Whistler Weekend - Baby Moon

David and I decided a while back that if we could swing it, we'd like to get away for a weekend with just the two of us before the baby comes. We try every year to do something for our anniversary (November 10), so this weekend in Whistler is half baby-moon, half 4th anniversary trip!

Day 1 (Friday, October 14)

Drive:
- Rainy, but fast (2 hours door to door), arriving in Whistler Village at 1:30pm. 

First Impressions: 

- We booked our hotel through Hotwire and got the Pinnacle Whistler Hotel which is RIGHT in the village. Literally right in the middle of everything. Most of the village things we want to see are within 150m.  

- Upgraded hotel room to Deluxe Suite on top floor with mountain view. (Doesn't hurt to inform them this is our "last hurrah" before baby comes!)
- Torrential downpour on arrival, but it makes everything feel even more cozy
- Can see the Library from our room, which was Adam's first job with Structure Craft many years ago.
- Cold!!! Pouring rain in the village, but just a few hundred meters up we can see the snow line on the mountain. 

Top floor = Vaulted ceilings!

A full kitchen in our suite. We brought some breakfast food with us, so we can save a couple bucks that way!

This is where we're staying!

What to do on Day 1:

- We walk 110m to El Furniture Warehouse for lunch. Everything on the menu is $4.95 (excl. liquor). We share a Poutine, and then David orders a Stanley Park Windstorm Pale Ale (fitting for the power outages we hear are happening at home) and the BBQ Chicken Sandwich with Tomato Soup. I order a Beet & Goat Cheese Salad. I am pleasantly surprised by the quality of the food. Maybe pretty typical pub food, but our entire bill (tax included) was $22.00!!! Now we're talking!

- After lunch we take a wet stroll through the village, hit up Starbucks for some hand-warmers & stop in at some of the cute shops. I really wish we had drawn names for Christmas before coming. So many cute gift ideas!!

- We get back to the hotel with plans of warming up, but the outdoor hot tub is covered and it is pouring rain... GOOD THING THERE'S A DOUBLE JACUZZI TUB IN OUR ROOM! Yup... Right in our room. Right beside the bed! We get in for a soak and relax for a while with the jets going and all. Pure bliss!

A little strange maybe to have the tub beside the bed like this, but feels nicer than being stuck in a puny bathroom to take a bath.

- A little while later we look outside and notice it is snowing! How beautiful :) I am just giddy with relaxation, coziness, and good food. {I know that sentence doesn't make sense, but that is how I'm feeling!}

Getting bundled up for the walk to dinner.

- Dinner time. We planned on going to CreekBread Pizza, which is about a 7 minute drive down the road, but their dining room is closed and I don't want to do take out. We search Trip Advisor for some other mid-range restaurants in the village and come across 21 Steps. Great reviews, great looking menu, and half-decent prices. {We also looked at Hy's Steak House as that's right across from our hotel, but when steak entrees START at $45 we decide to rethink that. Just because we're on our babymoon doesn't mean we're suddenly made of money!}

- We battle the snow and rain to walk to 21 Steps. My feet are instantly soaked and frozen. I have to stop just to try to warm up my feet a few times because they are hurting as if I am walking barefoot in the snow. Not the best, but I am determined to get to this food!

- We get to the restaurant, just a 5 minute walk from our hotel, and find that we have to walk up 21 steps to get to the main dining area... clever. We are promptly seated right next to a window over-looking the "Village Stroll". We order a glass of wine to share, and I explain that we have to split as I'm on a "wine budget" as I pat my belly. The waitress is wonderfully excited for us and brings us our wine to share. I immediately notice her relaxed attitude. I was nervous about her feeling uncomfortable with me having some wine with dinner. She is consistently on the ball throughout our whole meal. Good tip for her!!

- What to eat and drink? Delicious things... We decide to share a few appetizers and a dessert.

   6 oz. glass of Wine Men of Gotham Shiraz

   Fried Goat Cheese with caramelized onion and rosemary infused honey 

   Tiny Bacon Wrapped Beef Filets with horseradish aioli

   Garlic Chili Prawns scallions, peanuts and crispy wontons 

   Chocolate Brownie warm with vanilla ice cream, caramel sauce and peanut brittle 

- Food is to die for. So many incredible flavours. We thoroughly enjoy our experience at 21 Steps, and are considering coming back tomorrow if we get stuck for dinner ideas, although I'd like to try something different as well. We leave satisfied, but not stuffed. 

- Back to the hotel for a movie (we watched Toy Story haha!), and catching up on documenting the day. We feel so relaxed. Our hotel room is great, the weather is... cozy, our bellies are full, and we have another FULL day to spend here!

