Thinking Allowed: From Balboa to the Rockies

British Columbia ought to be embarrassed by the extra helpings of natural beauty it's heaped on. We just spent a few days gawking at the Rockies in Squamish and Whistler, and it's even prettier than Vancouver Island. Their motto is "Sea to sky" (which, let's face it, is catchier than "Graveyard of the Pacific") and these mountains come close to joining the two.

I think Leif Erikson named Iceland to discourage people from crowding his beautiful island. Maybe he named Squamish too: sounds like squeamish, squash, and quagmire-marsh all at once, but actually has the lovely meaning 'Mother of the wind', plus its native spelling would be lethal in a spelling bee (Skwxwu7mesh), plus it is nestled into a green valley between titanic mountains.

Squamish Town is probably nice, but we hardly saw it; the mountains beckoned. Tamar splashed her way up the Sea to Sky Trail - 8km of waterfalls, via ferrata, slick roots and heavy snow - while Jakob and the girls indulged in a gondola ride to the top. We hiked a few trails that had been carved into the six-foot deep snow, warmed up by the fire, ate fries, and generally felt extremely Canadian. We've been reading Mr. Popper's Penguins, so Sophia and Tova gleefully slid down the white trail walls going 'Ork! Gook!'

Whistler is like Squamish's older sister who spent two hours on her makeup. It feels almost Disney in its carefully planned "Town Stroll", the matching storefronts, the alternating Olympic memorabilia and Starbucks; everyone has a cool accent and is twenty-five. Since skiing would mean spending the better part of a thousand bucks for a bunny hill, we opted for the library, climbing gym and hot tub instead. Tamar has decided that she likes tourist towns like Whistler because their public services (eg library) are way above average. Also, mountains.

Now we are in Vancouver's West End for a few days, coping with the return to city life...and sort of wishing we were back in the mountains!