They say time flies when you’re having fun, and it seems that’s exactly been the case when it comes to me and Carms. Somehow a whole year of us being together has flown by leaving us with a huge amount of memories and good times to savor already. It would have been remiss of me to let an occasion like this fly by without some kind of celebration, so on the sly I arranged for a little getaway for the two of us up to Whistler to enjoy some fun times in the outdoors together.
To kick things off, we headed up the sea-to-sky highway stopping in at one of our favourite snack stops – the Howe Sound Brewery in Squamish, for a late lunch. From there it was on to the The Fairmont Chateau Whistler Resort where we checked in and headed straight for the pool to cool off, have a couple of cocktails and just relax before we headed into the village to have a look around and grab some dinner.
On Saturday I surprised Carmen with a half day mountain horseback ride which meant a 9am start for us downstairs at the “Outdoor Adventures Whistler” office in the Fairmont lobby. From there we were picked up by mini van and transported further north to a hobby ranch in Pemberton where we embarked on our adventure which was described on the website as follows:
This half-day ride is the ultimate horseback adventure for riders with previous experience. Fields, forests, mountains and creeks, this ride covers spectacular and stunning terrain. After winding through hay fields and potato crops, we will climb to incredible view points and a beautiful waterfall.
Carmen spent the morning with a steady, careful steed aptly named “Relic”, while I was matched up with a rambunctious fella named “Crackerjack”. As part of a group of 6, we all enjoyed a great morning filled with steep mountain climbing and galloping through potato fields (my testicles are still forgiving me for that bit).
Back in the village we headed to the Garibaldi Lift Co. to enjoy a cold bevy while taking in some of the action on the bottom stretch of Whistler Mountain’s famed downhill mountain biking trails. Some of these riders are absolutely nuts… it’s no wonder that they get around covered in armour and looking like they are about to go into battle with the mountain.
This morning we embarked on what I had hoped would be a really fun and scenic alpine hike on the peak of Whistler Mountain. Having scouted out a trail known as the “High Note Trail”. As it turned out, it really was a scenic hike, but the unrelenting fly population took the shine off the potential “fun” aspect and I must pay a huge amount of respect to Carmen for toughing it out. To get a good description of the entire trail, check out Tyler Ingram’s summary.
The following images we shot throughout the day as we made our way through stunning fields of alpine wildflowers. We took in unchallenged views of “Cheakamus Lake” and were fortunate to have constant views of the unmistakable “Black Tusk” in the distance to the south-west.
Sue Masefield
Willow
Carmen
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