Friendship, Vancouver Island

Day Trip to Tsawwassen Mills

Retirement Reflections

When you check your iPhone for the day’s weather forecast…and it asks you how well you can swim…that is not good news, not good news at all!

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Photo Credit: http://clipart-library.com.EEUU

Unless, of course, you already have plans for a day out with friends at a place where you know you’ll be warm and dry.

Enter our excursion to Tsawwassen Mills Outlet Mall. With an early morning start and a short drive to the ferry terminal, we were well on our way. Add coffee, breakfast and non-stop chatter, and we quickly forgot about the weather outside…or the two-hour ferry ride. When we arrived at the terminal, there was a free shuttle bus directly to (and from) the mall, nicely minimizing our time spent in the (wet) outdoors!

Tsawwassen Mills is not just any outlet mall. Along with their 187 shops, they offer A Playscape Arcade, Virtual Land, Skate Park, Pro Hockey Life, and Outdoor World. They also provide an open-area ‘man cave’ equipped with comfy seating, ample outlets for devices and several large tv screens (many of them displaying sports coverage). In our four hours there, we barely scratched the surface!

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Glory and Doris showing off their new purchases, in the ‘Man Cave’.

Overwhelmed by choice, I quickly narrowed my Christmas Shopping List down to our two Grandchildren. Voilà, my mission was quickly accomplished. Mastermind Toys (previously Toys ‘R Us) offers free gift wrapping on all purchases.

The mall was bright and airy with minimal crowds. Store clerks were friendly and helpful with some (e.g. Lindt’s Chocolate and Bourbon Street Grill) offering free samples. True to their word of ‘outlet,’ many stores offered noticeable discounts.

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Just outside the Lindt’s store. Yes, free chocolate samples added to the smiles on our faces!

It was an enjoyable day out, with Glory, Doris and I each nabbing several items that we had hoped to find. Somehow, I ended up with the most purchases. Did I mention that they were for my Grandchildren?

A brilliant reminder of silver linings!

On our return ferry home, the stunning beauty of the weather outside made me realize that rain and I might just become friends…at least from a respectable distance.

You must admit, that’s a start!

Published by Retirement Reflections

Prior to retirement, I lived and worked in Beijing China for fourteen years (Middle School Principal/Deputy Director at The Western Academy of Beijing). Leaving international life behind, my husband and I retired to Vancouver Island in June 2015. To document both this transition and our new adventures, ‘Retirement Reflections’ was born. I hope that you enjoy reading these reflections, and will be willing to share your own.

76 thoughts on “Day Trip to Tsawwassen Mills”

    1. Hi, Kate – I love your shopping method. I will need to employ that next time. Doris and Glory also the shopping thing all figured out. When we showed off our purchases to each other, their purchases were for themselves. When I mentioned that I thought they were doing their Christmas shopping, they said that’s what they had done. The next step for them was to take the gifts home to their husbands who would wrap them and give them to the women on Christmas day. Clever!

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  2. I’m not surprised that you put others first, Donna…that’s your style! I’m glad you had fun. For some reasons, I’m unable to view the photos, so I’ll have to check back. What a great idea to have the “man cave!” 🙂

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    1. Hi, Jill – Thank you so much for your kind words (as usual)! 🙂 Strange about the photos. I was doing some last minute editing while you were reading. Hopefully the pictures are there when you check the next time. If not, please let me know.

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    1. Hi, Fran – Thank you so much for stopping by. I’m sure that I drove the girls crazy that day trying to get “just the right” shot. The feature photo was my absolute favourite of the lot! I hope that all is well for you. I miss your posts.

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  5. Wow pretty exciting day! Someone else does the driving…a day of shopping then back home on the ferry! The mall sounds wonderful, will have to see it one day! Sounds like it could keep Bill entertained while I shop❣️

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    1. HI, Georgia – Your summary is absolutely perfect! I agree that Bill would be FULLY entertained while you shop at Tsawwassen Mills. There’s no end to the interesting (non-shopping) things to see and do there. Hope all is well for you. Drink in some extra sunshine for me!

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  7. LOL your friends sound like me. I have gotten my own present a couple of times and given it to the hubs to wrap. Sometimes I just give him a picture and tell him where to get it so he has to put a little effort in – LOL. Looks like you had a very fun day. I, too, love your red sweater.

