Love a weekend trip to Vancouver? This nearby island is even more chill

If you're traveling to Vancouver, British Columbia, in warm weather, the default move is a side trip to Vancouver Island. But there's a much closer, sleepier island with great hiking and kayaking, a family-friendly waterfront and a pleasant village filled with restaurants, shops and lodgings. That's Bowen Island, 14 miles northwest of downtown Vancouver, a 20-minute ferry ride from West Vancouver's Horseshoe Bay. After a visit to the big city, my wife, daughter and I spent a weekend in early July hiking, paddling and unwinding on Bowen. The tab: about $250 per night, including taxes, for a two-story house near the water; about $150 for meals; about $65 each for kayak tours; and about $8 each for the ferry.