Sunday, March 20, 2016

Whistler Part 1

I have had the amazing opportunity thanks to my loving husband and a wonderful support team to care for the kids at home to spend my 30th Birthday weekend up in Whistler Canada.  Months ago when Peter asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday, I said I wanted to go on a little trip.  So I threw out the names of about 4 or 5 different places and let him take it from there.  Since I had never been to Canada and Whistler has always been on my list of places I would love to go, it didn't take long to realize that it was a clear favorite!  

I have been so excited about this trip, a chance to play in some snow and experience some new things! Peter had planned a few surprises along the way.  After spending Thursday night in Seattle (thanks Andy and Rachel!)  we were off to Whistler bright and early.  Peter had a few stops planned for us, first being an amazing fish and chips place in Vancouver.  Seriously probably the best I've ever had in my life.  Check out Cockney King Fish and Chips if you're ever in Vancouver!  Just in general, the dollar exchange rate has treated us very well on this trip!  

Our next stop was at Lynn Canyon.  I had no idea about this place either but it was a fun little roadside stop to enjoy some sights before continuing on the journey. 




Wasn't a big fan of the rope bridge though!


The views on the way from Vancouver to Whistler were really pretty!  The weather was amazing and we were having a good time!  It's a very pretty area with mountains everywhere! 

Then we were off to our hotel at Nita Lake Lodge.  Not only the top ranked spot in Whistler but some have it the top hotel in all of Canada!  It was so cozy and nice! 



Everyone knows a soaking tub is a must for me on trips, and especially in someplace cold and snowy!  This room also had heated floors and I gotta say, I need those in my life! 


Then came more surprises from the hotel and the sweetest birthday cake that my husband secretly tucked away in the car and brought all the way with us from my favorite bakery in our area!  How he got it there in one piece is beyond me. But I was almost speechless!  It was a super delicious chocolate cake with salted caramel!  


Our first view of Whistler Mountain!  The amount of runs on these two mountains is almost unbelievable!  Over 200 in total!  There's a reason this place is the best ski destination in all of North America! 


We decided to check out Whistler Village and see what all the hype was about.  It's so cool how tucked between these two mountains is this village full of hotels, restaurants, and shops.  This is looking toward Whistler mountain and directly to the left of this picture is Blackcomb mountain. Both mountain runs join together and end in this place in the village.  Really cool!


Then we crossed off our first must eat of the trip at Peaked Pies.  A place with a ton of different and random filled pies.  Peter got the Steak, Bacon, and Cheese pie and I opted for the Steak and Guinness. Both were very yummy! 




Then it was back to the hotel for the evening as we had a busy next day ahead of us.  I was more than a little bit nervous the night before for what we had planned for my birthday! 

After a good night of rest it was off to breakfast in the hotel next to the beautiful lake! Spring is definitely in the air as the lake is in the process of thawing out. 


We headed back to Whistler village and checked in with The Adventure Group for our morning activity.  The mountain was certainly buzzing on this gorgeous day! 


After a 10 or 15 minute bus ride we were at "base camp".  Everyone was divided up in our group between those going snow machining, snow shoeing, and ziplining. 


Those of us who were off ziplining were taken aside and got all of our gear on and were told the safety guidelines, shown how all our mechanics worked, and taught the proper "landing posture".  Then we boarded our snow cats for a 15 minute or so ride up Rainbow Mountain.


It was a beautiful view from the top and I was surprisingly calm by this point! 


Before long it was time to take off on our first zipline! Ziplining has always been on my bucket list and this one was quite the one to choose!  It literally spanned between two mountains, reaches over 65 miles per hour, and is the highest in Canada at over 650 ft above the ground.  Pretty intimidating for the first one!  We had 9 people plus our 2 guides in our group and we decided to go 2nd in our group so we could get over the initial fear.  



It was pretty exhilarating to say the least! To look out over this canyon and feel like you're literally flying!  The feeling was indescribable and not nearly as scary as I expected!

This video below shows the landing zone from the first line.  The sound in the background is the sound of the people zipping along and you can see them off in the distance. It was a pretty long zipline!


Chilling and waiting for everyone else to get across



Then we were off to our second line.  This one is the longest line in all of Canada.  It offered more amazing views of the mountains and was just really enjoyable because it was such a long zipline!  





Another view of coming in on the 2nd zipline. This one takes a bit longer but you can see them in the far off distance, that's how long of a line this one was! 


Then it was off to Godzilla.  This one was trickier to get up to and was unexpectedly a bit scarier than the others.  They said she is a bit temperamental and she is! There's a pretty big dip at the beginning of this one that gets you going really fast, so this is was the fastest one.  


And the landing on this one was a lot rougher too! 


Then it was off to our 4th and final of the day!  The fun of this one was that we could hold hands on it because the wires were close enough together!  A fun ending to an amazing experience on my 30th Birthday!  If you're ever in Whistler you seriously must check out Superfly Ziplines. Their guides were amazing and their ziplines are like none other!  



After a bus returned us to Whistler village it was off to get some Irish food for a late lunch and Peter surprised me with a gorgeous birthday present!  He seriously went all out on this trip to make me feel special and loved!  I think the last time I got any jewelry was on my 20th Birthday so these were quite special to me!  He did good! 



After a filling lunch, and some more chocolate cake it was nap time.  Hey, that's the joy of not having kids with us is we can sleep whenever we want, even if we didn't wake up until after 6:00 at night!  We ordered take out pizza for dinner and just enjoyed a peaceful evening in together!  But what an amazing day to reflect on!




As much as I tried, there is just no way I can fit everything into a single post for the weekend, so stay tuned for part 2!

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