan.  (Too bad we are in a pandemic era in 2021)

My First Rainbow Trout from Como Lake

We have been fishing for small Perch and crabs for a while.
  However, I have yet to catch a bigger fish.  (My wife have caught flounder, bullhead, sculpin before.)

I decided to fish for a rainbow trout this past Thanksgiving weekend.

On Sunday, we had no luck.
On Monday morning, it was sunny, and I decided to head out to Como Lake with my family.

I don't know if I was lucky or what.  Within 30 minutes, I got a 31cm Trout, that is as big as it gets in this lake.  (These are released trouts...the wild trouts are 30cm to 70cm.  They can get big depends on the location.)

I was so happy because I did not realize I got a fish on until it starts fighting and I started reeling in.

Como Lake Rainbow Trout 2014

Next, I want some salmon....big salmon.  Or, some monster trout....I wish. haha

First Trip to Whistler

I have never been to Whislter despite living in Vancouver for more than 20 years.

In the beginning of August, I decided to bring my family there to have a summer getaway.
I decided to only stay a night because for some reason, summer is also their high season.

Nita Lake summer 2014

This time, because my kids are still young, I decided to go to various places to see what they have to offer.  I brought my dogs there, so I cannot go to kids adventure zone.  However, we did go to 3 lakes.  We went to Nita Lake, Alta Lake and Alpha Lake.

Nita Lake so far is our favorite.  The water is absolutely crystal clear and the small fish (not sure what they were. Salmon?) were swimming around without fear.

If I can ever get bikes and bike rack installed on my car, it will be awesome to bring my kids here for bike rides.  There are also other activities that generally cost roughly 100 per person.  They have bobsleigh, ATV riding, horseback riding, zipline, and you can also ride the gondola up for 50 dollars per person.

Whistler Village

Whistler Village 2

New Super Mario Bros Products!

I have always been a big super mario bros fan since I was small.  I have always wished we had as many toy selections as the kids now.  They are lucky!

We had nothing like these new toys.  The one below emulates the mario game scenaries:

Super Mario Game Toys

It was kids' dream back then to have these ones to play with or to at least display on desks.

back of mario toy package

I actually bought a few of these to let me kids play and display in the room.

There are also constantly new mario kart toys coming out like these ones:

New Mario Kart Pull back kart 2014

I have bought many mario kart toys, so I don't think I will be buying these full price.

Mario and Yoshi new karts 2014

Again, lucky kids nowdays, but I guess things continue to progress, my kids will say the same thing to their kids.

Cooking as a Husband: My Rookie Dishes: Teriyaki Chicken and Pork Belly

My wife is a wonderful cook, and I occasionally feature her dishes on this blog.

However, I had to say that I am totally new to cooking, and I should start learning.

Here are the two pictures of the dishes I cooked for the first couple of times:

Salted Pork Belly (butabara)

The first picture features salted fried pork belly and miso soup.
If you have a good bottle of garlic salt and pepper, you can make the port belly taste wonderful.

Teriyaki Chicken and Avocado

The second one is teriyaki chicken and avocado.
Teriyaki chicken is actually extremely easy to make.
All you need is chicken and couple of spoons of soy sauce.
While frying your chicken piece (breast or not), use a little soy sauce and spread on top of chicken.
This would give you the brown color.
Then, spread the garlic salt and pepper and other spice you like.

Then, after 5 minutes, you have the teriyaki chicken bowl.

Barnet Marine Park: Spring 2014 Dungeness Crabs

It was spring, so we decided to test the waters to see if there are big dungeness crabs.
(this is a late post)

Barnet Marine Park Rail 2014

I think the kids were in school that day, so we thought it was a great chance to crab that day.

Maybe it is not the season yet....everything I caught was adult female crabs or young crabs.
It was surprising.  I wonder if it is because everything was caught, or if the crabs are still growing up.

females 2014 crab barnet marine park

Easter 2014: Coca Cola Bunny

...This is a late Easter post...

While I was shopping during Easter this year, I saw this huge Coca Cola wall display in a supermarket (Save-on-Food).  It is rare to see this kind of display in Canada.

I thought this looks really interesting, so I took a picture:

Supermarket Easter Bunny Coca Cola

The supermarket displays in North America are usually uniform from branch to branch.  They don't have interesting displays as much as Asia.  I thought this is rare.

Nexus 5 Cell Phone

Finally, 6 years after smartphone has been invented, I bought my first smartphone.

