I Spent A Few Days Away

I spent 5 good days in Whistler this week experiencing all the wonder this place offers. Met some incredible people.

I noticed two things from everyone I met and spoke to.

(1) - No one I met was from BC. Every single person I spoke to was from another country province.

I met people from Germany, Britain, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, Montreal and Ontario and Seattle.

And each one had the same story.

They came here for the snow or the bike trails. Planned to stay a year and have some fun, but ended up calling this place home. The ones who were here on working visa, went back home when their visa expired only to apply to come back again.

They couldn’t stay away.

Everyone is here for either the skiing/ snowboard or mountain biking.

(2) - Everyone I spoke to was perfectly happy and content. They love what they do. They spend most of their time enjoying life in the fullest way they can completely immersed in their very expensive hobby. And finding ways to make that happen for them over and over again.

The over friendliness and lighthearted, fun nature that people were about was so evident. They all attributed this sense of community and culture to the fact that they were absolutely grateful for being able to choose to do what they love and love what they do.

I spoke to a taxi driver from Montreal who said he came here to snowboard for one season and ended up staying for 34 years. He can’t see life without being able to snowboard all the time.

Another guy I met from Seattle said he hates the snow. He comes here for the summer each year for extreme Mountain biking and goes back to Seattle for university in the winter. He also created a job here as a Bike Coach. Teaching others how to bike safely, do tricks and go beyond their edges of fun. He also came here just for one season to check out the trails and couldn’t keep away. He had to restructure his life and create a lifestyle around what he loved to do.

The bartender from Spain at the Rim Rock Cafe has designed is whole life to cater both his biking and snowboarding hobbies.

It makes sense.

If we’re not doing what we love, and loving what we do in life, then what the hell are we doing ?

As I was leaving today I met a Brit who said he just got here a few weeks ago. He excitedly told me that he has been thinking about coming to Whistler for a few years now to snowboard. And said to me that he’s just taking it easy and going to snowboard this winter and go back home.

(After listening to all the others during the week, I chuckled a bit listening to this man from Liverpool)

Besides all the wonderful people I met here, I also got to experience the incredible food, and stunning natural setting of this place.

It was nice to not have any agenda at all while here so I could experience what this place offers and explore it for what it is.

I couldn’t help take excessive amounts of pictures of the stunning Autumn beauty that surrounds it all.