The road to Whistler has always given me the jitters. When I was in high school a huge
boulder came through the roof of a moving car and killed a class mate. I tend to drive the highway a little on the fast side fending off a head ache. It was a beautiful day though and the new highway was a breeze. I am always a little startled by Whistler. We came here to ski as a family when I was young and after high school I lived here for a time working at a local restaurant and also at the top of the mountain in the cafeteria. I loved the ski down the mountain, five solitary wondrous miles, that came out at the garbage dump. It was a big deal when a portable arrived that was the liquor store. It meant we no longer had to drive to Squamish for a bottle of wine. Trying not to feel like an old gaffer, the Whistler I see before me astounds me. A Fairmont Hotel flanked by exclusive shops exist where the old garbage dump was. A traffic light governs the turn off to our old house and I see they have named it Zeppo Lane. Zeppo was our next door neighbour. He was Finnish, I think. He was a tall strong man with a thick crew cut and a heavy accent. I remember how he swung his ax and parted vast piles of wood like butter. One day he drove home late at night, parked his car, passed out we think, and froze to death. I sigh and turn down a street that is suddenly four lanes and realize I am on the wrong side of the road. I am caught as there is a huge concrete divide preventing me from moving over. I try not to panic. Cars honk and people yell. Very relaxing. I take it as a sign. It is time to get out of town... and what is the average price of homes here, I wonder to myself as my heart beat slowly returns to normalcy. Development that used to peter out three miles past the gondola seems to go on and on with expensive homes and condos. I stop at Green Lake and admire beautiful Wedge Mountain, one of my father's favourites. I was curious about the drive ahead. I had not been on the old Duffy Lake Road for decades. It was since before I was married in fact. What was I to discover I wondered?
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| Green Lake & Wedge Mountain |