Whistler Day 1
Steve crashed at my place Saturday night since he’s coming in from Hoboken. We woke up at 4:15 to get to JFK for a 7:30 flight since we had to do the car shuffle (get Steve’s Xterra out of the garage and then park the Lexus in the garage) and get Brian’s duffle from my car. Long term parking at JFK is really really far from the rest of the airport. Since I live not 15 minutes from the airport, we never long term the car so this was the first time. We got on the AirTrain which zipped us to the United Terminal.
I slept on and off through the flight. Fell asleep halfway through The Queen and then watched The Guardian. I don’t remember The Guardian even coming out in theaters. It was a good airplane movie to pass the time. I wouldn’t bash it nor would I endorse it. It just was.
Customs in Vancouver was pretty painless. What looked to be a long line moved surprisingly quickly. We beat our bags if that says anything. Once we got the rental from Avis, we were on our way. 2.5 hours from Whistler…
On the way through Vancouver, I saw an H-Mart, which is a huge Korean supermarket chain. We stopped and loaded up on noodles, ramen, marinated beef, banchan (side dishes) and had lunch at the food court. Now we were really on our way.
The winding drive up to Whistler reminded me of the drive in California from San Francisco to Stinson Beach - winding roads along side water and mountains. It was just an amazing drive. Waterfalls off cliffs to our right, Howe Sound to our left. We drove past an old mining town that was quite rundown but gave you a good feel for what life might have been like out here 20/30 years ago.
By the time we find the condo, Brian, Elad and Eran are back from boarding and in the hot tub. We’re smack in the middle of Whistler Village, across the street from the supermarket, we have wifi, a voip phone with a NY number and snow. This place is glorious.
Most of us take naps in the afternoon but Brian and Steve stay up to deal with some technical issues we have back in NY. We cook up the Korean food before Brian has to drive back to Vancouver to catch a red-eye back to NYC. He’s heading back for a few days to go to a Knicks game with courtside tickets. Wave to Spike Lee!
Steve and I go for a joy ride before gassing up the rental and returning it. It’s laid out quite nicely with tons of shops and restaurants. I think I can come up for 2/3 months every year. Well that’s if I learn to board that is….
Elad, Eran, Steve and I hit the supermarket. We come back with 48 Blueberry Eggos, 2 loaves of bread, 1 bag of bagels, cream cheese, eggs, granola bars, corn meal, pretzels, and yogurt. Let’s see how long this lasts.
To prep for tomorrow, Steve and I jump in the hot tub and then call it night. I’ll dream of snow…
January 31st, 2007 12:58
I didn’t see Spike Lee.
But, I sat a few seats away from Jon Stewart, which was cool.
b