As we approached my birthday and had decided to take a little getaway, the destination we chose was Whistler, British Columbia. Roger and I love to travel to new places and see the world and it was a pretty short drive of about 4 hours from our home in B-Town. So I made the reservations at the Crystal Lodge in the center of Whistler Village and we planned our trip from there. Everything was packed to go, our passports and Charlies travel permit were secured and the plan was to leave at 5AM on Friday so that we could leisurely drive up and see the sights along the way. We did not plan on the activities of the night before the trip however. When Roger got home from work on Thursday, he found Charlie whimpering in pain and curled up in a corner. So off to the vet they went. The poor pup could hardly walk and definitely had something wrong with him. After hours of tests and an examination, it was concluded that he had injured his neck. Being a not very graceful dog, we surmised that he was jumping up on the bed or sofa and missed, landing on his head. The X-rays didn't show anything broken and we were given the all clear for our trip the following morning. He was however on a strong painkiller that they gave him at the vets and muscle relaxers that we had to administer every 8 hours.
The next morning we loaded the car with our luggage and our stoned dog and headed for the great white north.
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| The Canadian Border at Blaine, Wa |
The border traffic was surprisingly light and we zipped right through. We skirted around West Vancouver and headed north along the
Sea to Sky Highway towards Whistler. What a beautiful and scenic route!
The beauty of British Columbia was amazing. Our first stop was at Shannon Falls which is a provincial park 36 miles north of Vancouver and the third highest falls in B.C. There was a lovely park and an easy hike to the falls through a verdant and lush forest.
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| The Park and Picnic Area |
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| Hiking through the forest |
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| One of the creeks running through the park |
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| Roger and Charlie in front of the falls |
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| Shannon Falls, dropping 338 meters |
Shannon Falls was an absolutely gorgeous park and a really nice hike through the best that Mother Nature has to offer. The next stop on our trip was Alice Lake a little further up the highway. A lake and campground that was almost entirely deserted. We had the whole side of the lake to ourselves that morning. So still and serene that it was refreshing to the soul.
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| Alice Lake |
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| Serenity |
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| Waterfall on the trail |
I have never seen such beauty of nature as we discovered on this journey. At every turn we encountered another spot that was more beautiful than the last. After the lake we ventured onward along the highway to
Brandywine Falls. Not as big as Shannon Falls, but still spectacular! And there were more trees for Charlie. Even in his drugged stupor, he was becoming quite fond of the Canadian Wilderness and the trees and smells.
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| View from the highway |
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| Uh Oh |
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| Beginning of the trail |
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| River downstream of the falls |
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| Along the way |
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| Brandywine Falls |
We were off to a magnificent start of our short vacation and had only just begun. There was a whole lot of fun and adventure still to come and we will get to that in Part 2- Whistler Village. Til then-Cheers
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