Whistler 2012

So long overdue, I know. March is a gong show in the book hustling business so I'm blaming my lack of interest in blogging on my jam packed schedule. That and the beautiful sunshine in what I think we can safely start referring to as the  So'On banana-belt.

Side note: I can't spell the word banana without thinking of that Gwen Stefani song, B-A-N-A-N-A-S.

Anywho... Our Whistler trip was ridiculous funtabulous. In the words of Penny, she be "ballsmazing."

Our flight left early Saturday and while we were there well within the required time to fly nationally, Air Canada continues to be one of the most inefficient airlines of all time. If you check in online the night before your flight and print your boarding pass, why should you then have to stand in a one-hour line up to check your bag? How is this efficient? This subsequent line up and the ridiculousness of Pearson actually required us to run for our flight as while Orange was being frisked by airport security for drugs et al they announced "all passengers on flight X direct to Vancouver should now be aboard the aircraft." Feck.

So I booked it and left Orange to totter on behind me, shoes in one hand, death grip on his pants with another, because yeah, he's hiding nitro glycerin in his belt buckle. Needless to say when the drink cart came around at 8:00 am we ordered beer.

Although I spent four years out West, I had never been to Vancouver. I am in love--a beautiful city full of beautiful people. One day tacked onto either end of our trip wasn't enough. Lady G, if you're still reading I'm totally jealous of your set up!

Our hotel was smack in the middle of downtown and was "pinkies up posh" (as in, there were Bentley's and Ferrari's in the driveway...) And as Orange is a quadruple platinum member, they gave us a top floor room, turn down service, fancy-schmany glass bottled water, mixed nuts, and a selection of Purdy's chocolates every night we stayed. Aside from one small goof whereby we took the ferry to North Vancouver thinking we were off to Granville Island, the day was wonderful.

We took a bus to Whistler on Sunday and the day was warm and clear. The views on the Sea-to-Sky Highway were fantastic, and as we were two of five people on the entire bus the driver gave us the guided tour. We arrived at the Fairmont and checked in. They have this groovy ski-in-ski-out service whereby you check your skis and boots with them and they'll take care of them for the week (all you have to do is traipse down in your sock feet in the morning and they more or less put your boots on for you!) We immediately headed out for a bite to eat in the sunshine of a patio.

And then we saw these. Had to have one, right? S'good. And totally worth the $30 a drink we paid for them. Yeah, that's right... $30 a pop. The rest of the events on this day (and some of the next) are vague...

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*ahem*

For the record, these aren't all ours...

We skied Monday, Tuesday and on Wednesday did Fresh Tracks--a limited number of people are allowed to take a gondola up the mountain at 7:00 am before the lifts open for others, they serve you a beautiful breakfast, and then ring a bell, the signal for you to take the first run of the day through the previous evening's powder snow. As it had dumped about 6" the night before, we were in heaven! Most days we called it quits by 1:30-2:00 and settled onto a patio for nachos and beer (I think I might have eaten my weight in nachos on this vacation...) We played in the hot tubs (where I was personally assaulted by a giant floating hairball...), shopped the stroll, and napped.

On Thursday we signed on for a snowmobile trip up through the mountains into a bowl where we zoomed around at high speeds. They took us for a BBQ lunch (who knew you could BBQ cookies?) and toured us back down through the sunshine--totally not something I would ordinarily do, but silly fun once I got the hang of it and stopped worrying I was going to zoom off the side of the track into the abyss below), and the day was so gorgeous and clear I can't imagine a better day to experience it.

Orange's good friend lives in Whistler and manages the refrigeration at the Olympic sliding centre (think bobsled, luge, etc.) He gave us an insiders tour of the track where we watched new athletes practicing, standing track side sipping our cans of smuggled Kokanee while the racers wiz by at 130km an hour. He toured us around the city, taking us for dinner at 21 Steps (my mouth is watering just thinking about it...), and out for live music and dancing. Or as Matt calls it, a "sweaty European dance party"... Don't ask.

Friday we had a late breakfast of Eggs Benny and strong coffee and grabbed the bus back to Vancouver for another hit of swank in our downtown hotel. Saturday we walked our buns off touring Kitsilano in the sunshine along with all the other 'hipster duffuses' (or hippycrites, as Oranges calls them) out and about downtown Vancouver on a Saturday morning, Starbuck coffees as far as the eye could see.

While it was a whirlwind seven days and I seriously can't believe it's over, I would do this trip again in a heartbeat (except maybe the hangover from those Margarita things... I could skip that.) What a blast! We ate, we drank, we enjoyed the sunshine and good weather. We did exactly what we wanted to do when we wanted to do it, no two days the same.

I can't wait to start planning next year's trip...