Last week Honda Canada was kind enough to LOAN us an Acura MDX Elite to make it easier for us to distribute our 2013 glossy ANNUAL IN PRINT which we covered the city with, and which I hope you've found a copy of. With plenty of storage room and the power to haul around literally thousands of pounds of magazines, a fancy navigational system and more bells and whistles than we'd possibly need for our dropoffs, it served us super well.
Something that I do quite a bit of but perhaps don't write too much about here on the blog is getting the heck out of Vancouver on the weekends and especially after I've completed big projects like publishing (and then being a part of the team that distributes) a magazine. When asked what I think the best thing about Vancouver is, on the top of my list is how easy it is to get out of it. That whole "proximity to nature" thing. I love it. So after we finished the work that this Acura was loaned to us for I really wanted to get it (and myself) into an outdoor setting where I could take a nice picture of it. We headed to Buntzen Lake, just outside of Coquitlam.
The road in to Buntzen is paved all the way but tends to get slippery on days like this one. All wheel drive? Check!
A nice walk down to the beach from the parking lot with my little family? Check!
A photo of idle rental canoes that are filled with loud teenagers during the summer months when this place is crowded? Check!
Another photo to illustrate how incredibly quiet the main beach at Buntzen Lake is during the off-season? Again, check!
And lastly, a check mark in the box asking if we got close to snow, but not too close.
It was a nice afternoon trip, and the drive back to the city was made better by three things. The first being the overall comfort of the MDX. Leather interior, heated seats, Bluetooth link for your phone, and everything electronic.
The second is the blind spot indicator. To the left and the right of the dash are these indicators that light up whenever there's a vehicle creeping in your blind spot. Of course I'm a super careful driver but it's an added feature that saves craning your neck 3 times just to be certain there's no car there after you shoulder check once.
The third thing that made the ride back more enjoyable is that this dude had his own tunes in the back! Cordless headphones linking to a secondary audio system allowed him to listen to some kid's station on XM Satellite radio while my wife and I listened to our favourite radio station, The Peak 102.7 FM. And if you had any doubts about my statement that I like to get out into nature then my son's camouflage carseat pictured here is all you need to know. I may be an urbanist but I am also an outdoorsman, and I am instilling in my son the value of a healthy city as well as a healthy appreciation for nature.
Once again, thanks to Honda Canada for the loaner!
