Author: melisajohnson

So today the weather wasn’t so good but Nick and I ventured out into Whistler village regardless. Nick and Kirsten have a lovely apartment in the Rainbow area of Whistler, away from the downtown core which is full of tourists and all that caters to them. The apartment overlooks a nice lake and is just minutes from the closest golf course, where Nick sometimes plays. After having a coffee and Kirsten’s office, we visited the museum and the library as part of my introductory tour of the core of Whistler village. It was interesting to learn the origins of the village as well as its history of (mainly failed) Olympic bids, the growth of tourism in the area and to see old cable cars and ski equipment. A far cry from what we are blessed with today – it was all highly rudimentary.

We met Bigna and Monika for lunch – they had been sussing out the bike park options – before helping them shop and then taking a 2 mile walk back to the apartment via the forest trails and lakeside. Very picturesque.

On getting back we heard that Monika had injured her knee so Nick and Kirsten recommended a medical center that specializes in joint injuries for Bigna to take her. After waiting for an hour we heard that Monika had a torn miniscus which was causing her to be in sever pain. The doctors were able to make an adjustment after seeing the X-Ray and put her on a strong course of drugs to help with the pain.

Today it was back on Pacific Coastal’s short flight to Vancouver and then a drive up to Whistler. All was going well until leaving the airport where I (and about 2,000 other road users) encountered a monumental traffic jam. It took me around 90 minutes to clear the airport entry/exit road, a distance of about a mile and a half. I later discovered that this is typical for Vancouver airport which begs the question why does anyone take a car anywhere near the place… After getting out it was a steady drive through Vancouver to Highway 99. After clearing Vancouver it was a picturesque and easy drive up to Nick and Kirsten’s place in Whistler where they have now been for 3 years. It was good to see them as well as to meet their two dogs, Buster and Ivy, for the first time. They are such sweet characters!

My good friends from Switzerland, Bigna and Monika, were staying in a campsite as part of a 5 week tour of western Canada so we met them for dinner at a nearby restaurant with an open fire oven. Needless to say we all had pizza and it went down very well! It was good to see both Bigna and Monika again and looking well.

So today was another travel day, albeit a short hop. After breakfast and a quick stop for a view over Vancouver Harbour from Stanley Park, Steve dropped me off at the airport for the short 25 minute hop to Victoria on Vancouver Island. I had been given many recommendations by two former colleagues, one who hails from there and one whose son now lives there, many of which involved consuming beer and food in copious quantities! However, the drive in from the airport and a brief walk around the town center revealed a very relaxed and hip ‘big little’ town with a thriving industries with lots of art works on display. While a section of town catered to tourists it wasn’t overly touristy. A walk around Beacon Hill Park burned off lunch and I stopped to listen to an open air concert being given by a local band. The provincial legislature and the Empress Hotel dominate the harbour while the museum has lots of interesting art works and totem poles on display outside. The weather was a chilly 18C and with rain I decided to follow my friends’ advice. From here the memory gets a bit fuzzy but suffice to say the beer and food were good.

Today Steve and Sue took me inland (eastward parallel to the US border) across to Abbotsford and Hope. We stopped midway for a quick coffee before continuing on to Bridal Falls. Thankfully it wasn’t much of a hike up but the view was beautiful as was the forest on the way up. We continued on to the Othello tunnels where there are a number of abandoned railway tunnels from a now disused railway line. It was great to see the river running deep below where the railway lines had run, various tunnels having been blasted through the rock. We stopped for a late lunch back in the small town of Hope before taking the scenic route back home.

Well today Steve and Sue (mainly Sue) kept me busy!  After a quick breakfast and waving Steve off to work, Sue and I set off on a long walk that took us down the side of the Capilano River to the shore where we walked along Ambleside seafront all the way to Dundarave. Along the way there were little parks, various children’s play areas, art exhibits and gardens that are being reclaimed by the provincial government so that seafront land cannot be developed.  We raced back to see Steve for lunch at his workplace in East Vancouver before heading up to the Cleveland Dam which holds one of the reservoirs that provides Vancouver with its fresh drinking water.  The dam and reservoir are set in an extensive forest, access to which is restricted so that no water contamination can take place.  We hiked down to the bottom of the dam to see the falls and on the way saw a black bear munching on some greenery in the forest…my first, albeit very distant, encounter with a wild bear.  Many thanks to my trusty guide Sue and her excellent bush tracking skills for noticing – I would have been oblivious otherwise!  We carried on and saw the salmon ladder before hiking all the way back up to the top!   An hour later Steve returned home from his day’s work and suggested that we go mountain biking…so out we went!  It was a beautiful summer evening so we went up to Lynn Canyon Park for what ended up being a 13+ mile on road and off road cycle.  Some trails were more interesting than others!  However what was a former logging road has been closed to vehicles and so a perfectly good road is now used for cyclists, runners, walkers, roller-bladers, in line skaters and skateboarders.  Off that road there are many forest trails around the various lakes.  On one of those we can across a deer out eating her evening dinner – she was far away at first but we remained still and quiet and she came within 20 feet of us before we decided to back away and leave her in peace.  A very full but thoroughly enjoyable day!

Today was largely a travel day heading up to Vancouver so I headed into Seattle first thing to see if there was anything to see – sadly there was not!  I got to the airport and after initial confusion amongst the check in staff as to why a non American would be traveling to Canada, I settled in and had some lunch while watching a thrilling Wimbledon semi final between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.  Arrival in Vancouver was pleasant walking through the aviary-themed walkway to immigration and then on the Sky Train into downtown.  I ditched the bags at left luggage for a few hours to take a walk around the sea front before going over to Lonsdale Quay in North Vancouver on the sea bus to meet Steve and Sue.  It was great to see them again and we had a walk around the farmers market and live music that is now a regular feature of this now hip and trendy area.  Many families were out on the piers taking it all in on a pleasant summer evening.  We retired back to their apartment for a lovely Indian meal.

On our way to pick up the Indian meal Sue pointed out all the RVs parked in a parking lot saying that these were actually people’s homes.  That surprised me so I asked why would people want to live in RVs?  The answer was that property in Vancouver is now so expensive that some can’t afford to get on the housing ladder so, as they can’t afford to buy property, they buy RVs instead and live in them with the result that there are mini unofficial RV parking lots cropping up all around Vancouver.