May 18, 2026 – Redmond to Whistler, BC
I was up and wide awake at 5 am this morning. I was thinking of all the things to get ready for our trip, in a fun excited way. I am kind of like that kid on Christmas morning who wakes up way too early excited to open presents and everyone is still fast asleep. Our inside joke is to quote from a children’s puppet theater dinosaur (Yes, you read that correctly and you will have to ask to get the details) who was so excited to go on an adventure that he ran around the stage exclaiming, “I’m going on a trip! I am going on a trip!” numerous times.
It was so memorable that now when someone we know gets overly excited for an upcoming event (OK, mostly me), we look at each other, clap our make believe short T-rex hands together enthusiastically and exclaim in our best young dinasaur voice, “I’m going on a trip!” several times.
For this trip, we are headed to the Khutzmayteen Grizzly Bear Sanctuary near Prince Rupert, British Columbia. It is the furthest north you can go on the West Coast before you hit Alaska. This Sanctuary was created in 1995 and has one of the most dense populations of these enormous creatures anywhere. We will only be seeing them from afar on a boat as they gather around the water’s edge after just having woken up out of hibernation – many qith new cubs. A boat seems to be a good safe distance.
We are driving there and back. Here is a map of our 4-day plan going north.
And here is the detail map of the Khutzeymateen Grizzly Sanctuary – just north of Prince Rupert. We will be staying five nights on a floating lodge at the entrance to the park on the inlet.
Then next week, we plan to take a week to return and head back South
Our first day back on the road is like putting on a pair of comfy pair of slippers.
We begin with a lazy morning, fit all the bags and snacks easily into the car, and even do a few errands on the way out. We have some plans to stop, but are open to new ideas.
The Peace Arch on the US-Canadian border is our first idea. (Well, we don’t really count the enormous western red cedar at the rest stop – but we did get a picture.) We enjoy jumping back and forth across the national boundaries. We notice there are a LOT of people in this park – on a Monday – having BBQ’s, playing badminton and enjoying the sunny day. Then we check and find out it is a national holiday – Queen Victoria’s birthday. We smile and enjoy such diverse families all enjoying this fairly open border.
We do see a few custom officials talking to a handcuffed gentleman in their car as we enter the park from the Canadian side. Brings us back to reality and the acknowledgement that we just happened to be born within these borders and the privileges that we did not earn.
Our second idea is to get out and walk through Stanley Park and again there are throngs of people in swimsuits enjoying the balmy 60 degree sunny day. Others are more sensibly dressed with hoodies at the beach – a good Pacific NW contrast.
We make it to Whistler – our first time – and enjoy walking through the village and the oh so many restaurants. We eat outside and watch all the mountain bikers coming down the dormant ski hills. Another group with bright white helmets have just finished the zipline course. Then even more are walking by with their skis – in May! Our waitress informs us that it just snowed last week and she was skiing in powder on the upper slopes.
We take a few strolls around the village to see the 2010 Olympic pavilion, rings and flame. The early morning is starting to catach up with me, so head back early. We do a rough plan of possible stops for tomorrow and call it a night.
And we have left it open for any other – better, more exciting ideas that may reveal themselves.
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Siri and David Adventures 