A Few Days in Whistler

When I was looking for somewhere to go for a few days during our kids' spring break this year, I kept going back to the idea of Whistler.

Even though it's only a couple of hours away, we hadn't been there for almost 12 years. In fact, this is what Ben, Janae and Alaina looked like last time we went: 

(For a few more pictures, visit "Tip of the Iceberg," April 2010, https://literarylamb.blogspot.com/2010/04/tip-of-iceberg.html). 

Eric wasn't even around at the time!

This year we ended up combining our trip with Jason's 49th birthday. We sang to him at home and had a piece of chocolate cake, then took the rest of the cake with us to Whistler :)

We stayed in a cozy condo just 5 minutes from the village--and from everything else as well.

That evening, we found a Mexican restaurant and got takeout to celebrate Jason's birthday, then watched Iron Man--something Eric was very excited to do! He couldn't believe Jason had never had an Iron Man-themed birthday before :)

When we woke up the next morning, we went for a hike on Train Wreck trail.

We got to see lots of snow as we walked through the beautiful woods.

Then we found the railway cars that had been part of an actual train wreck in 1956. At the time, the cars had been pushed out of the way, into the forest, so the trains could get back on schedule without too much delay. Over the years people have come across them, and now they're covered in graffiti. A few years ago a suspension bridge and trail were built so people could access the area safely.

After the hike, the kids tried our condo's (heated!) pool. Even though it was cold outside, Janae, Alaina and Eric had a great time swimming. I swam for a few minutes but spent most of my time in the hot tub.

Next, we went to see the village. We stopped at Cows ice cream--where 3-year-old Janae had had a meltdown when we were there 12 years ago ... she did great this time, though :)

We saw the Olympic rings from 2010,

and the kids did some shopping.

Then we stopped at the Sliding Center, where the 2010 Olympic bobsled, skeleton and luge events were held--and where people can now ride the bobsled with an experienced driver. We just watched!

We waited too long to try to find somewhere to go for dinner and discovered that Whistler restaurants fill up early--for both dine in and take out. Eventually, we picked up burgers and fries from a place called Alpine Café, and everyone was happy with that. Then Eric chose us another movie: Spiderman Far from Home.

On Saturday morning we went tubing at Bubly Tube Park at the base of Blackcomb Mountain. This included a gondola ride up from the village.

I wasn't sure if I should join in or stay back and take pictures, since I didn't have any snow pants.

As you can see, we don't have any good action shots because I ended up in a tube as well :)  It was fun, though, especially when we slid down together in groups of two or three. 

Then more hot tubbing in the snow (I wore a toque this time!).

There was a ping pong table by the pool, so we played a bit of that as well.

Learning from the previous evening, we booked a table early and were able to enjoy a local pizza restaurant called Creekbread.

Afterwards, Jason, Ben, Alaina and I went for one last walk through the snowy trees.

Then Sunday morning we packed up and drove home. Everyone was happy to be back, and it felt a lot more like spring at home after being up in the snowy mountains for a few days. 

Jason said he had a good birthday, 

and the rest of us still have another week of spring break!