I'm learning how to use David's camera this weekend. Many of the photos are taken by Dave, but there are the odd ones that are taken by me :) I figure when we have a baby I'm going to want to take pictures on a real camera instead of my iPhone. Makes for nicer photos for print!

Day 2 (Saturday, October 15)

- We both sleep sort of poorly, as we usually do our first night in a new bed. We are also sleeping on a Queen, when we're used to our giant King bed at home. I have to wake David up a few times to move over as he's sneaking onto my pillow. This woman needs her space!!
- I am up and in the shower by 8:30. I had some back and hip pain starting last night, and the new bed didn't help, so I figure I'll sneak out of bed for a shower and relaxing time with my hot bean bag thing. 
- When David wakes up we throw some Eggo's in the oven (no toaster here). We eat our breakfast and play a card game together before planning our day. Plan of action? Wander around because it's not raining!!

What's this?! No rain?!

- We make a stop by the Whistler Public Library which, as mentioned above, my brother Adam had a big hand in. 

- There is some marathon and relay race happening around/through the Village while we're putzing around taking photos. The cones set up down the walkway sort of take away from the beauty, but that's okay. We head down to Olympic Plaza anyway. 

They have a handy rock sculpture with a flat top here I feel was specifically placed as a "camera mount" for situations just such as this!

Clock tower on the Brewhouse

Classic white girl during the Fall. All I need is my Pumpkin Spice Latte!

Pretending I know how to play... Hammered down a couple C chords. That's as far as my piano-playing knowledge goes!

Probably as close as we're going to get to seeing any wildlife this trip

- Some more meandering brings us to a stunning building called the Audain Art Museum. The museum just opened this year on March 12 (David's birthday!). Describing the architecture doesn't do it justice, so here are just a few of the dozens of photos we took while we were there. David wants to save some of the really nice ones for his website and to post personally, so I guess I'll have to respect that... What you see below is a snippet, but doesn't include some of the more intricate features of the structure.

  

David is humouring me constantly asking him to come be in pictures with me.

The security guard is kind enough to let us past the gate to the end of the hall as he heard us discussing photography and how we thought a shot down this hallway would be cool.

I am being cheeky showing off my belly and then when David uploaded the picture I realized my belly is protruding much more than I thought. Caught me off guard a little! Oh ya! That whole thing!

I clearly have no photography skills, so this is an iPhone shot of the true photographer capturing the previous photo.

- Mom & Dad are watching Sherlock for us this weekend, so they're sending us occasional updates throughout the day as well. 

- After visiting the art museum's lobby, we decide it is time for lunch and go to the El Furniture Warehouse again. We looked at some other casual places as well, but it's hard to justify spending $15 on an appetizer, when we know we can get an appetizer and two pretty decent meals for that price at the other place!

For a brief few minutes this afternoon we actually have a mountain view from our "mountain view room"! It's too bad it's not clearer so we can actually see, but we didn't come for the view anyway. We just came to be away with each other!

- We spend much of the afternoon relaxing at our hotel suite. Jacuzzi tub, nap, movie, chocolate... All very gezelligheid. 

- At 5:30 we are off to The Keg for our dinner reservations. We were originally supposed to go to the Red Door Bistro, but it is quite costly, and we both were craving red meat anyway. We get to the restaurant and are seated at a corner table with windows on two sides. Nice to see out into the streets, which are now filled with rain. 

- Food at the Keg: 

   Calamari to share

   8 oz. Top Sirloin (medium rare) served with mushrooms, peppers, asparagus, garlic mashed potatoes, and with mixed greens to start for Renee

   10 oz. Prime Rib (medium rare) served with twice baked potato and crispy onions for David

   6 oz. glass of Sumac Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon to share

- I surprised myself and actually finished my whole meal! David took a little of his dinner back to the hotel to enjoy for leftovers later on. I love eating an earlier dinner. (At home we typically eat no later than 5 or 5:30).

1. The restaurant isn't as busy; 

2. We get back to the hotel to enjoy much more of the evening; 

3. We don't go to bed stuffed. 

- The rest of the evening was spent watching the hockey game, playing cards, and enjoying each other's company.

Day 3 (Sunday, October 16)

- We are up and at 'em by 8:30 Sunday morning with plans to to go Crepe Montagne for breakfast. Mmm... just thinking about it makes me salivate again! 

- Breakfast consists of a nutella and strawberry crepe for me, and a banana & caramel crepe for Dave. We order a side of hashbrowns, a coffee, and a glass of orange juice. That must have been SOME orange juice... they charged us $6.00 for it! Freshly squeezed "premium" OJ... unbeknownst to us. 

This better have been the best OJ ever!

Banana & Caramel Crepe

Mm... Strawberries & Nutella

One last walk through the village before heading home.

Until next time Whistler... That was a wonderful weekend!!