I completed my last bicycle touring day into Whistler the other day. It was an interesting feeling, rising in Squamish after a previously harrowing day of flat tires and construction, to set out with Catherine on our last official touring day! It was a hard one - constant low grade uphill, hot hot hot, and full of Olympic road and infrastructure construction, but it was also an amazing sense of satisfaction.
First lets rewind a bit to the Sunshine Coast. Catherine and I cycled north through Vancouver in the dreary cold rain, and took a ferry across to Gibsons on the sunshine coast, a cute marine town that had character. As we were frigidly trying to make our wet way towards our campground for the night, we bumped into a cyclist who offered up his shack. Desperately wanting somewhere dry that we could warm up, Catherine and I gave this friendly man a chance and checked out his 'hippy haven' shack on the waters of the Strait of Georgia, that you had to descend makeshift steps through an enclosed canopy of greens to arrive at. When we saw the cozy shack, we accepted his wonderful offer, and felt so very lucky to be in the beautiful space that we were! We decided to stay there in that shack two nights, and explored Gibsons and the neighbouring Roberts Creek the next day. I really enjoyed the sunshine coast.
Like all other fabulous places I have visited on my journey thus far, we departed one fabulous spot in search of another one equally as beautiful. We cycled into Squamish, discovered the wildly rampant rock climbing culture there, and met up with Catherine's friend who let us pitch our tent in her backyard, in between the running chickens of course. They took us for a swim at a briskly cold nearby lake, but Catherine and I were all too excited to dive in, and get some of the bike grease off our bodies after changing three flats that day, on the side of the Sea to Sky highway (which I might add, has some stunning scenery, but is all too developed). And then, we cycled the next 55km to Whistler, where I am now. Oh what a place this Whistler is.
I feel like I am in a manicured futuristic world, where all the buildings and landscaping looks the same, and everyone walking around is perfectly groomed and carrying some sort of disposable something. There are beautiful lakes to swim in and awesome cycling trails and uh, lets not forget the mountains in the backdrop, but it just seems like a backwards community, where people love their outdoor sports - skiing, snowboarding, mountain biking - but they don't think twice about their daily actions that might have an impact on their beautiful mountain landscape. It's very interesting to be here, and so far I have had a ton of fun. I know that I have my head on straight when I interact with some of the people here, and it feels great. It is wonderful to be staying in a beautiful cozy little apartment with my good friends, cooking and eating and swimming and catching up with one another. All in all, it is a relaxing end to my journey on the coast. Oh, and Samantha, my roommate from Erb St. who we are staying with, works for a zip lining ecotourism company, and we get a great discount so were going to go zipping tomorrow through the Whistler rain forest. It really will be fun I'm sure.
Well, like I have sought in every other town I have been in during my journey, I am going to the Whistler farmers market, to pick up some veggies for dinner making tonight.
And another thing - you can be sure that at random moments during my days, and weeks, I have thought about you. Mhmm. You.
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