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  8. Even though I drive by this mall often, I have not thought about stopping and a great place to meet friends, I did not know about the “man cave” area, another plus. Thanks for sharing your “silver linings”. 🙂

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    1. Hi, Erica – Thanks for dropping by. I had often heard about that mall but had assumed it would not be for me. (Empty, cavernous, over-hyped mall….no thank you!) I’m glad that my friends organized the trip and invited me along. I absolutely LOVED it and found it to be much different from what I had assumed. I highly recommend you giving it a try.

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  9. Lindt chocolate and coffee? Count me in! Sounds like a fun day of shopping and even the weather made for lovely photographs.

    BTW – I went to a local WP meet up; kind of a bust for me. They were all hardcore .org users and were quick to point out the error of my way by using .com. Thanks for your input on the subject … much appreciated.

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    1. Hi, Ingrid – I am so sorry about the ‘hardcore’ approach of your WordPress Meet Up Group. I have found ours to be quite the opposite (they are truly happy for anyone to join regardless of their experience level or platform used). You are right — coffee and chocolate make everything better!! Thanks so much for stopping by.

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  11. I love the idea of a man cave. We need to import that to our shopping centres. Our toysrus just closed without any one else taking them over.

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    1. Hi, Anne – I hadn’t realized that Mastermind Toys bought Toys ‘R Us until I received the receipt on my phone. I think that it’s a Canadian thing. I agree that a proper ‘Man Cave’ should be a standard feature of every shopping center!

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  12. I saw the header photo and thought ‘oh dear, things really have gone sideways’, so I’m glad to hear the weather wasn’t a deterrent to a good time. Silly me – we’re talking shopping. Of course it was a good time 🙂 … have I ever mentioned I LOVE shopping? 🙂 I am in awe of your restraint when it comes to not buying things for yourself!!

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  13. Hi, Joanne – I never knew that you were a shopper. How did I miss that?! My iPhone predicts nonstop sun for the next four days. Just when you decide to write a series on something…the landscape changes! Not to tempt fate, that definitely was not a complaint! 🙂

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  15. Now that a fun outing on a rainy day, Donna. I love it when the stores take care of the gift wrapping. Nonstop sun for the next four days sound wonderful! Enjoy them all.

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  16. What a great idea for a grey outing. Two hours on a ferry doesn’t feel so long when you’re in the company of girlfriends, I’m sure. What a fun way to catch up and travel to go shopping. I’m happy to read that your Christmas shopping is finished, and only during one trip. Well done!

    I didn’t go to any malls or stores, or even left the house, for my gifts. But, I did spend more time than a return ferry ride and a few hours in the mall, behind my computer, to create 2019 calendars with photos of Mark and I in different settings, for some of our family members. All that’s left is ship them out to the East Coast and Belgium. 🙂

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  17. The hockey store there is the biggest one in BC. We made the trip out there for Jasmine’s goalie gear – outfitting a lefty goalie is hard work!

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    1. Hi, Nick – Thank you so much for reading and commenting. I wish that they had that store when Creighton was a goalie. He was a right-handed goalie which was hard enough to outfit. Outfitting a left-handed goalie is true dedication!!

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  19. Hi Donna,
    I know how hard you are working to make friends with the rain…and love that there was a rainbow at the end of your day.
    This day trip sounded like so much fun. And, of course the grandchildren are the big recipients! The only ones I am shopping for are our 2 granddaughters.

    For the adult kids and their significant others I make a donation in their name to a charity that resonates with them…for example, for Justin I donated to Habitat for Humanity as his grandfather was very involved in that program and he passed away this year.
    I feel really good about my shopping this holiday season…and I did most of it with a cup of coffee and my iPad.
    🙂
    Nancy

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    1. Hi, Nancy – That sounds like a very civilized way to shop! The majority of our wrapped presents this year are for our grandchildren. For the others on our Christmas List we try to focus on ‘presence’. Having a very active family this is a perfect focus for us.
      BTW – We are currently having a four-day sunny break. I am loving every minute of it!

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  20. Over the weekend we went to an outlet mall around here and decided it was a dud. That there must be better ones somewhere in this world. Well, the one you shopped in is clearly one of the better ones. How fun for you, how sad for your wallet! 😊

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  25. Hi, Sam – Living full-time on an Island, with ferry/boat/airplane being the ONLY ways to get to the mainland, often causes the ferry to lose its luster. But on this trip, all the ferry magic seemed to return…despite (and maybe added by) the rain!

