Our Trip To Whistler

Our trip to Whistler was absolutely amazing. We had such a great time! We skied every day and relaxed in the evening by soaking in the hot tub and going to dinner at some of the best restaurants we've been to in a while. We arrived on Saturday and after getting through customs, we picked up our rental car and headed out on a very scenic trip from Vancouver to Whistler. It took us about two and a half hours to get to Whistler but it didn't seem that long because there was so much to see on the way up. The hotel was in a great location, right on Blackcomb Mountain. Whistler Mountain and Blackcomb Mountain are side by side and the villages at the base of the mountains run right into each other. The ski rental shop was in our hotel and we could could ski right onto the mountain from our hotel. They just opened a "Peak to Peak" gondola that takes you from the top of one mountain to the top of the other to get ready for the 2010 winter Olympics. The resort has 38 lifts and more than 200 trails and is absolutely huge!!



We enjoyed ourselves so much that we ended up buying a time share so we will definitely be back in the future. We can't wait to get Claire on skis. There were kids as young as three years old learning how to ski. We also loved the international flare of Whistler. We met people from all over the world.



In addition to the great skiing, the food and night life was great! We had some of the best gourmet food and the restaurants were very trendy to include quite a bit of live music. The last night we ate at an Irish Pub called Dublin's Gate. I had authentic Shepard's Pie and Daniel had a pot pie and we sat and listened to an Irish band play. It was really a lot of fun. The weather was very cold but sunny and with all of our ski clothes on we often got hot by the time we skied to the bottom of the mountain.



On a different note, we missed Claire SOOOOOO much while we were gone. However, she had a great time with Gigi (my mom) and my mom had a great time with Claire. Gigi got to take Claire to two birthday parties and from the looks of how many new toys are in the house, they made a few trips to Toys R Us as well. But perhaps the most exciting thing that Gigi got to experience was Claire's first steps. Yes, she ended up taking them while we were gone. My mom took Claire to my friend Amy's house for dinner on Wednesday night and she walked from my mom to Amy. I think they were all surprised and not sure if they should tell us about it but my mom came clean when we got home. It's been so much fun to watch her go. She's still in the early stages and needs practice but just over the weekend she's made improvements. It won't be long before she's all over the place. We took a short video that I'll post soon.



Here are some pictures from our trip.




Driving over the Lion's Gate Bridge in Vancouver on our way to Whistler.







We stopped to have lunch and we were so warm from skiing we took our jackets off. However, looking at this glass you can tell it was pretty cold outside.



Whistler Village




View of the village from Blackcomb Mountain.


This was at the top of Whistler Mountain.



With the package that we booked we got complementary Fresh Tracks Tickets which allowed us to be the first on the lifts up to the top of Whistler. Once on top we had free breakfast and got to ski down first on the fresh snow.


This was our first ride in the new "Peak to Peak" gondola.


View from the gondola.



Here you can see how far down into the valley between the two mountains that the "Peak to Peak" gondola takes you. It's about a 15 minute trip.



View of Whistler Mountain from Blackcomb Mountain.


View of our hotel from one of the lifts.


Entrance to our hotel.









This was at the very top of Whistler. As you can tell we are so high up there are no trees.




Daniel in Whistler Village.








Interesting sign at the top of the mountain. I'm glad we were only at the "moderate" level.