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Scenery overload
We met the coach that would take us up to Whistler and spent the two and a half hours on the Sea to Sky highway goggling at the insanely stunning scenery. I also spent a lot of time observing the blonde family in front of us. At first I though they were speaking German, then perhaps Dutch, but when the little girl, who was about 6 or 7 years old, put on her headphones and turned the music way up it became clear – they were Swedish! This tiny tow-headed girl (her hair would cost a FORTUNE at the salon to duplicate. It was the perfect blend of about four different shades.) was listening to ABBA! Too funny. At first I assumed it was the “Mamma Mia” soundtrack, but I caught a glimpse of her iPod screen (All five of them had iPods) it was ABBA Gold. Maybe their music is like national folk songs in their own country rather than gay anthems like the rest of the world.

Shangri-La
I don’t know about all of you, but my life has not been chock full of luxury hotel stays. There have been a few here and there, quite often for work trips, so I’m left alone to take in all the splendour of the room on my own. So it was especially nice to walk into the incredible lobby of the Westin Resort and Spa and have the DP there. Someone to look and lift my eyebrows in order to communicate, “Holy shit! How did we get this lucky!?”
I think our room might qualify as fanciest thus far for me, purely for the fact that it was a one-bedroom suite! So we had a “living room” with a fireplace and a couch and chair, plus a table and chairs and a full mini-kitchen, PLUS we had a bedroom.
**Warning: I’m going to sound ungrateful for a teeny tiny second**
The only problem was that the fireplace wasn’t in the bedroom. If you wanted to enjoy the fireplace, you had to hang out on the couch, which wasn’t very cushy or comfy. Okay. Shutting up now.
**Done. Sorry.**



The absolute best part about the room was the bed. The Westin calls their bed “Heavenly Beds” and with good reason. The pillow top on the mattress was the thickness of the last three Harry Potter books stacked upon one another. So decadent and divine. In fact, there was a brochure in the room pricing out the entire bed experience, from the mattress to the sheets to the dust ruffle to the decorative pillow. You too can have a Heavenly Bed, but you may need to sell a kidney for it.

The hottest accessories in the village
The first order of business was to get our ski rentals for our lesson the next morning, so we ventured out of the hotel and walked about a hundred metres and found ourselves at both the rental place and the base of Whistler mountain. So close! Crazy. We go in to be fitted and I’m feeling confident that all the unbelievable technology that has become available to us in the past 20 years since I last skied has trickled down and allowed ski boots to now be comfortable.
I was wrong.
Sigh.
I also discovered that I don’t know how to carry a pair of skis, poles and boots all at once and look like a confident ski bunny. So the hundred metres back to our hotel was like a walk of amateur shame. But I made it. Thank goodness.