Ultimate Road Trip

Once a week, in the common room located on our floor, we have an event called the community kitchen. A lady comes over and shows us how to cook healthy meals. The food always turns out great. We are usually about 10 people who participate. The best part about this event is that we don’t have to spend one cent and we get a nice big supper. I forget the name of the stuff we prepared this week but, there was a dish containing Chinese noodles, a rice bowl, potato wedges, couscous and for desert rice pudding. Can’t wait till next week.

Darcey

The first time I ate a Beaver Tail was in Ottawa on the Rideau Canal. I have to admit, it was pretty good. A Beaver Tail is a pastry which they deep-fry and then add toppings. They are normally sweet. When we first got to whistler, we noticed that they had them down in the village at a chip stand named Zogs. We tried them but they weren’t the same. We were really disappointed, especially Danny. I believe the pastries were shipped to them from frozen. It didn’t taste at all like the ones in Ottawa. Last week, we decide to try our luck with another Beaver Tail place located on Whistler Mountain. This place was bigger. We figured they probably had room in that building to make fresh pastries. When we finally had them, they we’re exactly like in Ottawa. Everyone has to try a Beaver Tail. It’s quite good! Here’s a picture of the maple one I had up on the Mountain.

Darcey

Here is a video clip of us hitting some jumps in the whistler park.

The holidays here in whistler were awesome.  Mom, Kendra and Ma Tante Joce got here the 18th of December.  Mom and Ma Tante Joce left the 26th.   As for Kendra, she stayed till the 5th of January.  Jon McNeil got here on the 5th and stayed till the 12th.  Now nicks fiend is here.  Our house is always busy and I love having guests over.  Who ever wants to come visit, don’t be shy and we would love you here. 
We did a lot of fun stuff during the holidays such as tubing, skiing, swimming, went to the movies, out for suppers, watched a freestyle skiing/snowboarding show, partying and the list goes on. I would like to say thanks to Kendra, Mom, Ma Tante Joce and Jon for coming to visit. I had a blast with everyone. Now that everyone is gone I have time to write a little blog. Work was really busy as well and the parking lots were nuts.  So many people came here for x-mas and I had a bunch of overtime. Now that the holidays are over, work is a lot better. This week out of 4 days of work I got to go skiing for 3 of those days. Two days for 3 hours and one day for 4 hours. That makes the shift go by a lot faster. Now next Saturday we are getting sled training and will begin to drive the snowmobiles. I am pumped for that.
I would be able to say a lot more in this blog, since we did so many cool things during the holidays but I want to keep it short.  Soon we will record videos of us on the mountain. Keep an eye out and enjoy yourselves,
Danny

Happy Birthday mom from all of us here in Whistler! Hope you have a great one. We love you and I think Paul summed it up perfectly when he wrote on his website, http://www.paulyblog.com/
“Today is my moms birthday.  My mom is simply amazing.  I know everyone always says that their mom is the best but I really do mean it.  Being a single mom and raising 3 boys must have been hard.  She did it and it seemed effortless.  I still remember when I was young, mom would get back from work and make us nice suppers.  I mean even better suppers than what I make now.  I always wondered where she found time to sleep.  When I was in grade 7 or 8 I remember waking up and she had already done all the laundry, the groceries and made us breakfast. She’s always been there for us through laughs and cries.  She raised us to be responsible adults and without her I don’t think I would be where I am now. Thanks mom and have a wonderful day.”

Nicely said Paul and Thanks mom!

Darcey

The average snowfall in Whistler is 33 feet. Last year they got around 60 feet. That’s a lot of snow. It is unreal being here and watching it fall virtually every day. This past week we got over 4 feet of snow. The skiing was great. On Sunday it snowed so much that the traffic was backed up like you wouldn’t believe. What is usually a 5 minute drive to Creekside would have taken hours. Danny, being he works for roads and parking, missed out on the fire and ice show but managed to rack in the overtime. All this to say there’s a lot of snow! Take a look at the picture I posted of my truck. That’s after only a few days. Luckily it’s parked for the winter. Oh yeah, and I guess it doesn’t get cold in Whistler. My guess is that for the past month the daily average was close to – 5c. This week they are calling for around 0c. The coldest we got so far was -17 here in the village. The weather is perfect. We love Whistler!

