[mobike008]

Roadtrip from Seattle- Whistler, Canada (September 7 & 8th, 2024)

BHPian Crackhead never visited Canada and he was eager to visit and explore the food scene out in Surrey, Canada.

You may know from my previous travelogues that we regularly go to Surrey to enjoy some authentic Punjabi food. Crackhead being a Punjabi could not resist this temptation so we planned an overnighter and club the famous Whistler Gondola Ride as part of the trip.

We booked a lovely AirbnB in Vancouver and we were all set for this roadtrip.

This time I decided to take the Tesla as I wanted to see how it fares on the Sea to Sky Highway.

The plan was simple :

Saturday : Eat as much as you can in as many locations as you can in Surrey, Canada.

Well, we ate so much that we had to visit the gorgeous Stanley Park in Downtown Vancouver and cover our 10,000 steps to get rid of those calories. But, that was in vain as we immediately put it back with a fabulous dinner.lol!

Sunday : After a hectic day of eating, we headed out early (8:30am) to Whistler which is the skiing capital of Canada and there was a time winter olympics were held in this location. It's just 60 miles (100kms) away and the entire drive is through Sea to Sky Highway which is a spectacular highway with ocean on one side and mountains on other end.

By mistake, we booked the wrong Gondola ride (there is one more in the middle of the Sea to Sky highway). We convinced them to make it an open ticket and thankfully they agreed and made our ticket valid until December 31st, 2024 which means we have to make another trip to enjoy this gondola. Yay !!

We then booked the Gondola ride that was our original intention which was Whistler Gondola on the Blackcomb Mountains.

Let me tell you a little bit about this Gondola Ride. The ticket similar to all attractions in Canada is steep at $100/Person.

Gondola Ride #1

This is an almost 30 minutes ride to one of the mountains. This is possible the longest ride that I ever took on a gondola.

Gondola Ride # 2

This is known as "Peak to Peak" which means it takes you from the peak where we disembarked to another mountain across. This was around 12 mins ride.

Gondola Ride # 3

This was a tough one. There is a 20 mins hike through steep terrain to reach the Gondola departure station. This Gondola is an open top chair type to the top of the summit.

Once you reach the summit, there is a walk on a dangerously swaying bridge to the edge from where you get spectacular views. We also enjoyed a lovely lunch on the top enjoying the views of the mountain ranges.

We spent a lot of time up there and took the ride down late afternoon.

Around 5:30pm departed from there and stopped in Surrey for a quick charge and dinner and then headed out towards home to reach around midnight.

A lovely weekend spent in the British Columbia. Enjoy the pictures and videos !!

Cheers
Mobike008

Route for this trip.



Rosso Diablo gleaming before the trip.



Vancouver Downtown



Parked in Stanley Park, Vancouver



A cruise ship taking off from Vancouver- View from Stanley Park.



Happy Faces...







Seaplanes were taking off or landing every 5-mins.



We witnessed a spectacular sunset from Stanley Park. One of the best.













Sea to Sky Highway (Vancouver to Whistler- 100 kms of unadulterated fun. The Tesla was taking these corners like a supercar. Carrying a lot of speed in the corners and staying flat. It was an activity of overtaking everyone. I tell ya'll it's boring alone in the front.





Beautiful town of Whistler- This is like Banff. Quaint, Historic, French influenced and surrounded by snow capped mountains.





A ferret or something similar was posing for the camera.



On the summit. We walked on this highly swaying steel bridge. It was fun!





Jeep and ATV tours up near the summit. Canada Adventures are next level.















Us on the Summit !!

[mobike008]

Well, we are not blessed with good Indian food in Seattle. In fact, we almost never go to any Indian restaurant here (Unless, it's some high end fine dine type of place).

Therefore, we are always craving for the authentic and Dhaba style food that you get in Delhi/Punjab or in general in North India as majority of America is heavily South Indian (Telugu mostly) infused style which is good but, we cannot eat that regularly.

Hence, we cross the border and enjoy some awesome food and come back the same evening. The Canadian Border Immigration officials know me by now and they must be thinking (Here comes the foodie yet again....)

My pal and neighbour actually visits more often than us. He is across the border almost once and sometimes twice a month. He must be much more on the radar of the immigration folks...lol!

Well, this post is just for the love of "Good Food". Being a hard core foodie, I travel to a place when someone highly recommends irrespective of the distance.

Cheers to great food (cooked mostly by actual sardarji's in the kitchen) and BHPian Crackhead had just come back from India (a few days before this trip) and he was like- "What the heck"- Even Chandigarh cannot dole out such good food as they are busy copying the western world.

Cheers to many more trips to CANADA !!!

On the way to the Canada Border. We stopped at a Starbucks for coffee (American side). We bumped into a bunch of Indian Motorcycle riders which is a rare sight. Obviously, I struck up a conversation. They were doing their annual long ride. They were riding from Seattle to Banff National Park in Canada over 7-days. Super exciting, isn't it? We exchanged numbers as they are auto enthusiasts too.





I love Pain Puri- This place is Surrey is the primary reason for me to visit it so often.



Kulfi Falooda- Reminds me of Gianni's in Chandni Chowk.





This took me straight to the heartlands of Punjab. It was that good.





Chole Bhature. Bhature are Paneer stuffed like in Delhi/Punjab. I doubt if we can find a place in US that makes like this.



Tandoori Momos at Happy Singh- A place that is rumored to be owned by Diljit Dosanjh.











Maple Syrup Croissant from a quaint French bakery in Whistler, Canada.







Fish Pakoras- Best I ever had in my life. Better than the overrated Makkan Fish in Amritsar. Probably equal to Ganesh in Karol Bagh, Delhi.





$7 Paan.





Enjoying an awesome meal sitting on the Summit of Blackcomb Mountains in Whistler- Highest Point of the Gondola Ride.





Dinner in Surrey before heading home- Tandoori Moms and Fish Pakoras repeat while Tesla is getting charged.

[Aditya]

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