Looking at Whistler Skies.

This past weekend my husband and I took a longer-than-usual Sunday drive, doing a round trip of four hundred kilometers to play tourist on Whistler Mountain for the day!

If you watched any of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games held this February in Vancouver, you would have seen many televised events from the ski hills and sled runs of Whistler. .

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Getting up to Whistler Mountain was always a challenge. A precarious two-lane road hugged the hillsides too tightly for comfort and the sheer drops on the open side gave
many a passenger pause on the return trip!

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Snow and falling rock closed the road with some frequency…and the endlessly twisting road was never a joy to drive in the dark.

All this changed with the announcement that Vancouver was getting the Olympics. Work began on the new Sea-To-Sky Highway, with its extra lanes and added security features.

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Now it is a joy to drive, although still challenging in the winter, and the scenery is quite stunningly beautiful. It was a wonderfully moody day, weather-wise, when we went, and my camera seemed always to be pointing at the sky, torn as it was between sun and cloud...
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I’m posting my favourites for this week’s ‘Looking At The Sky Friday’, graciously hosted by CrAzY Working Mom at the link below. Do stop by for skies that will inspire!
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http://www.crazyworkingmom.com/
I have also put a few Whistler photos on my main blog, ‘Imagination Lane’, for the ‘Project Genesis’ forum. If you would like to check these pics out or learn more about the eco-friendly ‘Project Genesis’, do follow this link:

http://imaginationlane.blogspot.com/2010/08/project-genesis-iii.html

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Project Genesis III

Summer is holiday season, the time when many people take to planes, trains and boats in search of exotic places far from home. But what if you took your vacation at home? In other words, what if you took a 'staycation'?
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It can be equally amusing and enlightening to more thoroughly explore your own neck of the woods. This has the benefit of being ecologically friendly and a bit easier on the pocketbook. Often you can rely on public transit to get around, but even if you have to drive to a nearby metropolis, it’s kinder than using jet fuel for every holiday.
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Here are five ideas for taking a staycation

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1) Explore the cultural scene where you live: When were you last at an art gallery… …a play…a symphony? These are wonderfully uplifting events, and it’s a bonus that your dollars would be spent at home supporting the local arts community

2) Sightsee: Every town or city has its tourist draw. Does your city have a Chinatown...a bustling waterfront...an aquarium? When someplace new, we always do a spin on the tour bus to get an overview of our current locale. There is no reason not to do the same thing on home ground; I guarantee you’ll learn something you hadn’t previously known.
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3) Take hokey tourist photos: This picture of me and my husband taken at the Olympic Rings at Whistler Village is a good example of holiday pics! We had a brief visit with out-of-towners as we took each other’s pictures and shared a bit of our stories. Bonds between countries are best made one handshake at a time.

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Note: For those of you who read my previous post for Shadow Shot Sunday, this is the promised update. Responsible adults that we are (not), we took a longer-than-normal Sunday drive to play tourist on Whistler Mountain instead of doing some much-needed yard work!

4) Get into the great outdoors: Here in Vancouver, we are fortunate to have oceans to swim in, mountains to climb and the thousand-acre Stanley Park in the heart of the city with its seawall and many trails to meander along. You might not have access to the same variety, but fresh air and exercise are invigorating wherever you live.
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5) Allow yourself to play: What we enjoy about holidays is the break from routine. With no clocks to watch, or schedules to keep, we are free to choose what we want to do. Try doing the same thing at home. Post a message on your blog that you will be on holiday for a week, and will not be checking in. (Yes, I know this one is really hard!) Keep email to a minimum; instead, go outside and play! Go sailing, play golf, learn how to throw pots or paint watercolours. Allow yourself to have so much fun that you don’t have time to look at a clock.

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There is a Henry Miller quote that states: “One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.”
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This is, of course, advice that pertains to much more than travel. Looking at your world, and your life, with fresh eyes can be the very vacation your heart needs.

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Many thanks to Suzan at Old Grey Mare for hosting this project! It is more important than ever that we work together to reduce, reuse and recycle. To see more ideas you can readily put into use, please visit
Project Genesis at the link below...

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http://oldgreymareprimitives.blogspot.com/
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