use real butter

With the trails on the upper mountain closed due to snow (sheesh), we could have attempted another steep trail this morning, except I was tired of the frenetic pace of waking early to hike hard and fast only to return to the timeshare to entertain my parents for the rest of the day. This morning I took my parents to Brandywine Falls, a nearby short hike to what turned out to be the best waterfall I’ve seen in the area.

This morning we left for Victoria at 5:45 am. The weather forecast was for scattered showers, so the overcast skies were not a surprise. However, the cloud deck was higher and we only encountered a few sprinkles on the drive down. The ferry was cool, as in, HUGE. I’ve never been on a ferry so big before! As we neared the other side, I went outside to find Jeremy on the deck and we watched as the islands drew closer, draped in clouds. Ahead of the ferry, we saw a few seals surface and dive back underwater – so cute!

Once off the ferry, we made our way to Butchart Gardens. Jeremy and I are both suckers for botanical gardens, as is my mom. My dad goes along for the ride and I didn’t know if he agreed to go because he wanted to make me happy or because he was interested to see the grounds. Mom and Dad had been there before 10 years ago. Turns out every comment my dad made regarding the flowering plants he saw had to do with whether or not he could plant those in his yard. But for us, it was quite a treat. Butchart has manicured grounds and strict walking paths in contrast to the more free form Huntington, but the wet and lush environment makes for a most spectacular display of flowering plants.

**Jump for more butter**

So far, Whistler has racked up more bad points than good for me, but I’ll get to those later.

This morning Jeremy and I went to hike Joffre Lakes while my parents were at some time share sales pitch. The hike was nice at first and then it became steep and rocky and rooty and muddy and… The humidity was near 100% and it rained on and off (the rain wasn’t so bad, actually). It was warm for my tastes and incredibly buggy. We broke out some DEET and made our way up to the middle lake. It was the stunning aqua color of a glacier-fed alpine lake and the cool breeze coming off the glacier and the lake felt fantastic. This felt a lot like New Zealand – fun #2 with a lot of eye candy.