A family summer vacation to the most beautiful state of Canada, British Columbia. We made this one also a circular trip starting and finishing in Seattle.
There is a lot of driving in this trip. Although the drive is also beautiful but I feel it was a bit much to be in the car all the time and also felt bad for Bhaiya who has to drive all the time (although he loves driving). All the hotels and AirBnBs were booked by Bhaiya and Bhabhi. None of them had any breakfast, so we had to have our own. My role was to make the program, what to see on the way. Although there were some things were changed towards the end of the trip after Jasper, but we had to do that because our AirBnB in Golden was too far and it would be crazy to drive back to Banff.
We were all flying out of Columbus to Seattle. Why Seattle? To rent a car and because there is a cheap direct flight from Columbus. The hotels were more expensive that the flight. For all the hotels we ended up getting one big family room, some with more than one room so we were all able to stay in one room. The only issue with some of these places were only one bathroom (for 5 people) and don't know what is with these hotels - the bathrooms don't lock.
The one good thing about visiting Seattle was meeting my cousin brother who has been there forever and I have never visited him. It was great to spend one night with him and family. All cousins got to know each other. He was gracious enough to pick us up from the airport and drop us to the car rental. We left Seattle in the morning around 11 am to take the scenic drive to Whistler. Its about a 5 hour drive. We had lunch in Seattle itself, a Mexican place (La Terraza) - good food. We had a couple pasta dishes and salad.
There is a specific scenic drive on Hwy 11 from Burlington to Bellingham. It was okay. We stopped in a couple places to take photos, eat ice cream (Mallards) and do a bit of grocery since we will need breakfast and lunch almost everywhere. In Vancouver we stopped at Stanley Park to enjoy the view and then drove on to Whistler. It starts getting prettier after North Vancouver with the mountains and ocean drive. We got to our hotel, Tantalus Resort Lodge, and there was nothing much else to do that night since it was already dark. The lodge was nice, two rooms + bed in the living room and two bathrooms.
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| Between Vancouver and Whistler |
Morning was fantastic as we could see the mountains through the trees in the balcony. And I saw a baby black bear in the parking lot! We checked out and went to lake Alta. It was pretty lake, and from there we drove to Whistler.
We found parking quite far away from the gondola rides. We got the tickets for the Peak 2 Peak rides and got in the line to go up Whistler mountain. It was a bit cold up top but so beautiful. We walked around the mountain a bit, a short hike of 40 mins or so. Decided to have lunch and go even higher to the Cloudraker Bridge and do the hike there as well. The ski lift ride was great!! The walk on the bridge was a bit scary as it was moving a bit due to the wind. Really good views all around. Came down and walked to the lodge, had some fries and hot cocoa. I remember coming here in 1995 Dec!
Then it was time to take the Peak 2 Peak gondola to Blackcomb mountain. Scary but beautiful gondola ride. it was high up and the views down below was just great. We did not do much at the Blackcomb mountain. Came back to Whistler mountain and took the gondola ride down to Whistler.
It was about 5 pm. Walked through the village while the kids found a place to eat - an Italian place (Pasta Lupino - good food).
From here was the drive to our lodge at Hitching Post Motel. These were all cabins little bit north of Whistler. Very comfortable although only one bathroom, but two rooms and living room. Lovely kitchen. It was so quiet here.
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