Whistler, Canada Sea to Sky Climb

We were up early and walked the short block from our hotel, Hyatt Regency, to the Fairmont Vancouver to catch our transfer to the Rocky Mountaineer train station.  After obtaining our boarding passes, the six of us boarded the bus for the 20 minute ride through Vancouver to the train station.  Embarkation was easy... we were all seated close together in comfortable seats.  Dome class service was not available for the Sea to Sky Climb itinerary but we were well taken care of and have plenty of photo opportunities.  The scenery was amazing.  We saw everything from the poor salmon who didn't make it all the way up the river and ended up being dinner for the bald eagles and black bears to dramatic river gorges, to mountains capped with snow.  The trip was leisurely and our train car attendant was a tour guide, giving us all sorts of interesting and sometimes humorous information.

What a beautiful, sunny, and unseasonably hot day in Whistler, Canada!  Even Ken, my nonshopper, had to purchase a short sleeve tee shirt.  We wandered around and found the will call booth and collected our beer festival tickets for the first every whistler village beer festival. Tickets were required & I purchased them online in advance for $35 per ticket.  There were about 47 craft beer brewers on hand and 4000 or so attendees.  It was held on Whistler's Olympic Plaza.  I sampled one beer from the Dead Frog Brewery that was my personal favorite as it was "citrusy" and I gave the rest of my beer tickets to Al and Susan.  My favorite, though, was the cute tank top with the logo and motto of the festival:  "beauty lies in the eyes of the beer holder"!!  I made sure to grab lots of coasters and a few labels.  Now I just need to get the Dead Frog tee with a logo that reads "nothing goes down like a cold dead frog"! 

Then back for some pool and steam room time before meeting everyone for dinner.  

After dining on wonderful Alaskan halibut for almost every meal, I was quite ready for some spaghetti! The Old Spaghetti Factory fit the bill perfectly...spaghetti with meat sauce, salad, garlic bread, and even 3 flavors of ice cream for dessert!  Oh yes.. The price was right too.  I know what you're thinking:  with all those great restaurants in Whistler why would you choose the Old Spaghetti Factory?  Well... I guess we were "fine cuisined out" and wanted something homey and simple.  The other reason is that when Ken & I first traveled, the Old Spaghetti Factory was quite a place and we tried to find one everywhere we went!  So there's a bit of sentimentality in the decision as well.  The six of us were exhausted after all of our travels via planes, trains, and automobiles so we decided to make it an early night ... though there were many all night "after festival" parties.

We stayed at the Pan Pacific Mountainside.  The restaurant associated with the hotel is the Dubh Linn Gate Pub and it rocks!!!  Literally and physically.  Pure and simple.  Friday night was our first night so the six of us went about 6:30 as we had noted that the live music began at 8pm.  I ordered steak and Guinness pie and was in food heaven.  Filled with tasty beef, potatoes, carrots, and onions in a rich brown Guinness infused gravy..  My heart be still!  

And then the band, Ruckus Deluxe appeared on stage... Awesome duo of Chad Oliver on acoustic guitar (former lead singer for cirque du soleil) and Ian Cameron (Grammy nominated violinist) on fiddle, electric guitar and mandolin.  They played everything from country to rock to their own originals and I could have danced all night.  Incredible. 

Next morning we had breakfast at the pub since our room rate included a nice voucher.. Again, excellent!! The Irish potato cake "took the cake" but the English bacon and fluffy scrambled eggs were perfect.  Sunday brunch is served at the Dubh Linn so we were there at 11 am on Sunday!  My favorite was the whole grain blueberry pancakes  with Canadian maple syrup!! My other favorite was the duo, The Splinters, who provided wonderful music in our outdoor brunch setting!

 We met the train shuttle at 2:45 pm and arrived back in Vancouver at 7:30 pm for an overnight stay at the Hyatt Regency in Vancouver, before boarding our ship, Norwegian Sun, the following morning.

A couple of notes regarding Whistler:  the train ride on the Rocky Mountaineer is 4 hours each way..some do this as a day trip from Vancouver; I don't advise that as you have only have about 3 hours in whistler.  I think one overnight would have been perfect.  We stayed for 2 nights and unless you are a mountain biker or avid hiker, one will do for sightseeing, photography, and hanging out.  It's claim to fame is skiing so visit Whistler in winter for some of the best in North America.

The Pan Pacific Mountainside is nicely located, within a three minute walk from the gondola transit station.  It's located in the pedestrian only Whistler Village.  We had a one bedroom suite on an upper floor.  Pool, spa, fitness center and steam room are nice.  I spent time in the eucalyptus infused steam room to relieve some head congestion .. It helped!

All in all, we had a fun couple of days in Whistler.  The scenery is awesome, the night life rocks, the food is great, and I purchased a red Helly Hansen Vancouver jacket!  It pairs well with my black leggings and Harley boots!