The Best of Whistler, B.C.

Tomorrow I will recap my trip, but I decided that since I've been here a lot in my short lifetime and that I've racked up a pretty good sense of what to do and where to go, it would be fun to share with anyone who was planning a trip!

Best Food

• The Mongolie Grill - my family makes sure that we visit this once every time we come up. It's a typical Mongolian Grill - where you choose the noodles, veggies, meat, sauce, etc., give it to the cooks, and watch them grill your food! It's a really fun place to go because it is cool to see them cook your food and the also do cool tricks with their spatulas! Make sure to tip the cooks!
• The Keg (for steak) - the Keg at Whistler is always busy, so make sure you get there early to put your name in or be prepared to wait (same with the Mongolie Grill). Good steak, better mashed potatoes.
• 21 Steps - for the more adventurous foodies. Hated this place when I was little, but I like it now. They have small plates and large plates and it's more of a fancy place.
• El Furniture Cafe for bar eats - all food here is $4.95! I had the roasted turkey sandwich and it was delish. My brother had the nachos and I ate some off the plate.
• Whistler Brewing Company - typical brewhouse food but delish beer and it's in a cool location. Always loud and great for families.

Best Bars

• The Dubliner - live music on select days, always busy, huge beer selection, outside fire pits, nice people, and a great location at the bottom of Whistler. It's by far my favorite bar. And even when they don't have live music, the music that they have playing is always on point.
• The Longhorn - across from the Dubliner and also at the base of Whistler Mountain, this one is pretty well known. Dancing at night, good music, huge bar, firepits outside. It's always packed after a day on the slopes. And if you are lucky, maybe you'll even see a famous person :) My mom went to the Longhorn and sat next to Queen Latifah one time.
• The Amsterdam Cafe - this is a quiet little bar about a 5 minute walk from the base of Whistler. It has yummy drinks, fun people, and a set of house rules you must follow. Just don't ring the bell unless you want to buy the entire bar a drink!

Best Things to Do (other than ski, during winter)

• Snowmobiling - we actually just did this today for the first time and it was SO much fun. We got bused to a location about 15 minutes outside of the village and we had our own tour guide for the 3 of us. They take you riding for about an hour and a half and depending on how fast your group is, you can get pretty far! They give you everything you need to do it. I had a blast and would highly recommend, especially if the snow is bad one day and so you are looking for something else to do.
• Zip-Lining - we didn't do this, but the zip-lines were located in the same location that we went snowmobiling and so we got to see them. It looks so much fun and I've heard great things about it. I have never been zip-lining in the winter, so I can only imagine how pretty it would be.
• Scandinave Spa - I am doing this for the first time tomorrow, so I'll recap that afterwards. Everything I've heard so far has been great - you basically go to the spa and baths. They have a bunch of warm baths and cold baths and relaxing rooms. You do each for 15 minutes, four times. And the entire spa is silent! Perfect for relaxing. You can do just the baths, or add a massage.
• Ice Skating at the Olympic Park - They transformed the area where they did the medals ceremony for the 2010 Winter Olympics into an ice-skating rink! It's cheap (only $5 for rentals) and super fun. They have great music, cool lights playing, and even the little push carts if you need some extra balance.
• Meadow Park Sports Center - We used to do this ALL the time when we were little. They have a sports center with an ice skating rink and a huge pool. The pool has a 25m lap pool but also a large play area with a lazy river. It used to be my favorite thing when I was younger. You can float on the lazy river, go into the whirlpool, go off the waterslides or off the rope-swing. After that, head over to the ice-skating rink (although I think the one at Olympic park is better, but smaller).
• Movie Theater - there is a great movie theater under the Mongolie Grill for people who want to go catch a new release. When we were younger, we used to see a movie at least once a trip. It's a great idea to do when you have small/young kiddos with you.

Best Skiing
First off, BLACKCOMB. I think its a lot better than Whistler Mountain, less crowded, less "learning zones" and better runs. If you are just learning to ski, Whistler is for sure the better learning mountain. If you want to take a lesson, I think that the instructors in Whistler are some of the best and it's a must if you are willing to spend money on lessons. I did ski school my entire childhood and I met people from all over the world, learned lots about the mountain, and had fun (while my parents got to ski without kids - so it's basically glorified daycare).

My favorite runs

• Backstage Pass (Crystal Chair) - On a powder day, this is the best! Rolling hills, usually not crowded so even in the afternoon you can find some fresh tracks. Bonus is that they just re-did the Crystal Chair so now its a 4-seater high speed instead of the 3-person slow chair.
• Aurther's Choice (Crystal Chair) - This is a gladed tree run that can be so much fun and powdery after a big snow day.
• Little Cub (Catskinner) - Also a gladed tree run. My favorite of the entire mountain. It is in the trees, really pretty, not busy, and at the end it drops you into the easy terrain park (which is fun for me because the jumps are small - no way you would find me in the main terrain park).
• Blackcomb Glacier (Glacier Chair) - To get to this, you have to take the glacier chair to the top, and then take a t-bar. After you get off the t-bar, you have a bit of a hike to do (aka must take off your skis) but it's so worth it, especially on days when it has snowed recently. It's a huge bowl and you can always find a fresh track. It's the highest up on Blackcomb you can get, really.
• Cruiser (Solar Coaster Chair) - My favorite blue run to get down the mountain. Rolling hills and you can catch some great speed. The perfect run to end the day when your legs are spent.
• The Adventure Castle (Catskinner) - if you have kids (or even if you don't), this is a must do! It's a run through the trees that leads to a giant castle that kids can play on! It has a slide and stuff to climb on. It's so cool and so much fun for the little ones.