December 27 - 30
Finally, the four-day Whistler get-away we'd been looking forward to for weeks! We loaded up the camper with gear for various snow sports, lots of warm clothing, food and were on the road by noon Tuesday morning.
Unfortunately, by the time we pulled in to Whistler Andre was very, very sick with a terrible stomach bug. We drove to the day lots, parked, and he immediately crashed on the bed and slept for an hour. Just after dark he felt strong enough to venture out, so we bundled up and walked through the village, which was all festively lit up for Christmas. A beautiful scene, but neither of us was feeling particularly motivated. As it turns out, I was coming down with something myself as well.
After our stroll we drove to our "secret spot" to park overnight - if you look carefully there are some spots,even quite close to the village, where there are lax parking restrictions and you can get away with parking a rig such as ours overnight. (Or for several days as we ended up doing)
"Our" spot was ideal - completely level, quiet, a little out of the way yet still central, and best of all: right next to various branches of the valley trail.
The first night was actually quite terrible, however. Andre was in such stomach pain he was twitching and writhing all night, and got up a good half dozen times to take pills, go to the bathroom, drink water, etc. So really neither of us got any sleep.
Wednesday morning we were intending to hike up the mountain and go snowboarding, but neither of us felt up to it. Andre's stomach bug was worse, and I felt a bit weak, unmotivated and had a suspicious feeling in the back of my throat.
We decided to set out for a long walk, and in hindsight it was probably a bit much for both of us, but we managed somehow. We had a thermos and a bit of food with us, though Andre had no appetite and I very little.
On one of the golf course paths
After I snapped the pond photo above, I turned around and Andre was down from exhaustion - only 20 minutes after leaving!
Alpha Lake
We returned to the camper at around 2:30 at which point Andre lay down and slept pretty much straight through until the night. I took a nap late in the afternoon, but otherwise just kept myself entertained with some good reading material. Fortunately the camper is well insulated and is dry and cozy, and also has a decent sound system so my ipod ended up getting quite the workout.
Andre spent a good 2/3 of the first couple days like this
Thursday morning Andre felt much better, though not nearly to normal strength yet and still no appetite, but now I had come down with a full-blown cold. I'd had another night of very little sleep as a sore throat kept me up until at least 2am.
After breakfast we stepped out for a short walk to Rainbow Park - me sneezing every few minutes and breathing into my mitts to keep my airways a bit warmer.
Bridge over the River of Golden Dreams
Check out the fancy ice grippers on my boots - the paths were solid ice in many sections and Andre loaned me these as I was pretty useless on the slippery stuff
Photos don't always tell the truth: I look happy and well, here, don't I? I was actually fingering the camera a moment before - Andre takes way too many photos of me and it drives me crazy. I like this shot though, too bad its blurry.
We had arranged to meet Ian and Rich at Rich's new condo at Creekside in the late afternoon, so after our walk we had a small lunch then settle in to relax for a few hours until it was time to go. However, around 3:30 we noticed the furnace struggling, and then simply blowing cold air. Considering the furnace was our lifeline this was not a good thing. Andre checked the propane tanks and surprisingly they were both completely empty. We'd left with one full one, but its an older one that may have a leak in it. So we had to tough it out in the cold for a bit before leaving, then dropped by the Husky to buy a new tank. We stopped in at Rich's place to find the toilet sitting in the entrance way and both him and Ian at work with some finishing touches on the renovation to the suite. We only stayed about an hour as I was feeling pretty miserable at this point, then we headed back "home" to our spot and settled in for another night.
Another long night of keeping cozy in the camper
Friday morning found us surrounded in fresh snow! My cold was still quite bad, but Andre seemed pretty much over his stomach bug. I was determined to get outside and enjoy the snow as much as I could, so we walked the valley trail to Meadow Creek - a particularly pretty section that runs through open forest and marshland next to the River of Golden Dreams. I went through vast amounts of Kleenex and toilet paper with my non-stop sneezing and snotting, and at times had searing tonsil pains, but at least I didn't feel wobbly like I had the day before.
After the walk we had a big lunch, but squeezing head pains had me reaching for Advil and my pillow after the meal. Andre went for a 45 minute walk, and right after he left a heavy snowstorm hit and only let up a few minutes before he came back. The Advil and pillow had done their trick and I felt refreshed, ready to head out again myself. We walked the path up to the village which was bustling with people descending off the mountain for the evening. We took in the local scene a bit, got some hot chocolate, looked around some shops then slowly made our way back in the dark. Back at the camper we put all our loose items away, and with some sadness departed from our lovely spot to begin the short journey home, with a quick stop in Squamish for dinner at the brew pub.
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