Whistler Trip – Day 4 (Whistler Olympic Plaza, Araxi Restaurant and Oyster Bar)

Day 4 of our Whistler trip was New Year’s Day. I intentionally did not book any activities for Day 4 because I wanted it to be as flexible as possible. We had a nice lazy day. The family slept in, had breakfast in our condo, played a few board games, and didn’t leave until around 11am.

Our activity options for the day were either tubing at the Bubbly Tube Park or ice skating at the Whistler Olympic Plaza. In the end, the family chose the closer activity and went ice skating.

The Whistler Olympic Plaza is an open air performance and community space that is converted into an ice skating rink during the winter. The ice rink was roughly about the same size as the ice rink at Ice Palace, but the space was completely open air with half of the rink covered and half of the rink completely outdoors. Also, unlike Ice Palace where they constrict the walkers to a tiny area in the front, we could take the walkers throughout the rink.

Admission for the family (2 adults and their child ) was 12.50 CAD total and skate/helmet rentals were 6 CAD a person. It was a great deal, and probably one of the cheapest activities we did in Whistler.

We were also lucky to have really good weather that day, which made for a very pleasant and fun skating day. We skated for almost 2 and a half hours before the boys got tired and wanted to go back to the condo.

Other than skating the only other item on our agenda for the day was dinner at Araxi Restaurant and Oyster Bar. I had initially booked reservation for their regular menu, but opted for their apres ski menu instead.

The highlights of the meal was the Cave Aged Gruyère Fondue for 2 (Swiss Gruyère and emmentaler with white wine and kirsch, with fresh baked bread, gherkins, and picked pemberton vegetables – 68 CAD) and a dozen freshly shucked oysters (served with mignonette – 6 oysters for 20 CAD).

To round out our meal, we also had a variety appetizers: Albacore Tuna Tataki (with root down farm heirloom daikon + apple salad, shoyu and sesame vinaigrette – 24.5 CAD), ‘KFC’ Cauliflower (cauliflower with toasted peanut sauce, duck fat fried chili oil, cilantro – 17.5 CAD), Jumbo Prawn Cocktail (6 pieces with house-made cocktail sauce – 28.5 CAD),

We ran out our room on our table so I put the Beet+Okanagan Asian Pear Salad (pemberton radicchio, honey pearls, farmhouse goat cheese, fennel emulsion, toasted hazelnuts and oil – 19.5 CAD) and House Cut BC Potato Fries (with housemade spiced ketchup – 9.5 ) together on one plate.

We were a little bit disappointed with the salad because it wasn’t really a salad at all. But, overall, the food was very good and the boys enjoyed the meal.

I couldn’t have asked for a better way to spend our first day in 2024.

Whistler Trip – Day 2 (Whistler Core Gym, Zogs, Wintersphere, and Vallea Lumina)

On Day 2 of our Whistler trip, I had booked two activities for the family. A two-hour Family Snowmobile tour in the early afternoon and the Vallea Lumina hike in the evening. Unfortunately, Whistler was having uncharacteristically warm weather during the start of our trip, and our snowmobile tour got cancelled due to the weather. So, we had to look for other activities in Whistler that would take walk-ins.

The family had a blast rock climbing at the Core

After some deliberation, we settled on taking the kids indoor rock climbing at the Core Whistler’s Climbing and Fitness Gym. When we arrived, we were given two options: (1) we could do a “drop-in” open climb for 124 CAD for the four of us with equipment or (2) the four of us could take a private one-hour guided session with equipment for 140 CAD.

Connor using the auto belay

Since it was the first time at the gym and we weren’t familiar with their equipment, we decided to pay a little more and do the one-hour guided session. It worked out really well because the guide taught us how to use the equipment and did all the belaying for the kids, so Ev and I were able to get more climbing in.

Grayson climbing the wall

The climbing gym had a good mix of routes. We did most of our climbing in two of the three areas and, in those areas, there were 4 sections with autobelays and two sections were the guide helped us top rope with a traditional belay.

High five!

It was Con and Gray’s second time rock climbing, and they both did great. By the end, Con was able to complete a few of the routes. Initially, I didn’t know if one hour would be enough time for us, but it ended up being just the right amount of time. By the end of the hour, our arms and fingers were tired and we had gotten our fill of rock climbing.

Photo of the family after our rock climbing session

For lunch, we ate another Whistler staple – Zog’s, also known as Zog’s Dogs, which is a permanent food stand at the base of the Whistler mountain that sells hot dogs, poutine, and burgers.

Waiting for our Zog’s Dogs!

The family split a Zog’s Classic Poutine (French fries, Quebec cheese curds, and brown gravy) (13 CAD), and a few hot dogs (8 CAD each). The kids liked the gravy and fries, but strangely were not fans of the cheese curds.

Gray trying poutine for the first time

In the afternoon, we spent some time at the Wintersphere, which was a free kid friendly event at the Whistler Convention Center. The event had live performances, a kid craft, bouncy houses, and a winter experience.

