Today we left Vancouver proper, taking the Rocky Mountainer train to Whistler.
Among the many things I learned was where the name Whistler comes from. The area was well stocked with marmots (not to be confused with marmosets; marmosets are adorable South American monkeys, marmots are rodents the size of beavers), and marmots whistle.
Yeah. If I was building a resort I'd name if after a giant singing rat too.
The 5.30am wake up call was a harsh start, but the day improved. We made our way to the Vancouver Fairmont, where the bus picked us up and dropped us off at the train station in a fairly ordinary looking light industrial area in North Vancouver.
The train trip takes about three hours, leaving North Vancouver, through the beautiful and jaw-droppingly expensive West Vancouver, then travelling up the coast at a leisurely 30 mph/50 kph before heading inland to Whistler. The views were as stunning as we hoped for, aided by more flawless weather.
Emma decided we needed another matrix moment, this time trying for bears.
It worked. I spotted a black bear sitting about five meters from the rail line. Ever alert I called out, "...bear?", just fast enough to get Emma's attention. So I have a witness. But, sadly, too fast to get a photo.
The countryside is beautiful, and would be familiar to fans of Star Gate, given the series was shot somewhere around the Vancouver area. Emma joked about finding a glimpse of a star gate through the trees.
Should have thought to matrix up a star gate. Oh, well.
Arriving in Whistler, rugged up for cold with our best cool weather gear, only to discover Whistler is quite hot at this time of year. Fortunately it's easy to discard jackets, so shoved them in our back pack and started exploring, walking the length of the village.
It's a pretty setting, but unless you're a mountain biker there's not a great deal to do. Well, there's shopping and eating. There are 200 retail shops and 90 restaurant/cafes. We picked one of the latter for lunch, Emma selecting the BLT, while I figured the most suitable meal at the top of a mountain was ocean fish. Environmentally-friendly ocean fish at that, a halibut BLT with the sustainable fishing stamp of approval from the Vancouver Aquarium.
The afternoon sun made the train ride home even more striking. But we decided we do need a better camera. Our pocket camera didn't do the scenery justice.
After our third day of walking we had dinner in our room, and still couldn't finish off the rest of the Japanese food from the previous night.
I think we finally made it to 11pm - party monsters - and Emma finally managed to sleep through without her body insisting it was in Sydney and waking her in the middle of the night.
Which was good, because the next day was our biggest adventure yet...
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