Wild Times at Whistler

So our last time at Whistler was the greenest Sea to Sky Highway drive we've ever had! but it was still just as beautiful none the less!

We introduced Mom and Mara to the delights of Tim Hortons and took them on a 'Timmy Run' for some hot chocolate and bagels and bacon biscuits!

As if that wasn't exciting enough...we also got to check out these awesome views,

and admire the still snow capped mountains!

and then as drove past Squamish Byron shouted 'bear'!!! and there it was just at the side of the road chowing down on some grass!! We made a quick u-turn thinking it would for sure be gone by the time we drove back past it but to our delight it was still there! and we were able to roll down our window and zoom in to get this awesome pic! It was our first bear we've seen here so there was lots of excitement all round! 

When we arrived at Whistler, we discovered we were so eager that the chair lifts weren't even open yet! (apparently the times change for spring skiing) so we went on a little stroll through the woods.

There were some pretty funny antics that proceeded this pic! and that followed...Mom ended up with a shoe full of water! 

We came across this sign in the woods and thought it was very apt considering the bear we'd come across that morning!

When the lifts finally opened, we made it straight to the top of Seventh Heaven to catch this awesome sight!

and Mara got her first taste of Whistler skiing!  

Here we are posing with one of the many 'Inukshuk' you see around these parts! They are sculptures built with stones to make it look like a human, and are made by the natives of these territories all around the Canadian Great North.  Apparently they are as synonymous to Canada as the maple leaf is!! (and I'm not afraid to admit I hadn't heard of them before landing on Canadian shores!)

I will never grow tired of that awesome awesome view! 

Mara was pretty excited to get out their on the slopes! She's only skiied once in Poland before and that was many years ago so she wasn't sure if she'd still remember how!

but she picked it up fast and was whizzing down runs with us in no time! 

It was so strange to pass patches of dry grass and such green trees! Some people are really into spring skiing, but I would much rather take a fresh pow day in the winter if I had my pick! It was cool to get to go one last time, but it was my least favourite of all our ski days due to melting snow.

Of course any ski day gets better with some good old poutine! 

and of course beavertails too, it's our Whistler tradition after all! and one that Mara enjoyed joining in on! 

Mom got involved too and even rode the gondola to the top, in her pumps and everything! She had the shoe full of snow afterwards to prove it! 

As we were going up for our final run of the day,

we passed Mom and Mara going down the other way so we snapped pics of each other! 

We took the obligatory tourist shot with the Olympic rings, Mom decided it would be fun to lie down inside the rings - apparently lie down means different things to Mom and Mara!! Haha, we laughed for ages the night we got home and viewed these photos and saw Mom's pose! 

...and no Whistler day is complete without a trip to Splitz for the best burger in B.C!

and I'd been promising my Mom the thickest shakes in the west for months before they arrived!

They were met with seals of approval all round! In fact I think Mom is struggling to even get hers through her straw in this pic...now that is a sign of a good shake!

and because they took a while to bring us all our shakes, they gave us a free banana split for dessert! and if you can believe it, we managed to devour that whole thing even after our burgers and double thick shakes! 

...and then the cherry on top to an already awesome day was spotting MORE bears on the way home! That poor little cub was scared of our engine as we pulled over, so he ran up the tree...so cute!

and this time we came across a mommy bear with her 3 cubs! 

This one was a bit of an exhibitionist and entertained us by playing with this branch for a while!

We literally watched these bears for about half an hour, and I took hundreds of pictures (I spared you by only adding in a couple!).  We kept looking around us and wondering why no one else was pulling over! I guess to a Canadian from around these parts bears on the highway are just a regular occurrence but we were fascinated!!

We stopped off at a viewpoint on the way back to Van, and took in those snow capped mountains for one last time.

Vancouver, Vancouver, how will we ever leave you! (Am I sounding like a broken down record yet?!) I can't believe we only have 2 weeks left in this majestical land!

and because I can never get enough of waterfalls, we stopped off at Shannon Falls to give Mom and Mara a quick tour.  It was close to 9pm by the time we arrived so we were losing light fast and really this picture was taken in the dark so luckily lightroom did some magic on it...be prepared for lots more waterfall pics to come! 

I'm aiming to do a post a day to get all our B.C adventures caught up before we head Stateside for our road trip, so be prepared to be bombarded!