Whistler Day

When we were still in Vancouver, I collected every brochure the hotel had to offer. 

There were two purposes for collection the brochures. One: To know what we could do while we were in Vancouver and since the hotel's wifi was so slow, paper brochures still work fine for me. Two: The kids are doing scrapbook/journals documenting their trip. 

The scrapbook concept was something that my folks "made" Cindy and me do when we went to England and also in our motor home trip out west. We hated it at the time but I love my scrapbooks now. I love remembering the things I did and the seeing it from my adult eyes brings me right back to the moment. It's really funny how that mental time travel thing works. I remember...I mean I REALLY REMEMBER writing each entry. It is because of these books I am able to relive those special times:  When I taped British pence onto the page; held the paper out to catch late April snowflakes and then I circled the wet marks in the page; a four leaf clover my grandpa found for me and a little "poem" he wrote in the page next to where I taped the good luck charm; postcards I asked my folks to buy for me; stickers from each country; and so much more. 

Like good grandparents, my folks bought scrapbooks for my kids for the purpose of inflicting the same torture they did to Cindy and me.  And like a good parent, school teacher and victim of said torture, I promptly took them to Michael's to buy tape, glue, and some stickers to whet their scrapbooking appetites.  There's no breaking the cycle of "abuse" here in this family. Not only do I support the journals, I've one upped it by returning to my blog after having had a year long temper tantrum whith technology.  ;)

And so...we rented a car and decided to drive to Whistler, British Columbia, Canada!  We could have taken a train for a gazillion dollars but I had to ride in a car and look out the window and listen to my mom read facts about the location and I made them do it too.   Shawn was the DD but the scenic (read terrifyingly high) drive proved too much for him. So, I took over driving.

Conveniently though, the really hairy driving was over and now I had the wheel!  Move over Daddy, I'm the head Mommy in charge here!  (That line was intended to be read in the voice of Morgan Freeman.) So, I was the driver, my mom assumed the role of navigator and factoid reader, and the "kids" in the back were forced to look out the window. (If Cindy was here, we would have cracked up when my mom said, "Do you kids need to go to the bathroom?"  That's ALWAYS been code for "Stop acting so hyper."  And it was said multiple times during the ride.)

And off we go!  

First stop: "Shanaynay Falls". (Actually Shannon Falls but that's what Summer thought it was called.)

We walked up the path, starting at the bottom of the riverbed, and worked our way up to the overlook. 

Just looking...

Perfunctory:  "Smile kids!"

I love taking pictures through tree limbs. 

Wow!

Double wow!

What more is there to say?  Sometimes no words really work. (A picture is worth a thousand words.)

Cautious

She's using "the force" to push him into the water.

Through her gritted teeth she's chanting, "Fall. Fall. Fall...."

Sorry, Summer, he didnt fall. 

But... seconds after this shot, he fell!  Nicholas fell in!  Only his foot and about half of his calf got wet.  But, he did fall! 

The next stop was in a tiny town where we had lunch at a really unique restaurant. When we turned off to see the little town that boasted some sort of quote about the most eagles...!!! We had no idea what to expect. We got to the fork in the road.  The town's "Welcome" sign showed that to the right were several points of interest.  Naturally, I choose to turn left where we found the cafe and post office.  

The menu had pierogies!  Score one for Grandpa!  And for my 9th grade English teacher who made us memorize Robert Frost, "Two roads diverged in a wood. And I, I took the one less traveled by."  We had some of the best comfort foods: Ruben, French toast, pancakes, hash, pierogies, and Canadian beer.  (Strange combo but it all worked out.) 

After a brief nod to Robert Frost, "...and that has made all the difference", we were back up on Route 99 and headed for Whistler. 

Whistler was a big ski town and the journey was far better than the destination!  The only picture taken in Whistler was of funny sign about dog poo.