The only problem is, these trips can be very hit or miss. We don't know much about our destination and after approx 90 mins on a bus, we're at least hoping to knock a few hours out of the day. One such spot we visited was White Rock, a small waterfront town that we hit on a sunny day. Initial signs however were not good...
Apparently everywhere in White Rock closes on a Sunday! There were lots of interesting thrift shops and cafes...all closed! It became a running joke as we walked through town, quickening our pace, hoping that there would at least be somewhere to buy a bottle of water or something. Soon even signs like the above 'Birthday Person' offer became hilarious as we felt like we were in our own private Twilight Zone.
We did find on cafe that was open..until 2pm.. what happens at 2pm, we wondered, imagining fantastical street festivals and red panda parades.
On we trudged down towards the seafront where miraculously there were some signs of life, including several ice cream-selling establishments and restaurants. I mouthed a silent prayer of thanks to the gods. This trip was 'my idea' after all and I was feeling the pressure of a wasted Sunday!
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| Feeling guilty for dragging herself to White Rock |
Once we selected our ice cream (I went for vanilla and caramel, crazy as I am) we went for a walk along the pier and an amazing thing happened: we started to enjoy ourselves. It seemed all we needed was some sugar, sea and sun.
As waterfronts go, White Rock is nice enough. The place was FULL of people, so I guess it's what everyone from the town does on a Sunday? An interesting feature is the railway line that runs along the shore and a freight train obliged us in passing by, tooting away and rudely interrupting the pan-flute player for a blessed five minutes. (seriously, is there one of those lads everywhere?)
The train took forever to pass by, getting into Family Guy 'so long it's not funny, then funny again' joke territory. I took a video thinking it would be a cute 5 cart affair. No luck. I won't bother uploading it for fear of dying of boredom.
We selected the restaurant with the best view of the sea to dine in (or outside of). The food wasn't great but they were playing Bob Marley and provided big fluffy blankets that herself was delighted with. I won't upload the photos or she'll kill me.
When we reached the top of the hill on the way back, calves burning, the view was probably worth it, so we took a selfie, our heads blocking most of the view, and decided it wasn't a complete waste of a trip.
