Monday we headed for Whistler Mountain, BC’s prime ski area and the venue for the alpine events during the Winter Olympics in 2010. It’s about 60 miles north of Vancouver, and at an elevation of almost 9,000 feet, it gets lots of snow. The village is a lot like Squaw Valley or Mammoth with about 10,000 year-round residents. Almost the entire length of road between Whistler and Horseshoe Bay just north of Vancouver is being widened and straightened for the Olympics. The signs say it’s a $600 million project, but it looks more expensive than that to us.
While at Whistler, supposedly named for whistling marmots in the surrounding area, we wandered about town, had a nice lunch, and found a brewpub to wait in while the ladies shopped. There’s a tremendous amount of construction in and around the village, too, all geared toward the Olympics.
Returning from Whistler, we stopped at Shannon Falls, which plunge 1,100 feet and are the third largest falls in BC. A short walk brought us to a viewpoint with a terrific view of the falls.
After a rainy Monday night, the day dawned mostly clear and sunny, so we packed up our bikes and drove across the Lions Gate Bridge to Stanley Park where we rode the 7 km seawall trail completely around the park. It was a fun ride.
From there, we drove to Granville Island and its huge public market. We had lunch in a nice restaurant and then spent a couple of hours checking out the stalls and shops in the market. We headed back to the RV Park in commute traffic, but it wasn’t too bad. It sort of reminded us that we’re headed back to areas with too many cars, very different than what we’ve seen in the past three months or so.
On Wednesday we headed back into downtown Vancouver to see Chinatown, the 3rd largest in North America, after San Francisco and New York City. The markets are filled with stuff that we’ve seldom seen, and the smells are different, too. 
We had a nice lunch and visited the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden. From there we walked to Gastown, the historic commercial district in Vancouver. While no longer the commercial center of town, it’s filled with interesting shops and restaurants, and it's also the home of an antique steam-powered clock. 
What we didn’t realize, though, was that between Chinatown and Gastown is a run-down area full of the homeless. It was depressing and a little scary walking through that area, so on our way back to the car, we detoured way around it.
Wednesday night was rainy again, but we cooked Thursday morning breakfast on the outdoor stove under the awning. It wasn’t cold, just wet, so everything worked out just fine. We had all sorts of ideas for sightseeing in the Vancouver area on Thursday, but it didn't stop raining all day, so aside from a trip to the grocery store, we just watched it rain.
It's now Friday, and we're back in the USA again. LaVan and Louise have headed out on their own, since they've got a small fuel tank leak and they want to get to the Monaco repair facility in Harrisburg, OR on Tuesday to get it repaired. We, along with Bob and Diane were able to get our motorhomes road-ready and the cars hooked up before it began to rain again. We left Vancouver mid-morning for a 50 mile trip back into the states. We crossed the border at Aldergrove, BC, which took most of an hour because of border-crossing traffic. We're now in Lynden, WA, a beautiful little town with a strong Dutch influence. It's been raining here, too, but right now the sun is peeking through the clouds. We'll spend the night here, then travel a few miles to Ferndale to visit with our friends, Karl and Pam for a couple of days before moving on. We've got lots more visiting to do in Washington, so we won't leave the state until mid-September.
That's it for now. Have a great Labor Day weekend. There'll be more of our adventure in a few days.
No comments:
Post a Comment