Whistler Trip 2010

At the start of August Chelsey and I left the kids with Grandma for a few days and nights and took off on our second annual trip to Whistler for the Crankworx Mountain Bike festival; plus a few other things. The trip was awesome. As much as we love the twins it is nice to spend some time alone, sleep in and sit on a patio and drink beer! We were able to hammer two things off the 50 Things to do in BC Before You Die list and visit another Provincial Park.

I love heading up to Whistler for Crankworx as it is fun to check out all the new gear coming out and the vibe in Whistler is pretty good. We ate at some pretty good restaurants and had breakfast at the Wildwood Bistro in the Whistler Raquet Club which has the best breakfast at the best price in Whistler; we have been their every visit to Whistler and any first time has to try the banana loaf french toast!

The three prior blog posts on The Phamlee is about the highlights of our trip: Hiking the Chief, Zip Trekking and the Peak to Peak.

Feel free to add comments so I know you are all looking at this; it takes a very long time to upload all the pictures etc. so I just need to make sure you all enjoy our blog!

Whistler Trip 2010: Zip Trekking

As someone who is afraid of heights I was not super stoked on scratching Zip Trekking off the 50 Things to do in BC Before You Die list. We asked at the activity centre which of the two zip trekking tours were better and we were directed to the Wildplay Elements Park on Cougar Mountain; after seeing video footage of the other tour I think we made the right choice. The zip lines take you through the forest from one side of the canyon to the other and you reach speeds of up to 60mph 400 feet in the air. They warm you up with an easy one 10 feet above the fire road and then throw you in the deep end! Once you get going it is easy to enjoy the view and have fun. Stopping at the end is a bit violent, especially on the last line, but that is part of the fun; if you want a softer landing check out Zip Trek Eco Tours in the village. All in we had a blast; pictures and video after the jump...

Whistler Trip 2010: The Chief

On the drive up to Whistler we decided to knock another thing off the 50 Things to do in BC Before You Die list and make our up the Stawamus Chief in Squamish. The return hike took us 2.5- 3 hours to complete and we were lucky as the clouds cleared enough when we got to the top that we were able to get in a decent view of Squamish and Howe Sound. The hike to the top wasn't too bad but I sure am one sweaty bugger! Pictures and video of the view and the friendly chipmunks after the jump.

Whistler Trip 2010: Peak to Peak

We had scheduled for me to spend Tuesday mountain biking in the Whistler Bike Park. I felt a tad bad going mountain biking and leaving Chelsey in a spa for the day but we packed the bike on the truck and headed to the village. I offered to spend the day with Chelsey and do the peak to peak but she said no; I think she wanted to do it though. Once we got to the village we realized I was having mechanical issues with the bike and decided it was a sign for me not to ride; yes, I was in Whistler for 4 days and did not ride my bike! So we decided to do the Peak to Peak...

August Long Weekend Family Fun

We have more pictures then video clips from this past weekend so I couldn't justify a Woods Chronicles for this past week.

After our recon. mission to Jones Lake on Saturday I thought we would hit it with a full assault on Sunday and go camping! Chelsey had to work so the kids and I snuck up there early Sunday and scooped a good spot opn the lake. I had never seen the kids as dirty as they were by Sunday night; it didn't matter though as they had a good time. After setting up camp we had some lunch and embarked on some fishing, like always we never caught a thing. We followed that up with a little hike through the woods and then tried to build a raft on the beach; it took about two seconds to sink. My biggest concern was whether or not the kids would sleep and that turned out to be a non issue. They were asleep by 8:00 and slept right through to 6:15. While they were sleeping I did some more fishing and watched the buggers jump all over the lake and still not eat my bait. The coolest thing was an owl landed on a log about 15 feet away and sat there for 10 minutes watching me fish.