Desolation Sound

   I started today in Victoria and I drove to the waterfront overlooking the Straits of Juan de Fuca; the water was calm and shiny. It was a clear morning and I could see the Olympic Mountain range across the water the U.S. with it's snow capped peaks. The other times I've been here they were hidden by clouds. 

   Also at the waterfront was the starting point for the Trans Canada Highway. The TCH goes all the way east to St Johns Newfoundland.

   I drove north on Rt 1 then Rt 19 to the northern end of Vancouver Island and caught the ferry from Courtenoy to Powell River on the mainland. From there I drove about 40 min north to the end of the coastal road in a marina town, Lund B.C. on the border of Desolation Sound.

   Tomorrow is Canada Day and the road south from here will be crowded with bicycles in a big holiday race. I'll be starting my trip home and maybe I'll catch some fireworks on my way.

Good Bye Mary Ellen

   I took Mary to the airport early this morning. Her flight home went smoothly, connecting in Dallas. I'll miss her company on my trip back.

   After I dropped Mary off, I drove south to pick up the ferry to Victoria on Vancouver Island. I've always liked ferries and this was a nice 90 minute ride. I'm guessing there weren't many Pa plates on the car decks.

   In town I had lunch at the harbor and toured the Maritime Museum. I was tired and decided to spend the night and head north up the island on Monday.

   I always thought the coasts would be more interesting than mid continent so I'll take an extra 2 days and see more of the Pacific before turning east for home.

  

Leaving Whistler

   It was a great week with our old shipmates. Forty years later we could feel again what made these people such dear friends.

   We took a last walk through Whistler Village after breakfast then headed south again on Rt 99 to Vancouver. Mary has an early flight on Sunday so we'll be having an early wakeup.

   On the trip south I got a good look at some of the road signs. Kinda like in Ireland where the town names are shown both in English and Gaelic, signs here are posted in English and Native American.

   The Gaelic names look very hard to pronounce but the Native Anerican names are impossible. Not only are there letters in their names but punctuation marks seem to mean something. One name even had the number 7 in the middle of unpronounceable letters. 

   Early to bed for us, enjoy your Sunday!

Mountain Golf

  After the rafting and gondola adventures we settled in for a couple of days golfing. We played two courses in the village, Whistler and the Fairmont Chateau courses. Both were hilly and had great mountain views. 

   Course wildlife include some black and brown bears; the course rangers kept eyes out while we played and only had to warn us once. They standby with airhorns and more to keep them away from the golfers. Luckily we never crossed paths. 

   The shipmates have taken turns hosting everyone for dinners; we had Wednesday night and shared with Trudy and Al Taylor. We hosted at the Dublin Inn, a pub that was built in Ireland and shipped piece by piece to Whistler. It was a fun night and Mary found out the manager Evan was from a small town in Donegal Ireland that she knows well.

   Next week I can come off of the all beer  diet I seem to be on for now.  

Exploring Whistler

   We slept in a bit on Sunday morning after our 1:00 am night before. After unpacking we took a walk in the village before the rest of our group arrived. Whistler was the sight for the mountain sports for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. There were crowds of people and the village is thriving long after the games were over.

   We met everyone on Sunday night for dinner and drinks. Activities for Monday included white water rafting complete with wet suits for the very cold Green River. I'm glad I didn't bring my camera or glasses as we got bumped around and very wet. Mary did well staying in the boat for the whole trip.

   Tuesday we all took the ski lifts to 6,000 ft on Whistler Mountain. From there was a peak to peak gondola ride to Blackcomb Mountain, a mile and a half long span. We then took another lift up to 7,200 ft where we walked through snow to have lunch at the top. The views were wonderful with snow capped peaks covering the whole horizon. On the way down we passed right over a black bear eating the local greenery.

   The day was great and we came home to do some food shopping before heading out for a group dinner.

Arrived !

   I woke up Saturday morning and wasn't in a hurry, with only 200 miles to Whistler it looked like an easy drive. I wasn't sure why the car GPS said 4.5 hours for such a short distance.

   The road from Kamloops to Whistler starts out on the smooth TCH then turns south on the very scenic BC Rt. 99, a much narrower road up through mountains. Some of the bridges were single lanes made of wood.

   Scenery was so good I had to make stops for pictures, the road was all up and down, sometimes turning completely around as it climbed up and over from sea level to 5,000 ft and back down.

   I made it to Whistler in a little over 5 hours and met Rob's daughter Leslie who checked us in at the lodge condo. I left around 7:00 pm to pickup Mary at Vancouver airport. The road is called the Sea to Sky Highway was was another really pretty ride. Mary raved about it on the way back north, and it was even dark. It was a late finish, getting finally settled at 1:00 am.

    

British Columbia

   I drove about 500 miles on Friday but it seemed like a lot more. I stopped at Lake Louise for lunch and a walk around. The clouds were high enough so visibility was good; the lake is about 6,000 ft up in the mountains and the water was even bluer than the picture.

   I was a little nervous about crossing the Rockies but it was no problem, the TCH road was in great shape. I drove a bit on the slow and cautious side, there were lots of curvy spots and again great scenery.

   I crossed into British Columbia and changed time zones again; the mountains got gradually smaller and covered with pines instead if snow. I broke for the night in Kamloops, about  4 hours left to Whistler. I'll be happy to see Mary tonight, she gets into Vancouver about 9:30. It'll be great to spend a week somewhere else than behind the steering wheel.