Thursday, July 26, 2007
Whistler
Yesterday we caught the ferry from Nanaimo to Vancouver. There was no problem with our lack of reservations – we were one of the first in line. The boat was very impressive. Big, clean, fast and comfortable. It was about an hour and a half across to Vancouver.
When we got off the boat, we drove up Hwy 99 to Squamish (1/2 way to Whistler). As we had heard, the road is an incredible project. A few years ago it was a perfectly fine 2 lane highway all the way to Whistler. However, once they learned they were hosting the 2010 winter Olympics, they decided it had to be a 4 lane road. The construction has been going on for several years and it is going on in force the entire 60 miles to Whistler now. And it doesn’t look like they’re even ½ way done. What an unbelievably huge project.
We had hoped to stay at Alice Lake Provincial Park, but had been unable to get reservations even several months in advance because it was full. We did have reservations at an RV park nearby as a backup plan. We ended up driving to Alice Lake, putting our name on a waiting list and parking in their overflow lot. We had lunch and then spent the afternoon at the lake’s beach. It is a gorgeous spot and we had a great time. I swam the length of the lake and back – probably ½ a mile each way. I was pretty cool by the time I got out (I really don’t like cold water), but other than that it was nice to get a little exercise. At one point all 5 of us were lying on the beach reading our own books. That’s a first – Jessie can now read chapter books so we were all able to entertain ourselves!
We had dinner at the same picnic tables next to the parking lot and then went to learn our fate from the waiting list at 7:00. It turned out we had misunderstood – it w as a waiting list for the following night. We were told we could get a site, but Patty didn’t want for us to move twice (understandably) and declined the spot and we drove to the RV park we had reserved. As soon as we setup camp here we were kicking ourselves for not having taken the spot at the Provincial park. The Alice Lake campground is gorgeous and is next to the lake. The RV park we’re at is near Hwy 99 and we constantly hear the trucks roaring by. In addition, our neighbors set off fireworks last night at about 10:30 and woke up Kelly! We’ve got to remember how much we prefer State Parks to private campgrounds!
The only real benefit is that there is wi-fi here and I can get my trip diary up to my blog so I don’t have to do it all when we get home.
Today after a lazy morning, we drove up to Whistler (we’re camped about ½ way between Vancouver and Whistler) and spent the day up there. Most of the time was spent at a kids park which was awesome. The girls bungee jumped on a trampoline (doing flips and jumping about 30 feet up), rode a little toboggan, and climbed a climbing wall (I climbed one too – which was great fun).
Whistler is a beautiful place which is growing like crazy in preparation for the winter Olympics. We’ll go back up tomorrow and do what I’ve been waiting to do (I hope) – get some kayaking and maybe even some biking in.
When we got off the boat, we drove up Hwy 99 to Squamish (1/2 way to Whistler). As we had heard, the road is an incredible project. A few years ago it was a perfectly fine 2 lane highway all the way to Whistler. However, once they learned they were hosting the 2010 winter Olympics, they decided it had to be a 4 lane road. The construction has been going on for several years and it is going on in force the entire 60 miles to Whistler now. And it doesn’t look like they’re even ½ way done. What an unbelievably huge project.
We had hoped to stay at Alice Lake Provincial Park, but had been unable to get reservations even several months in advance because it was full. We did have reservations at an RV park nearby as a backup plan. We ended up driving to Alice Lake, putting our name on a waiting list and parking in their overflow lot. We had lunch and then spent the afternoon at the lake’s beach. It is a gorgeous spot and we had a great time. I swam the length of the lake and back – probably ½ a mile each way. I was pretty cool by the time I got out (I really don’t like cold water), but other than that it was nice to get a little exercise. At one point all 5 of us were lying on the beach reading our own books. That’s a first – Jessie can now read chapter books so we were all able to entertain ourselves!
We had dinner at the same picnic tables next to the parking lot and then went to learn our fate from the waiting list at 7:00. It turned out we had misunderstood – it w as a waiting list for the following night. We were told we could get a site, but Patty didn’t want for us to move twice (understandably) and declined the spot and we drove to the RV park we had reserved. As soon as we setup camp here we were kicking ourselves for not having taken the spot at the Provincial park. The Alice Lake campground is gorgeous and is next to the lake. The RV park we’re at is near Hwy 99 and we constantly hear the trucks roaring by. In addition, our neighbors set off fireworks last night at about 10:30 and woke up Kelly! We’ve got to remember how much we prefer State Parks to private campgrounds!
The only real benefit is that there is wi-fi here and I can get my trip diary up to my blog so I don’t have to do it all when we get home.
Today after a lazy morning, we drove up to Whistler (we’re camped about ½ way between Vancouver and Whistler) and spent the day up there. Most of the time was spent at a kids park which was awesome. The girls bungee jumped on a trampoline (doing flips and jumping about 30 feet up), rode a little toboggan, and climbed a climbing wall (I climbed one too – which was great fun).
Whistler is a beautiful place which is growing like crazy in preparation for the winter Olympics. We’ll go back up tomorrow and do what I’ve been waiting to do (I hope) – get some kayaking and maybe even some biking in.
# posted by Craig @ 11:46 PM 
