Whistler to Vancouver

Enjoyed waffles with icecream for breakky before packing up our stuff and checking out of our wonderful loft! We loaded up the car and then left it in the hotel garage whilst we went off to the upper village to rent a bike! Initially Di was rather hesitant about riding cos the weather didn’t look too crash hot and it had drizzled already that morning but I thought we might as well just go ahead and do it!

We got the trail map out and were soon cruising our way along the Lost Lake Trail, which led us not surprisingly to Lost Lake! We rode around part of it before following the map guide towards Green Lake. We enjoyed some downhill runs, being careful not to skid on the gravel. This is when we then got lost! Somehow the map fell out of my back pocket and we took a wrong turn and basically couldn’t find Green Lake! Then it started to drizzle!

We promptly followed my navigational instincts and took a random trail that I thought looked like it was heading back to the village. Di really enjoyed this trail as it led us alongside the river up and down along a narrow dirt path! We eventually found our way back to a main road and we decided to return the bikes after riding for just an hour.

We then said bye to Whistler, vowing to return one day in winter to ski/snowboard! We drove south (very slowly due to roadworks upgrading the Sea to Sky highway in preparation for the 2010 Vancouver winter Olympics) and headed for the Capilano suspension bridge! This bridge apparently runs through the forest canopy but we decided not to do it cos it costs CND 30 per person!!! Having done a similar bridge in Malaysia for RM 6 or something like that, we decided instead to go to the Vancouver Aquarium!

We drove south over the Lion’s Gate bridge to Stanley Park where the aquarium is situated and got there around 2pm. There were still plenty of people about! We checked out the tropical fish tanks, a butterfly/slough enclosure, and some cute baby tortoises! Then we grabbed a burger at the aquarium café before hearing a talk about the Beluga whales, which are their star attractions. Qila, the mother whale gave birth to a baby girl just 8 days ago so they were very excited about that! We heard about the birth and how Qila’s own mother Aurora helped teach her how to nurse her baby calf! Then we headed to the viewing area below to watch Qila nurse her baby! Our visit to the aquarium was rounded out by a visit to the dolphin enclosure where 3 dolphins performed some cool tricks for us, and then the sea otter tank where 2 sea otters playfully swam around!

It was around 5pm when we left the aquarium and drove east towards Burnaby. We called Di’s dad’s friend Mun Kong and met up with him at a golf club in Burnaby. Then he drove us in his car to Coquitlam to have Japanese food for dinner! He was really really friendly and we enjoyed chatting with him over dinner! The food itself was great! Fresh seafood here makes for great sushi/sashimi!

After dinner we headed back to Ray and Soo’s place! We played with Ethan and Evelyn a bit before they were put to bed and then we showed Ray and Soo our wedding photos before enjoying some of their freshly baked muffins for supper! Time for bed - the penultimate night of our honeymoon!!!