Vancouver & Whistler in 2 Days
Before I started my new gig at Facebook back in 2017, I had about a week off between my job at Dell and my new job. So, like any adventure hungry late 20's girl, I packed my bags and headed to Canada.
Day 1: Seattle -> Vancouver
6:30AM: Woke up early to catch the bus from Seattle to Vancouver (I'd been visiting a friend in Seattle for a couple of days prior).
10:30AM: Took the bus into Vancouver. Took a shuttle to meet my AirBnB host at her office and get a key to her apartment. I dropped my things off at her house, grabbed breakfast at a WONDERFUL place called the Twisted
Fork and then went to Capilano Suspension Bridge. I walked around the park for a few hours and took in all the beautiful scenery, enjoying my alone time.12PM: I took the bus to a bike store in Vancouver called Spokes and rented a bike and spent a few hours biking around Stanley Park. I got lost biking and actually ended up on the south side of Vancouver and had to bike back up the city, UPHILL, to the bike drop off.
4PM: Walked over to a local pizza restaurant, Nook, for dinner and had pizza and pasta at the bar by myself.
10:30PM: My friend, Chris, decided to take a last minute, spontaneous trip to Vancouver and got in late in the evening prior to our drive and hike to Whistler the following AM
Day 2: Whistler (Panorama Ridge Hike)
6AM: Woke up & headed to rental car place to pick up car and drove to Whistler
8AM: Parked in the Rubble Creek parking lot and headed off on our big hike! In total, the hike took us about 9.5 hours, we hiked 20+ miles and the elevation gain at the top was around 8,000. We went from shorts/tank tops and sweating to wearing 3 layers by the time we got to the top of the mountain and standing in snow.
Taylor Meadows was my favorite part of the hike - it was SO beautiful and colorful! We actually saw a black bear (yikes) but thankfully it was from a very very very long way away.
Dusk: We got back to the car and nearly collapsed after our nearly marathon of a day hiking. We returned the rental car, stopped a restaurant called The Tipsy Pig for dinner, headed home to take the warmest and most rewarding shower of all time and then collapsed into bed! Chris and I both flew out early the next morning -- him back to Texas and me to San Francisco for a week for my Facebook onboarding training at HQ.
