Category Archives: Vancouver SightSee

A Trip to Whistler

We made our way to Whistler on a day trip. It’s about 120km from Vancouver, and takes roughly an 2 hours by car.

If you don’t have a car, you can take the Whistler Shuttle and Bus which are offered daily, with frequent transportation from Vancouver to Whistler. Just sit back and enjoy the scenery, or stay in touch, whether with friends or for business with their free WiFi. Depending on whether you’re going from the airport or downtown, fares can be $72 or $55 respectively. This can be pricey, so it’s best to hitch a ride with a friend and split the gas costs ;) It’s also a lot more fun anyways.

idearabbit-whislter idearabbit-whistler2Crossing the Lion Gate’s Bridge. Yay! It’s not raining!idearabbit-whistler3

Driving along Sea to Sky Highway.idearabbit-whistler4

Today, White FlatBear joins us for the trip.idearabbit-whistler5There’s something for everyone, like chilling at Starbucks while enjoying the beautiful scenery. If you’re an outdoor person, there are lots of skiing and snowboarding opportunities. In the summer, there are four golf courses to practice your swings and hiking trails to enjoy some breath of fresh air. idearabbit-whistler6 idearabbit-whistler7 idearabbit-whistler8 idearabbit-whistler9 idearabbit-whistler10There are lots of trendy shopping for yourself and souvenirs for your family and friends. There are restaurants and bars, but we found that it was really difficult to find a reasonable priced place that didn’t have an hour or more line up.   idearabbit-whistler11Take some photos of the Olympic rings that were installed for the 2010 Winter Games. Each winter, the Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW), in partnership with the Province of British Columbia, transforms Whistler Olympic Plaza into skating rinks. It’s free admission, so bring your pair of skates. Great for the whole family or for romantic dates. You can also rent skates for $5. Helmets are available at no charge. Note: To keep the rinks safe and family-friendly, hockey and figure skating are not permitted.

Festival of Lights at VanDusen Botanical Garden

The Festival of Lights usually run from mid December to early January at Van Dusen Botanical Garden, every evening from 4:30pm to 9:00pm,  during the holiday season except on Christmas day (December 25).
Friends, couples and families can enjoy dancing light shows on Livingstone Lake every half an hour, meet Santa, watch performances and see over a million twinkling lights to get you into the holiday spirits.

Admission is $14.25 for one adult (prices are subject to change from year to year, please check their official site for current admission prices). It can get pretty chilly, so bundle up and take lots of photos :D

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Entertaining:carrotcarrotcarrot    Cost for Admission/Food: N/A

Atmosphere: carrotcarrotcarrotcarrot    Location: carrotcarrotcarrot

Britannia Museum in Squamish

idearabbit-britiannamuseum9Yay! Trip to the mountains :)

We got our tickets for the noon tour. It was partly sunny, but the winds were bone-chilling. I knew from their website to dress warmly as the tour would be taking place inside the mine where it was going to be dark, cold and damp. I suggested to my friend to get his coat that he left in the car. I’m sure he was glad he did.

The actual tour seemed a bit short for $25 (compared to the Underground Tour in Seattle), though it was neat to see everything. The rest is self guided, and there is a gold panning area where kids and adults can try and pan out some gold. Sheepie got so into it that he spent so much time freezing his hands off to get some gems and gold looking stones while his friend and I went to the cafe to have some hot tea and coffee with chips. The cafe isn’t really a real cafe. Something you’d expect out in the middle of nowhere…with simple table and chairs set up, and a few snacks with coffee brewing in the coffee pot. Very simple and low key. But the tea is nice to warm up with! And for those that doesn’t want to freeze their hands off panning, you can buy the gems in the souvenir shop :P

idearabbit-britiannamuseum7Mockup Model

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The real thing idearabbit-britiannamuseum5

Our tour guideidearabbit-britiannamuseum4

Little train we ride to get deep into the mineidearabbit-britiannamuseum6

So, with the actual guided tour part, you ride on a small train into the mines. The guide will show how they use to mine with facts that made the Britianna Mine so special and important back then. The train may be fun, but for the rest, it may not be suitable for infants. The machines are super loud as the guide turns them on to demonstrate how they used to dig back then. The little ones on our tour got scared or were restless as they got bored.

Overall, it’s a nice half day trip to Squamish from Vancouver. It’s a nice museum, but $25 for admission is pretty expensive. Students get discount, so don’t forget to bring your student ID if you are one!