58: Troll fishies

29.05.2012 – 29.05.2012 semi-overcast 14 °C

We left our lovely hosts quite early this morning as we wanted to get as close to Vancouver Island as possible (if possible, even get over to the island). We were pretty fortunate because today was a beautiful drive out of Kamloops, off the Caribou plateau, up the Pacific Mountain Range (home to Whistler) and back down the Sea to Shore fwy to the shore at Horseshoe Bay.

Our first stop for the day was in the tiny community of Lillooet on the ascent up the Pacific Mountain Range. The town’s tag line as you drive in is ‘get your rocks off in Lillooet’. That just cracked me up and ensured we had a pretty fun morning tea break.. I think the town uses this line for two reasons, one, the area is super rocky (not much vegetation on the mountain sides) and two the region is home to some outdoor activities.. I think rock climbing and probbaly white water rafting.. If you had’ve seen the size of the town you’d understand why i thought the tag line was amusing…

We win and lose when it comes to morning tea and lunch locales.. sometimes we find an awesome little park where we can have our cuppa in beautiful surrounds, trees, streams the works and sometimes we find a windy, dust bowl that looks like it hasn’t been used in ages.. For us the second option was our morning tea proposition, but like all of these places sometimes beggars can’t be choosers and this option is an improvement over “picnicking in the car”. 🙂

We did detour into the little town after morning tea to go to the loo and discovered that the town has a massive water leak.. so bad in fact, that the locals have set up a waterwheel in the middle of the street.. (I’m thinking this leak may have been here for awhile…..) At least the locals can see the funny side of a major bust in the water main!!

Our drive continued to wind its way up into the Pacific Mountain Ranges heading towards Whistler. We made another quick stop at what we thought might have been a location to see the Salmon spawning (some of the varieties have just started.. although most of the major spawning occurs in late Autumn/ Winter). It wasn’t actually a salmon spawning opportunity! It was actually a heap of school kids letting go baby salmons that they had fun raised and were letting go into the wild to help repopulate their local river.. Great sentiment, just not quite what we were looking for!!

Our lunch stop today was a chilly one in Pemberton (the town just west of Whistler). Our only table setup was right downtown next to the now defunct railway tracks and probably frequented by the local delinquints.. No issues today for us except for the damn cold wind that was blowing! Isn’t it funny, the one thing i’ll probably always remember about this town is cold and the have’s and have-nots.. because we are near a ski area (Whistler) there is definite money, drive a couple of blocks and there is near destitution… Its amazing when you see these differences in the space of a couple of city blocks.

Right before we drove into Whistler we stopped at a hydro plant and saw the most beautiful aqua green lake (this style of elec generation is far more beautiful than your run of the mill coal fired!!! 🙂 The lake was the colour of turquoise.. Amazing! When you see these glacial lakes you really do think that someone must be colouring the water!! Whistler came and went! We didn’t stop this time round, still a bit of snow up the top of the mountain and the gondola’s were still chugging but I’m guessing they are now taking up mountain bikers rather than skiiers!!!

We finally pulled into Horseshoe Bay around 3pm. The next boat to Nanaimo (second largest town on Vancouver Island) was just after 5pm so we had a couple of hours to kill. We paid our fare, parked in the ferry line and wandered over to the shopping area of the bay to find “Joe Trolls”. Our hosts in Kamloops had recommended that we test out the Halibut and chips at this renowned seafood restaurant and they were on the money! Halibut is a white fleshed fish with a really sweet fish flavour (not strong.. really nice). We all ordered the fried Halibut with chips and we were all impressed! When we get over to the island we apparently need to test out the Sockeye Salmon… If it is half as good as the Halibut I’ll be one happy camper!!

The ferry left on time surrounded by a steady drizzle so our trip over was very quiet. Its strange to continually look out the window and just see fog… it seems like you aren’t moving!! On arrival (by now it was well after 7.30pm) we drove down the main street found a motel, checked in and fell into bed!

 

Song of the Day– Primal Scream, Get your rocks off

 

2 thoughts on “58: Troll fishies

  1. I was watching TV the other night and a promo came on showing my fav comedian Billy Connolly (fantastic in concert if you get the chance!) riding his customised bike you guessed it from the east to the west on Route 66! I am so pumped to see some of your sights! Have to check when it starts but remember my heart still belongs to your blog! Hahaha!

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