Whistler Long Weekend

10 March, 2006

(Click on the images to view larger versions)

A crowd of us were heading to Whistler for a long weekend - from Thurs to Sun.

WED 22nd FEB

It started off with a bit of a surprise. Fergus had been back in NI, and a delayed flight caused Fergus to miss his connection in London, meaning he was going to be a day late. Somehow, he managed to charm his way into getting on a flight to Vancouver instead. I had to pack for both of us a day early and change the car hire and go meet him in Vancouver airport instead of SeaTac.

We got a hotel in Vancouver and went to The Hamilton Grill for steak (and beer of course). Fergus - looking happy and not too tired after his flight hassles and missed sleep. Me - I was wrecked and stressed after all the driving (all in all I'd been driving for about 5 hours that day)! Canada was losing the Olympic ice-hockey in the background.
THURS 23rd FEB After a lie-in and a late breakfast, we headed North.
	It was a beautiful day and the scenery was gorgeous. This is looking out across horseshoe bay.
We stopped at Squamish. Couldn't resist this photo of two everlasting entities - a mountain and McDonalds.
	Carolyn and Mark. Carolyn had booked us into a gorgeous chalet on a swanky golf course. She'd also volunteered to cook dinner on the first night there.
Anne and Brendan. A long drive for them with the power out for the morning before they left, three children in the car and one of them car sick!
	Here is Brendan and his youngest child, Sean. Looks like Sean got more food on his body than in his mouth.
After dinner we all sat around the table chatting (and waiting for me to make the dessert perhaps).
	Brian and Gina. Brian is probably the keenest out of all of us to get on the slopes. They were both planning to head out the next day for some snowboarding.
Angela and Kris. Angela is talking with her hands, I think. Please note the (now empty) bottle of wine. I'd brought it along simply because it's label is McManis (Brian's surname).
FRI 24TH FEB
	Isn't Amy just so cute? I don't know if she quite knew why she'd been wrapped up so warmly. The golf course was a great place for sledding and Carolyn and Mark had brought two sleds for the young 'uns.
Ian (Carolyn and Mark's other child) all wrapped up for the snow. He looks a little confused too, or maybe he's just finding it hard to see Kris from inside that hood.
	Beautiful Maisie. I was looking after her for the morning so Gina could join Brian on the slopes for a while. This is evidence that she was perfectly happy and being looked after properly (she'd cried (ok wailed!) when I picked her up the night before). That afternoon I went ice skating and then for some apres ski in Whistler with Fergus. It was Anne and Brendan's turn to cook.
Looks like Gina is teaching Maisie how to drink from a beer glass. Is Angela in on the conspiracy or she she trying to drag Maisie away?
	Kris setting up the poker. Brian asking how to play Texas holdem'. Aye right, Brian, we believe you (he won that night).
SAT 25th FEB
	The girls relaxing before hitting the slopes - well the tiny slopes on the golf course - with the sleds. Angela is reading all the latest celebrity gossip to her son Johan - it's important to start them off early!
Kris, on the other hand, prefers to teach his son circus tricks. I went off for a cross-country ski lesson. All the children went off to the pool.
	Kris, again. This time teaching Johan how to swim. They both look like they are enjoying themselves!
Anne brought Sean to the pool to clean all that spaghetti sauce off!
	"The Fergus" (as he was known after the wine I'd bought him for Christmas). This is in Whistler town.
Fergus relaxing in the Jacuzzi at the chalet. It was beautiful with all the snow behind. The girls headed in to town for some apres-ski.
		It started snowing on Sat evening. That night, Kris couldn't resist creating a big snow angel.
SUN 26TH FEB
	When we woke up Sun morning, there was about 10" of snow! This is the view from our bedroom window.
		Brian couldn't resist creating a little angel and Maisie created a little snow angel.
Fergus had to dig our car out of the snow. We were worried we wouldn't get into town to make it for our dog sledding trip. Luckily, the swanky golf course ploughed all the side roads, and we were able to get out to the main roads which were all ploughed as well.
	Little did we know at this stage, that this would be as close as we'd get to a dog or sled that day!
We had wrapped up warmly as it was cold and still very snowy.
	They delayed the sledding for an hour while they ploughed the steep road up Cougar Mountain. Then they changed us to this bus with snow chains on. And they still couldn't get us up the steep road, and they had to cancel! They said the 80ish dogs at the top would also be disappointed that they didn't get out that day. But I don't know - I was pretty sad about it!
Even seeing the Canadian Mounties, and the Irish dancers didn't cheer us up. We went to Whistler town centre where there were lots of events going on.
	So we went to the Amsterdam Bar and a couple of beers cheered us up instead.
This is Squamish Mountain again - this time with a little snow. The roads weren't too bad o the way back. They'd all been snow ploughed and lots of traffic had been on them by the time we left. A snowy end to our Whistler long weekend.

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