Vancouver & Whistler

Emily Patterson
May 3, 2020
7 min read

Updated: Oct 30, 2020

August 27-September 3, 2019

My brother moved his family to Vancouver during the summer of 2016, so he could attend Reagent College. With plans for them to move back quickly approaching, we wanted to get in one last visit during the summer when the weather is so pretty. We planned a trip with my parents to go at the end of August to see them. Since this could be one of our last trips out there, we decided to make a trip up to Whistler as well.

Three days before we were supposed to leave, Chad told me he thought he might be getting shingles. We began to question if he would even be able to go on this trip and if it were safe for him to be around my brother's kids. Two days before we left, we went to urgent care. The doctor was skeptical of Chad's self-diagnoses due to how young he is, but sure enough, he had shingles. Luckily, he caught it early enough that he was able to get on meds, and the doctor okayed him to travel!

We flew to Vancouver Tuesday afternoon, and by Wednesday afternoon, we were heading to Whistler with my brother's family. For those wondering how we can take so many trips, Chad woke up early to work east coast hours for two days of our trip. Luckily this trip fell over labor day weekend, so he had a little extra time off!

Our first full day in Whistler, we did the Peak 2 Peak 360 Experience. We started by taking the Whistler Village Gondola to the top of Whistler Mountain. At the top, Chad and I took another lift to walk across the Cloudraker Skybridge that gives beautiful views of Whistler Bowl. The lift to the bridge, unfortunately, was not suitable for young kids, so the rest of the family didn’t join us for this part. We spent about an hour, taking in the views and walking across the bridge, Chad even managed to lose his sunglasses while we were over there. After taking the lift back down, we met back up with the rest of the family and took the Peak 2 Peak Gondola, known for being one of the longest and highest lifts in the world, connecting Whistler to Blackcomb. (The glass bottom gondola is not worth waiting in line for. We only took it on the way back to Whistler because there was no line. There is just a small, square of glass in the middle and you see the tops of trees, the view is far better looking out the windows of the gondola.) There is an abundance of hiking trails, we just opted not to hike here with the little ones and Chad still recovering from shingles. After about 3 hours, we headed back down the mountain and walked the streets of Whistler Village, which is adorable. We would have loved to spend more time there. We picked up Peaked Pies for dinner, which is an Australian style cafe, and reminiscent of our last dinner in Australia at The Pie Tin. Dinner was followed by ice cream at Cows!

Friday was the day we had planned for our hike, weeks before we knew that Chad had shingles. Chad had agreed, somewhat reluctantly, to hike to Garibaldi Lake, which is a little over 11.5 miles out and back. After researching a little more, I found Panorama Ridge, which would extend the hike to about 17.5 miles out and back. After lots of prodding, Chad came around to the idea of Panorama Ridge, but let me know there would be no commitment. We would hike to the lake and decide from there. That was all I needed to hear. In my mind, that was a yes to doing the full hike.

(When Chad told me he might have shingles, I had to accept that he likely would not be up for any hiking if he could even go on the trip at all. Thankfully, he was up for the trip, and the meds helped him from getting any worse. He seemed to be doing better every day, but being outside in the heat would aggravate his rashes, so we tried to be careful with how much we pushed him each day, especially with our hiking day approaching.)

Thursday night Chad said he felt up for the hike, so we set our alarms for 6 AM. My parents had decided to join us for the hike, while my brother's family hung out in Whistler for the day. We made a pit stop at Tim Hortons for breakfast sandwiches per my dad's request. I was adamant that we could make a quick stop but needed to be at the trailhead parking lot before 7 AM to make sure we could get a parking spot. I went to the bathroom for a minute and came out to hear that someone who had placed a mobile order came in and grabbed our freshly made breakfast sandwiches off the counter and had driven off before anyone could tell them they had taken our order. We explained what happened to the staff working, and when they finally understood the mix-up, we finally had our sandwiches and were off to choose whichever spot we wanted in the parking lot that was far from being filled up. (A lot of trailhead parking lots are small and fill up quickly, so arriving early helps to ensure a spot. At this time of year, or this particular day, it didn't appear to be an issue.)

