Vancouver & Whistler Diary - Part 3

Today is Thursday 27th August. Turns out I haven't made notes for nearly a week since Part 2 of my holiday diary. So this is probably going to be a bit more of a photo diary with a few notes. So looking back over the past week...

Saturday 22nd August 2015
Picnic with family and long lost relatives (including a cousin I had never met before!)

We met up at the beautiful Whytecliff park where we had been on Thursday. Getting there early meant we got a parking spot. There aren't any parking fees or restricted parking times here but later on in the day it got really busy!

We sat at the shaded picnic tables for our lunch and the kids enjoyed playing with each other in the play area and playing football and 'acky' (a cool game which is a twist on hide and seek introduced to us by the pirates when we met up with them last year).

The tide was in and the beach was busier than before but still an amazing place to visit and spot seals in their natural habitat.

Sunday 23rd August 2015
Finally gave in to the temptation of visiting Vancouver aquarium. We had been saving this attraction for a rainy day but the rainy day never came- the weather has been glorious.

It was worth visiting - there is a big focus on education and conservation rather than purely entertainment. We spent pretty much the whole day there.

Monday 24th August 2015

Today was the day we said goodbye to Robson Street and Downtown Vancouver and headed to Whistler.

Shannon Falls

We stopped at Shannon Falls en route and then in Squamish for lunch.

Quirky jars as our glasses of water at Crabapple cafe

Desserts were AMAZING! 

Would thoroughly recommend Crabapple cafe there. As well as the usual burgers and fries that seem to be the norm in Canada, this place had some healthy and tasty alternatives. I had the felafel wrap. The boys still opted for burgers, although they did turn out to be the tastiest burgers so far.

Desserts were awesome too!

We weren't too sure exactly where our accommodation was to be located as the check in place for Whiski Jack resorts is at Creekside which is a short drive away from Whistler Village.

But it turns out that our rather unresearched and speedy last minute online booking turned out really well.

Our accomodation was HUGE - So spacious and well equipped

We are at the Woodrun Lodge and its just a stones throw from the Upper Village. The Upper Village, in turn, is just a short way from the main village.

Our accommodation is huge and fantastic. We thought our one hotel room at Riviera on Robson was spacious enough for us but here we have two bedrooms and a 'den' which has a sofa bed as Miss T's bed.

We have a big lounge and dining area, a kitchen area, loads of cutlery, crockery and kitchen utensils (there are even things like a hand mixer, whisk, mixing bowls, cake tins etc) and washing machine and dryer!

Tuesday 25th August 2015
We headed to the nearby Lost Lake this morning. It is a lake that you can swim in although we didn't fancy it as we had the hotel pool to look forward to using in the afternoon.

The pool at the hotel was great for the kids to cool down in and then we enjoyed the spa pool to warm up again after the cooler swimming pool.

Edgewater Lodge

The views from Edgewater Lodge

In the evening we'd booked a table at Edgewater Lodge which was a short drive away. It was the view that enticed us - it is just breathtaking!

Wednesday 26th August 2015
Today was Peak 2 Peak day. Not great for someone like me who seems to be terrified of heights lately! Last time we visited Whistler I quite happily went on the gondolas and yet this time I found the height an issue. Particularly on the Peak 2 Peak which didn't exist all those years back. This is a gondola that travels between the peaks of Whistler Mountain and Blackcomb mountain and is EXTREMELY high in the air.

There is even the option to travel in a glass-bottomed gondola but the waiting times were longer for those - With my fear of height - No. Thank. You.

I have to give a huge shout out to the Peak 2 Peak staff who were amazing. When we arrived to buy our tickets, there were already long queues and even longer queues for the gondola itself. With J's aspergers any kind of 'waiting' is really hard for him so we nearly turned back there and then.

There was an information office next door so before we headed off to do something else, we just popped in there and found that you could buy tickets from them drastically reducing the ticket queue wait - They also gave us the reduced rates / carers rate. They were also incredibly helpful and understanding going above the call of duty. In light of J's condition and seeing Miss T was in a wheelchair, they kindly arranged for us to go to the group entrance thus missing out the queue.

This was a huge relief as it prevented J from becoming anxious or having a meltdown and it made the difference between us being able to go on the gondolas or deciding to turn away. So a huge thank you!

At the top of Whistler mountain, there is also the option to go on the chair lift over the glaciers to get to the very summit of Whistler. Miss T was below the height restriction and it wasn't recommended for those with a fear of heights but Daddy, J and D braved it and apparently is was really amazing.

We ended our day with an evening swim in the pool.


Thursday 27th August 2015

Rain has been predicted for tomorrow so we made the most of the great weather today.

We headed to Whistler village olympic plaza where there is a super play area for the kids.

This book became my foodie bible in Whistler

Crepe Montagne was one of the other eateries that I had my eye on to try out. It really wasn't as unhealthy as it sounds as there are healthier main course options and salads available.

Ok so the dessert options were very indulgent!

We had a look around the village then back to the Woodrun Lodge for a swim.

The kids found a great bookstore to feed their reading addiction some more...Armchair books in the village square. The boys found some Big Nate books, and The 26 story treehouse. Miss T found a frozen sticker book and I found a follow up book to The Day the Crayons Quit. Its called 'The day the crayons came home'. I think it is only just been published recently so it was exciting to find that.

'Extreme dot to dot' is also proving popular. With pictures made up of hundreds of dots rather than the usual kids dot-to-dots with only 20 or so dots. What a great concept. I'd never seen one like it before.

Vancouver diary - Part 2 can be found here.
Vancouver diary - Part 1 can be found here.