Strictly speaking it takes several villages to make up the community of Whistler, British Columbia, our first stop on a trip to northwest Canada. It was a prelude to a cruise to Alaska, a trip we have long had an interest in making.

Whistler was home to the alpine skiing events at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. While there have been people living in this area for generations, Whistler itself definitely has the feel of someplace that was planned specifically for such an event, rather than evolved over time. Everything is very neat and tidy, which isn’t a bad thing, but it doesn’t feel quite real. It reminds us of Vail, Colorado, another ski town created from the ground up in the latter half of the 20th Century. Both nice, but just too put-together. Multiple “villages” make up the community, some of which were built for the Olympics.

All that said, it’s a very popular place, with many day-trippers coming from Vancouver. Obviously it’s not ski season in August, but there are still a ton of outdoor activities, and the area is beautiful. Hiking, mountain biking, road cycling, rock climbing, kayaking and golf are all available for the actively inclined. The large number of families with children we have seen means there is also plenty to keep the little ones occupied. (Hey, give them a pool and they are good for the day.)

The only downside to our visit was the impact of forest fires elsewhere in BC and the Northwest Territories provinces. We weren’t directly threatened by any fires as they were all well away from Whistler, but the smoke was blanketing the area for the second two days of our visit. We are now in Vancouver, which is also under haze from the fires, but is not as thick as it was in the mountains. North America has been dealing with this all summer, unfortunately.

Our trip started with a direct and uneventful flight from Newark to Vancouver. We picked up a rental car and drove the lovely “Sea to Sky” highway, aka Canada Route 99. Whistler is roughly 60 miles from Vancouver, but it took more that two hours to make the trip due to traffic, some road construction, and a couple scenic stops en route.

Unfortunately, the stops we did make were packed with other travelers, one of the downsides to touring during the summer high season. It’s why we often avoid this time of year, but if the trip is built around a visit to Alaska, you kind of have to do it in the summer if you aren’t a musher.

We devoted our first full day in Whistler to hiking, while our second day was centered around golf. There are many trails in the area, but the only ones accessible from the village require a gondola ride to the top of one of the ski mountains. Unfortunately, a cold front dropped the temperatures to morning lows into the 40s in the village, which would have been even chillier on the mountain top. We opted to drive to one of the other trails in the area. The temperature warmed to the mid 60s, with sun, so it was pleasant, and on this day, there was no smoke in the air.

We played our round of golf at the Fairmount Chateau Whistler course, one of several top notch courses in the area. It’s a Robert Trent Jones design. There is also a Nicklaus course and a Palmer design in the area, along with other options. We would recommend Whistler as a destination for any of our golfing friends. In addition to the Fairmont there is a Four Seasons resort in the area, but each is located outside of the village. We stayed at a hotel in town and found that to be an ideal location with plenty of shops, bars and restaurants within easy walking distance. There is plenty of variety.

It also stood out to us that nearly all of the young people working as servers and the like were from somewhere other than Canada. There were plenty of Aussies, and a large number of Brits. A few told us they came for the outdoor activities and never left. Oh to be young and carefree.

We’re now in Vancouver and getting ready for a walking tour to get acquainted with the downtown. We met a nice young couple at dinner last night who live in Vancouver. They gave us some sightseeing and dining tips that will help us plan the next couple days, in addition to Pat’s usual trip research.