Backpacker Buzz

Well….. what would you do with your last night???

So….. a week in Whistler went by pretty damn quick…. I took in the full Olympic vibe, I watched live Bobsleigh, I skied down bits of the downhill, the wide open awesomeness of the big bowls, ate very unhealthy food and tried one or two local bev-rah-jehs….. but, my last night had arrived…. The only thing was to go out and play with the others as best I could before my 6.30am taxi ride on Saturday morning….

First up was some food….. with it being a Friday night and the ice hockey playing on screens across town it was pretty hard to get in places and after several failed attempts myself, Betony and Luke hit the Brewery House where we watched an exciting 3rd period with the Canadians coming out on top, but under pressure to the end!

There are some local things that I haven’t tried yet, so it seemed like a perfect opportunity to tackle some barbeque ribs…. Wow…. Two racks arrived piled on top of each other and I was in awe… lets face it, rins are not easy or elegant to eat, but what the hell…. By the time Luke and Betony had finished their respective lamb shank and salad I was only just getting to the second rack…. I did my best, but was defeated by the very last rib.. I started it but couldn’t finish it, although this was in part due to the fact I had actually grown a bit bored of chewing it all off the bone and generally making a mess..

Photo – a small portion of ribs sir?

After that it was time to swing through town and hit a few bars…. This allowed us to swing on by the magical Olympic rings for one last pose… a fitting tribute to my time playing in Whistler I thought…. Once we’d pushed the kids out the way we were up for our quick photo moment of glory….

Then it was on to the Longhorn – if you have seen anything of the games with shots coming from Whistler centre you will have been looking right at the Longhorn pub in the background….. it’s big, has more TV’s than you can shake a stick at and becomes a dance venue once the Olympics end for the night/ or people have simply had enough beer to start their own mini dance area in the corners… we have frequented once or twice and as you’ll see things started to go up a gear. I know photos will rock up at some point of me having Tequila poured into my belly-button… I can’t wait…

Photo – Luke’s hands start to feel the vibe…

The BBC crew all arrived for their final party together too and even Claire Balding was there bouncing about…. The camera guys we skied the powder with before were naturally out to play and who’s to refuse a beer when a nice fellow offers you one?

With the longhorn shutting at about 2am it was time to move on….. and we headed for the underground depths of Buffalo Bills…. Thanks to Ray who is all ‘hooked up’ we were able to go in the private back door and avoid the queue… serrr-weet!

Once inside things really took off…… there were Jaeger bombs and more beers… oh and some dancing… we even had some entertainment from Betony and Ray who took a turn behind the bars… nice work ladies!

It was a great night and we bopped and partied away to some of our favourite tunes. I think track of the night goes to the Black-Eyed Peas with ‘I’ve got a feeling’ which is something of an anthemn over here during the Olympics…

A big thanks to all the folk down here who looked after me on the hill, in the pub and on the dancefloor…. Even if I do look a bit worried about being there - there was some dude getting right in the way of the shot I was trying to take and I though he'd just ruined it, instead I managed that!!!

Whistler rocked I really recommend everyone to get down there if they can….

-       The skiing is superb with so much terrain to play with of all varieties.

-       The town has plenty of hustle and bustle with loads of shops to keep people emptying their pockets for those holiday treats.

-       I know I was there during the Olympics, but I’m pretty sure that the vibe during the whole winter season will be awesome as the people and places are all so friendly…

Go Canada Go – Go Whistler Go!!