Suburban Tourist

On Thursday, Bob and I took the youngest boys up to Whistler.  I've been there once before (many, many years ago).  I've gotten it into my head that the boys HAVE to see certain things in this province.  Maybe it's because I've spent a lot of time in various places and haven't bothered to do the "tourist" thing and check out what other people from other places come here to check out.  So I kind of feel like a tool when someone asks me something about BC and I don't have an answer nor do I even have a good excuse for why I don't have an answer.
"Oh, you live near Vancouver.  Have you ever been to Whistler?"
"Nope."
"Why not?"
"Because it's for tourists."
Once upon a time that answer made some kind of sense to me.  It just sounds stupid now.

It really is a beautiful drive from Vancouver up to Whistler.  The sun was out, the weather was hot, and we had the car windows rolled down.  A perfect summer day.
We stopped on the way up to get a few photos at Brandywine Falls.

What's a terribly not cool thing to do?  Well, it's photobombing your own family, of course.

Whistler Village is an interesting place.  I think it's the love child of Disneyland and Las Vegas.  I fully expected to find either a Venetian gondola or a band of colourfully dressed characters singing theme songs from some movie or another to be just around the next corner.

We decide to be adventurous and take the Whistler Village Gondola (I knew there'd be a gondola around somewhere) up the mountain.  Really not a good idea for those of us with height issues, passing out issues and anxiety issues.  

Despite our discomfort, Lucas and I manage to get to the top in one piece.  I wasn't feeling all that great when we got to the end of the line, and I was wondering if it was just me and my health issues.  But as we stepped off our gondola, the group from the car in front was on the platform and a young girl of maybe 12 or 13 years of age was emptying the entire contents of her stomach right there.  I was never so happy to see someone vomit as I was then.  Yay, I'm not the only one who feels sick on these things!  Happy dance!
Let's go romp in the snow to celebrate!

 

I know it's hard to tell from the previous photos how deep the snow still is in July, so the next photo is to help with that.  It comes up to Lucas's shoulders.

So what is one to do after spending the afternoon on a mountain top?  Head to the lake and get wet!  We stopped off at Lost Lake, which, despite its name, was really easy to find and get to.

After the sun set, we left for home.  We barely scratched the surface of things to do in Whistler.  Maybe next time we'll either look for a nearby campground or rent a room in Squamish for a few days.  There's a slide and a maze that we might try and get to in a few weeks.  Or there's a whole bunch of hiking trails that we didn't get to go explore.  Or there's a bunch of stores that we just walked past.  So much more to explore.  All in all, it was a really good day.