Whistler 2025

We went up this year with the Foos, Jen and Jacob. John couldn’t make it up this year due to the health of his dad, so he wanted to stay home to be close to him.

The Foos didn’t stay with us though, for the place that my buddy owns and lends to us is resident to a dog, and Brayden is allergic to dogs. Sadly the last time that they came with us to stay up there, Brayden broke out in hives. So only Jen, and Jacob stayed with us at my buddy’s place. It’s so nice that my friend lends the place to us every year. It’s so convenient in terms of location, for it’s ski in, ski out; and places like that, especially at Whistler are coveted for one, and incredibly expensive as well. The Foos ended up getting a hotel room at the Delta (where we normally stay).

Monday, March 24th, 2025

We spent 3 nights, and 4 days from Monday – Thursday. The first evening when we arrived, we went for dinner at 21 Steps.

After dinner, we went for dessert at Beaver Tails. (LOL Aunty Becky)

We called it a night after that.

Tuesday, March 25th, 2025

The next day, we got ready to head up the mountain. It’s unseasonably warm this week, and it’s actually above zero degrees on all altitudes of the mountain. It was also supposed to rain. Luckily, we didn’t have much rain while we were up on the hill. It was a bit windy, and the snow was heavier than we would have liked, but it wasn’t terrible. Isla and Dylan were still free, but Connor and Brayden are no longer free. Their lift tickets are not cheap. They are $255 including taxes for 1 day. Luckily, I had some 50% off coupons that my buddy had left behind for me, so I was able to get 50% off 2 adult lift tickets, which we used for Darren, and Connor. (Darren’s lift ticket would have been $330 otherwise!). I had purchased an edge card the season before, so it’s heavily discounted for me. I think if memory serves me correctly, it’s about $130/day for me? (so not terrible)

The Foo’s ended up driving up to our place (for we can just ski down the hill from our place to the lift), and parked for free for the day. We all put on our gear, and then walked to the hill and skied down to the gondola.

Here’s where we enter the ski hill from where my buddy’s place is located:

Here are some other videos of the kids skiing. Considering they only ski a couple of times a year, they’re getting better!

We had 1 short break to eat during the afternoon, and we ended up back at our place around 4pm. It was a long day of skiing, and my legs were pretty sore. I was tired too, lol.

Here are some photos from the day:

Isla being a clown:

I actually took Connor, Jake, Dylan, and Isla down the hill back to the lodge first, because Brayden was having some pain in his ankle. So Darren and him took it slower on the way down. Unfortunately, they took a wrong turn, and ended up at Blackcomb village, rather than heading towards Whistler Village. I was going to pick them up in the car, but Jen’s car was blocking mine, and I didn’t have access to her car keys. The ladies were down in the village enjoying a drink, and were trying to figure out how to walk back to the house (from Blackcomb Village for they were at the Fairmont Hotel) so I could get the keys to pick up Darren and Brayden. The girls got lost lol. Poor Brayden was tired and so was Darren. This was the guilty photo that the girls sent… lol (Jen doesn’t seem to sympathetic hahaha) The girls ended up taking 2 buses to get back to our place. It would have been quicker to walk, hahaha. Darren and Brayden ended up taking a chair lift up, and then skied down the correct way to our place.

I don’t think they were all too guilty though, cause this was them at the Fairmont before hand:

We had a 5:30pm reservation at a new Latin American restaurant called Balam. The food was good, but we didn’t order all that much. Here’s a photo of the restaurant, pretty cool:

After dinner, because we were all still hungry, I ordered a couple of medium pepperoni pizzas from Domino’s for $26! All of the kids shared the two pizzas, and I had some too lol

Then we went for ice cream at Cow’s. A yearly tradition when we go to Whistler. Thank you Aunty Jen for treating! Here they are in front of Bessie the Cow.

Here they were back in the day in front of Bessie the Cow! Gosh they were so cute.

We spent the rest of the evening at my buddy’s place, where the kids played some board games, cards, and Mario Kart. While the adults hung out around the dining room table and chatted. It was a nice relaxing evening.

Tomorrow, we’ll all be sleeping in and not skiing. The weather conditions would be incredibly warm, so the snow would be heavy (melting), so we decided against another day of skiing. Not to worry, we’d think of something to do.

