Talk about late starts – I didn’t get up until after 9! By the time we got rolling, the meal was no longer breakfast, it was lunch. The place we intended to eat, The Sunflower Bakery/Café, was closed for the holiday anyway, and we found a pub – the Howe Sound Brewing Company, thanks to a fellow tourist in the visitor center! We were the first customers of the day, but when we left the place was starting to move. The food was good, and timely!
We decided to make today a driving tour day – basically drive up to Whistler, taking detours and stopping at interesting places along the way. That’s what we did, and I’ll pass on a few things that we saw. Sometimes wrong turns turn out right! We turned west to go to Alice Lake, and had a very nice drive through a magnificent forest, and into Paradise Valley (!) – a little community right next to the salmon hatchery and railroad track. Mostly very nice homes, with an occasional klunker. It was a great detour, complete with railroad track and river. And the ever present wonderful mountain scenery.
Backtracking (there aren’t a lot of roads, so there aren’t many loops), we crossed route 99 to see Alice Lake. It’s a pretty lake, and a great looking campground. It was very busy, being a holiday and all, and the campground was full. There is a trail – 4 Lakes Trail – from here that is a loop touching on four lakes – we’re not really prepared to hike today, so we pass – maybe tomorrow?
On up the road there is a sign for Cat Lake. We turn in the correct direction this time, and follow a very bumpy dirt and gravel road up the hill. There are ‘stop development of Cat Lake’ signs along the way. Cat Lake is maintained by a First Nation tribe – don’t remember which one. It is a very nice lake, had lots of customers this day. We walked the boys down to the lake and spent a few minutes. It brought back memories of lake swimming when I was a kid.
The next stop though was a surprise and a total winner. We drove up to the Olympic Nordic site! It is open for touring – well, we just made it, getting to the gate just before 4, and they close at 5. There is no charge, but you stop and chew the fat with a very nice guy who answers all your questions and lets you know where to go and what to do. This facility is totally built for the 2010 Olympics, from scratch. There are plans for after the Olympics, but they started building it in 2006, and it looks pretty much ready for action. I’m sure there’s a lot left to do, but the jumps are in place, the cross-country is in place and the biathlon is in place. This is the first Olympics where all the Nordic events will be held at the same site. The only man-made snow will be at the ski jump.
There is a website, http://www.whistlerolympicpark.com/default.html , but I looked at it, and there are not nearly as many pictures as I expected. So check out ours on Flickr – there aren’t many, but you’ll perhaps get a little feel. It’s a beautiful facility. There are photos of all of the explanatory signs (about 4 or 5 of them) too – and if you look at the full size version they are very readable.
The official symbol of this Olympics is the Inukshuk. It is essentially a cairn, or trail marker, but has – it seems – more meaning.
From there we drove through Whistler, up route 99, turned around and took Alta Lake Road back south. Alta Lake Road bypasses the city on the west side. It’s a small two lane road through residential areas separated by forest, and it is elevated from the city, occasionally providing great views of the ski runs to the east and of the city.
The short drive back was uneventful – a busy road – undoubtedly many Vancouverites returning home after the long weekend. We fed the boys, then ourselves – at the Burrow Tapas Lounge. Another great choice by mien frau! Not only was the food really good, it was Majito night! Viva la Majito!
We have discovered that there is no way to have food in the car. As you know, Woody and Jake accompany us everywhere, and we quite often leave them in the car for extended periods. We can’t do that in Arizona right now, but the temperatures here make it possible. What doesn’t seem to be possible is to store food anywhere in the car such that they can’t get to it! There have been many instances so far, but tonights was the corker. We had some candied ginger stored in the closed center console. Somehow they opened it, and it is gone. Nothing left but the twist tie and the plastic bag. No more food in the car. Nada.
Goodnight!
1 comment:
Douglas and I had a nice call for about a half an hour this morning. WLC.
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