The Brandywine Bulletin: Wonderful Whistler Blackcomb December 30

On December 30, we flew out to Seattle and then drove up to Whistler, BC, Canada to join Ashley, Jason, Claire, Courtney and Jeff, and Detroit friends, Ken and Marty, for a week of skiing, eating, drinking, hanging out and fun! Courtney and Jeff's friends, Lisa and Andy from San Diego, and our South Jersey friends, Mark and Janet, joined us for a short time as well. Claire really liked her babysitter, Jen, who came from 8:30-2 each day, and Ashley and Jason were able to do some real quality skiing for the first time since January 2010. Claire even put her skis on one afternoon, but she has yet to take any step/slides completely on her own. The week simply flew by, and everyone had a blast!

We experienced every kind of weather that Whistler can offer EXCEPT for a bright sunny day, although the sun did come out a couple of times for short appearances. The Alpine lifts were closed all of one day due to 80+ km an hour winds, and it rained in the village a couple of days. However, the incredible powder day on Thursday plus plenty of good snow all week more than made up for it. This was our 14th week since 1993 spent in this magnificent mountain playground, and we can safely say that we love it as much as or even more than we ever did. We cannot wait to return SOON!

The Olympic Rings in Olympic Plaza remain as a reminder of Whistler's role as the venue for many events during the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games. Dale and I were lucky enough to be there for a week during the Games, and it is an experience that will live in our memory forever!

The lights festooning the trees also bring home to me one of the things I like most about ski vacations...it is always Christmas in ski country!

Claire enjoyed her playtime with everyone in our Club Intrawest condo, and she particularly loved to "Hop on Pop".

Claire's very first time on skis, January 1, 2012, will definitely not be her last as part of this skiing family!

Just missing Jeff from this cute family photo at the base of Blackcomb. He must have been the photographer.

The older set went out to the beautiful Edgewater Lodge for dinner on Sunday night, and I just had to toast my "besties" with some special martinis for the excellent run we took down the 2010 Women's Super G slope earlier that day.

This owl totem pole marks the entrance to two of our favorite trails, Rock and Roll and Ridge Runner, on Blackcomb Mountain.

Dale, Mark and Marty are ready to "Rock and Roll"

Janet pointing out her namesake trail, Davies Dervish, but in the end she decided not to ski it because...

it is a tightly gladed, ungroomed super expert powder run. Janet wisely decided that she wanted to ski for many more years rather than end her career on such a trail :-)

Nothing like a cocktail at Milestones (the former Monks) to end a perfect ski day. Mark and Janet, thanks for making the long trip out for only TWO days of skiing!

Whistler was blessed with more snow than any other ski resort in the world the week we were there, and we thank the snow gods, especially Ullr, for that.

We left Whistler reluctantly on January 6 and drove down to Seattle via a stop at Golden Swan in Vancouver for a delicious Dim Sum lunch.

Claire wondered where on earth we had taken her at first. Her head was spinning all around like a little owl on the prowl as the steaming carts went past laden with platters and steam baskets. However, she quickly got into the spirit of Dim Sum and even tried a few morsels.

We spent our final evening in Seattle visiting our family there, Will, Catherine, Laura (18) and Julia (13), and that was the perfect end to a lovely vacation.