River of Golden Dreams (Day 3)

One of our Canadian guidebooks said that Whistler had a Disney-like quality to it, and that's hard to deny. It's so clean and picturesque! So happy! And, I mean, they name things like the River of Golden Dreams.

Let me back up. On Thursday morning, we took it easy for a while and ate breakfast at the hotel-- we'd gotten berries at the farmer's market the night before, and some tasty gluten-free muffins at the grocery store.

Ross and I eventually rented bikes from the hotel and rode the short distance into town. We walked around there for a while and then ate lunch at Ingrid's. It was reasonably priced, gluten-free and dairy-free friendly, and cheerful, with rotating specials and fresh fare. So good!

 
After that we stumbled upon dessert at purebread, a local artisan bakery. Oh my word. This became a daily ritual for the remainder of our trip. I want to own a bakery exactly like this one day, except all gluten free! Thankfully, they did have some almond meal brownies, flourless chocolate cake, and macaroons that I happily indulged in over the next few days. Heavenly. We were so active the whole vacation, it made eating that much more fun. And everything tastes even better when you're hungry and the sun is shining!

After lunch, we headed out for our adventure for the day. Ross love, love, loves kayaking and when we decided to go to Whistler, we knew kayaking was going to be on the agenda. Sadly, white-water kayaking wasn't really an option. But we found a tour company that offered kayak tours from Alta Lake to Green Lake, via the River of Golden Dreams.

It ended up being very scenic, but a pretty easy paddle. In hindsight, we could've rented boats and done the self-guided tour and been fine. Or I could've done the whole thing on a stand up paddleboard! Next time...

The tour was still so fun, and after a while Ross and I separated from the group and had the river to ourselves. The water and air were so clear. It just made me want to drink it all in.

Ross was ecstatic the whole time. It was so  cute  manly and tough.

Once we got back and cleaned up, we met up with my parents for a buffet dinner on the hotel terrace. We had good food and a lot of laughs, thanks to an animated magician. (That trick still baffles me...)

Another beautiful, active day. I would spend every summer here if I could!