Its been half a dozen years today since my sister Hannah, my then-boyfriend-now-husband and I spent a day snowboarding at Whistler Blackcomb. I refuse to believe that much time has passed. Hannah would tell you this was the day she knew I would marry Brandon, as he patiently waited -for 45 minutes, downstairs, in his car, in the parking garage, at 4:30 in the morning,- for me to get my pokey self out the door.
I was living in Seattle then, my husband and I had just started dating, and my sister was visiting from Michigan. We drove from Seattle to Whistler, BC that morning and made it there by 10a.m. with a stop for breakfast at a small town just before you reach Whistler Village. The drive from Vancouver to Whistler takes you along the Sea to Sky Highway, which is a stunningly scenic stretch of road, worth the trip in itself.
We spent the rest of the morning and afternoon on our boards, covering as much terrain as we possibly could before our legs turned to jelly. We maybe definitely broke our own personal records for total elevation ridden that day thanks to Brandon’s ski trail-map navigational skills and the Guinness World Record breaking Peak 2 Peak Gondola that spans 2.7 miles at a seat-clenching 1,400+ feet off the ground, connecting Whistler and Blackcomb mountains.
Of course there was apres-ski, and dinner somewhere, and an overnight at a hotel not far from the main lift that I remember had these really good homemade granola bars and a golden retriever in the lobby. We took a stroll through Whistler Village in the morning, then drove back along that gorgeous stretch of highway. We stopped for lunch, this time in Vancouver, before making our way back to Seattle in the afternoon. It was a spontaneous, unplanned and really special adventure that I’m glad the three of us got to share.
