Whistler, BC - Stop 39 on our Trek North to Alaska

Traveling along Highway 97, it seems we entered horse and hay country.   

Then we turned onto Highway 99, known as the Sea to Sky Highway.  Wow!  Absolutely spectacular views of British Columbia’s interior plateau.  The rock formations with their multi-colors looked like an artist touched them with a brush!  One of the prettiest drives of our trip.   But it was all windy, mountainous, narrow roads, with grades of 11, 13, and even 15 percent!  And enough switchbacks to make me sweat like a stinky sow!  Plus there was lots of construction, particularly near the Hydro Canal.  Mom was glad Dad was behind the wheel!

Vineyards.  Do you think they are having a wine and cheese tasting?

Speed limits were quite low—at some points truck speeds were posted at 10 kilometers/hour!  This, of course, meant nothing to the travelers behind us.  They kept beeping at us, passing us in no passing zones, and flipping us the bird, which I returned to them graciously.  All the birds flying around, I thought I was back on the NJ Turnpike!  But me flipping my bald eagle clearly beat out their flipping their Canadian goose!

We stopped for a break and some photos at the Duffy Lake rest area.  A picture paints a thousand words…and my vocabulary isn’t big enough to use 1,000 words to describe this magnitude of beauty.

We arrived at Whistler RV Park and Campgrounds.

Way up on the mountaintop, it offered breathtaking views of the entire valley.  Guess that’s why it cost $57 Canadian a night!

The Park is open all year round, too, which leads many Canadians to call it “home”.  This was apparent by the fact some had put down sod, wood patios, and flower gardens at their sites.  The office confirmed that several folks are here during the winter at a cost of approximately $800/month, including electric and water.  Not a bad deal...except for me!   Once Dad noticed these folks all had clean rigs, he spoke to the office again.  He obtained permission from the park to wash our rig, and yours truly got saddled with the task.  You see, I’ve been a bit bad on budgeting my allowance.  My parents insist on making me an independent, responsible, stuffed rat—no entitlements for me. 

PoPo doing manual labor!  Oh, the humanity!  But Big Boomer and the Rig appreciated their first baths in 4 months!

While I was working my tail off, my parents opted to relax.  They had visited Whistler previously and didn’t want to run around touring the alpine city on our one day here.  So they enjoyed the magnificent views and wonders of nature, visited the horse stables, and hiked along the ATV trails that connect to the campground.  

Mom must have had the Olympics on her mind.   While hiking one of the hills on the trail, she tried bobsledding, sans the sled!  Yep, she lost her balance on the soft terrain, fell backwards, hit the ground and slid down a few feet, with just a piece of fabric between the rocky trail and her butt!  She has a huge black and blue welt on her buttocks, but survived the first round of bobsled trials.  I told her if she wanted to bobsled, she should have gone to Olympic Park.  Yep, for $99 Canadian/person, a trained “pilot” would take her and three other adventure enthusiasts sliding down the track of Rolling Thunder in the Whistler Sliding Center!

The site of Mom's bobsledding trial.  Meanwhile,...

There is a Sliding Center at Olympic Park she could have used.

 

It’s been a while since we have seen any wildlife, despite signs warning us of bear, moose, and deer.

Tomorrow we leave for Vancouver—our last stop in Canada.  Talk to you soon!