*: BC Days 3-4

Um, where did we leave off? Right, BC, heading out of Victoria.

I went for a great run here. The sun was just rising and you probably can't tell from this picture, but the view is back to the Olympic Mountains and they were just barely peeking through the clouds and it was beautiful.

That morning we drove further north to Nanaimo. Day 3 was a little strange in that we thought we were going to do something that didn't end up working out, so we had all afternoon and evening in this little town where we had only intended to sleep. Really the only reason we were in Nanaimo was to take the ferry back to the mainland at the crack of dawn. We did find a few hikes (really more like strolls) to fill the extra time. And it was gorgeous out so it was not a bad deal at all.

Here is the main waterfront area:

One of the cute little bathtub ferries for getting around the harbor area, which they also had in Victoria:

Hiking vista

Ditto

Beach

Boardwalk, looking back to the Olympic Mountains back in the states

The next morning we took the ferry over to Horseshoe Bay, just north of Vancouver. We only stayed up on the deck for a short amount of time because it was pretty chilly once the ship got moving.

Another vista, as we drove

We stopped to do a short hike (walk) to a waterfall on our way north to Whistler.

As we got closer to Whistler it actually started snowing!!! The air temp was in the low 50s but the clouds were so low that it was snowing. Eventually it changed to just rain.

The first thing we did in Whistler was head to the Olympic venues. What a mistake that was. Everything was falling apart and there was litter everywhere. It was as if the races ended and everyone just left and no one cleaned up at all. Here is the ski venue:

I mean total sadness:

Here are the jumps:

Hopefully they can get the venues in shape again to host World Cups and other big events. Also we saw several bears up there and Austin saw a bald eagle.

After this we headed back and walked through Whistler for a while. Before we got there I pictured it like Park City. It has the same kind of vibe (shops and restaurants and the lifts that come right down to town) but Whistler seems to be 4 or 5 times bigger. Also the people seemed more legit in the athletic/outdoorsy department, unlike Park City that has lots of gucci snow bunnies. Also there were a ton of mountain bikers because you can take the lifts up and come down the ski trails on your bike and they have all these obstacles and hazards all over the runs. So for this reason Whistler seems to have a disproportionate number of 20-30 something biker boys.

Here she is: