Squamish -Whistler

Sunday morning, October 9, we arrive our next port of Squamish BC. Out the port side of the ship is the pier which is stacked full of paper product ready to be shipped to its destination. We are and have been in logging, lumber and paper country this week and here is some of the finished product. The view out the starboard side is of this sheer rock wall. Stunning.
Squamish Pier is a union pier and is closed 24 hours a day except to those who have clearance. Our bus will be allowed to pick us up and drop us back at certain times so we will not have the freedom of coming and going as we have had in past ports.
No worry....today we take the bus up to Whistler/Blackcomb Resort.
The tree colors here were glorious! The ski season will hopefully begin in a month or 6 weeks, but today is a mild sunny day. The top of the mountains are heavy with cloud cover, but today is shopping day and we are ready!

Whistler will be the venue of many events for the 2010 Winter Olympics, so we are taking it all into our memories so we can say "I was THERE!" when we see it on TV.

During the warmer months, Whistler Resort is host to many mountain bike events.

If you look closely, just below the red building on the hill, is a biker just finishing his run.







The fall colors are in full display.

We took the Gondola up the mountain to an elevation of about 6,000 ft.




At this elevation the temperature was much cooler and as you can see, the snow is beginning to fall and accumulate. Most of my companions today are from warm weather states and many are quite chilled up here and thrilled to see the snow.



Soon the snow will fall here in earnest and the mountain bikers will go home to tune up their skis. Locals and visitors from around the world will once again flock to this mountainside resort for fresh, crisp air and the thrill of shushing down the mountain. In my mind I could smell the earthy aroma of firewood burning and warming the toes of the skiers and snowboarders. The essence of Hot Buttered Rum and Brats on the grill will soon fill the air, and the clomping of ski boots will fill the streets.

But for now, we take the bus back down to Squamish where our ship awaits us. The Canadians are already improving the roadway up to the resort area and by the time the crowds arrive to see world class athletes compete for the gold, silver and bronze, the highway work will be complete and the area will be ready to welcome the world.