Whistler, B.C.

We had a great time in Whistler.  Whistler reminded us of Park City but only Whistler was 4 times the size and had huge mountains and beautiful lakes in every direction.  The mountain biking is awesome.  We all enjoyed it! We all went biking on Monday.  Todd and his brother, Brandon are pro's and had nice bikes to start with so they took off and did their thing.  Todd's parents, Bryan and Ann, his brother, Ryan and I all rented some nice downhill mountain bikes and had a private lesson.  The lesson was wonderful.  I've apparently been riding my bike wrong my whole life.  Its crazy how changing such little things can make such a big difference.  While we were on the mountain, we saw tons of black bears! They were everywhere.  As you were riding the lift, they would be right below you and as you were riding down the mountain, they would be right off the trail.  It was awesome!  It was raining off and on that day so we all got pretty muddy, but it was still fun.  

This is what Todd and Brandon looked like after a full day of riding!

 

Our private lesson included a trip on the Peak 2 Peak gondola.  This gondola connects Whistler Mountain with Blackcomb Mountain.  It holds many world records including the longest unsupported span (1.88 miles) and the highest point above ground (1,430 feet).  Pretty amazing!  Unfortunately it was rainy, so the pictures didn't turn out great but you can still tell how high we were!

Todd and Brandon had a 3 day pass so they biked 2 more days. The rest of us biked another half day on the mountain.  We all enjoyed the other trails around Whistler that would take you to different lakes, however you did have to pedal uphill on those ones!  

While we were there we enjoyed shopping and exploring the town of Whistler.
We saw many of the venues where the Olympics took place.

We were even there on Canada Day!  We watch the parade go around the village.  It's pretty much like the 4th of July.  We ate lunch at the bottom of the mountain and we saw Greg Watts who is a pro mountain biker.  Todd showed me some videos of him later and he's pretty amazing.  He can throw double back flips on a bike.  

The whole family went and saw Knight and Day and when we were buying tickets we learned that they still had tickets for the midnight showing of Eclipse!  So Todd and I, along with some of our friends that were up there, all went and saw it!  We all liked it but I think the boys enjoyed it more then us girls!

We also went and did a rope's course on Cougar Mountain.  It was pretty crazy.  It had some very hard obstacle and to make it worst you were 60 feet off the ground.  Brandon thought it wasn't that bad but he had just done a 160 ft bungee jump a few days before.  Todd would try and go across all the obstacles without using his hands.  I was holding on for dear life!  

Brandon bungee jumping!

We had a great time on our vacation! Thank you Gilbert's for a wonderful time in Whistler!

At the border we had to wait a while to get back in the US.  It's a lot easier to leave the United States then come back! They have a park right on the border with each country's flag made out of flowers.    

Washington

The state of Washington is beautiful.  Todd and I decided this was definitely a place we could live during his residency.  Even with the rain, we still had a great time.  We spent a lot of time in Olympic National Park.  This place has some amazing rain forests, waterfalls, mountains, and views.  We could of spent a lot more time there exploring.  There was so much to see and do!

Ruby Beach

Hiking in the Hoh Rain Forest

Sol Duc Falls

Marymere Falls

Hurricane Ridge- this place is amazing! You drive from sea level to 5,200 feet on a road for 17 miles.  You are surrounded by mountains in every direction.  

The national park is right next to the city of Forks, so of course we had to stop.  For all you Twilight fans, I was a little disappointed.  They didn't film much of the movie there it seemed like.  Everything  now has to do with Twilight, Bella, or Edward.  Every stores is has one of those three names in it.  The town is bigger than they make it out to be in the movie and the high school and Bella's house are different.  Yes, I made Todd find the high school and Bella's house!  We also headed to La Push and camped by the beach.  We enjoyed sitting on beach watching the huge waves.  Our camp site was beautiful.  We were surrounded by a huge rain forest that you could barely see through because the trees were so thick.

So they use this sign in the movie, but the school looked completely different! 

This is supposedly Bella's house

The Twilight tour bus

La Push- this is where we camped.  It's a huge rain forest.  You can't really tell by the picture but there were just tons and tons of trees!   

We stopped at First Beach but it was really rainy so we didn't stay long.

Our plan was to get to Seattle by June 24th to meet up with Todd's friends to bike the next day.  We caught the ferry on Bainbridge Island and made it to Seattle that night.  I would have loved to stayed in Seattle longer but since we had a truck bed full of bikes and camping stuff, we thought it wouldn't be a good idea to leave the truck in the middle of huge city and decided we would make a trip just to Seattle one day.  We spent the next day biking at The Colonnade.  The Colonnade is Bike Park that the city built under the Interstate.  Todd was in Heaven!! Most of it was beyond my skill level so I just took pictures.

On the Ferry with Seattle in the background

The boys at the Colonnade! 

Todd

After the Colonnade, Todd and I headed to Anacortes to catch a ferry to the San Juan Islands.  The San Juan Islands are off the Coast and are beautiful.  We stayed at a bed and breakfast and enjoyed relaxing with each other.  The US had there soccer game against Ghana while we were there so we found a bar that was showing the game.  Unfortunately they lost but we enjoyed watching the game with a group of loud and excited fans.