May 17th 2007 saw us making a 9 hour flight to
Vancouver to start 16 days touring Vancouver Island and the Olympic
National Park across the 49th parallel in the North West of the USA. We
were met at Vancouver airport by Caroline (and her boyfriend Drew) who
had spent the winter following her graduation from Imperial College in
Whistler as a tour rep for a British tour company.
Whistler is about two hours drive north east of Vancouver
and had a huge amount of snow over the season: about 40 feet! There was
still plenty left although skiing had just about finished.
My second cousin Doug and his wife Barbara made us
most welcome for the two nights that we spent there. Another of my
cousins, Sandy, drove up from Vancouver to join us for a very happy
family get together.
Caroline and Drew at Doug and Barb's.
Jean, Caroline's friend Rachel and Barbara at present
opening time.
The view of Whistler mountain from our bedroom window
looked remarkably similar to our previous visit except for a lot more of
the white stuff on this occasion.
I went out for an early morning walk in the crisp
mountain air.
Plenty of reading matter en route.
This looking in a north easterly direction.
Much closer to hand, the splendid robin
red breast; at least three times as big as our own robin in the UK
There are many pleasant walks and cycle
tracks surrounding Whistler. The odd golf course too.
and some really pretty lakes.
Doug and Barbara's house.
Doug working on his genealogy programme.
He is pulling together all the information from our disparate family.
A very tame Stellar Jay which will even eat out of
your hand.
Caroline with her mum and Doug who with Barbara, has
been such a great support to Caroline and Rachel during their time in
Whistler.
On our way to Pemberton, we stopped to
take a walk to the Nairn Falls which I remembered from our previous
visit.
Seen from the top the water just disappears into a
void.
A lot of melt water as the spring temperature rises.
