A Very Merry Whistler Christmas

Whistler 2010

And very Merry white Whistler Christmas it was!  I met Caleb at the fire station Christmas morning and we packed up his truck (completely full!) and hit our local Starbucks so I could get my 'usual' aka Chai Tea Latte for the drive up to Whistler.  We were on the road heading North on I-5 by 9:15am and boy was it wet! Pouring rain and heavy winds pretty much the entire drive BUT one advantage of driving somewhere over a major holiday?  There was zero wait at the border!!  Our trip up was totally uneventful (yay!) and we made it to Whistler by about 1:15pm and grabbed a bite to eat at La Bocca while we waited for my parents to arrive in Whistler. 

After checking into our hotel, we decided to stay in and celebrate Christmas.  With some soup on the stove, a Christmas movie on the TV, a fire in the fireplace we opened some gifts and enjoyed the evening in our cozy room while it snowed outside.  Now that is my idea of a nice Christmas.

The 'kids' stockings

Grand-Paw's gift from Miley and Koda

The next morning we made it onto the mountain ... well, at the crack of noon ... but we made it none-the-less!  Caleb decided to try snowboarding for the first time so we got him into a lesson for the afternoon so he could learn the basics.  Dad and I headed up the Gondola to the top of the mountain to hit our first run only to step off into less than a quarter mile visibility - but we still had a BLAST.  After a few times down the mountain we took a lunch break and either it was the best chili we have ever had or we were that hungry and things just taste that much better after a day of skiing. 

After lunch the visibility was so bad and it was getting so dark that we had to head down the mountain.  One thing about being that far North is the sun sets a lot earlier so basically the mountain starts to shut down around 3 - 3:30pm.  After we got to the base I met up with Caleb to hear about his day and have a well deserved beer.  Again ... sooo goood!  We tried a new one called Stanley Park and liked it so much that we bought a 6-pack to bring home with us (enjoying one now actually!) and it goes perfectly with my chili - YUM!

Havin a beer at an Irish Pub after a fun day on the mountain

Our 2nd day on the mountain, Caleb and I went up together.  He did a great job seeing as it was a big day of first - first time on the mountain, first time on a chairlift, and first time navigating Whistlers LONG runs.  Luckily, it was only lightly snowing when we got up to the top which made things a little easier to see and WOW, without all that snow I noticed all the beautiful scenery that we didnt get get to see the day before.  The draw back of the day?  22,000 people ... no that is not a typo ... 22,000 people were on the mountain with us!  Oh, and did I mention that 50% of the mountain was closed because over the last 3 days they had gotten over 3 meters of snow, so the backside was 'not safe' and therefore closed.  Well, we had a great time anyway and even met up with my Mom (who was not skiing this trip) at Steeps, a restaurant up on the mountain only accessible by the Gondola.  On our last run of the day the weather took a turn and we could barely see ANYTHING which made for an interesting final run down the mountain, but we made it to the Mid Mountain Gondola pick-up and decided to take that it rest of the way down the mountain. 

Long lines - 22,000 people on the mountain by 11am

Gondola ride back down the mountain at end of day

Our last night in Whistler my parents took us out to dinner at Caramba which was an awesome Italian restaurant. I would def recommend it to anyone who is visiting.  Caleb and I walked around the villages after dinner and everything was hopping.  I love the vibe in Whistler and had such a fun time (already cannot wait for our next trip!) 

The following day my parents were up and out early.  Dad had a few meetings set up both in Whistler and Vancouver so they were back in the swing of things before they had even landed back in OC.  Since we had nothing on the agenda at home, Caleb and I decided to take a few hours to walk around the village and actually go into a few of the shops.  We had an awesome lunch at Blacks Pub and got a little trinket/momento for us and a few little things for our friends.  All-in-all a GREAT trip with lots of fun memories.

I loved the Mounty Moose!!  I wanted to buy one!!

On our drive home as we headed down 99 the sun was setting so Caleb pulled over (twice!!) to let me take pictures. What an awesome hubby I have!  But really, who would NOT pull over to take pictures of this ...

Sunset

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!!