Before leaving Kamloops on day 5, it was important to all of us to visit the memorial at the residential school. While there I spoke with a woman from Saskatchewan who was involved in a number of murdered and missing indigenous women and truth and reconciliation inquiries. She spoke of some of her experiences and stories relayed to her. It was a hard place to be. I am thankful that I was able to spend some time in that discomfort and I was thankful that I was able to give that experience to my kids. It was a more sombre beginning of the day than our previous starts.
Several times during our drive from Jasper to Kamloops we had lost our Spotify signal. I was about 3 chapters in to an audiobook from before the trip, so I gave everyone in the car a quick synopsis and we listened to a twisty murder mystery novel as we continued on our way to Whistler, BC.
During our adventures in Jasper, the sky tram operator described to us and we observed the devastation of the pine beetle. We were able to see that repeatedly throughout the trip. As we made our way through the BC interior we saw evidence of a different devastation. It was not the deadwood of the pine beetle, but blackened trunks of last years forest fires. It was incredible to see how close to the road the fire had been.
About mid-way we stopped at a well placed
Fountain Flats Trading Post to check for some gravol. They had some! It was a good opportunity to stretch our legs. It was also good timing for the Gravol. The next stretch of road was a lot of fun driving, a lot of switchbacks and roaring mountain rivers.
In Whistler, we checked into our apartment at the Marketplace Lodge next to the Olympic Plaza. We wandered the Olympic village. Michael has since described it as having a theme park feel. We went to a local hot spot for dinner. Chris and I felt nostalgic as we watched the table of 20-somethings who were wrapped up in their own world. We embarrassed the children by doing some interpretive chair dancing to the loud bar music. I had been vetoed on the afternoon hike I had wanted to do, so I settled for an after dinner 7km walk including around Lost Lake. On the way to the lake, just outside a parking lot at one of the traffic lights we spotted a bear. We slowly backed up. The bear spotted us. The bear slowly continued on its foraging way, completely ignoring us. Phew! The rest of the lake walk we only saw 2-legged animals of the human variety.
Looking for some picnic baskets?
Lost lake
We were tempted by the beach area. But not enough to walk back to the apartment, change, and walk back. The suggestion of skinny-dipping was vetoed by all 3 teens.
Immersive art!
