Day 15 - Outdoor Pursuits
07:30-ish
Good night's sleep.
Breakfast at 9ish and did what the rest seemed to be doing - ie taking bagels, jam, fruit etc for lunch wrapped in napkins.
Another Decision Made
What to do today? Decided that ATV (quad bikes) would be nice. Lucy was also keen. Mary and Katie settled on canoeing on the lake/river nearby. Walked down to book. Eventually found the place in the depths of Whistler Resort Hotel. Booked Lucy and I on the 5pm 2 hour trip. Katie and Mary booked on the 1pm river trip. Theirs starts about 3Km up the highway. Apparently you are taken from the 'start' to a place upstream and you actually paddle as fast as you like back from there to the car down a slow moving river. Sounds great.
The ladies walked back to the hotel whilst I stayed in the village to look round for an ATM to take my credit card. Eventually found a Royal Bank one and drew out some money. Then the walk back up the hill (following the line of the chair lift) to our hotel in the noon sun. Roasted. Gave car keys to Mary and Katie and they set off. I joined Lucy at the pool for 40 minutes or so. Roasted.
Short lunch and a long wait
13:30ish - Back to room for lunch (bagels, philly and jam in a napkin remember?), plus at least an hour's rest from the sun. Lucy and I have to idle the time between now and 5 when our trip starts. We have to wear pants apparently as the engine gets hot - wonder if she meant trousers?
Bit of National Stereotyping - sorry
Roasted till 15:30ish and then prepared ourselves. Got down to the pickup point a bit early - eager. Picked up a man and his little daughter. Listened to them coming down the steps from their hotel - didn't like her instantly - brash American 9-10 year old, 4ft tall with a 5ft mouth, from Arizona - been everywhere and done everything (bigger/faster etc)
The Great Journey Begins - with a stall!
Drove south to rear base of Whistler Mountain and got kitted out with helmet, goggles, gloves and facemask. Familiarised ourselves with ATVs - same gear change as my old Honda C70 'motorbike'. Then off we went. Lucy stalled on first hill (1 in 5ish), so she learnt hill starts quite quickly. After that, dead good.
We meandered through some very rough terrain up some incredibly steep slopes. The flat, fat tyres coping remarkably well. Guide, Lucy, me and (Dad and Daughter together) bringing up the rear. Very dusty and glad of the goggles and mask. We gained 4000ft from our start up to a radio mast at 6000ft, just under the summit of Whistler Mountain. Adam The Guide took our photos there. Lots of midges and mozzies so we soon started back. Took a detour down a track they have recently opened. Just about as wide as the ATVs. Guide, Dad and Daughter together, Lucy then me bringing up the rear. Wow was that dusty! Great being at the back though because I could drop back then zoom along to catch up, swerving about and sliding the bike - great. All too soon it came to an end and we parked up and dusted off.
Swapping Experiences
19:15ish - Driven back to hotel by Adam The Guide. Katie and Mary were in the pool - joined them after we had showered (and dusted again). Those 2 had had a great time also. Apparently a family of Japanese tourists including Gran had been dumped into the river several times! Of course Mary and Katie didn't fall in. They did run aground a couple of times but their excuse was that the river was low because of all the beaver activity. Yeah - Right. So all in all we had good trips.
Troublesome Food Preparation
20:15ish - Hot tub for about an hour then back for the evening meal (bought and prepared by the ladies whilst us off-roaders were off-roading)
Trouble with the cooker - childproof oven door - meant we ate at 9:30ish. Everyone really full and dozy so we didn't actually pack - never mind.
In bed by 10:30.