CnC: Whistle a Loop

It was Bob's suggestion that we do the Whistler Loop, so if we are leate in to LA, it is his fault.

I wasn't really sure we were going to do it, until I saw the highway beside the bay as we were entering Horseshoe Bay on the ferry yeaterday. We met a few Aussies at the motel last night. Boy was it nice to hear a home accent. One of the couples was from Ferny Grove and they have been traveling for three months and will be home next week.

While I was chatting, Charleen and Jack went for a walk downtown and came back with arguably the worst fish and chips any of us have ever had. Lucky the beer wasn't too bad.

We set out shortly after seven and headed north over a brand new road. Almost finished. Whistler Village is the venue for the upcoming Winter Olympics so there is fervent construction going on everywhere. The road is nearly finished right up to the town and lots of accommodation being built.

It seems no one will be visiting the Olympics from the north, because beyond the town the roads revert back to "pretty awful" as a description. But the scenery makes up for it. Still a fair bit of snow on top of the mountains and green grass growing with patches of wildflowers here and there.

Over the top, we plummetted down the other side and came to Lillooet and crossed the Fraser River. There was an immediate change in the climate and landscape. It heated up to over 80F and the countryside was brown and dry.

However, the Fraser River was flowing fast with snow melt and the farms that irrigate seem to be doing well.

The river runs very deep in the valley so it must take some power to bring up the water. The valley itself is very narrow and seems to be falling in to the fast flowing river with the huge mountains just behind. We stopped for a break in Lytton, a small town nestles between Indian Reserves. Nice wild berry pie.

From here on we followed the Fraser River all the way down. It seems the rail line runs both sides. Perhaps one up-one down and if a rock fall takes one side out, the other is open. The mountain sides are steep here and always threatening to landslide.

Closer to the USA border, jack searched out a supermarket to purchase his favourite brand of cereal he can only get in Canada. Then it was head for the border crossing.

There were two lanes so we decided to take one each and have a "race". We really didn't expect any trouble, but it found us. Nothing serious. Apparently the customs agent at LAX staples both our Visa waiver documents in one passport and the border agent here could not find Charleen's in her passport. His job was then over. Write out a little card and direct us to park and go into the office where he sent our passports.

Once inside and it was our turn - someone else's medical implant had set off alarms - the "missing" waiver was found - on top of mine.

We were through.

We found Jack - he had won the race hands down - and after the GPS again directing us down a dead end lane, we found our way to Lyndon KOA.

School holidays are in full swing and the place is alive with families and kids - noisy kids. Oh well.

Internet is a bit dodgy here so the pics will turn up later.

By the way - we really love to hear from everyone at home, so keep those comments coming.

Cheers