Darcey

JMac’s visit started off as a good one. He arrived in whistler this past Saturday. Little did he know he was about to spend a lot less money than what he expected. Saturday night we went out looking for boots for him to buy. As I was lending him my second pair of skis, he only needed boots and poles. After an hour of shopping, the cheapest boots we can find were $399. Equipment is expensive in whistler. We shopped around for rental boots and poles. Many of the places had them for well over $100 for the week. Jon’s first hook up of the night came when we set foot in Source for Sports. He was able to get the boots and poles for $75 tax in. I think the guy accidently charged him for kid’s boots and on top of that gave us a 10% discount because I am staff here in whistler.
Jon and I made our way back to rez where we would start off a great night with a few beers. For a while now Jon has wanted to try Kokanee Gold. Unfortunately they don’t sell this beer in Ontario. Getting hooked up again, he was able to able to fulfill his life long dream of tasting a beer he had long heard off. We went down to a pub called Crystal Lounge for a few pitchers of beer, or as they say here in whistler, Jugs. Then with our luck, we got hooked up again. We left Crystal Lounge for a club named Buffalo Bills. Since a friend of mine works there, we were able to by-pass the line by entering the back door and didn’t have to pay a cover charge. Thanks Josh! We played some pool and had a great time.
Sunday morning we got up nice and early, put on the skis and made our way up Blackcomb Mountain. It snowed all day. It was Jon’s first time skiing in all that powder. We made our way to the ticketing office in order to pay for Jon’s passes for the week. Hooked-up again! Ben, a friend from rez, used his magic and was able to hook Jon up with early-bird season prices (best deal you can get to get up on the mountains) and the ticketing person accidently hooked Jon up with a free day of skiing. (It was no accident, but in case someone asks, yes it was.) There he was, getting hooked up left and right like if it was his job. Jon, Ben and I went for some après-ski at the Amsterdam Pub. We split on a Jug and each had a poutine.
After showering and a few drinks, Jon and I went to GLC, a pub situated at the base of Whistler Mountain, to go watch the Fire and Ice show. This is a show where skiers and snowboarders perform tricks and try their luck jumping through a ring of fire. We were able to hook ourselves up with a sweet table on the outside patio of the GLC right near the show. We even got the guy who works there to hook us up with a big propane lantern to keep us warm. The waitress told us they don’t allow people to sit there but made an exception for us. The fire and ice show was great.
It’s now Tuesday. I’m typing this post as Jon and Danny are making themselves grilled cheese for breakfast. Soon we will be back up the mountain for another fun day of skiing. This afternoon we will watch the Montreal Canadians on TSN. Hopefully our luck will continue.

A little late post to whish everyone a great new year. We had a lot of fun for New Year’s Eve. Had some drinks here in residence and then made our way to 18 below, a restaurant near our place. They had cheap drinks and good music. After a great night out, everyone went straight to bed except for me (Darcey). I stayed up a little longer in the lounge with some friends. Before hitting the hay, I went into Danny’s room where he and Kendra were sleeping. I tried to wake them up for fun, but nothing. So I took almost everything Danny had in his room and put it onto his bed. When he and Kendra woke up they had a bunch of stuff on them. Kendra was cuddling with a bag of chocolates. Haha.. New Year’s Eve was fun. Hope everyone had as much fun as us.

Darcey

Christmas this year was truly different. Even though it was our first Christmas away from home, it was still a really good one. We got some visit from my mom, Nick’s mom and Danny’s girlfriend, Kendra. It was a full house in our little apartment. We had a lot of fun visiting the village. It was good to have some big home cooked meals again. The moms cooked some ham, turkey and even took the time to make 12 loafs of homemade bread, cinnamon buns and raisin bread. We got spoiled. They even did our dishes. The girls went out for a snowshoe hike while we were at work. Mom and Kendra had some baileys to make the hike a little bit more interesting. They took some really nice pictures. We went tubing and mom tried skiing. Christmas was great! We all had a lot of fun!! Thanks for the visit.

Darcey