Day 256, 17 March 2013, Whistler, B.C. Wow. It's big. Way bigger than we imagined. We eventually left the condo and ventured out into brilliant sunshine - kicking through fresh snow like kids. Jumped on the free bus into town and then did a loop of the village. Made our way to the base of the two Gondolas and picked up our season passes... the gods were smiling and we both have great photos... what a way to start the day! OK, well it was about 2 pm when we ...

Day 255, 16 March 2013, Vancouver to Whistler - Woo hoo! Aside from waking up periodically for the odd stop, time went super fast and it was 5 am Saturday 16 March when we pulled into the main railway station and bus depot in Vancouver. Fortunately the buses are much more reliable than the sign above the railway station! We even had the chance to check out the train we'll be taking in a month's time - the Amtrak Cascades was sitting on the platform getting rea...

Day 254, 15 March 2012, Farewell Kelowna, Hello Vancouver and WHISTLER! The time has come, the walrus said, to talk of many things. Mainly packing. Thats right, two weeks in one place means the exploding luggages have had more than enough time to spread far and wide, but we got there in the end, zippers zipped, albeit straining. We enjoyed a final feast with our hosts (the Hong Kong Restaurant in West Kelowna... does awesome Chinese food!) We ventured off af...

Day 253, 14 March 2013, Kelowna, B.C. Specifically, on the sofa. We had such a busy day yesterday (see picture - stunning view from our trip to Sparkling Hill). Trouble with busy days and shaking off a bad flu is it's two steps forward and one step back. We learned something interesting today, despite being on the sofa. It occurred to us to wonder what was the capital of Canada.... Not Vancouver... Not Quebec City... actually Ottawa, Ontario. But here's a qu...

Day 252, 13 March 2013, Sparkling Hill Resort and Gray Monk Winery - Near Vernon, B.C. www.sparklinghill.com. Well you might ask - how does a hill sparkle? Hmm? Quartz? Sparkly granite? Maybe they're being poetic and are talking about the diamonds on the water effect of a sunny day near a lake (and that could well be true... the resort does overlook the last reaches of Lake Okanagan). But nope. Basically you build a massive luxury hotel and spa complex on the...