The hike begins with a lot of switchbacks, and before arriving at Garibaldi Lake, there are several smaller lakes. After about 2.5 hours, we made it to the lake and stopped for a sandwich break. (I had grabbed sprouted bread at the store the night before for our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Chad was not a fan and barely choked down half of it. We will be buying the good old soft white bread for future hikes.) My parents showed up just 5-10 minutes after us, and we let them know that we were going to hike on to Panorama Ridge, despite some knee pain Chad was having on top of the irritation from having shingles.

The trail from the lake to Panorama Ridge was mostly easy and flat. The hardest part was at the end to get to the top where the view was. We had to climb up a steep, rocky mountainside. It had been cloudy most of the day, and a hiker coming down told us she had waited for 45 minutes and only saw little blue patches because of the cloud cover but didn’t get a view of the whole lake. This news was a bit discouraging after coming so far, but we weren't going to turn around now. Just minutes after making it to the top, the cloud cover moved out, and we had a breathtaking view of the lake. We, of course, took pictures and then sat down for a few minutes to rest and take it all in. Within 30 minutes or so, the clouds had taken over again, and the view was gone.

The hike down was pretty challenging. There was a group of us heading down at the same time, all struggling and encouraging each other. Had Chad not let me use one of his hiking poles, I likely would have sat down, and crawled my way down. Luckily the climb down was not too long, and we were back on mostly flat ground for the return hike, but we had miles to go. (There are are a few bathrooms along the hike, a little fancier than a hole in the ground, but still nothing high class.) We made it back to Garibaldi lake and walked partway around before continuing back towards the parking lot. After roughly 7 hours and 19.9 miles, we finished our longest hike to date! We finished in time to grab Creekside pizza for dinner again and spend the evening with everyone.

Our time in Whistler had come to an end and just in time. As we were leaving, Saturday morning, the traffic coming in was very backed up. It turns out, Canada also celebrates Labor Day. (I’ve learned over the years from my brother that they celebrate Thanksgiving, but it does not fall on the same day as ours, so I just assumed I didn’t have to worry about labor day being an issue.) On the way back to Vancouver, we had planned to stop at the Sea to Sky Gondola at sunset. However, my brother informed us, the gondola had been vandalized earlier in the month. Someone had cut the line causing damage to almost all of the cable cars, but thankfully it was not during operating hours, and no one was hurt. It is currently closed until the spring of 2020 when they are hoping to have it back up and running last I checked.

We made it back to Vancouver after a fun-filled two days in Whistler. Over the next several days, we enjoyed spending time with family, having a small birthday party for the kids, and eating lots of delicious food. This trip was Chad's first time meeting Penny, and she absolutely loved him!

Vancouver is a beautiful, fun, family-friendly place to visit. It was hard to say goodbye after a fun week, but we already had tickets booked to come back in December!

Itinerary:

Day 1 - Flight to Vancouver

Day 2 - Hang out in Vancouver / Drive to Whistler / Creekbread Pizza

Day 3 - Peak 2 Peak 360 Experience / Peaked Pies / Cows Ice Cream

Day 4 - Family Fun Zone for Kids / Panorama Ridge / Creekbread Pizza

Day 5 - Drive back to Vancouver / Cactus Club Cafe / Park / Pancake Dinner

Day 6 - Angus T Bakery/ Party Prep / Birthday Party for Kids / Sushi Bella / Ice Cream

Day 7 - Shanghai River Dim Sum / Kam Do Bakery / Terra Nova Playground / Family Pictures

Day 8 - Flight home

Food Recommendations:

Creekbread Pizza (Whistler, CAN)

Peaked Pies (Whistler & Vancouver, CAN)