Whistler 2010, Summer Style

Hit up Whistler for the July 1st holiday with Jamie and Violet. We were hosted by the Visschers' who put us up in their sweet family pad. Yeah, that's a totem pole in the living room.


Here's the view from the top of the stairs. Totally roughing it.


There were three couples who went up with their kids and each of us was responsible for one meal over the three evenings. Trev and Jen were cooking up some beer butt chickens for dinner the first night we arrived. Meat cooked with beer? What's not to like?

One for me:


And a couple for the chickens:



Trev looking proud and protective of his delicious birds.

Hit it up with a little Slipstream ale and some corn and black bean salad. Good stuff.

The next day I was up early to get a little run in. The weather was really warm and I wanted to get going before it got too hot. The scenery was unreal and I wished I had brought my camera. I had meant to take it pretty easy but kinda clipped along instead. The first section of the run was downhill and the legs just kept going after that. Fitness isn't really there but it's coming along. I got lost following a trail map that I picked up at a take out BBQ place the day before and pushed it a little for the last couple miles.




After breakfast, decided to hit up the village and check out the parade. Olympic reps were there and I got a chance to hold an actual Olympic torch. I applied to be a runner but never heard back. This is as close as I'm going to get. Apparently, the torch runners have the option to buy the torch they run with and there are 14,000 Olympic torches made like this. Pretty sweet!



The kids were super pumped about the chance to see the Olympic mascots Miga, Quatchi, and Sumi who were rumored to be in the parade but they were late to show up and nap time forced us home before the kids all imploded. Violet and Theo (Trev and Jen's son) were pretty stoked to see some giant stuffed versions instead.



Whistler is known for the mountain but there are tons of gorgeous lakes up there as well. Owen (our host) busted out the Kayaks and took us all don to the lake for a paddle. Here he is with Violet after a spin around Alta Lake.




What a view. Hard to believe that we're only two hours from home. Life is good.



Violet was a little played out from all the sun so I went up to the alpine meadow with the rest of the crew to take a ride on the Peak to Peak gondola. It is the world's longest unsupported span of gondola in the world. The cable runs from Whistler to Blackcomb, 4.4 km over a valley between the two mountains. The unsupported length across the middle (distance between the two towers furthest apart) is 1.88 MILES. Yup, big ole gondola, two miles between towers, valley floor 200 feet below and 360 degree views. $40 to ride but it was worth it.


A pic from the gondola on the way up to the Peak to Peak. The lake in the back of the pic is where we were staying. You can see the village at the bottom. It's kinda tough to see but if you follow the gondola lines down you can see a building. That's the midpoint station and you can see some of the mountain bike trails shooting off from there and heading down to the village. Yes, from the midpoint to the village is all rolling down hill all-mountain goodness. And if you're feeling it, you can off load at the top and ride all the way down. Next time I'm bringing the dually.



And a crazy shot of the Whistler glacier from the Peak to Peak gondola. I stopped taking pictures after the first one when I realized that there was no way the camera could capture how majestic it all was.




Four days and it felt like two weeks. Thanks Visschers for a rad stay. Can't wait to do it again.

And for all y'all down south reading this: C'mon up and join us for a couple weeks this February and see for yourself! We're very friendly and your dollar goes a long way!