Sea to Sky

Day 10
Kilometers Traveled; 300

Today was our day to explore the Sea to Sky Highway with our final destination being Whistler. This is a day I actually remember enjoying from my original 1991 trip so I was really looking forward to this day. The Sea to Sky Highway is a feat of engineering. I can only imagine the amount of explosive required to carve that highway into the side of the mountain. The views are spectacular, around each curve is a new vista of ocean and mountain. I was envious of the kayakers out on the sea, that would have been a great place to spend such a beautiful day! Our first stop was Shannon falls, again, this is a spot I remember well from my teen aged trip. It’s a short hike into a gorgeous mountain waterfall. We reached this spot about halfway through our journey up the mountain. This was a very good thing as Nate was having a full on hungry emergency, despite the fact that he had eaten his weight in Wendy’s blueberry pancakes before we left! Will was thinking that all this walking wasn’t the best idea but once he saw the waterfall he quickly changed his mind. The boys marveled at the swiftly flowing stream, the way the water rushed over the rocks, stemming from the steeply plunging water fall. When we arrived at the viewing platform, the sun was just breaking behind the mountain and it looked like a flow of sunlight streaming down the rock face. We quickly walked back down the path and headed to the car to continue our journey.

After approximately another hour and another epic game of I Spy, we arrived at Whistler Resort. The boys and I were all extremely excited to be in the heart of many of the Olympic sites. The anticipation level was high, as was the hunger level. We stopped for lunch right at the base of the mountain. This was a great spot, the boys could watch mountain bikers end their race down the mountain, we could also see zip line training and rafting tours leaving. After lunch, we decided to head to the Olympic Plaza, thinking there would be lots to see, Wendy headed off to see some of the newer parts she had not yet seen. Whistler Village is essentially the Blue Mountain Village but on steroids, overall, our adventure ended up being a bit of a disappointment. We did see the memorial set up for the Luger (sorry, can’t spell his name) who died on the track, which for me, was emotional. The rest of what had been at the Olympic plaza is now under construction to become something else. There was a gigantic banner of pictures and the Olympic Rings were still there but that was about it. After a day of walking and looking we were all getting tired and grumpy so we headed back to the car thinking that we would drive up the mountain to see the Sliding Center and that would make it all worth while. Sadly, it didn’t, it costs 7 dollars per person to look at the track and see a torch. We drove to the parking lot across the road, saw what we could see of the track and the started the long descent down the mountain back to Vancouver. The boys slept all the way home. After a quiet dinner with Wendy, we all had an earlyish bed time as tomorrow will be another busy day on the road.