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  28. What fun! I really haven’t got into any shopping yet, I’m sorry to say. I’m hoping I can pick up what i want at some handmade markets this weekend, otherwise I’ll be getting a bit frantic. I love that you’re making a start with getting to like the rain 🙂 . Lovely rainbow capture Donna.

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  29. Hi, Deb – Gifts from the Handmade Market sound lovely. Feel free to add me to your list! 🙂 As I mentioned to Anabel, I wasn’t able to capture one-sliver of the beauty of the magnificent rainbow over the ferry. For that, I needed a real photographer with me. I might be asking Santa for a Photography Course for Christmas!

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  30. I love that rain spattered pic at the top of this post – and the rainbow…& the Xmas tree. What a humungous sounding outlet mall! I have to admit, my throat closes up and I get an allergic reaction whenever the 2 words are spoken together around me (I’m not a shopper) but I wouldn’t be game enough to show this post to my husband – who would be there in a flash.

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    1. Hi, Jo – Thank you for dropping by and commenting. I was a little afraid of what this mall would be like…and I was very pleasantly surprised! And, I had an awesome time with my friends, got a couple of great shots and a blog post done. Now that’s a win-win-win-win!

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  31. What’s great about you Donna is you find fun and adventure everywhere you go! And you found it in your own backyard. Thanks for sharing your adventure with us! Your zest and enthusiasm are contagious and I hope they come back one day to Sun City P.D. 🙂

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  32. What’s great about you, Susan is that you always see the best in everyone and you have such a generous and thoughtful way of expressing this. I greatly enjoyed the conversations that we had together and hope that our paths do cross again sometime soon! Please tell the ladies (and Dean) that I miss spending my mornings with them and have been trying hard to find similar classes out this way. I have definitely caught the aerobics bug!

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    1. Hi again, Donna,

      What gets me through the winter while I stay at my little S.F. Bay Area apartment is a membership at a small local family operated gym. It gets me connected to others, gives me a place to go to (aside from a small cramped apartment) especially when it’s raining, and I pursue cardio health at the same time in addition to mental health. When I am at Sun City, all of that is at our fingertips – great classes and camaraderie. We are fortunate there. I hope you can find a cardio niche in your neck of the woods. Like you, I have the cardio bug and that is a wonderful thing, ha ha. Take good care!

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  33. That sounds like an interesting outlet mall. I don’t do malls that often anymore but this one sounds like one I could embrace. Love your header photo!

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  34. Hi Donna, firstly apologies for not commenting lately I’ve been so busy that the blogging world has not been top of my list. I’m not a lover of shopping but I do love Christmas shopping because I just love buying for others, especially the grandchildren. Despite the weather you and your friends looked like you had a fun time. Have a great weekend and I’ll be back to regular commenting soon. xx

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  35. Hi, Sue – Absolutely no problem at all! I greatly appreciate you stopping by despite everything that you have going on for you. I am enjoying your Holiday Calendar series–it is very inspiring! (There is zero chance that you will find me doing a Vlog…no matter how short. You are very brave and very impressive.) Wishing you a safe, happy and healthy holiday season~

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  36. It’s so easy to overload yourself with things for the grandbabies but hey, we’re only grandparents once, right? My shopping is nearly finished, all done online, I don’t like shopping malls. Hard to believe Toys R Us is no longer here where we live.

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    1. Hi, Dee – I agree that our Grandchildren can be very easy to shop for. There is always something that I see that reminds me of them. Sad about Toys R Us. We were very lucky for Mastermind Toys to take over out here, as they offer many of the same great features!

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  38. It sounds like you had a lovely day, Donna. What’s that saying, “There is no bad weather, just different kinds of good weather”? It does help that you had indoor activities planned. Happy holidays!

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  39. What a great place to go shopping, and not full of all the usual crowds, Donna. However, I expect it may be different on a Saturday. I think one of the advantages of being retired is that we can shop in the week when it’s usually quieter.
    And, is that a broken rainbow I see in that last photo? If so, I hope it was fixed quickly.
    P.S – Anybody reading my comment may wonder what on earth I’m going on about with regards broken rainbows, but that’s our secret. 🌈

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