Blueberries & Whistler Whimsy

All this talk of Whistler. Are you going to Whistler? Have you been to Whistler? Oh, you've got to go to Whistler, eh!? Whistler, nope, no plan to go there but would be nice, right? So after serving up the crowd loading all those buses destined for, you guessed it, Whistler, we found out that we could board a bus without an event ticket. So we're on our way to pay when a blueberry stops us. Oh, what's a blueberry? That's those turquoise blue people we keep running in to, those Olympic workers, volunteers. They are EVERYWHERE except the washroom. They were calling themselves Smurfs, but the toques came in blue instead of white. So they named themselves blueberries instead. Oh, that's your Canadian word of the day: Toque /two-k/ (a noggin topper, a tobaggan).

The blueberries at the Whistler bus centre are a complete blast. Despite working from 3am, they are so happy doing this Olympic thing. So I start up a conversation with the lead blueberry, Shaun. Turns out he just returned from Beijing after six years, so we chat it up a bit sharing our Beijing stories. A while later as we're on our way to purchase our tickets, Shaun shouts out 'just get on the bus'. Not expecting anything in return for our own work, we get the very cool opportunity to experience Whistler. Right then, let's go!



Talk about a scenic mountain tour; such amazing, amazing terrain. Rocky, stone mountains bathed in evergreen encapsulated by clear ocean waters the entire two hours. We deboard at the center of town quickly finding a breadhaus to satisfy the lunchtime cravings (pierogies!). A misty, gray, snowy Germantown feel; almost an Aspen but on a much larger, historic scale. Would be remiss if I didn't mention the first site was the memorial area for Nodar Kumaritashvili adorned with candles, flowers, flags; a touching reminder of our fragility. Spent the afternoon going shopping,engaging in conversations in many dialects. I especially enjoyed the Swiss house with portable heaters and the hockey game live. Got on CTV (Canadian television), watched the anchors interview the latest Canadian gold winners, Squeezed our way though a Jamaican mosh pit courtesy of Damian Marley (youngest son of Bob). "He's sick!" as the 20-somethings like to say. Celebrations on every corner along with a cup of Tim Hortons (the Krispy Kreme of Canadian Coffee).



The skiing and the snowboarding looked terrific. Really wanted to hit those slopes, but could only imagine it. Oh well, another day sure. Loaded up on more trinkets along with a new toque to keep away the falling, traditional rain here. Nice to walk the streets with my sweetie since our own story started in the Rockies of Colorado. Aww, sweet moment had to say out loud. After yum-o pizza din din, more hockey, made our way back to the bus for the journey downside to Surrey. Another day grateful for the bountiful.

Oh, did I mention hockey? Right, watched more hockey!Nothing less than Gold will do for the Canadians. After their first loss early on though, the chipper Canadians on the Skytrain went sullen chanting "they're going for the Zinc!".