Wintersphere

We spent most of our time in the inflatables room, where there was a variety of inflatable bouncy castles and slides. The boys spent most of their time on one particular slide. Each time the went down, they tried to do something different, and I was instructed to record them on each ride. Here is a compilation of all their slides in one video:

We ended the night, with a trip to Vallea Lumina (admission and transportation: 59.99 for adults, 49.99 for children), which was described as a “multimedia night walk through an enchanted forest in pursuit of hidden wonders.”

Family photo at the beginning of the hike

Vallea Lumina was a family friendly activity that had gotten really good reviews. I thought the kids would enjoy hiking through the forest at night and seeing the lights.

The start of of Vallea Lumina journey

I really enjoyed the walk and was impressed with all the different ways they used light to decorate the forest. These pictures really don’t capture the entirety of the fully immersive experience.

One of my favorite parts of the hike was crossing this bridge

Unfortunately, some of the wonder was greatly diminished by the weather. It rained during most of our time there, and the kids just wanted to rush through the hike to get to shelter.

Hidden wonders abound

I think the experience would have been really magical if it had been snowing. Too bad Mother Nature had other plans.

All smiles here, despite the rainy and cold weather

The 1km loop took us about 30-40 minutes to hike, and we ended our Vallea Lumina adventure with hot cocoa and s’mores around the fire pit.

S’mores before dinner!

On the way back to our condo, we picked up a pizza from Avalanche Pizza for dinner and called it a night.

Whistler Trip – Day 0/1 (Peaked Pies, Dubh Linn Gate Irish Pub)

My family took a trip to Whistler, Canada during the Winter Break. I had been literally planning the trip for years, so I’m so glad that we were finally able to go.

At the Vancouver Airport

For the flight, we chose a direct red-eye flight to Vancouver on West Jet because we had a bunch of West Jet credit that we needed to use from a trip that got cancelled due to COVID. The trip started a little rough when our flight was delayed for over an hour, and we didn’t leave Honolulu until after midnight.

Despite the less than ideal flight time, my kids did great. I’m so lucky that my kids are such good travelers.

Fortunately, we were able to make up some time in the air and we arrived in Vancouver only 30 minutes late. After getting our bags and going through customs, we took a Skylynx express shuttle from the Vancouver Airport to Whistler.

We arrived at our Whistler home away from home

In Whistler we stayed in a one-bedroom condo at the Town Plaza Suites – Deer Lodge. Luckily, although we were 3 hours earlier than our check-in time, they let us check in early because our condo was ready. Yay!

The full kitchen was great for quick breakfasts

Our condo was super cute, and I would totally recommend it to anyone staying in Whistler. It had one bedroom, one bath, a full kitchen, a living room with sofa bed, dining area, and small outdoor balcony. The condo was on the fourth floor, close to the elevator, and had a view of the village walk.

We ended up giving the kids the bedroom, so that Ev and I could close the door and keep the lights on to the rest of the condo while the kids slept.

After we had settled in and unpacked, our first stop was lunch at Peaked Pies (#105-4369 Main Street). I had done a lot of research on where I wanted to eat in Whistler, and Peaked Pies was one of the “must eat” restaurants on my list. Peaked Pies is a small restaurant known for their delicious handmade Australian meat pies.

Con can’t wait to dig into his Peaked Pie

Con and Gray split a traditional Aussie meat pie (ground beef, onions & gravy). I ordered the butter chicken pie (Indian butter chicken with a hint of cayenne pepper), and Ev ordered the steak, bacon, and cheese pie (steak with ground bacon and cheddar and mozzarella cheese) and got it “peaked” with mashed potatoes, mushy green peas, and brown gravy. The pies were warm, flaky, and delicious. It was also really affordable – the meal came out to 43 CAD/$32.63 USD.

Our first meal in Whistler at Peaked Pies was a perfect start to our trip

After lunch, we went grocery shopping at Fresh Market and BC Liquor, and then spent the rest of the day window shopping and exploring Whistler Village North and Village Center.

Family photo at the Skier’s Plaza at the base of Whistler Mountain

We ended the night at Dubh Linn Gate, an Irish Pub at the base of the Whistler mountain. Even though it was quite crowded on a Friday evening, they were able to seat us pretty quickly at a table on the outdoor patio (there were heaters), where we were able to listen to live music.

We enjoyed the outdoor dining and live music at Dubh Linn Gate Irish Pub for our first dinner in Whistler

I ordered the fish and chips (battered haddock with fries, coleslaw & house made tartar sauce) (25 CAD) and a hard cider. The batter was crispy and fish was flaky and, overall, it was a solid fish and chips.

My fish and chips definitely reminded me of my many pub meals in England during my study abroad.

Con and Gray both ordered off of the kid’s menu. Con got a burger (11 CAD) and hot chocolate, and Gray got a pepperoni pizza (11 CAD) and hot cider.

Con wouldn’t share any of his fries and ate every single one

Ev was still full from lunch and decided to just order an appetizer. He decided on the a Veggie Pakoras (crispy spiced vegetable fritters served with tamarind ginger dip & chipotle mayo) (17.50 CAD) .

Child’s pizza and Veggie Pakoras

After stuffing ourselves at dinner, we made our way back to our condo and called it a night.