Kate moved to Bellingham, WA last August, leaving just Jessica and Janae in Kansas. Since we like each other and like traveling, we started planning a trip to visit Kate probably in October. All the planning finally paid off last week when I boarded a train then a bus then another train then a plane then a train then a bus to arrive in Washington and spend four and a half fantastic days with them.
May 20, 2016 - Day One: Quarry Rock, Shannon Falls, Sea to Sky Gondola
We headed straight for Canada Friday morning, all of us semi-rested after arriving at Kate's home in Bellingham after midnight the previous night. We jammed to tunes as we crossed the border and arrived at our first destination - Quarry Rock for a simple hike. The view at the end was lovely. We had lunch at the park and then had donuts from Honey Donuts.
Our next stop was Shannon Falls. Janae loves waterfalls. With good reason, because they are quite lovely. We walked around and snapped some pics of the waterfall.
Then on to the Sea to Sky Gondola! The ride up was pretty spectacular, as every time we thought we near the end it kept going up and up. At the top is a fantastic suspension bridge that we walked across several times. I of course thought about Indiana Jones, even though this bridge was substantially more stable. In the gift shop I talked with a guy about hockey and basketball, and he of course had to ask about the local political scene in America.
We arrived in Whistler to stay at a pretty fantastic Airbnb. We went to a local Italian restaurant and my ravioli was to die for. We went to the hot tub to relax before coming back to our room where I immediately fell asleep before any one else.
May 21, 2016 - Day Two: Joffre Lake, car troubles, Mexican food, Vancouver
Day two started out with a photo by the Olympic rings (we were staying in Whistler Village, home of the 2012 Winter Olympic Games). As we were driving up to our first destination Janae spotted a baby black bear off the side of the road. We quickly turned around and got out of the car to check it out. Another car did the same, and we talked with the girl and boy about the baby bear. They were from Germany and, before parting, Jessica asked if they would dance with us. See, we have this thing of recording us dancing in all sorts of places. They were a little surprised, but when we started recording they both broke out some very impressive dance moves.
We did a super simple hike at Joffre Lake. Seriously, the options are a 10 minute walk to one side of the lake, or a two-hour hike to a lake further up. We didn't have the time, so we headed back down the mountain.
Then the real adventure started. As we were starting down the mountain, Kate noticed her car was braking weird. We stopped at a pullout and the smell of burnt tire was strong. It was clear that the front driver side brake wasn't working, so when Kate braked it freaked out. We were in the middle of a mountain with very poor cell service. Our only option was to put the hazards on and go extremely slow down the mountain. We stopped at the pullouts to "rest" the non-functioning brake.
We finally made it to the next town, Pemberton, and called around for a repair shop. Wouldn't you know it, everything was closed on a Saturday. Kate found a place in Squamish that was open, Ken's Auto, but it was over an hour away. He assured Kate she'd make it (after all, her brakes were working) and told her to down shift whenever she was going downhill.
We made it to Squamish, blowing off our scheduled plans for the day, safely and arrived at Ken's Auto. Ken then arrived on his motorbike, and, before looking at Kate's car, started to tell us some stories. He started by asking if we believed in extra terrestials. Then he told a story about the Chief rock, how it looks like E.T., and some somewhat dubious claims about possible UFO sightings. He was, quite possibly, the most fantastic person we met on our trip.
See how the rock, called the Chief, looks like E.T?!
Turns out Kate's car was fine. It was a rather stressful situation, and Kate handled it remarkably well. It was an unplanned adventure and it was probably my favorite part of the trip. It also lead us to Mag's 99, which Ken recommended to us. It a fried chicken and Mexican food restaurant. We all got the chimichanga loco, which Ken said is what he gets, and we were most definitely not disappointed.
We made it into Vancouver, which is lovely. Seriously. I need to go back and spend real time in Vancouver, because what little I saw I was very impressed by. We walked along the trail at Stanley Park and watched the sun set. Oh, we also got poutine before heading back to America. Eh. Canada was amazing!
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