Could Whistler be better?!?!

Yup - gotta admit - Monday morning on the mountain was pretty amazing.  Clear skies and I couldn't stop taking pictures and being AMAZED we are here.

The mountain was actually 1/2 closed (the closing day party was Sunday night.  So Whistler was closed but Backcomb was open.  We stood in line for rentals and than in line for the ticket (Meaning there were still TONS of folks wanting to be on the snow!!)

WE met some of the nicest must unique folks - living in the area - trying to get their 'runs' in each day - I never want to forget our 65+ year old friend who was #250 in the contest (out of 3000) to get the most runs - famous quote from him -

 'enough about me - lets talk about you, what do you think of me??'  Said and unstoppable Whislter mountain gem (he fell getting off the chairlift which made us chuckle just a bit - 

WE took 3 lifts to get out of the slushy snow and into the powdery stuff.  No ice!!  Crazy right??

Early morning clouds leaving the Whistler portion of the mountain

Pretty sure Chris wants to keep hitting the slopes and stop taking photos!

The lifts over there aren't open - but the view is still amazing!

Apparently that isn't stopping these guys - look at those packs.  Chris and I determined that these guys enjoy the hike almost as much as that amazing run down.

You can't help but take more photos!

Love the new filter on this photo - captured this hot guy having a stellar (and well shaken) beer on our lunch break.

We literally just sat down on the mountain, opened up our snack back pack and enjoyed the view!

Since we are used to the 10pm closing time at ski sundown, we missed the 3:35 last chair to the top and had to start our decent.  Legs a bit tired and a few beers so here is the trail Chris choose.  WE will call them Hero Bumps as they are a bit sticky so makes them easier to do.  

I complained a bit, but we both loved it

Not many folks claim this mogul field for their last run - but we did it!

Now we are having a beer at the base

Debating if we should follow this guy to the party!

WE hit the hot tub instead and made an early night - one more day on the slopes tomorrow!

Tuesday morning started with a short workout and this beautifulness

Chris did some work coordination and I had a few R+F things 

It was VERY foggy and MUCH harder to see.  The first run we did a lady fell right in front of us.  WE stopped to help her til ski patrol came.  Definitely a day to watch out a bit.  

Liz connected with us early on saying they were playing hooky from the conference and joining us for the day.  Yeah!!

what a cool group of folks to ski with - one from Zermatt Switzerland - Klaus, Pierre from Paris France and Mike from Stockholm Sweden - makes Canton CT seem pretty small school!

on our final run the fog was SO thick it was as if you were skiing through a dream.  You couldn't see the snow AT ALL - and barely the person in front of you.  We made our way down to all hit the hot tub and have so very colorful conversation - can you believe we all chatted about South Park?!?!?  American Culture prevails!  (even the bad stuff!)

So one more Olympic Park for this adventurous Crew - We figured out we have been to 

Munich Germany (hosted in 1972)

Lake Placid, NY (hosted 1980)

London, England (before they hosted in 2012)

Barcelona Spain (just me) (hosted in 1992)

Park City, UT (hosted 2002)

Now Whistler Canada (hosted 2010)

We can get sprinkler value education from everywhere - to include dinner out Tuesday night.

One more - happy hour for this crew!

Thank you SO much to Liz for including us on this adventure.  We love that your career takes you to such amazing places and thank you for wanting us to come with you!!  We loved exploring with you and find that we can do it anywhere.  (if only you would let us into your adult science fair!!)  No matter what career you will have - may you always keep the desire to travel (we do!!)  and continue to surround yourself with such dynamic people.  Amazing to see you so good at what YOU have put your mind to.

Sad face on an early Wednesday morning - now for the DRIVE back to Vancouver, the FLIGHT to Toranto and the TINY flight to Bradly international

Just snapping a few more awesome views

The mountains literally spill into the ocean - its amazing.

Just in case you though I was fibbing about the 2 seater plane - yup, we went from10 across to just 2 and an awesome female pilot that we could watch the whole way!!

The travel day was LONG and exhausting because it was boring - but we had subway on the plane (impressive learning curve right?) and both of us watched Lion - great movie.  HUGE kudos to my folks for holding down the fort with these boys.  I know their schedules are exhausting and being at someone else house is a challenge too.  They made it seem so doable and we both have HUGE appreciation for this time AWAY together.  Yes, Whistler was amazing and I loved the time with Liz - I also really valued the time with Chris - away from it all, just together.