Whistler

Wow, what a day! 
We had a relaxing start by sleeping in until 9:30 am Kitchener time but 6:30 Vancouver time. Perhaps we need to climatise, at least timewise. LOL
After breakfast we set the GPS for Whistler and off we went!
I spent the first hour of the trip oohing and awwing over the views. Every bend in the road showed another gorgeous mountain vista. 
We knew we were in Whistler when we started to see the beautiful chalet style houses and the Porsches, and us in a VW Golf.....
The Village of Whistler looked exactly like I imagined it would! Sooo many chalet style wood shops, pubs and restaurants. We wandered around the exact spots I remember seeing on the television broadcasts from Olympic skiing events only today there was no snow.
The gondolas were going up the mountain for sightseers (for $40 each), there was a dirt bike competition happening with bikes and riders going up Buckhorn Mountain on ski lifts and then crashing down on dirt paths.
There were trails everywhere going from the village up mountain trails. We decided on a nature trail through Lost Lake. We never did make it to the lake because the trail got too rough, but OMG, we saw such beautiful plants along the way. Ann was in seventh heaven, I almost had to restrain her from digging up some ferns to take home! LOL
Oops forgot lunch and we need to mention this one, because I wandered off the main walkway and found The Spaghetti Factory. Great meal and likely cheaper than anything we would have found in the main village pubs!! Oh, and the wait staff all seemed to be on work visas from somewhere interesting. The waiter was from Ireland. Ann had a great chat with him and once again, I needed to hold her back from packing "him" up to go home.
But all good things end and we drove off to re experience the views on our way to the motel at Maple Ridge  A much longer drive as it seems the distance in real life is longer than what it looks on a map. Darn!!
We called Teresa Bryant and she came over to the motel to meet Ann. I spent the evening with her; out for a long walk with her dogs. A chance to catch up. 
Ann stayed at the motel and rested up for tomorrow's trip to Stanley Park. It would have been nice to have her come along, but it was already such a long day so I understood.
Speaking of which, good night all.

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