Wednesday, March 26th, 2025

We woke up around 10am, and slowly got ready. The Foos ended up having lunch amongst themselves, so Jen, Jacob and us went to Portobello at the Fairmont for lunch. It’s a place we have visited previously, and enjoy every time we go. After lunch, we drove down to Whistler village to meet up with the Foos’. We ended up strolling around the village, and going to a Escape Room to setup a time for the kids to do an Escape Room challenge that evening. The escape room is highly rated. It’s called Escape! Whistler. We setup a time for them for 9pm that evening. The adults would be going for a dinner on their own, so the kids would also be on their own this evening.

After booking their time, we strolled around the village some more, did some browsing at some stores, and went for coffee at a place called %Arabica. It opened about 9 months ago, and is a coffee shop that originated in Japan. Their first store was started in Kyoto, Japan, and they now have over 200 locations worldwide. There’s actually a new one opening in Richmond Centre soon. It was pretty good! A pricey $7.30 (with tax) latte, but it was enjoyable. I specifically had a Kyoto Latte.

The kids ended up heading back to the Foos hotel, and they sat around watching Youtube on the television. The adults strolled around the village some more, before we decided to head to Earls for Happy Hour. hahaha, it was 3:30pm by this time, so it was Happy Hour time. We messaged the kids if they wanted to come, and they weren’t going to turn down another meal!

The adults had some beverages, while the children had full on meals. This was supposed to tie them over until their Escape Room. Steak Frites, Chicken Strips, Sliders, Truffle Fries. These kids are spoiled!

Here they are playing Big 2. A new favourite past time.

After happy hour, the kids went on their way, and they would be on their own until the evening.

The adults had a reservation at a Thai restaurant for 7:45pm, so we had some time to kill. We finished the 2nd period of the Canucks game at Earls, and headed out. We ended up driving to Creekside, which was an 8 minute drive South on Highway 99. I had never been there before, so was interested to check it out. It’s just another small village, similar to Blackcomb village, where there are some shops, a grocery store, and ski lifts that bring you up to Whistler. After visiting Creekside, we drove back to our place, and just killed some time before we had to head out to dinner.

Dinner was at a Thai restaurant called Barn Nork Aharn Thai. Located about a 5 minute drive North of Whistler Village on highway 99. We had some great dishes especially their Beef Massaman, and Green Curry. They only four tables at the restaurant, so it’s super cozy. A really good joint though, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Here are some photos of our dishes:

During our dinner, the kids messaged us and told us that they went to McDonalds and shared 2 x 10 Piece McNugget Meals with a coupon from the app. Then they went to Dairy Queen for Blizzards. They then made their way to their 9pm reservation at the Escape Room.

The adults finished their dinner around 9:15, and we headed back to our place. We watched a documentary on Netflix about gut health, it was called ‘Hack your Health: The Secrets of Your Gut’. The kids finished their escape room (they didn’t complete it) and headed back to the Foos hotel. We finished the documentary, and then I drove Becky and Darren back to their hotel, and picked up Jake, Connor and Isla. We drove back home, chilled for a bit, and eventually called it a night. We would be leaving tomorrow.

Having stayed at my buddy’s place for the third year in a row, we are well seasoned as to what to do to be efficient with our stay. We bring all of our own sheets, linens, towels, etc. so we don’t have to wash anything before we leave. By doing this, we are able to keep everything clean, and we wash everything of ours when we get home. It saves a ton of time, and effort. We just have to vacuum the entire place, clean the bathrooms and kitchens, throw out the trash, and shut off the main water. It’s a treat being able to stay for free, at such a nice place. I don’t take it for granted, so always try to repay my buddy in other ways.

Thursday, March 27th, 2025

We packed up, cleaned up, and got out of the place at around 11:15pm. We headed down to Squamish to a coffee shop called Smoke Bluff Coffee House that Darren wanted to try. The latte I had was just ok. The boys were all hangry (hungry and angry), so we walked next door to a Mexican restaurant called the Pink Tuna so they could have a snack. It was highly rated, and the tacos and burritos were pretty good and hit the spot.

After lunch, we drove down to Vancouver to have Ramen in Kerrisdale at a restaurant called Ramen Danbo. That was good too, but we forgot to take any photos.

This was the ride home…. kids were pooped.

Another year at Whistler has come to an end. Here’s to hopefully many more!