EDITOR'S LETTER: ISSUE NO. 3

This issue is about two places that share a mountain range and a ferry terminal but feel like different worlds. North Vancouver is the city's backyard — trails ten minutes from downtown, espresso bars that would hold their own in any major city, a cocktail scene that arrived quietly and then all at once. The Sunshine Coast is its own thing entirely: accessible only by water, which keeps it exactly as it should be. Unhurried. Underrated. Occasionally spectacular.

We spent months in both places, ordering blind, paying our own tabs, and coming back with opinions. Some of those opinions are in this issue. Others are still being formed over a second round at TwentyTwo Taphouse.

The rule at Just Gerald has always been simple: we go, we try, we tell you what we actually think. No press trips. No sponsored content. No star ratings inflated by the fact that someone comped our meal. If we say the Pomona at Copperpenny is dangerously drinkable, it's because we drank three of them and meant it.

In this issue: a blind espresso duel on the North Shore (United Strangers wins, but the race was closer than expected). A guide to the cocktail bars that have quietly made North Vancouver worth crossing the bridge for. A Sunshine Coast food guide that starts at a bakery and ends on a wilderness lodge deck overlooking Princess Louisa Inlet. The full story of the mint julep — a drink that has been misunderstood, over-sweetened, and occasionally ruined by people who should know better. And a road trip narrative that starts at a gas station and ends somewhere you didn't plan to be, which is the only way road trips should end.

There's also the MTB Girls feature — a piece we've wanted to write for two issues now — about the women who ride the North Shore trails with more confidence and style than most people manage on flat ground.

This is Issue No. 3. We think it's our best one yet. We say that every time, and we mean it every time.