Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Just in time snow!

I don't intend to produce a complete AAR on the dining experience at the Westin Hotel in Whistler last Thursday. Let me just say that having a fine restaurant produce a generous feast, complete with both goose and turkey, and all of the fixings, would have been a great treat by itself. Making it a buffet guaranteed I would eat way too much!! An excellent place, indeed ... Yum!

For those not familiar with Whistler, it is located about two hours north of Vancouver. The locals love the holiday weekend, with the large influx of Americans who head up for the early skiing over the 4 days. So here's an image to honor of our Canadian hosts ...

click for hi-res

Since part of the plan was to break out the skis, we were just a tiny bit disappointed that there was little to be found in the Whistler Village. Whistler / Blackcomb is a dual mountain ski resort, but only Blackcomb had been open for the past 3 weeks, and the early snow had hardened and suffered from the warmer temperatures.

Still, we enjoyed a ride up the gondola to the Whistler Roundhouse, and wandered about on top enjoying the view. Then we headed down to wander the village shops before making our way to the restaurant. After stuffing ourselves silly at dinner, we made our way back to the condo to vegetate sleep.

When we woke up Friday morning, we found it drizzling rain in the village, so the Hubster and I geared up and headed to the gondola. As we rose from the base at around 2000 feet, the gondola rose through cloud layers and the temperature dropped, so that we emerged at the 6000 foot level into snow. About 2.5 inches had fallen overnight, and it was still snowing. Yippee!!

Saturday night it started again, and on Sunday morning the snow was falling at the base of the hill as well. In the late morning, the clouds broke, and the view from the summit was stunning.