Vancouver Mom: Angela Albright, The Gluten Free Chef
Angela is mom to two beautiful 11-year old twin girls Madison and Sydney, life partner to best friend Lane Albright and the busy CEO, entrepreneur and co-founder of The Gluten Free Chef, a local gluten free manufacturing company that proudly creates and offers Gluten Free bread, buns, wraps, pizza shells, flatbread, english muffins and pancake mix. Their products can be found in many local grocery stores and the founders are passionate about healthy food and clean labels free from additives, preservatives and harmful GMO ingredients. When not building their business, the couple loves spending quality time with their family in nature around the Lower Mainland.
Angela’s Favorite spots around town!
White Rock Pier
There is something so intensely rejuvenating and peaceful about being at the Oceanside. Since the kids were very little when we lived in North Vancouver, we would take them regularly to Ambleside beach and just be by the ocean where they would collect shells and play in the sand. Since our wonderful move to Langley, we now make the trek to White Rock’s 1500-ft pier and enjoy Chips (without the fish as we are vegetarians) and the gorgeous scenery off the dock where people come to fish for crabs, shop or just enjoy the vast ocean as they sit and dine in many of the neat little restaurants on the boardwalk of White Rock’s beach.
14963 Marine Dr, White Rock
Lynn Canyon Park
Our family has spent many a mornings and afternoons hiking into the creeks of Lynn Canyon Park. We just love it here as it again, is in nature, offering that deep connection to self and a sense of peacefulness. It also entertains the whole family including our dog Chopper! It is a gorgeous place for families to take their kids for an afternoon easy walk and picnic by the creek where they can swim and enjoy some of the most glorious scenery and nature Vancouver has to offer. Fabulous downtime.
3663 Park Road, North Vancouver
SPCA Vancouver & Maple Ridge
We love animals and so our family loves to visit our furry friends at the SPCA in Vancouver and Maple Ridge. These two SPCA’s have lovely visiting areas where you can connect with some of the kittens and dogs. We adopted our 10-month-old kitten Tigger from the Maple Ridge SPCA and he has settled in nicely with our family and his older American-bulldog-brother!
10235 Jackson Road, Maple Ridge
La Casa Gelato on Venables
Another fabulous fun favourite for us is this wonderful Ice Cream & Frozen Yoghurt shop offering over 118 flavours to choose from. It is so fun to spend time here and the staff are wonderful and patient with children wanting to try so many samples before they choose their two scoops. I love that they pride themselves on quality, everything is fresh and since one of our daughters is dairy intolerant, they have a great selection of options for her too.
1033 Venables St, Vancouver, (604) 251-3211
Derby Reach Park and Dog Park
A regular family favourite for us is this beautiful Regional Park that follows the Fraser River and offers some stunning walking trails as well as two huge dedicated off-leash areas for dogs. We take Chopper here often and he gets to play with his friends while the girls toodle around the river’s edge skipping rocks and enjoying the outdoors.
Allard Crescent, Langley City
Brae Island Beach and Campground
I absolutely love this little hidden gem of a beach so close to home. It is not very well known and yet offers an awesome swimming area coves and gorgeous fresh clean water to swim in, just minutes from all that is Langley. Sometimes after school in the summer, we head to the beach for an afternoon swim and it is just so great that a beautiful beach is so close to home. It also backs onto a fabulous campground surrounded by lovely large trees where you feel that you are miles away from anything city and yet if you crave your morning latte, Wendel’s Café is minutes away.
9451 Glover Rd, Langley
Dena’s Boutique
AKA Mom time! It would be amiss of me to not offer up some of my favourite alone time. I do not get much of it between running our business with my husband and raising pre-teens. Usually alone time for me is a special hour pre-family wake up time where I jump out of bed at 5am and make coffee and get some one on one time with me and whatever I want to do before 6am. So in the little amounts that I do get outside of that – Dena’s Boutique in Walnut Grove is one of my absolute favourite retail therapies. If I want something new or special I go here as this store carries the most amazing unique chic lines and latest fashions and the price points are in-line for a boutique store. I don’t get to shop here to often but it is one of my faves!
20159 88 Ave, Langley , (604) 888-0029
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