Terry, Will and I all woke up around 6:30am
today, little James is exhausted and we waited until 8am to wake him. We seem to be going to bed as late as it
doesn’t even get dark until 8pm. Today we
needed to be off early today so that we could make the most of our day in
Whistler.
Prior to
leaving Australia I had downloaded the Gypsy Guide apps for Western Canada and
I’d read fantastic reviews.
Gypsy Guide is a tour app and it is like having a tour guide in your
car. It picks up your location with the
GPS in your mobile and provides commentary as you drive along. I wasn’t sure if it was going to work however
as we made our way onto the Sea to Sky Highway all of a sudden Gypsy Guide
starting talking!
Gypsy Guide was an instant hit. I asked the kids what we should call the
guide, ‘Gypsy’ of course. So Gypsy told
us all sorts of information and talked through points of interest as we made
our way to Whistler. Gypsy would say,
‘now you really should change lanes so you are on the left side as the turn will come up soon.' On holidays Terry is
normally so keen to get to the next destination that he doesn’t really like
stopping along the way. Well, as we
drove along Gypsy told us how, ‘we should really pull over to see the Shannon
Falls. It only takes 10 minutes, really, go on, pull over’. I found it so funny as I now
had a back up in Gypsy. Thank goodness
Gypsy is a man. So we pulled over and
took a short walk to the falls and the air
was a lot cooler. It was also the first
time we saw a sign that bears could be about.
As we started our walk, James the chief Pika
spotter found another Pika running around.
We then came to a railway crossing and thought we heard a toot in the
distance. Could it have been a train? We waited a moment and around the bend came
the Rocky Mountaineer! Well even though
Will is too cool for trains now, you should have seen the look on his
face! Beaming from ear to ear! We all waved to the passengers and could not
believe our luck we had arrived at the right moment. The falls were beautiful and definitely worth
the stop. Thanks Gypsy!
We then drove through Squamish while Gypsy
told us many facts about the town.
Onwards we drove and Gypsy kept chatting about the various Olympics that
had been hosted previously. We were then
told we should take a short stop to Brandywine Falls. How could Terry refuse? Another short walk and we weren’t
disappointed.
Shortly after we had made it to
Whistler. We are staying at the Hilton in
Whistler Village and although we were 5 hours early for check in time we
decided it was work a shot. Any upgrades
for the birthday girl? The guy looked
and looked in his computer…looking, looking, I was feeling confident. Alas, the next upgrade was all sold out. Nevermind, worth a shot - we were in luck
though our room was ready!
We had valet parking and the bellboy was
unloading the car. Oh no I was thinking,
I have to work out how much to tip! I
asked the bellboy if he was taking the car as well. Yes he says, so I figure we should give him
$10 for both jobs. We head to our room and shortly
after there is a knock at the door. Oh
no, it’s a different guy and we have nothing less than $10 in our wallets! It’s not that I begrudge tipping, rather I
want to be respectful and get it right - but I just feel awkward doing it!
No time to rest, we went straight out to
explore the Whistler Village. I had read
on Tripadvisor that the #3 restaurant in Whistler was ‘Peak Pies’. We were starving so I told Terry we were
taking him somewhere special for lunch.
We walked through the village, walking, walking and finally there is was
– Terry’s dream lunch stop. He had no
idea what I was planning and hadn’t spied the shop. I positioned him right in front of the shop
and took his photo. I then told him
where he was eating and I have never seen him run so quick – geez his knees
came good! We both ordered pies with
mash and I had mushy peas on top. True
to word, the pies were amazing!
I had heard there were markets in the Upper
Village so over we went. I was
strolling along and one of the stallholders said to me, ‘Do you want to see a
bear?’ She then pointed – and there was
a black bear! Just hanging around eating
the grass and very close. I couldn’t
believe it! We stayed our distance and
couldn’t believe there was a bear just grazing away. Some
crazy tourists started walking way too close, taking photos and then a
butterfly startled the bear. You should
have seen the tourists run then!
Will decided to have a go on one of the
trampolines and had the crowd in awe with his triple somersaults. James then found mini golf so we all played the 18 holes with Terry crowned the winner. Thank goodness pride was at stake! There
were hundreds of people mountain bike riding down the mountain over
jumps. The ski lift would take them up,
then the next lift would take their bikes.
It looked like so much fun – and there were riders of all ages taking it
on.
We had walked and walked and walked and
slowly made our way back to our apartment.
We were sooooo exhausted and it was only 5pm. The only way I was going to stay awake was to
go for a drink! So Terry and I went down
the bar and I had a few mojitos. $6 each
– bargain – but oh no, the tipping issue again!
We then ordered a few snacks that would become our dinner. As they say… ‘when in Canada’……so we had
maple & chilli coated chicken wings
and short rib poutine which is a Canadian tradition - basically chips
covered with cheese and short rib gravy. (I can see you cringing now Justine) Thank goodness we are walking a lot everyday! As Terry crawled into bed he cheekily said,
‘Thanks for making sure we got the dollar out the day again! I’m stuffed’.
We have loved Whistler although we are happy we are only staying one
night. If you were into mountain bike
riding and hiking (or in Winter, the snow) this would definitely be the place
to be.
Tomorrow we are taking on the biggest drive
of our trip. We are heading to Clearwater
which is our next overnight stop on the way to Jasper. We make not have wifi for a few days, I haven't broken this to the kids yet!
Sea to Sky Highway
Shannon Falls
Cute little Pika
Here is comes, the Rocky Mountaineer!
Brandywine Falls
Autumn leaves
Olympic Rings in Whistler Village
Taking Terry for a surprise lunch.....
I wonder where you could be going Terry?
The man who won the prize for eating the most pies at work
Now that's a pie!
The black bear very close to the village - it was probably 50 metres away.
Burning off some energy
This is becoming a common event - his poor little legs just can't go on. Until James spies mini golf!
No, it's no one from the Marlborough family. Looks like a lot of fun though!