It is the Google Nexus 5 phone by LG.

It is super fast with good graphics.  Everything was going well.

Then, after a week, all the sudden, I can't turn the cell phone on.

The night before, it still had 30% of battery.

(That means it shut off during the night and was gone forever...)

Maybe just by chance, I received a defective phone???

Anyways, I called Google, and they are sending me a new phone.

We will see what happens next...

Google Nexus 5 Box and Phone 2014

McDonald's Poutine (Canada) Review

If you are a Canadian, you will know that Canadians love poutine, a dish that originated from Eastern Canada.  It is fries covered with cheese and gravy sauce.  Recently, New York Fries has released different kinds of sauces, making the dish even more popular.

By the way, 'New York Fries' is purely a Canadian company.
It has no store in the USA.  It does have stores in Korea and Hong Kong.

McDonald's decided to cover this market niche, so they release their version recently:

McDonald's Canada's New Poutine Menu

Here is a picture for the poutine.  To be honest, for almost 4 dollars, the amount of poutine is so little.
It is not enough for a snack.  Also, it tastes awful compared to the other stores' poutine.

You can get something double the size with way better sauces from chain stores like New York Fries.
It is not worth it, so I will give it a 4 out of 10 over all.

I will not be surprised that this menu disappears in 3 months.

Lego Store Again: Lego Architecture, Lego Sushi, Fast Food and Parisian Restaurant

In February, we went to the Lego Store in Surrey again because I wanted to get the Eiffel Tower from the Lego Architecture series.

I love unique historical buildings that represent cultures and style.
The series started to release famous buildings around the world for the users to build and decorate their rooms.

Lego Architecture Series Eiffel Tower, Tower of Pisa
UN Building, Japan Emperial Hotel

They also had lots of interesting things on display, which might give kids idea if they have lots of pieces and special parts.

For example, check out the sushi set:

Lego Sushi Set Japanese Restaurant

Using some unique parts, they recreated sashimi dishes, sushi rolls and chopsticks.

How about the lego McDonald's set:

Lego Fast Food set McDonald's Hamburger

Well, they did not have a 'M' for McDonald's.  They just use a 'Y' on the fries. haha.

I do think it is a good idea or sample if the users have lots of flat parts with different colors.

I think a collector will have to be relative wealthy to spend thousands of dollars for all the parts.

Lego Movie display

They also have the Lego movie sets on display.

Lego Store Parisian Restaurant

I really like the Parisian streets.  They are just beautiful and nicely preserved.  

This restaurant set sort of recreates some of those feelings...

Sometimes, Lego feels like an high end toy collection just like Apple products.  If you can afford it, you will buy it.  Their big sets goes for hundreds of dollars...just like iPad or iPhones....

The Lego Architecture sets are smaller and more affordable: around 50 dollars.

They are even cheaper in Asia...probably around 40 dollars.

I will see if I have space in my small place to buy more sets...probably not.

Lego: Valentine Heart House with Mushrooms in the Garden

We brought the kids out to Lego Store in Surrey's Guildford Centre.

It is actually our first time in Guildford Centre and could not believe how spacious it is.
I was not familiar with the mall and had a hard time navigating through the crowd.

Anyway, we got some pieces through the "all you can stuff" can.  (about 20 dollars plus taxes)

My wife built this small beach house with heart on top....just in time for Valentine's Day. haha

Lego Heart Valentine Beach House Garden

We also bought a monthly mini build set that includes a gardening family, trees and 3 mushrooms.
The mushrooms looked cute,and that is why we got it.

It is hard to spot the mushroom in this picture.

I think I want to go back soon because we don't have enough basic pieces.

Olympics Oreo Cookies

My wife found a new product on the shelves in Walmart:  Olympics Oreo Cookies!

Olympics Oreo Cookies

I guess they started the marketing campaigns for the Olympics to sell products.
I think the energy in Vancouver for the Sochi Olympics is not even close to 4 years ago.
Of course, because it is not in Vancouver.  4 years has gone by so fast.
I don't know how 4 years gone by so fast.....what did I do?
Actually, the decade after I started working gone by super quickly.

Is that the way my grandparents felt??

2014 Already?

I still do not believe time passes by that fast.  It is 2014 already?!

Where did my life go?

Kids do make our lives very busy, and I just hope that when they grow up, we will feel our lives are meaningful.  

Anyway, I feel that this year should be the year for some nice breakthrough!