I decided that I can’t live with Alicia and be her nanny because getting a Canadian PR would be a headache and I’d be miserable in the winters. But I did have a really great time in Squamish and will be back to visit. I stayed with Alicia, her husband, Julien, and her kids, Luc and Sierra. I worked with Alicia at Runkeeper, but had never met her in person. I had heard so much about Julien, Luc, and Sierra, and even seen Luc pop up in the background during meetings sometimes. It was nice to meet them all.

On Wednesday, my first full day in Squamish, Alicia and I went for a bike ride tour of Squamish in the morning. I hadn’t ridden a bike in years, but I rode her e-bike, so my legs survived. It took a while to get used to the e-bike. When I first tried to get on, I accidentally activated the throttle, which is on the handlebars, and I couldn’t figure out why the bike kept moving as I was trying to get into the seat. Once I got used to the bike and the throttle, I loved it. I mostly pedaled, but towards the end I just used the throttle since it was really fun. On Wednesday afternoon, Alicia and I took to the kids to Alice Lake. The kids played at the park and I walked around the lake.

On Thursday morning, Alicia went for a run and I went to the Sea to Sky Gondola. The view from the top was amazing. There are hikes that start at the top of the gondola. My plan was to hike the Al’s Habrich trail. When I got to the trailhead, there was a sign that mentioned that the trail was in the backcountry and that there could be bears and cougars. I had already faced my fear of bears, so I didn’t mind those, but the cougars freaked me out a little. Especially because last year, one of Alicia’s friends encountered an aggressive cougar on a different trail in the area. I knew that it was unlikely that I’d run into a cougar and I had my bear spray, so I started the hike.

30 minutes in, I got more freaked out because I still hadn’t seen or heard anyone else on the trail and I didn’t like the idea of being alone in the woods with the cougars. I realized that I wasn’t enjoying the hike and because of that, continuing to walk uphill when my legs were sore might not be worth it. I decided to go a little farther because it seemed like there would be a good view soon. I got to some rock slab and there was somewhat of a view, though a lot of it was covered by trees. I turned around and started walking back down, only to realize that I wasn’t on the trail anymore. That freaked me out even more, even though I found the trail a minute later. At that point, I saw other people coming up the trail, which made me feel a little better.

At one point in the trail, you have to cross a shallow creek. There are rocks you can walk on to cross without getting wet. After the creek, there was a short and steep dirt section. There was a way around that was less steep, but I didn’t see it. The steep section wasn’t a problem going up, but coming down, I slipped and fell. Luckily, it was only a few feet, so I was fine, but that was the last straw for my nervous system. A few months ago, when I was in peak burnout, dropping a pen could make me cry because of how dysregulated my nervous system was. My brain knew that I was fine, but my body felt like it was in mortal danger after dropping a pen for some reason. Something similar happened at that point on the trail. I knew I was fine and that I’d be back at the trailhead soon, but my body felt like it was in mortal danger. It had been a while since I felt that way, but it took cougars, being alone on a trail, getting lost, and falling for my body to enter that state, so I would say it’s a win.

Once I was back at the gondola, I sat at the top, looking out at the view for a few minutes until my body no longer felt like it was in danger. Then, I hiked the Panorama trail so I could end the day with a win. It is a shorter and very popular trail. That hike was fun. It was easy, but there were roots and rocks you had to climb over at times, so it made the trail slightly more adventurous. And the views were spectacular. Once I was back at Alicia’s place, I had a relaxing rest of my day and I ended it in the hot tub with Alicia, once the kids were in bed.

On Friday, it was Alicia’s birthday! She hiked up the gondola mountain twice because that kind of thing makes her happy. I opted to rest that day so I wouldn’t be too tired for my next stop at Mt Rainier National Park. I booked places to stay for the last few stops of my road trip, read a book, and played with Sierra. In the evening, we drove to Whistler to have a pizza dinner and met Ashley, who was the designer on our team at Runkeeper. I had never met Ashley in person either. Now I’ve met most of the people who were on my team in person.

On Saturday morning, Alicia and I did a hike before my drive to Mt Rainier. The original plan was to hike up Chief, but I decided to leave that for next time. Chief has 1,700 ft of elevation gain in 2.4 mi. While I think I’m capable of doing it, I didn’t think I would enjoy it. I’ll train for it and do it next time I visit. Instead, we did the Murrin Park Loop. It was a little over a mile long, but had some slightly technical parts where you have to scramble over rocks, so it was fun. The views from the top were beautiful! It was low effort, high reward.

After the hike, I drove to Mt Rainier National Park. Being in the mountains made me consider moving to the Pacific Northwest. I stopped in Bellingham, WA for lunch, since Alicia said it was a nice city. I could definitely see myself living there in the summers, but I wouldn’t survive the gray winters. I hadn’t seriously considered moving there, but if I had, the gas prices would have dissuaded me. I knew gas was more expensive on the west coast, but I was still scandalized when I saw it was $6.19/gallon.