Wednesday 20th June - Collect hire car

Today was the first day of summer and every person who we talked to reminded us of this. It was almost as though it is a really big event for Canadians and should not go un-noticed.
We slept  until the alarm went off at 07.45! After breakfast we walked up Robson Street, taking in our last look at Vancouver, the cell phone that we had bought from the Fido store now worked and we were safe in the knowledge that we had contact with family back home.
Soon it was time to return to the hotel and take a taxi to the National depot to collect our hire car, which we had booked for 12 days.

This did not go quite as smoothly as it could have done, as we were given instructions to collect the car at the cruise ship ferry terminal, however, we should have been at the office which was within sight of the hotel!  It was our good fortune that a member of National's staff was available to take us to the correct address. After safely negotiating ourselves out of downtown Vancouver we set off to Whistler, which would be our first overnight stop. The journey is 123kn/76mls and takes Highway 99, which is kown as "Sea to Sky Highway", it has been declared to be one of the world's five best road trips. The weather was good and in the distance snow covered mountains, including the distinct shape of Whistler Mountain, could be seen. All along the route there are warning signs to put on snow chains & I expect that in winter time it could be quite a hazardous journey. We had a driving map, an information sheet that was provided when we collected the car, and so we knew of places of interest to stop.

Shannon Falls: The third highest waterfall in British Columbia and formerly the key ingredient inCarling O'Keefe beer. It has featured in the Twilight movie, Breaking Dawn.

Stawamus Chief - granite outcrop

The Stawamus Chief is the largest piece of free-standing rock outside of Gibraltar.

Look out for bears!

Brandywine Falls

Brandywine Falls, (not too far from Whistler), are a short walk through the forest from the designated car park. A viewing platform of the falls is perched on the edge of a volcanic escarpment.
We reached Whistler, known to the Squamish First Nation as "Wild Spirit Place". Whistler Olympic Park was developed as the site for cross-country, biathlon, and ski jumping events for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter games. In the summer it is used for mountain biking and a competition was in progress whilst we were there.
We had one night here, staying at The Best Western, Listel hotel, our room was overlooking a golf driving range.                                                                                                                                             

 

That night we ate outside at The Irish Pub in the warmth of a log burning fire pit. Another vast contrast - only 76 miles away from Vancouver - how completely different this was.