Whistler Trip

We went to Whistler, BC for a quick summer get away. Its only about 200 miles from Seattle, so it was an easy drive. Vancouver is hosting the 2010 Winter Olympics, and Whistler is one of the venues. The highway from Vancouver to Whistler is about 90 miles, it’s called the Sea to Sky highway – it is really a pleasant drive. The road goes right up Howe Sound on the side of a mountain with mountains across the sound in the background. They are in the process of turning it into 4 lanes – most of which they are blasting right off the mountain, so we were in some construction delays.

The town of Whistler is built between two mountain ranges with ski slopes; Blackcomb and Whistler. We stayed in the Chateau Fairmont at Blackcomb it was really nice and the Canadian’s workers are so pleasant. The village was really nice to wander around in and there was plenty of stuff to keep us busy. Catherine and I had an ATV tour one day – we saw a lot of the backcountry and had a good time bouncing around on the 4-wheeler. Our guide was a nice Ausie he kept us entertained. We mostly rode around sight seeing, but we had a bbq lunch in a log cabin, and then played around on some trails that had a lot of bumps and jumps – Catherine really liked it.

We had planed a Canoe trip but the water was flowing too fast so we went horse back riding instead. Debbie didn’t do this because of her back. Since the girls had just been to horse camp we figured they would do fine. We went out to a ranch in Permberton, about half an hour north of Whistler. It was in a valley. Caroline got the most docile horse – Lady, I got an ornery horse, and Catherine got a well behaved horse. Caroline’s horse mostly followed the leader, occasionally stopping to graze. The guides eventually gave up trying to get her to keep Lady from having a snack. Catherine did a really good job with her horse, and I managed to make mine behave. At one point the guides decided we should gallop instead of trotting along – All I could see was Caroline holding on bouncing up and down like a rag doll. After 50 yards of getting beat to death I went back to a trot and slowed the whole ride back down. I think the girls liked it better at the slow pace any how. Catherine was behind me so I kept taking pictures of her over my shoulder; they came out ok but a little slanted.

There are a lot of things to do and see in town – there is a river that runs down the middle of the village that has all kinds of art and sculpture. There are plenty of shops and restaurants, and there is a network of parks and trails that go for miles and miles. The kids enjoyed playing at a water park just north of town – the water was darn cold! There are several lakes around Whistler, several in walking distance. The creeks and lakes are all greenish – they are fled from glacier melt off and I think its pumice suspended in the water – they are beautiful.

There was a big mountain bike competition going on the week we were there – they had concerts every night in the village, and tons of mountain bikers. They were riding down one of the major downhill runs – there were lots of dirty kids with bruises and bandages, but they seem to be having fun.

We stopped at Brandywine falls on the way out of town – it’s rather spectacular. We then stopped at the BC Mining museum –it’s about half way between whistler and Vancouver on the Sea to Sky highway. I was not sure exactly what it was but we chanced a stop, it was actually very interesting. It was a large scale working copper mine for about 100 years. We panned for goal, looked at some mining tools, and rode the mine train into the mine (about 200 yards). Once we got into the mine on the mine train, the guide fired up 3 different pneumatic drills showing us how they improved and how much noise they made. It was LOUD. Then they did the typical turn off the lights, and yes it was very dark. Then we got a brief tour of the mill; it was 7 stories high and looks dangerous as heck. It is basically 7 levels of crushers that take in muck – chunks of rock, and progressively crush it down to a fine sand. Then they put chemicals that create bubbles and lifts out the copper and they then would send it elsewhere to be smelted. I have always wondered how they got the minerals out of the crushed rock. We were only on the ground floor of the mill – the pictures don’t do justice to just how huge it was. It’s an intimidating space, if I were a vampire its where I’d want to live. There have been 50 movies shot there!

On our way home we spent the night in Vancouver just do to some sight seeing. We went to Granville Island and had some great seafood, and played out before the fireworks started. The next day we spent the entire day at Stanley Park. The kids went to the aquarium, and I waked for two hours – there must be 20 miles of trails, it’s a huge park. There was a lot of wind damage from the big storm that hit us in December – they said they had to remove 10000 trees, most were about 100 years old. The park has beautiful gardens, aquarium, trails, totem poles, several restaurants, and lots of things to do – it’s a must see if your in Vancouver.

The weather was perfect the entire time we were in Canada, 75-50 most days. We had a lovely trip, and want to go back soon.

Our Yard is filling in nicely

We had about 4 days of rain and all of the plants seemed to really flourish now that the sun is back out. I am most intrigued by the lavender. There must be 20 varieties. I think we have three types. The most intriguing are the ones with blooms that look like a bumble bee. Debbie did a fantastic job getting all of the weeds out of the rocks. It’s nice doing yard work in 75 degree weather.

Kirkland Uncorked

The girls were in a cooking class where they learned to make several dishes in the movie Rattattoui. They cooked a very good Rattattoui, fancy grilled cheese, creps, and an Eifel Tower cookie desert. While they were in class Debbie and I walked around Kirkland, bought an sofa table, and wandered into the Kirkland Uncorked festival. It was a delightful afternoon. I took these pictures with my cell phone, so they are not the best quality.

Chuckanut drive

We drove up north between Everet and Bellingham on Chuckanut drive. It goes right up the coast and overlooks the San Juan islands. There is a fairly large oyster operation in the bay. They grow them on long ropes so they are easy to harvest. We stoped at a beach and ran around; and then made our way to Bellingham where we had a suprisingly good meal at a Micro Brewery. It was another delightful day.

Bainbridge Island and Poulsbo

We took the ferry over to Bainbridge Island to sight see. It was a really clear day, Mt Rainier was very visible. Its very interesting how your location makes it look either really tall or not so big. Today it was looking huge. We drove up to Poulsbo, and while we were they were stoped by the shop of the artist who made my Salmon sculpture. We enjoyed seeing some of his work in progress.

Yarrow Point

We had dinner at Yarrow point. It on the east side of Lake Washington right in Kirkland. It was a great day to be out by the water.