Vancouver - Sea to Sky Highway

I can't believe I never finished this blog about our trip to Vancouver!

Read about the other days of our trip here: 

Vancouver - Our First Night

Vancouver - Day 1

Vancouver - Grouse Mountain 

Vanouver - Tandem Biking

Back to our last day! One of the number one recommended things to do in Vancouver

is drive the Sea to Sky Highway from Vancouver to Whistler. It's about a 3 hour drive.

It took us between 5 and 6 (You'll know why when you see the number of pictures we took.

Don't worry, I narrowed it down for you. As much as I could.)

We decided to take the train back to the airport to rent a car there, it saved us a little money
and we took it back the next morning when we were flying out.

Public transportation is great in Vancouver, so it wasn't a big deal. By the time we got the

Tahoe we were ready to eat. We didn't have any idea where to eat so we killed

some time driving around to find a place. We stumbled on the BEST view in town

on the BEST day we were there! Here we are outside the restaurant waiting for it to open.

Yup, that's a floating Chevron you see behind me.

We watched these planes take off. It was really neat.
I loved watching all the grown men watching planes like little boys!
Some things you never outgrow I guess.

Love this view. The great thing about Vancouver is you
have the water and the mountains and the city all in one.

This whale was really cool!

Under a big sculpture. Still waiting for the restaurant to open.

Finally, they opened and we got prime seating, right over the water.
This was kind of an unusual day in Vancouver, the skies were literally clear.
It's amazing watching the mountains appear.

 

He ordered a duck meat sandwich and I had a cheeseburger.

By the way, the toilet water in Vancouver is not for drinking. 

Thanks, I was considering it.
(Actually, the note was nice, because the water was a little yellow!)

Then we headed out for the day! First we crossed the Lion's Gate Bridge.
It's pretty spectacular! We got some fun night shots of it at the end of the day as well.

There are LOTS of places to stop when you're headed to Whistler.
It's not just a drive. In fact, we didn't even stop near as many places
as we could have. Whistler shuts down at 5 and by the time
we ate lunch we didn't leave ourselves near enough time. 

We found a website that guided us through all the stops.
The first, and one of my favorite was the Howe Sound.
I still don't know exactly what a Sound is, but it was incredible.

You might be scared of heights if your husband does this and
you yell at him from a distance not to fall! I literally was envisioning
what would happen if he fell in and how we would get him back out.
I don't actually think he was all that close to the edge.

He looks so good in the cold mountain weather!

I, on the other hand, just look cold. Because I was cold. Very cold.
It was really windy and cold right on the water.

 This group of girls was doing yoga (complete with instruments)
and I thought they were crazy!
I took a picture of them from the warm comfort of my car.

The entire drive looked as spectacular as this. For a while we had the
mountain on our right and the water on our left. Then we got up into the mountains
and were surrounded with beauty. Words and pictures can't even capture it.

After the Howe Sound it started to rain on us a little. I was a little bummed,
but the sun came right back out. The Officer was thirsty so we stopped for a water...

And bought a painting.



While he wandered into the gas station, I wandered into a little art gallery and fell in love.
I couldn't take my eyes off of the artwork of Lori McPhee.
Ahh, I love her work! Here's a link to the gallery.

Lion's Bay Art Gallery

I had been holding off on a souvenir until I found something I really loved
that was unique to Vancouver. It's not a cheap place to shop.
A lot of the things I saw I could have bought here for less money so I waited.
I think artwork will be on the souvenir list from now on. It's a forever purchase!
My husband is so sweet, we definitely hadn't planned
to spend money on a painting but he was totally ok with it.

This little lady was so cool. She and her husband own the gallery,
his name is Michael Tickner. He is  a well respected artist with a
unique style of very detailed work. She definitely knew how to sell a painting!



One of the many lookout points along the way.
These mountains just ok compared to what was coming!

See, he's a natural in this environment.

 Then we stopped at Shannon Falls, this was the park outside.

The bottom of the falls was a quickly moving, rocky bottomed creek,
which my Eagle Scout had to take a drink out of.

 

Proper shoes would have been preferable for going up into the falls.

There were trails that kept going up. Unfortunately, we didn't anticipate
all the stops so we didn't have time to go much farther. Not to mention,
I badly sprained my ankle a month before we left. I was in no shape
for uneven ground. If I had it to do over, I would probably take
two days for this road trip and stay at the top in Whistler over night.
Stops like this could have used a lot more time.

Here are a couple short video clips from Shannon Falls:
http://youtu.be/jRglsydiKHY
http://youtu.be/F-S2aAM016k

Somewhere along the drive, the website said we would come
around a curve to see the breathtaking Stawamus Chief.
When we came around the curve I realized their statement was completely accurate.
I took in a huge breath in awe.
The Chief is claimed to be the second largest granite rock in the world.

We stopped at a little bike shop around here. I think it was in Squamash.
The Officer was looking for a hat, he never did find what he wanted.
I was taking pictures of literally everything so I took my camera in with me.
The guy that worked there laughed so hard, I felt like a total idiot! The guy was telling us about people who rock climb on The Chief and some who have to be rescued by helicopter!

