Whistler - Bowron Lake

Trip Start May 01, 2010

Trip End Aug 14, 2010

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Flag of Canada Quesnel, British Columbia, Canada
Wednesday, May 26, 2010

With the car repacked and fresh laundry and hair, we drove the 2 1/2 hours to Whistler. Due to the great expanse of this country and the staggering length of the highways we rarely come into contact with other drivers - save two times! and both by two big ass lorries wishing us to be crushed against the side of the road. Lorry drivers are a formidable force on the highways - they usually spray us with mud or rain or stones but always make our small car shudder as they thunder past. For Caryl - we were stuck in a traffic jam trying to get into Van City when a huge lorry decided to cut in in front of us - you know how silly drivers do when the lanes narrow to 1 and at the last minute - he didn't seem to notice us below him and literally drove us into the hard shoulder! Caryl was already flared up so took it out on the horn like a possessed hornblower! It made no difference to the lorry driver who just ignored her frustration. we weren't much of a threat to him. It was on this drive to Whistler when we encountered another near miss lorry-car fiasco. But this time both car and lorry were to blame! we were side by side for a while, competing for first place when suddenly the road ran from 2 lanes to 1 - we were slightly behind meaning mr. lorry assumed right of way and took up the approaching 1 lane - we had to brake hard and pray we would stay on our side of the road. Despite this relative close call we kept our heads and continued with the drive! We drove into the very pretty mountain village of Whistler, had a quick walk around as it was getting late, picked ourselves up English muffins and had the leftovers of the rice/potato/lentil creation before finding a secret spot to sleep. We drove back to the village the next morn - Caryl vowed to finish her essay once and for all today and found an expensive cafe to sit in. At 7 the essay was finally done, dusted and e-mailed so we could both enjoy summer freedom from work!

We had dinner and decided we both were fine to get some hours driven on the road and make progress. The days are incredibly long over here which really helps. It is still light when we go to sleep at 11. Like most of our drives in Canada, the scenery was amazing ! and our newly downloaded roadtrip playlist made the drive that tad bit better! we downloaded "Power Ballads: The World's Greatest Driving Playlist Ever!" and haha it was soo good to hear them all and sing out loud with our fists clenched. The drive was incredible, though we experienced some real transmission problems going up and down the very steep mountainous highway. It was stormy too which made it scary as well as exciting. There were lots of patches of snow and snow covered peaks around us which soon made us realise just how high up we were! We covered a fair few kilometres and as the darkness began to engulf us we pulled into a free recreational campground - it was a real find, with picnic tables, riverside camping and an outhouse! We pitched the tent to allow our luggage to camp and we nestled inside our warm car with our warm covers listening to the patter of the rain on the roof.

The next day wasn't terribly eventful - it was a real driving day. As Livi was driving Caryl checked out the guide book and brochures we collected on north b.c. in Vancouver. Deciding against travelling west along a dead end highway with poor road surface, she read of a place where "all canoeists hope to go when they die" - though neither of us are experienced in the sport of canoeing, this was to be the next drawing pin on the map! Bowron Lake, although at the end of a dead end highway too, is a beautiful lake district with snow capped mountains in the distance. We stopped at Quesnel - the gateway to the lakes, where we roughed it in a random day car park of a provincial park. We cooked another large meal - that seems to be the trend these days given our large appetites, and have taken to the sport of badminton nightly. The Mighty One now functions as a badminton net, as well as house and mode of transport - we love our car :). We had an energetic game before settling down to sleep in an attempt to build up our fitness levels for the long hikes we have planned one day!

Quesnel hotels

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