Summer vacation (with family =|)! We had to wake up at 5:00 AM, and leave at 6:00 for LAX. We finally boarded on Alaska Airlines at around 8:00, and left (on time!) at 8:30. Two hours later, we arrived in Seattle.
After renting a car, we left Seattle, driving north towards Vancouver. The border guard was pretty fierce, funnily enough, asking all sorts of odd questions. And here I though Canada was supposed to welcome us with open arms. We continued on our way north, past Vancouver, taking highway 99 north towards Whistler. The route itself was along the coastline (or rather, the bay), so it was rather scenic, despite all the construction going on, which I suppose was in preparation for the expected increase in traffic during the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
Whistler itself is where the snow events will take place: skiing, snowboarding, etc. Though there’s no snow here yet, it’s still really cold, and it rains pretty frequently, from what I can gather. We checked in to the Nita Lake Lodge late afternoon, which is about 5 minutes from Whistler Village (where all the major hotels and markets are). By the time we were checked in and unpacked, it was 9:00 PM, and we needed to eat, but the hotel restaurant cost $48 dollars per person (more in US dollars!). Much to our surprise, when we drove to the village to get dinner, most of the shops had already closed already at 9:00 PM. Even the local KFC and Pizza Hut were closed for the night, so we ended up eating at McDonald’s, which was open ’til midnight.
Our hotel itself is pretty amazing. We had originally reserved a single suite, but for some reason, they gave us two. And what suites they are! First and foremost, there’s an upstairs to our room, which means we have two bedrooms with king-sized beds each. Each also comes with a bathroom: the upstairs one has a massive rain shower (as in pretty darn big), while the downstairs one has a massive soaker tub and separate shower. Each bedroom has an HDTV, with another 40 inch screen in the living room of the suite, which makes for a grand total of three (3) satellite HDTVs in a room! Additionally, our suite comes with a fireplace (!!!) and balcony, with an amazing lakeside view. Couple that with free high-speed internet, fridge, microwave, coffeemaker, etc, and you have quite an overkill deal for the price we paid. Did I mention we got two suites for the price of one?!
Canada itself is pretty cool. Though seemingly identical to the US at first glance, there are a few quirks that stand out and are interesting. It’s “centre”, not “center”; “washroom”, not “restroom”; “To-mah-to”, not “to-may-to”. Refills at fast food restaurants cost 50 cents (despite being self serve), and shopping carts require a dollar for safety deposit. The hotel toilets have a pull-up plunger flush, not a flick-down handle. Many websites I visit here default to their Canadian variants (.ca), which kind of annoys me. A quarter of the channels on TV are in French. Everything is so green…in SoCal, everything is yellow and it’s considered a wet year if it rains more days than you can count on one hand. Even right now, there’s a light drizzle, which looks pretty cool with the lake as a backdrop. It’s one of those scenes that make you feel nice and warm when you look outside while sipping freshly brewed coffee (using the french press in our suite =p).
We go river rafting tomorrow at 1 PM, rain or shine (despite how cold it is this week), and then it’s back to Seattle the day after to get on a cruise to Alaska. We’ll see how all this goes.
