Adventures On the Road

There’s just something about twinkly lights at night that changes the whole atmosphere.   Whistler Village during the day, covered in a layer of fresh powder with buildings rimmed with icicles, beautiful in a pristine and untouchable way.

Whistler Village at night, complete with moonlight reflecting off the snow, colourful lights twinkling between the branches and a combination of fire and ice that just seems to work?

Magical.

Olympic Plaza at Night

Whistler’s Fire & Ice show at Whistler Village’s Skier’s Plaza.  Every Sunday night (Dec. – Mar.) the fire dancers congregate, the Ring of Fire is erected and a few crazy skiers and snowboarders barrel down the mountain to jump through that Ring of Fire, to everyone’s delight.

Sometimes I forget about the magical atmosphere of a Winter Wonderland.  The past few years we’ve done a pretty good job at avoiding snow.  Last year we spent the majority of December in California beach hopping and for a brief moment, looking for snow at Big Bear (which never appeared), and settled into a wet winter in Seattle.  

This year we took a trek out to Whistler.  Despite growing up in Vancouver Island and spending years in Vancouver, I have never gone to Whistler in the Winter.  And there’s just something about being in a mountain/ski village that says “Welcome to Winter”, “Merry Christmas” and also, “Why not have a drink, or two, or three…..you’re on holiday right?”

Since Whistler hosted the 2010 Winter Olympics, there have been a couple additions.  Both in Whistler Village and at the top of Whistler Mountain.

Olympic Rings at Whistler Olympic Plaza

Olympic Rings at Whistler Mountain Peak

Cold noses, cute hats, and good ol’ Canadian Ceasars, fun times were had in Whistler.  Despite the fact that we were neither skiers nor snowboarders, we put in a good effort with a few good snowball fights.  I believe the lesson here was, don’t challenge a Canadian to a snowball fight….especially if you’re from Texas and don’t know what to do with snow (Jonathan!).   We took the gondola to the Tube Park and spent a couple hours night tubing with christmas carols blaring and perfect snowflakes falling around us.  And completed our winter weekend with a Peak 2 Peak Gondola ride, making the 30 minute ride up to the Whistler Mountain Peak, and trying to stay out of everyone’s way as we took the next gondola ride to the Blackcomb Peak and then back to Whistler and down to the village.

Peak 2 Peak Gondola Ride

Blackcomb

We experienced a ton of fresh snow, but the snow clouds cleared for our drive down the mountain and we were treated to some amazing views.

Loved experiencing a true snowy Winter Weekend, although my coordination may be better suited for a summer climate, but overall, it just felt good to be back in Canada!

True Canadian Spirit!