Day Three: Waterfalls and Wildlife

On Day Three, we took the Sea to Sky Highway up to Whistler (the site of much of the 2010 Winter Olympics).  The drive was spectacular and I would have photographed it if a) it hadn't been quite foggy and gray and b) I hadn't been extremely car sick.  Blech.  All those beautiful and windy mountain turns finally got the better of me.   However, imagine a road winding along the edge of a beautiful mountain with the ocean crashing on the other side.  Waterfalls can be seen every few miles, tumbling off cliff edges and folding into beautiful creeks and streams, all finding their way back to the ocean.  Off into the hazy mist, majestic mountain islands can be seen, standing sentinel in the sea with tiny sailboats floating in between.  It was absolutely breathtaking.  On our drive up, we made a few stops to visit some of the larger waterfalls.  It was rainy and drizzly, so I wasn't able to take too many photos.

Once in Whistler, we drove up to the Olympic site and spotted a black bear on the side of the road.  We pulled over and I took pictures with the window rolled down.  It was very cool.  Another bucket list item crossed right off.

On our way back, we checked out more waterfalls.

On Day Four we had to drive back to Seattle and fly home, but we managed to sneak in a few things before heading to the border.  We went to Bloedel Conservatory that houses many bird species and plants..and then walked around Queen Elizabeth Park.  The park is a once-quarry turned into a sunken garden, similar to the sunken garden at Butchart Gardens in Victoria.  The ugly quarry walls were covered and turned beautiful with all sorts of plant life.  It was really amazingly beautiful.  

And that my friends, is the end of our adventure.  Apparently we really love gardens.  I didn't really realize it, but I guess we do.  Oh and Asian food.  We ate a lot of Asian food.  We had Vietnamese pho and Japanese udon noodles, ramen and gyoza (potstickers).  I ate gyoza whenever the opportunity arose.  Mmmmm.  And those garlic udon noodles we happened upon were delightful.  And the hubby bravely tried takoyaki at the street market.  Which, I discovered, is fried balls filled with octopus.  He wasn't a fan though.