We spent Thursday exploring the area around Whistler, specifically Pemberton and Lake Lillooet. It rained endlessly but we made the best of it. Pemberton is the type of town normal Canadians live in, and is not remotely similar to Whistler. While shopping in “downtown,” a fellow customer asked me where I was from. I told her New York City, and jokingly said it was just like here. The not-so-sane lady went on about how friendly “real” Canadians are. She said “true” and “real” enough times for me to recognize the code. This was made more awkward because the shopkeeper was an immigrant from Germany, though she’d grown up in Canada. She rolled with it good-naturedly, a hallmark of many of the Canadians I’ve met. Even in a bucolic town with a population of 2500, the tensions of immigration are inescapable.

By Friday the weather had cleared and we finally got a good glimpse of the snow-capped mountains in the area. They are stunning and remind me of New Zealand’s Southern Alps. Since both the Southern Alps and these mountains were created by plate tectonics and repeated glaciation, it’s probably not an accident that they look similar. Like New Zealand, the population lives and travels in the valleys between the steep mountain peaks because it is not practical to build anything on them. Interestingly, these mountains are not part of the Canadian Rockies, which form a continuous range from Alaska through Canada and into the U.S. These are the Costal Mountains. The geology in this area is incredibly complicated and diverse. I could spend an entire trip just talking about the different land features and climates of British Columbia. 

But I won’t today. Because it is today we part ways. Thank you for coming along and reading. If you’re getting off here, thanks for joining and be well. I hope our paths cross again. For those staying on, next up is Spain for Christmas. We depart on December 22nd. 

Thanks to my Executive Producer RBD for editing posts on a trip she’s not on. That’s a special lady right there. Also thanks to my travel companion and all around great mother, DEG. She’s the Producer of this trip, and I just tagged along for logistics and luggage assistance. 

Looks like after a long taxi, we are cleared for departure on runway 1 6 L at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Again, thanks for coming along. Till we meet again.