Day 17 & Day 18 (15.08.2013 'n' 16.08.2013) - The Road Trip Begins

We woke feeling refreshed after our motel stay, but missing our quaint little trailer and farm life. We had breakfast at the local Ihop restaurant which involved Pancakes, eggs, bacon, berry compote, maple syrup and bottomless coffee. It is funny how sometimes a change in continents brings a vast new plethora of entertainment and sometimes it comes from the weirdest places.

It all began when during the simple act of ordering breakfast;

Waitress; Howdy Y'all, what be you having today??

Jo; G'day Love, I'll have the Apple and Cinnamon pancakes with Eggs, Bacon and Hash Browns.

Waitress; Great choice, how would you like your eggs??

Jo; umm, runny!

Waitress; (blank look)

Mitch; No darling, she means like; fried, poached, scrambled, grilled??

Waitress; (Nods and smiles)

Jo; Oh, what a yolk, I bet you (points to Mitch) put this in the blog.

Mitch; Eggsactly

Jo; It'll be all white I suppose, I just hope you don't Eggagerate it.  

Waitress; (becoming more and more puzzled) Wait a moment, Did you say grilled eggs??

Our big fat breakfast - Note; Eggs not runny

Once we got over the hysterics of the eggs debacle we stuffed our faces with food and coffee and made our way to the pick up our hire car. The hire car is a very snazzy Mazda 2, which requires both back seats to be folded flat and parcel tray removed to fit our suitcases. It is easy to drive and good on gas (fuel) so we are happy. 

We then had to negotiate our way from the southern side of Vancouver (near the airport) through the City and then off to Whistler. At first it was nerve racking to say the least, Jo was wishing she had a brake on the passenger side, but once we got on the move it wasn't too bad. We had decided that to try and save some cheddar (dollars) that we would buy some food and an Esky (cooler) while in Vancouver. So we filled our Esky (see above if forgotten) with Yogurt, fresh fruit and vege. We also grabbed a loaf of bread and a few other bits and pieces of car driving paraphernalia and before we knew it we were heading north on the Sea to Sky highway on our way to Whistler.

Brandywine waterfall

Lookout that we stopped at for lunch

We had a couple of stops on route to Whistler, one for lunch and one at Bandywine waterfall. When we eventually found our hostel we checked-in, dumped our bags and quickly headed into Whistler Village where The 10th Annual Crankworx festival was taking place. Crankworx is a multi-discipline mountain biking festival that consumes Whistler every summer. We (I) had already pre checked the schedule and knew that where to head to check out some action. We strolled purposely through the village towards Blackcomb mountain, which is where we got to see a 'Best Trick' competition. The competition was jaw-dropping, the thrills, the spills, it was well worth the price of admission (free). 

Below are some of our favourite photos that Jo took at the Crankworx 'Best Trick' comp with Blackcomb mountain in the background.

The Superman Cowabunga Dude

The Looks No Hands.... Wait A Minute... Arrrrgh

Trust us cycling upside down is not as easy as it looks. 

After the adrenalin pumping action we headed back down the mountain for an excitement levelling ale, which is where we began to deliberate over what to have for dinner; Mexican, Pasta, Pub Food, Japanese there was a whole range of different dining options to wade through. Eventually we decided on Pasta, and it was exactly what the doctor ordered, we hadn't indulged in a Pasta feast yet and we are used to having Pasta at home, so dinner was very satisfying for us.

Mitch in Whistler Village

Whistler Mountain

We hung around in the village for a little while post-pasta but ended up heading back to the hostel because someone, who shall remain nameless forgot to take warm clothes with them (Amazing prize for the first correct answer to 'Who is the idiot who forget to take warm clothes to Whistler??' - Please comment below with your answer, full name and postcode).

Day 18, On the road again, just can't wait to get.... On the road again. We woke and had some breakky at our hostel before checking out and hitting the road. We quickly ducked back into Whistler Village for a caffeinated beverage and to say our goodbyes ("I hate goodbyes" - Lloyd Christmas). We had +300km of driving ahead of us before we got to our next destination, Kamloops.

We were on our way, zigging and zagging through the wilderness, always keeping one eye each on the road, of course. It was a surreal experience to feel so engulfed by the mountains. The almost unbelievable colours of the lakes, vibrant pink flowers that lined the highway and the snow-capped peaks were making concentrating on driving very difficult.

Drive by Photo #1 - Snow-Capped Peaks

Drive by Photo #2 - Mountainous Mountains

Our first stop for the day was at Joffres Lakes Provincial Park, a completely spur of the moment move but, WOW!! Turned out to be a group of lakes fed from a glacier and a very popular hiking destination. However, we just went to the lookout and took some photo's.

M&J at Joffres Lakes Provincial Park

Joffres Lakes Provincial Park - Maiter Glacier

Back on the road and the landscape started to get more and more baron, the mountains had less trees and the grass became gravel, as we continued heading west towards Lilooett where we stopped for fuel (gas).

Baron landscape of the Elephant Hill Provincial Park - Cache Creek

Along the way we were always 'eagle-eyed' looking out for wildlife and so far we had seen a Hawk, a Mouse and a Dead Beaver, possibly this guy -Welcome to Canada Beaver. Hopefully a lot more to come on the animal front when we hit Jasper and Banff National Parks in the next couple of days

We arrived into Kamloops after lunch and headed to our accommodation, The Kamloops Guesthouse. We weren't sure what to expect as it was really cheap. We are both pleasantly surprised, we were greeted at the door of a normal looking house by a very welcoming old Taiwanese man who promptly invited us inside and showed us our room, kitchen, bathroom and all other amenities. Not what we expected when we booked a hostel but clean, tidy and has a nice homely feel. Kamloops is predominately a gold mining town and hence has a service/mining/industrial town vibe, similarly to a Kempsey, Nowra, Lithgow or Emerald in QLD. Due to it's proximity to Vancouver (3-4hours), it seems to be a overnight stop for a lot of travellers heading west into the Rockies!! This is only our brief opinion and let's face it who cares what we think??

Jo at the Kamloops 'beach'

Yours in Road Trips

Mitchell and Joanna

XOXO