Canada Update 1

Well as we come to the end of our first week on our Journey it is time for a catch-up, and what a week we have had!
On a 13 hour trip flying Premium Economy with Air Canada was great. Super seats, good service, excellent food and drink; I even got a reasonable sleep between movies.
Vancouver, Canada, arrived just after 7:00 on Tuesday, just 3 hours before we left Brisbane - time zones do my head in. Checked into our accommodation and had a quick nap, then off to the city centre via the 2 bus from 41st Street along Knight Street. Looked just like a city!!
Wednesday and Friday we did the Hop On Hop Off bus thing. Enjoyed Stanley Park, Totems and the ice cream. Vancouver a a major cruise ship centre for the Alaska cruises. There were about 6 departures in those 2 days. Vancouver is clean and green and a pleasant enough city and amazingly multi-cultural - talk about a "melting pot" of cultures. Picked up our Nissan Rogue hire car from Hertz for our driving adventure on the wrong side of the road.
Fun Fact: Nissan are the 4th largest car seller in Canada behind Ford, Toyota and Honda. Mostly medium sized SUVs and Pick-Ups. Have you seen a Honda pickup?

First on our road trip was to pick up my baby boy, Tom, from his workplace at Camp Summit near Squamish, an hour and a half north of Vancouver. The Camp offers Spring, Summer and Fall camps for 7 - 17 year olds, boys and girls. Lots of nature, walks, camp-side sing alongs, education - right up Tom's alley. Tom gave us a tour of the Camp and introduced us to the owner, who had kind word re Tom's contribution to the camp, especially at the sing alongs- the kids think he is great.
After loading up his backpack and guitar we headed off to Whistler. We kept Tom away from the car boot as his birthday present was inside. Whistler was reached followed by a minor glitch re the accommodation. We booked through Booking.Com but the entry code did not work. After some anxious moments and finally contacting the owner we found the booking was cancelled and we were "home-less". After phoning around we found a suitable hotel which worked out better than previously arranged. It was within walking distance of the village and the ski lifts. Dinner was secured at a local restaurant and all was good. As we had found in Vancouver and Squamish most of the wait staff were either Australian, Kiwis or English - hard to spot a Canadian.
Next day, Sunday, we decided to take the chair lift to the snow. Roberta had never been to the snow and Tom was in anguish. He wanted to snowboard but it had a cost plus he was with us. So after offing a birthday present of snowboarding off we went to hire some gear - board, boots and waterproof pants.
Whistler was not on my bucket list and only went there because of Tom and his birthday. WOW was I wrong!! The gondola ride up the mountain was a spectacular climb through the forest then the snow. Views increasing as we rose from spectacular to unbelievable. At the top Tom immediately headed down the slopes and we headed into the lodge. Amazing facility with a wide range of foods and drinks, souvenirs, and timber. Timber magnificently used everywhere in the building, furniture, walls, ceilings and floors. All the ski and snowboard beautiful people everywhere and did I mention the views - snow-peaked mountains 360 degrees around. We had an amazing day watching the scenery and the passing parade of people. Tom had a ball and completed a good number of runs.
Side bar: When Tom left Australia he left his be-loved Gretsch electric semi-acoustic guitar. He had left it in a guitar shop for them to sell. He could not take it with him and he needed the cash. He had some crazy offers but did not accept them. With his birthday we hatched a plan. As we were going overseas we told him the guitar had been sold and I would bring him the cash to him. We gave him the cash on arrival.
After dinner we went down to the car to get "something". When we got there we opened the boot and revealed a guitar case. Tom asked if there was anything in the case - we said yes. He later said he had no idea of what was inside. When he opened the case and saw the Gretsch he got very emotional. He gave me a big hug and said he really loved the guitar. A great result for our effort.
The Monday, Tom's birthday we took him back to the Camp, said our goodbyes and headed off to Kamloops.