We Love Whistler

Sunday marked the end of the ski season for Whistler, and although Blackcomb Mountain remains open, it is a symbolic end to the season. It's a good time to share why we've become so fond of Whistler. We have been there seven times in the last 2-1/2 years. We used to go to balmy Hawaii every year, but since we discovered Whistler, it's been "Aloha, Hawaii" and "Hello, British Columbia, eh."

It all began with a memorable photo from the Whistler Blackcomb website of some little kids, maybe 4- or 5-years old, outfitted head-to-toe in ski gear. They were flanked by 2 ski instructors and stood in a line, looking out over a panorama of snow-covered peaks. The photo was taken in a location I think I recognize as the top of Whistler mountain. The kids, participants in the Whistler Kids Ski Program, were about to launch themselves down an unseen, out-of-camera ski trail. I wish I could find that photo to link to (the best I can do is a portion of the picture in the 5th thumbnail down on this page). The image of the small kids, dwarfed by the enormity of their surroundings, yet undaunted by them, was inspiring. They looked ready to conquer the world. That picture put my husband on a mission to convince our 7-year-old daughter to trade her swimsuit and sunglasses for the upcoming winter break to a parka and ski goggles. It worked.

Now that we are Whistler aficionados, we can tell you some of the reasons we keep going back:

We never get tired of this place.

The combined Whistler Blackcomb ski area is HUGE! There are 38 lifts to carry you up the two adjacent mountains, where you will find over 8,100 skiable acres with more than 200 ski runs. And when you are ready for lunch or just a break, there are 17 restaurants on the mountains. The food is really good and is reasonably priced.

They have an EXCELLENT ski program for kids. Our daughter has loved every day of her various ski and snowboard camps and lessons. The instructors have been great: they teach the obvious skiing skills and safety rules, but they also keep it fun (particularly given varying weather conditions and a spectrum of little personalities), and they understand and respect the kids' limits while encouraging them to go just a little farther than they otherwise might have.

You don't need a car. You catch a bus from the Vancouver Airport for the 2 - 1/2 hour ride (a highly recommended ticket because I promise that you won't want to drive that route in a snowstorm in the dark). Once you arrive in Whistler Village, you can either walk or use the local shuttle bus. The Village Stroll is a pedestrian-only walkway linking many if not most of the village's restaurants, shops and accomodations. For lodging not located near the Village Stroll, the city bus can handle your needs. I have seen taxis about but in seven trips, have never required their services.

Depending on where you are staying, you can walk everywhere you want to go. We have stayed in a variety of locations and have concluded that, for us, the ability to walk down the Village Stroll in the evening to choose our dinner venue trumps just about everything else.

There are lots of restaurants in the Village to choose from for breakfast and dinner. We are still discovering new finds on our 7th and most recent trip and we have discriminating tastes.

Everyone is so friendly. The company that operates the ski resort, Intrawest ULC, has a corner on the market, so to speak, and they want to make sure that everyone has a good time. So that equates to great attitudes from every employee you meet, from the online reservation agent that helps you out in a pinch to the ski instructors to the lift operators. It is a happy place.

Kids are welcome in Whistler. Unlike some ski towns that are as much about the night-life as they are about the skiing, Whistler is very kid-friendly. Every single restaurant we have visited welcomed kids. And this is not to say that Whistler doesn't have a nightlife, I imagine that it does but we haven't been out to investigate....

It is a great family vacation spot. We all have a good time. When our daughter takes a lesson or goes to Adventure Camp, my husband and I have time alone together during the day, followed by the fun reunion in the afternoon when we get to share stories and laughs about our day. When our daughter skis with us, we spend time together doing something that we can all enjoy.

Everything you need can be found here. There are grocery stores, liquor stores, bakeries, drugstores, candy stores, kitchen stores, book stores - you name it. I even found a friendly photo store with all kinds of camera and electronic stuff, including a cable to connect my camera to my laptop that is just like the one I accidentally left at home.

Kids are tired at the end of the day. This translates into easy bedtimes - they've probably already fallen asleep if you're sitting near the fire.

And as an added bonus, you burn a lot of calories while you're having a great time.

Have you been to Whistler? Do you have a favorite ski place? Let me know - we'd love to hear about it.

Ahh.....Vacation :-)

Vacation. The very word brings a smile to my face, a deep breath into my lungs, and a drop in my blood pressure. No work. No cooking. No schedule. . . . No email.

Yes, that is vacation. Even if you choose to do some cooking or stick to some kind of schedule, it is still vacation and it feels blissfully different from the daily routines of regular life. Perhaps the magic of vacation is simply the freedom of choice it provides: on vacation you can choose to set the alarm for 7:00, or you can choose not to set the alarm and enjoy sleeping in. You can choose to go sight-seeing or you can choose to go shopping. Or maybe vacation earns its high marks just for being different from our everyday lives. Or possibly vacation is great because we're all basically lazy and vacation requires nothing from us.

What makes vacation so good? It is too serious a question for me to ponder right now (after all, I am on vacation). Plus it makes me start to wonder if I like vacation because (a) I am too controlling and have to be able to choose what I'm doing, (b) I have a dreary life and doing anything different is better, (c) I am a lazy underachiever who will never accomplish anything in life because I'd rather be on vacation, or (d) all of the above. In an effort to avoid contemplating any nasty character deficiencies, let me just say that I am all for vacation and leave it at that.

We have chosen to spend our daughter's Spring Break skiing in Whistler. We have been to Whistler several times and know where we like to stay, where to go to dinner, and where to get important vacation provisions like chocolate croissants for breakfast and Okanagan Valley wines for apres-ski. It is fun for the whole family.

Of course, Whistler is completely different than Las Vegas. And while skiing isn't exactly a lazy vacation, all you have to worry about is where to point your skis to next.

What makes a good vacation in your book? Is it the escape from reality? The chance to literally leave your problems behind for a few days? The ability to see new places? I'm interested in hearing your thoughts. In the meantime, I'm off to the hot tub while our bottle of Jackson-Triggs Chardonnay is chilling...