Whistler and Vancouver

 

We've seen the lakes, let's get up close and personal with the mountains.

reheating some leftover pizza from last night's dinner for breakfast.

It actually worked. Kind of.

After getting my gondola ticket from the visitor center

(I recommend this method. Lines are shorter and you can just queue up

when you get to the gondolas) I was told that it was better to

start at the Blackcomb Mountain gondola.

This required a short walk to another part of Whistler village.

The gondola system takes you up to either mountain peak of

Blackcomb or Whistler, then there is a Peak to Peak gondola that goes back and

forth between the mountains. You can ride the gondolas between the peaks

as many times as you want.

I rode a glass bottomed gondola across once.

Then got off and re-entered a normal gondola and took it

on a round trip, returning me back to the second mountain,

Whistler Mountain.

The other peak that the Peak to Peak gondola is attached to.

But first I had to watch the marmots when I got to the top of Blackcomb.

Turns out, according to one of the informational plaques I read, Whistler is

so named because marmots whistle at each other to alert danger.

I didn't hear any marmot whistles. Bummer.

Entering the gondolas.

Oooh Canadaaa!

This was the view leaving the bottom of Blackcomb.

I shared a car with a couple of young guys who sounded like

stereotypical Canadians. Eh!

Peak to Peak to Peak to Peak to...

Had the car to myself on the return to Blackcomb ride, then some other

people got on and rode with me back over to Whistler.

Then I exited for real and continued my mountain adventure.

There is an optional ride to the summit of Whistler Mountain.

To get there, you walk for ten minutes down a trail to some ski lifts.

Hop on a ski lift and let it take you to the top!

It's a bit scary at first, because you aren't closed in like the gondolas,

and it's a pretty steep drop to the rocks below, but as long as

you don't do anything reckless, you should be fine.

I was also there early enough to avoid any lines.

I walked directly into the lift zone and got right on.

The lifts have hooks for bikes, I later noticed, because

Whistler is mountain bike mecca in the summer months.

Once off the ski lift, there are a few things to do.

You can walk on the skybridge.

Don't look down!

The Raven's view.

Great view of surrounding mountains and the village below.

We had made our lunch sammiches before being turned loose for the day,

and I was hungry by now, so I ate my sammich on the mountain top.

Lots of bikers were beginning to show up and start biking down the trails.

I also witnessed a guy proposing to his girlfriend. She said yes.

From the summit you can also find trailheads for some rather difficult

hikes. I wasn't prepared to work that hard that day, so I just enjoyed

the view and the nice weather for a while, then returned to the ski lifts

to get back to the Whistler roundhouse.

Before taking the gondola back down to the bottom, I enjoyed

a local brew.

Another set of Olympic rings on Whistler.

After walking around the village for a bit, doing some shopping,

people watching, drinking some coffee, I decided to do something else.

About fifteen minutes walk away is the Cultural Centre.

I had arrived just in time for the last guided tour, and learned a bit about the

local First Nation tribes in this area.

The Lilloett town we'd stopped in was a part of these groups.

Some of the dots started to connect for me.

And the artwork looked familiar.

Lots of years ago, when I had just moved to Davenport, I had

found an engraving of a killer whale that now hangs in my bathroom.

The artwork is the same as from the peoples from this region.

This is a bird, but the artwork looks like this.

For dinner, my guide treated me to some poutine.

Poutine is French fries, with chees curds, smothered in gravy.

It's a lot.

I could only eat about half of this generous portion, so I 

ate the rest for breakfast the next morning. 

After loading up the gear, packing up the tents, and eating leftover poutine,

we drove on to Vancouver.

A few short stops for some sights.

This is Third Beach. 

An interesting place to wade in the ocean water, gaze at the ships,

and watch others try to swim.

crab remains

Totem park

Then into the Gastown district of Vancouver.

Steam powered clock.

It chimes every fifteen minutes.

bought some maple syrup treats.

A pet psychic?

Then it was time to return to the States.

The other guest left us in Vancouver, as her flight home was from there.

My flight was that night out of Seattle.

Someone had googly eyed one of the restroom ladies.

So tired.

My flight was the midnight departure, I arrived in Chicago

in the morning, where I almost fell asleep waiting for my 

connecting flight back to Moline.

A great week. Lots of exercise, some amazing scenery, and learned

a bit about glacial lakes, glaciers, mountains and marmots.

And in October, I'll cross the border again, for Canada part 2.

Though it will be a bit less dramatic.