The first thing we stopped to see was another waterfall. This one was called Shannon Falls and it was the most dramatic fall we had seen yet. The falls along the Columbia River Gorge are beautiful, but it was the magnitude of Shannon Falls that made the difference. The waterfall is 1105 feet high and 75 feet wide. Absolutely gorgeous!Just off in the distance from Shannon Falls we could see a rock formation that was known as Stawamus Chief. Just beyond this was a town called Squamish. During the Fall, this area is known to be
the largest gathering of bald eagles in the world. Thousands of eagles will line the banks in search of food. So, of course we kept our eyes pealed for eagles as we passed through. However, it was still summer, too early for the gathering of the eagles yet and we didn't see any that day.The next thing we stopped for was to see Brandywine Falls. This was another dramatic waterfall. This was one of the few falls that we were able to view from the top of the fall, looking down at the drop, instead of looking up from the bottom. This gave us an understanding of how far down 216 feet really is.
This waterfall was absolutely beautiful and worth the small hike to get there.We continued to make our way to Whistler. I had my face down, probably looking at either the many maps at my feet, the list of things to see that I had made, or the Pemberton music festival lineup when my mom called out "bear!" I looked up in time to see a bear on the side of the highway as we went flying past. I'm not sure what he was up to, but he wasn't even phased by the heavy traffic within his view.
We checked into the beautiful Nita Lake Lodge (the place was worth every penny!), changed, and got our things together for the concerts. And so begins our three days of chaos. We left around 1pm to make what should have been a 30 minute drive North to the small town of Pemberton. This 30 minute drive turned into three and a half hours of stop and go (mostly stop). The drive was still entertaining as we watched many other people scramble out into the bushes for pee breaks, which was especially funny when it was the city girls in the dresses with high heels. One or two decided it was worth it and came back to their cars. We also passed locals who were walking the highway selling Popsicles and one guy who set up a BBQ on the side of the road and was selling hot dogs.
We finally made it into Pemberton, only to suddenly realize the line of cars just disbursed into three different directions. There were no clear directions as to which parking lot we needed to go to. I called home and got some directions that were online. Once we got into the parking, I was charged less than I was supposed to be (no complaints from me). We grabbed our stuff and got on a bus, which didn't take too long. The bus ride to the festival took a little while since there was still bumper to bumper traffic. Once we got to the festival we actually made it minutes before Wolfmother
(the first band I wanted to see that day) started to play. We did some stage hopping and saw The Secret Machines, Kathleen Edwards, and Interpool.We left early, not bothering to stay and watch Nine Inch Nails. We knew traffic would be bad getting back and didn't think Nine Inch Nails was worth losing sleep over. We later heard that the buses were worst that first night. People stood in line for over two hours to get onto a bus and then the ride took an hour to get to the parking lot. And then there was stop and go traffic to get to a hotel. But, when we left that first night there was little traffic and we were actually able to get a good nights sleep.
(Thank goodness because it would be a few nights before we'd have that luxury again.) 
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