Whistler, Blackcomb & Hostel on the lake

The hostel in Pemberton (house!)
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Good nights sleep all round and got out of bed just after 9am. Both hungry after our measily dinner so we had oats and toast before showering. We left the hostel (house!) at 10.25am and topped up on gas and got some groceries and then got back on highway 99 west and drove the nice short 35km from Pemberton to Whistler where we arrived about 11.45am. The weather was great, quite hot and very sunny, especially for the end of September! It was to early to check into the hostel so we parked up and walked to the foot of Whistler Mt. Andy had been here before in the winter, but it looked so different in autum, with loads of mountain bikers literally flying down the Mt. We walked around the large village area looking around the shops as although many of them had sales on, they were still more expensive than other places. Whilst there we both tried a beaver tail, which is a Canadian flatbread which can be either sweet or savoury topped. Meg opted for Nutella and Andy had cinnamon sugar. We also checked our emails, Andy just incase of an impatient Derek! (you never know!) After, we got some hiking trail info from the tourist centre, for tomorrow, and then went and looked around the 2010 winter Olympics centre which gave details of the games which Vancouver will staging. Here we took some pics of us in a bobsleigh and of Andy pretending to win gold on the mock rostrum. After we walked over to Blackcomb village which is a lot smaller and was extremly quiet, so we didn't too long there. We got back to the truck about 4.15pm and drove the 4km odd to the HI Whistler hostel, which we eventually found! The hostel itself is quite an old wooden building, nice inside downstairs but a little shabby upstairs. But the location...for $20 (10pounds) each a night we're literally 5m from the edge of the pretty Alta Lake with wonderful views from the dining area and lounge or the outside decking area of Blackcomb Mt & Whistler Mt  on the otherside of the lake. Who needs the Fairmont?? We checked in opting to upgrade to a private room for tomorrow night and then read/did the journal before cooking/eating dinner looking out the massive windows at the superb lake and mountains. Later we sat in the lounge area and chatted to a Danish guy and a guy from England who'd just graduated from Cambridge. Both very nice and interesting people.