 

 

The closer we got to Whistler, the more spectacular the view became.
The guide warned us we would be coming up to the Tantalus Viewpoint.
The lookout itself wasn't supposed to be much, but you would realize
after passing it why you needed to stop. Right again.

Oh I wish the pictures could do it justice!

The Officer with The Rental. I think driving the Tahoe might
have been the highlight of his entire trip to Vancouver.

Love this handsome man! Seriously, he's an awesome guy.
It was so nice to have a trip just to ourselves.

When we got really close to Whistler we took a detour to see the Olympic Park.
Unfortunately, it had just closed for the year.
We did snap some pics in the snow. Cause that's what we do!

We made it to Whistler! I thought their playground was really cool.
We spent very little time in Whistler. We ate at a brewery,
topped at a few shops (as a last effort to buy a souvenir for our family),
bought our $5 DQ Blizzards and headed back home.

On the way back from Whistler we stopped again at the Tantalus lookout.
There was an upper lookout that gave a great panoramic view (we stopped there first).
Then the lower lookout was on the way back where you could see into the valley.
Again, it was spectacular.

The sun was starting to go down over the back of the mountains.
Sunsets have always been special to us.

We made one last stop before the sun went down, we were almost back to Vancouver.

I can't for the life of me remember the name of this place.

We saw it in a recently in the movie Walking Tall.

The Officer wandered off to walk on the beach and I lost track of where he was.

I started to panic a little. The man is an Eagle Scout and a cop,

you'd think I wouldn't be worried about him! 

Here are a couple videos of us coming up on it:

http://youtu.be/ool49bu8YNc

Here are a couple more links to videos of our drive back:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8VRkEWcGgI&feature=youtu.be
http://youtu.be/fQ9z-BFap9Q
http://youtu.be/JwtwLHSwY6Q

We spent our remaining time in Vancouver playing with our camera.
I liked seeing my hubs get back into this old hobby. We had wished for more time in
Stanley Park so we drove back through in the dark and took what pictures we could.

I love this one of the bridge.

And the view of the streets from our room.

We would go back to Vancouver in a heartbeat. It's an amazing place with

great food and natural beauty abounding. I highly recommend it.

Remember When?

It's one of those days that turns into one of those nights where I lay in bed and think about what could have been.

Around lunchtime, I walked outside to a (very) slightly cooler than usual day. So, a few hours later we packed up and headed to the park. The temperature was rising so we picked the park in the shade. The one with the taller playground. Before the kids had finished lunch they ran off to the play. I packed up our lunches and followed behind. I set our bag down just in time to see Beemer walk right up behind Sister and give her a good push. She fell straight forward and toppled down the slide. She was fine. She cried momentarily and we left immediately.

But, what if. What if they were standing by the rock wall when he pushed her? What if she had fallen 10 feet to the ground. What would she have broken? Would she have died? Would she be ok or would we have a spinal injury on our hands? What if she landed straight on her head? What if the slide hadn't been three slides wide, would she have tumbled off the side? (I'm not saying these thoughts are rational!)

What if, What If, What If?

I'm sure you've had those nights. The ones where you lay in bed and imagine what could have happened. You replay what did with a different ending. I'm not doing it tonight. I will be clinging to the passage of scripture that has been the most influential to me in the last several years.

Philippians 4:4-9

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, 

whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely,  whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 

It's not true. She didn't fall off the rock wall. She didn't break a bone, die or end up in the hospital with a spinal injury.

So, when the what if's come knocking I begin to focus on the remember whens. I have to close that door right away before my mind runs away from me. I am learning to replace those thoughts with the times of faithfulness and protection on our lives.


What if she gets hit by a car?
Remember when you thought she followed you out of the house? You were right. She was behind the truck at the end of the driveway. Remember you whisked her back inside right as that truck drove by?

What if something happens to her?
Remember when she snuck into your car in the mid-summer heat garage while you were in the shower? Remember Beemer telling you where she was and you grabbing her red-faced sweaty self out of the car before she overheated?

What if something happens to me?
Remember when your artery ruptured after childbirth and you came out on the other side? Remember the doctors who were there, the nurse who saw the signs, the blood donors who saved your life? (You can read that story here)

What if we have a car accident?

Remember when the 18-wheeler came at you? Remember your grandmother was praying for you as he veered his way across traffic straight at your car? (You can read about it here)

What if they get hurt?

Remember when she pulled their dresser over, her daddy heard it happen and the glider in front of it broke the fall?

What if something happens to him at work?

Remember when he had to fight to get one in cuffs? He won.

Remember When, Remember When, Remember When?

Those things did happen. But, they don't require any extra imagination. God was faithful. Sure, we have had some close calls (and others that just spooked me). And, I would still tell you that God was faithful if something had gone terribly wrong. But, it didn't. All of those What If's are just that. What If's. They aren't real, they aren't true and they aren't worth my time.

Psalm 4:8

"In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, LORD, make me dwell in safety."