We had a great week up in Whistler, BC. It is about 2 hours north of Vancouver. Thanks to Raiderpride for some advice on the area. I wish we had time to visit with him before we headed up the hill. But we were a part of a group and no sooner did we claim our bags than we were ushered on to a bus with a bunch of people who had been waiting for us to get there.
The Sea to Sky Hwy is absolutely beautiful. Howe Sound was on our left for most of the trip. It is the finger of the Pacific Ocean that juts into BC about 40-50 miles. There were mountains to on our right that obviously got larger the further were traveled away from Vancouver.
Vancouver is a city I have got to get back to and spend a little more time in. From the bus it looks like they have a pretty large Chinese district. It is ultra clean. The bus driver on our return trip told us the metro rail line was built just before the 2010 Winter Olympics. It is very fast.
Back to the S2S Hwy. About 2/3 of the way to Whistler is the Shannon Falls. It is one of the larger waterfalls in Canada. It is one of the rivers that feeds into Howe Sound near at its head. I was amazed at how many bicyclists there were along the way. Part of the highway is a 2 lane road with a wide shoulder. Part of the highway was expressway with 2 lanes each direction and on and off ramps. Bikes alongside the whole way.
We landed on July 1 which is Canada Day. A lot of the small shops in and around downtown Vancouver were closed for the holiday. Like our Independence Day, it is considered Canada’s birthday. Unlike the US, which was formed via war, Canada was more or less a clerical issue. I won’t go into here but the British Parliament signed a decree that consolidated the territories that they held north of our border. They had fireworks that night in the Village. Since it was around 10:30 we went to bed. That would have been 12:30 in Chicago and got up around 4:30 Sunday morning.
I will post a few pictures. I could easily added a lot more but don’t want to overload the website. On our first full day we went on a zipline excursion. It was a blast. I have been trying to convince my wife for 6 years. We were in Maui then. I knew she would say no so I didn’t even try and push it. A couple years later very reluctantly she said she would but I could tell she was really really nervous so I didn’t push it. I gave her an out. The zipline was in the Mexican jungle. Before we left I was looking at the Red Cross’ map of Mexico. It looked like they would not allow us to donate blood for a year if we were in the jungle so we didn’t even try. So this last week she was a little less hesitant. They have a “Bear” and an “Eagle”. She said we should go on the Bear run. I convinced her to go on the Eagle. She became the folk hero of the women in our group. Almost no women over 35 even attempted the zipline. Tose that did went on the lower one.
The next day was a little easier. We sat in the hot tub in the morning and again in the afternoon. (no photos)
Then we took a 2 hour ATV ride up one of the mountains in the area. Stopped by one of the lakes. Mosquitoes were everywhere. I was thinking of AlHarrisdude while we were bouncing around the trails.
Last full day we went up the mountains. The closest one to our hotel was Blackcomb. It was a bit cold riding the chair lift. When we got to the top it was foggy so we couldn’t see very much. There was a trail that would have taken us up to the glacier that the kids were skiing on. But since it was so foggy we didn’t go. We sat in the restaurant and waited. After a half hour or so we headed over to Whistler Mountain. They have a gondola ride between the two called Peak to Peak. It was a thrilling ride.
On Whistler we went up to the peak. There was a trail over to another crest. I walked over while my wife remained behind. It was a lot of fun. There was snow was on part of the trail. I told someone walking nearby it seems like we were on a pilgrimage.
It was cool and overcast for most of our stay and locals kept apologizing for the weather. We told them we were enjoying it. Especially the rain.