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We left Paul's apartment in downtown Vancouver bright and early on the morning of Tuesday 27th April. We were super excited, as the next few days would be spent on the beautiful mountains of Whistler and Blackcombe. The greyhound bus ride to Whistler village takes you along the amazingly picturesque Sea to Sky highway, the main route between Vancouver and Whistler. I would highly recommend this journey to everyone and anyone, as the scenery is truly breathtaking. We were met in Whistler village by Stuart (Andy's Grandad's brother's son!), and I instantly knew that he was a cool guy when his first words to me were 'hey dude'. Stuart, his wife Heather and their awesome dog Louie had very kindly offered to let us stay in their beautiful condo in Whistler, a mere 5 minute walk away from Whistler village centre. This was a huge act of kindness on their part, especially as Stuart's mother had recently passed away, so we were extremely grateful and definitely happy to be there. I had initially planned to ski whilst in Whistler (I have skied before), but upon hearing that Stuart has been a snowboarding instructor for the past 15 years, I thought it
the perfect opportunity to cross over to the dark side! It turned out to be a great decision, as Stuart was able to lend me a board and it meant we could all stick together (Andy had never been Snowboarding before either). The first afternoon was spent walking around the village getting a guided tour and chilling with Stuart, Heather and Louie. We soon discovered that Stuart was a fantastic cook, Heather absolutely loved the Olympics and Louie was a very peaceful and chilled out dog. Heather was a volunteer during the recent Olympics in Vancouver, and she was very passionate about the number of people who volunteered (20,000), as well as the success of Canada hosting the games, which Andy and I both loved. We also greatly admired their joint love of the outdoors, especially snowboarding and sailing.
We awoke the next morning to the smell of a lovely cooked breakfast, and were both extremely excited about spending a full day on the slopes. Unfortunately, in my excitement, I forgot to turn on the fan when having a shower, which resulted in the most awful fire alarm in the world being triggered. It was truly a deafening sound
and definitely ensured that I would not be making the same mistake again!
The rest of the day was spent on the slopes. Unfortunately, Whistler mountain had recently closed for the season, but we still had the equally amazing Blackcombe mountains at our mercy. In addition to allowing us to stay at their Condo, Heather and Stuart had also provide us with free lift passes for Blackcombe on the first day (50% off on the second day), as well as free snowboarding lessons from Stuart. We were really touched by Heather and Stuart's generosity throughout our stay, and amused at Stuart's continuous joke that we were a couple of freeloaders (he explained that he would one day be turning up on our doorstep and demanding we repay the favour!). Although progress was painfully slow, I soon begun to understand the basic technique of snowboarding. Unfortunately, we lost Andy for a few hours (he had ignored Stuart's instructions to stay together, and in typical MacKenzie fashion had shot off down the slopes in the first 5 minutes to try and carve up some sick shit-LOL), but this worked in my favour as I was able to receive a one on
one lesson from Stuart. We finally met up with Andy again at lunch, and Stuart said it was time to sacrifice us to the snow God by taking us up to the Blackcombe glacier (near enough the top of the mountain range). It was a wicked experience, and although it was a little scary, we both got down in one piece. I was delighted to be able to snake down heel side down, and Stuart was impressed when I managed to even get a few toe side turns in as well. We decided to celebrate with a little Apres ski, and several pitchers of beer later and with smiles on our faces, we all stumbled back to the condo. The rest of the evening was spent sampling Stuart's great food and talking about the fun we had all had.
Thursday would again be spent on the slopes. Andy and I were both delighted that Heather would be joining us as well, and it turned out to be another great day. Unfortunately , several weeks of partying and a full day of falling over and having to get up from the snow the day before meant I was completely worn
out, but it was fun nevertheless. I was super thrilled for Andy, as despite lots of crashes on the first day (he is an extremley kamakaze snowboarder), he really got the hang of it on day 2 and was continually performing toe and heel side turns with a massive smile on his face! The evening was spent sampling a fantastic spagetti bolonese from Stuart and getting to know Stuart and Heather a little better. It was about 10 o'clock when a rather worn out and bruised Andy and I decide to head out and sample a little piece of the Whistler party scene. Unfortunately, we had just arrived during the cutover of the seaon from skiing and snowboarding to mountain biking, so the pubs and bars were a little quiet. We settled down in a bar for a few beers and excitedly talked about how wicked the past few days had been and how awesome Stuart and Heather had been to us.
Friday morning was spent helping Stuart with some chores around the condo. This was actually our first bit of work since we had left England 3 weeks earlier, but we more than willing to help! LOL. We
then spent the afternoon walking around the nearby Rainbow park, before heading back to watch a dog movie with Richard Gere! The time finally come to say goodbye and Stuart dropped us back in the village so we could catch our bus. We said our final farewells before getting onto the bus back to Vancouver. The bus ride back was pretty cool as I saw a small brown bear with 2 baby cubs by the side of the road, but also terrifying as the driver decided to speed back at ridiculous speeds in the pouring rain. Crazy dude! Our time in Whistler had come to an end and it had been another great mini adventure.
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mum
non-member comment
exciting trip
Hi son, have just read your 3rd entry on your whistler experience it certainly sounded as if you had a great time, wishing i was there with you. Andrews relatives have certainly been very kind to you both. loved the bit about you seeing a bear and baby cubs by the side of the road. missing you loads take care love mum and dadxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx