Vancouver to Whistler

As our second day dawned, the rain had passed over and it was a cool but fine day. Our first job was to collect the hire car. Unfortunately, we realised that we had booked to collect the car from Burnaby, which was quite a long way from the hotel. Luckily, we were able to book a taxi who took us to the hire company along with all our luggage. Once we had the car we set off on the first leg of our journey, to Whistler. This first section of driving wasn’t too long and we wanted to be able to spend some time in Whistler later in the day.

Our first stop along the journey was at Horseshoe Bay, close to the ferry terminal, a coastal village with a backdrop of mountains. We discovered a great restaurant called Trolls. The signs outside called it a fish and chip restaurant, but seeing a few people inside, we viewed the menu and saw a great variety of food for breakfast. Once again, as we were to discover throughout Canada, everyone was friendly, chatty and genuinely interested in talking about our holiday. The food here was amazing, especially the omelettes. Fully fuelled and ready for the day, we set off towards Whistler along the Sea to Sky Highway.

We had a few places on our itinerary to see, but struggled to find the first couple, mainly due to my navigation and understanding of the road numbering system. However, we soon got into the swing of the route and managed to find our main stop off points. It was overcast and showery for most of the day, so we did not see much of the mountain roads as we were driving along. Andrew was driving and loved the open quiet roads as well as some of the trickier winding mountain roads.

Scenic waterfall stops

Shannon Falls Park was our first scenic stop. Leaving the car in a busy pull off from the main road, it was only a short walk up the river to see the impressive falls. Although quite busy, people were well spaced out and most only stay a few minutes to take photos before moving on. It was an amazing view, which we soon discovered would be the first of many. Enjoying the scenery for a while and taking some photos, we then continued to our next stop off at Brandywine Falls. Once again this was a popular spot, with a short walk to the first view of the falls. Different from Shannon Falls, but impressive all the same.

Wonderful Whistler

Our journey then continued to Whistler where we had booked in to the Westin Resort Spa and Hotel. What a fabulous place to stay! It felt like a traditional ski lodge, with lots of wooden beams, a gorgeously comfortable room and a great view from the room. After dropping of our bags, we went for a walk out into the village of Whistler. We were so taken with this area, a pretty ski village with lodges, mountains, shops and a buzzing atmosphere. During the summer months the ski slopes are transformed into mountain bike runs, so the village was bustling with cyclists having an amazing time. We had a lovely wander through the village looking at the various shops and restaurants.  It was still overcast, so we decided not to book a journey on the Gondola as there would not be much of a view.         

We went back to the hotel to chill out for a little while then shower and change before going out to eat. We had booked The Old Spaghetti Factory during the afternoon as the village was so busy and it was amazing. The staff were friendly and helpful, and we were soon ordering our food which was excellent (apart from Julie who had a bug in her salad!). Once we had eaten, we decided to walk a little further down through the village seeing the Olympic Rings, carvings and totem poles. It was now coming dark and the atmosphere was relaxed with a great vibe. Everyone was out enjoying themselves and having a great time. We had a lovely evening exploring Whistler and taking in the atmosphere and later had a comfortable night’s sleep in the hotel.

The next morning, we took our time having breakfast in the Bistro and exploring the shops before setting off on the next leg of our journey to Cache Creek.

Whistler to Cache Creek

The next section of our journey was to make our way towards Jasper, but because of the length of the journey we planned two stops, one in cache Creek and one in Clearwater. (We had initially planned to stay in Lillooet, but had to rebook and found a motel in Cache Creek which was not too far away)

The Bears Claw Motel at Cach Creek was an unexpected little gem. A huge log cabin building with a reception area and restaurant with rooms around the side of the building. We booked in and went to our rooms which were warm, clean and tidy, with a decent sized bathroom. The next step was to find something to eat, without driving too far. We started off looking at a Taco place which was just down the road. This was obviously popular with the locals as it was heaving. It seemed a little chaotic as everyone was serving themselves. This didn’t really appeal to us, so we headed off to Hungry Herbies Drive in, which was a basic café, but very friendly and clean, serving a variety of tasty burgers, fish and fries.

We headed back to our rooms and sat chatting for a while before getting ready for bed and having a very comfortable night’s sleep.

The following morning before setting off on the next leg of our journey, we went to the petrol station next door, which also house Cheryl’s Place Restaurant. This was a brilliant stop for breakfast, with large portions of freshly cooked food and the usual endless top-ups of tea and coffee. Chatting to the staff in the restaurant, we learned that Cache Creek, although officially not classed as a desert, has a desert like climate, with very little snow in the winter and forest fires in the summer. The relaxed attitude to the weather is interesting, particularly coming from the UK, where weather is daily topic and is used as an excuse for things being cancelled or not running on time. Hearing people accept that weather happens and life carries on as usual was quite refreshing.

Cache Creek to Clearwater

Travelling along Highway 97 we began to see the first signs of devastation caused by the forest fires. This was sad to see, with vast areas of trees being completely destroyed, along with buildings and vehicles. The clean-up was in progress, with construction vehicles clearing the burned out cars and buildings, with huge logs at the side of the road, ready to put up new posts for power lines. It was certainly an eye opener to see this and we realised how lucky we were to be able to continue our journey without worrying about our safety.

We drove for a little while and then stopped at The Sugar Shack in 70 Mile House. We were told that it sold the best maple syrup. As we went in, it was clear that the owner had a very dry sense of humour, which really appealed to us but might not have been to everyone’s taste. After having a very amusing few minutes with him, we ordered coffees and teas and shared some maple doughnuts which were delicious. As it was such a beautiful day, we sat outside enjoying the sunshine and relaxing before purchasing lots of maple syrup (gifts for others of course) and continuing our journey towards Clearwater.

We had a few stops to look at scenery along the way and then travelled through Wells Gray National Park. This is a huge area of 5415 km with so many viewing points for rivers and waterfalls. With limited time, we stopped off at Dawsons Falls, Spahats Falls and Helmcken Falls, all of which were beautiful with the advantage of not having to hike for miles to have a spectacular view.

Our overnight stay was at the spectacular Alpine Meadows Resort in Clearwater.  With large log cabins, set in acres of forest close to the lake, it was so peaceful and picturesque. We knew that this was literally in the middle of nowhere so called at the supermarket on our way to buy items for a “picky tea”. The drive along a mostly gravel unmade road was interesting, but so worth it for the amazing views and tranquillity of the location.

We had booked two cabins next to each other, which worked really well to have our own space, but also all sit together to eat. As dusk fell, we sat on the patio, looking for wildlife. We were convinced at this point that we would see bears here due to its location, but no, not a single one, despite us all checking out of the window after dark and even in the early hours of the morning.

The next day the weather was still beautiful and sunny. We had breakfast and enjoyed our last few hours in the lovely scenery, before beginning our journey to Jasper. It would have been great to stay at Alpine Meadows for more than one night, as it was such a lovely location, however there are so many beautiful places to see in the area, it is difficult to do everything in the time that we had.