Travelogue part 8. Whistler

Man, this is the story that never ends.

Anyways.

So, we're at Whistler. And we've only got a day. But that's ok, because we're gonna make the time count.

First, we wandered around on foot to get our bearings. It was pretty grey, and dim, and wet, from the rain in the night, but I like to think that that just kept the crowds away.

There were all sorts of things to do.

We could go on a trail ride.

But really, of the kids, it was Kelly and Carrie that were the horse lovers, and they were off at camp. And none of the boys wanted to go near the scary horses. Good thing. It was really VERY expensive to go on a one-hour ride.

Instead, we bought a 'family pack' of ride tickets, and the boys got to decide on what they wanted to do.

First, they went on the big trampoline bungy thingy.

Nate has no fear. and he's very bouncy. Come back to earth, dude.

Skip, also, has no fear when it comes to things like this...

It was Dare-Devil Cole who seemed to be the timid one this time. Very odd.

Next, the boys were thrilled to discover that the luge run was going to open. It was kind of touch-and-go because of the wet track, but I guess they'd gone up and done the run with towels or mops to clear the track, so we were the first ones to head up there.

You go up this little chain-drive lift under the chair lift, and then go down a bendy-loopy course. They tell you to brake hard, but Ken said that really, you just want to go full-out the whole way.

On Nate's first run, he managed a top speed of 9.82 Km/h (you can see the time on the little sign in the above photo - one of the crew came down and managed a time of 26.77 Km/h. Apparently, that's high, but not "scary-fast". You can hit 30, they say. So Nate was doing 'little old lady going for a Sunday drive" speed. The next run, they decided to race against the clock. We didn't really notice what the big boys got on their first runs, but it was probably in the 20s somewhere.

Toni hit a top speed of 25.64. Not bad for a mom on her first run.

Cole hit a top speed of 26.22. Whew. It would've been disheartening if your MOM beat you, dude.

Skip's top speed was 28.07. Nicely done, my son.

And Nate? Did he do better than his 9.82?

Way to go, dude!

Then the boys moved on to the climbing wall.

Alas, tactical error: The boys decided to race. "Time us! See how fast we can scale to the top!"

Yes, it's always a race. A competition.

Which would be OK, except that your ticket was for A SINGLE ASCENT. So while Skip was scaling the wall in 34 seconds, the other kids were harnessing up, and spending 5 to 8 minutes on the wall for the same price.

Yeah. We should have thought that one through.

After a fun lunch at a crepe place, we were back on the mountain, this time on mountain bikes. The rates were really reasonable for hourly rentals, so we sent the boys out onto the trails.

Nate is a bit wobbly at first, and needs some attention.

Skip shows a bit of caution...

...and does NOT follow the fellow in front of him...

The most fun was in this little hidden clearing, where a tricky narrow-beam course had been set up. Of course, our guys couldn't do it, but it was fun to try.

Even Ken got in on the act... and lived to talk about it.

And all the while, Nate just biked around, and around, and around, getting remarkably better with every transit of the little circuit.

As a matter of fact, it was his success here that made him decide that he would like to ride his bike to school at some point. Of course, this means we'll have to upgrade his bike, which is a $20 Sears Floor Model one-speed special from about 15 years ago.

next installment: Waterslides!