Whistler MTB Trip: Prolog

 After last year's Canadian trip, Bowen really enjoyed his time at the Whistler MTB park I told him it was very expensive, but he said: "So's the school Costa Rica trip. I'd rather do this than go to Costa Rica. I should have made more conditions, but didn't think about it at the time, and so agreed, as I'd never seen Bowen excited about any sport before. 

We bought 5 day bike passes for the Whistler MTB trip, booked 9 days at an AirBnB in Whistler, and bought plane tickets with frequent flyer miles. Having price shopped, I realized that Coastal Culture Sports was much cheaper than the actual shops owned by Whistler, and they had full on Downhill (DH) bikes, which Brad Silverberg recommended. The decision to stay at Creekside was driven by the memory of how busy the Whistler village was, and how long the lines were. When Brad brought me over to Creekside, I noticed how there was never a wait for a gondola, and resolved that Creekside was a better location. 

Arriving on a Friday night at 9:00pm, we took the airport shuttle to the hotel. The morning bus left at 10:00am, so we had time to eat Pineapple Buns at a restaurant within walking distance of the hotel. It was a good thing we went there early, as there was a line that formed even before the restaurant opened. 

Bowen wasn't impressed by the Pineapple Bun and neither was I, but the rice porridge was good. We made our bus with plenty of time to spare, but the skylynx express got caught in traffic and we arrived half an hour late to Creekside, which made the whole point of taking the express bus vs the regular bus pointless. 

Being dropped off at the Legends hotel, we walked towards our AirBnB and dropped by the visit the Coastal Culture bike shop, who assured us we didn't need to do anything that day. We should pick up our bike passes, they said. We arrived at tie AirBnB, checked in, and then claered up a backpack to go to the grocery store. 

But first, we visited Creekside Guest Services, picked up our bike passes and then had lunch at Dusty's. At the grocery store, we bought dinner and breakfast --- our friends would show up much later and they had a car. We then took the bus to the swimming pool and swam. The bus was free but the swimming pool wasn't, and we discovered how frequently late the bus service was. We wouldn't visit the swimming pool ever again. 

John, Amy, and Sarah showed up late, long after dinner, and we had an early morning the next day so we went to bed early.