Whistler, British Columbia

Day 6: SNOWBOARDING

We woke up early in the morning as we’re so excited for the highlight of our trip. We went ahead to Whistler, BC.

Whistler Village hosted 2010 Olympics

Whistler BC is located in the North of Vancouver, known for having the largest skiable area in North America. It has more than 8,000 acres over 2 mountains- Whistler and Blackcomb. It has roughtly 12m of annual snowfall too. This is a popular local and tourist destination and we are so excited to experience snow in North America.

From Vancouver, Anthony brought his car and drove us up north. After 2 hours of drive, we arrived at our destination.

HOTEL: PAN PACIFIC WHISTLER VILLAGE CENTER (4-star)

We stayed at Pan Pacific Whistler Village Center where we occupied a 2-bedroom suite. I booked all my hotel accomodations via agoda.com. The location of the hotel is awesome as it is very near the skiing area. The blackcomb was just right across the hotel that made it so easy to go back-and-forth. We love how the room was designed. There were 5 of us and the room is still big enough for us all. The suite is fully-equipped with a big fridge and microwave. My favourite spot though is the fire place. It is so fancy and I just love the effect that it brings to the over-all feel of the room.

Panoramic View of the 2-bedroom Suite

The gorgeous fireplace at Pan Pacific Whistler

The girls in the living area

View from our room

After unpacking our things, we went to the skiing location. Because we stayed in a Pan Pacific property, we were eligible for the 10% discount in the snowboarding gear and equipment rental at the Salomon Store. This is already a good deduction as the fees were actually high. I believed we paid about
CAD80-CAD90 per pax for the full gear rental (pants, the head gear, the boots, and the ski equipment). After dressing up and looking like professional snowboarding experts (hahaha), we went straight ahead to the Gondola. The gondola costs us around CAD80 per pax. This will bring us up to the Blackcomb Mountain to start the activity.

All ready

Hubby's so excited to snowboard

I literally had a hard time to snowboard for the obvious reasons- 1. I am a beginner, 2. It was really slippery, 3. I just can’t control my movement. Lol. I was watching some kids out there, they were even better than me. Hahaha.. So anyway, I realized that it could’ve been much better if I did skiing, because maybe, I’d have something to hold on to in getting up whenever I fall. Well, this is just my smart guess. Haven’t tried that as well so the comment is not conclusive. 

Ivi fell off and I had plenty of this too :)

In the end, I have to use my snowboard to sled in the mountain like a kid so I can enjoy all the dollars I paid for. Lol. It was actually fun, really. I may not be standing but sledding using the snowboard and sliding off the mountain is so much fun than trying to snowboard. I was even stressed out trying to get up every time I fall. So, I just didn’t give up like that and start enjoying the remaining time we had before it gets dark again.

 

So tired...

RESTAURANT for LUNCH/DINNER: EARLS KITCHEN + BAR

After the snowboarding/snow board sliding session, we felt so hungry. My cousin brought me to Earls Kitchen + Bar. Earls is an up scale chain serving comfort food, gourmet burgers, cocktails, wines, and beers. I personally enjoyed their steak and of course, I just had to try their red wine. Hubby had burger and beer, while my cousins did have pasta and chicken.

Steak for me

Wine and Dine

After meal, hubby and I still wanted to roam around and so we did. Had our pictures taken with the bright lights and because I am super into lights and I love all sorts of lights, I was just a kid enjoying every moment I get with the Christmas lights all around me.

BAR FOR NIGHT-OUT: TAPLEYS

We then head back to the hotel to dry up. Then, hubby wanted to have more beer as he wanted to enjoy his first and last night in Whistler. So we walked around Whistler, explored the place and bought some shirts and key chains to bring home to Singapore. After checking out some dining locations, hubby seemed much comfortable with Tapleys.

Tapleys Neighbourhood Pub has an energetic but laid back vibe. The place is open, there is occasional live music and TVs for game viewing. You can also play dart with the boys, if you want to. Usually, they check the IDs of the young-looking ones as you have to be 21 and above before you can enter a bar in Canada. Ivi’s so scared that she might be asked of her ID when she left it in Victoria. But she wasn’t. She’s actually 23 already but because she looks young, she’d always have to show her ID in a bar. Haha..

Again, we had a great bonding with Ivi and Anthony. Jay has shared his financial planning and how everything has gotten better since we started. The kids were inspired and would like to start planning for their future as well. It was a fun and worthwhile experience, being able to share what we have and what we know. And then, we called it a night…