Two of Two

As I mentioned before, silly-little Claire hasn't left me yet. In fact, she seems less likely to leave me than ever. I thought that and the fact that she hasn't left for 5 years was cause for a celebration. I booked us into The Adara hotel in Whistler, bought a couple of bottles of wine, and checked the map.

Now, one would be forgiven for thinking the 121km from Vancouver would take about 45 minutes to cover at SA speeds on SA roads. Here we were not allowed either. Firstly, they are upgrading the roads. Either that, or the huge earth-moving machines are a cunning way of distracting you from the beautiful coastal scenery. I did discover that I should probably keep my eye off BOTH, however, since the general flow kept dipping from 90km/h down to 3.25km/h. Around a blind corner. In the mist. And on icy roads. Okay, those last two are a lie. But it would have been SUPER bad if it was misty and icy.

But we arrived safely and checked in. We told the valet to park our beetle next to a Porsche. He did.


Looking fabulous, above, we dined and then slept, waking to the beautiful, and somewhat unexpected sight of Whistler mountain capped in snow. I'm not talking berg-snow-capped. This was the top half of the mountain! WHITE! And the lifts were running?! ITS MAY!!? End of, no less. The skiers and snow-boarders confirmed it. Whistler is STILL offering skiing.

Now, its impossible to capture the real feel of a place, but here are some "general whistler" pics to help a little:

That's a holiday inn in the Background. Strict building code, anyone?



See - that guy has a snow-board in his hands. And boarding boots that make him walk funny.

The little town was bustling. NowIt turns out that we arrived on the weekend of the whistler mountain bike park's grand season opening. Its a fully lift-serviced downhill park for getting muddy beyond compare.




We were tempted, but we only had white shoes and jeans - NOT ideal. So we slummed it and went running in the AWFUL golf course with DREADFUL meandering running paths and NOTHING pretty to look at AT ALL!!

And look, a little bit of the Prairies has found its way to the mountains. Well done, little barn. *salute*


So, we basically chilled and did whatever took our fancy each of the three days. Ate and drank and were merry. Claire got a little dizzy, I think, because she agreed to play GOLF with me. Now, those of you who know Claire well, know what a departure that is for her. I did have to compromise on the "club" selection though. We bought a putter and an iron and headed to "powerline ridge" course. Oh, did I mention it's frisbee Golf? And I was serious about the "putter" and "iron". Here is Claire teeing off with her putter!


And putting with her putter. That Chained contraption is the hole. Looks like she's curling it in.

We did decide, on the last day, that we NEEDED to be involved in the mountain biking. Something that didn't require body-armor though. We rented a pair of yummy cross-country bikes and headed into the forests. It was sublime.
We messed around on the beginner course for a little while:

The view was good. Of the scenery too.

But we decided that we are FAR too experienced to be mucking about on THAT! Here's Claire, forging up the Intermediate course. In case you're wondering, there is no more "path" than you can see here. Boulder hopping up the slope is pretty much the idea.

Hey, bru, you're glowing, right!

And all too soon, it was over. Like this post.

That is all.