Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Sandwich of my Dreams ... and Whistler

Whistler Blackcomb is a sweet place, and the greatest sandwich I've had in recent memory was at Portabello in the Upper Village.

Feast your eyes on this.



JD discovered this place, so I have to give him all the credit. My sandwich was a masterpiece -- cranberry bread with roast beef, ham, pepperjack, cheddar, chicken salad (boo-yah - 3 meats), pickle, lettuce, and red onion with hummus and olive spreads. I had to take a picture of my creation. My sandwich was really good, but JD is a sandwich innovator. He was genious enough to inquire about bacon, a rare item which makes everything better. Turns out the bacon was hidden behind the counter -- sneaky. Then, JD did something utterly amazing -- he asked for egg salad on top of his roast beef, turkey, and bacon sandwich. BRAVO YOUNG MAN! Egg salad really took his sandwich to the next level. It keeps getting better -- a customizable salad (also with great, fresh toppings) and drink come with the delectable sandwich for just $12 Canadian (mere pocket change USD)!

That was one heck of a sandwich. You might want to stop drooling all over the place!

The rest of the Whistler trip was stellar as well. Whistler and Blackcomb are both GIANT mountains with a great variety of terrain and the surrounding village has everything you'd want from a resort town. There were so many bars that I'll have to go back just to check all them out.

On Day One, Joe, Christina, David, Liz and I went snowboarding; it was a good day, my first day of the season so I was shaking off all the rust. The night of Day 1 we played some spirited drinking games (I had to ride the bus) and there was a monumental game of Kings -- for rules, you had to curse and use an accent with everything said; plus make an animal sound prior to drinking. JD stole the show with his Aussie, Canadian, Mexican, Indian, and Russian accents. I can't remember if we went out to the bars after our drinking games -- must've been a good night.


Day Two, everyone else was tired from the night's activities and I was pretty roughed up also, but lots of snow had fallen and was expected to keep falling, so I decided to head up boarding alone. It's a decision I didn't regret -- there was a great run off of the Creekside Gondola on the Whistler side called Kadenwood. It was roped off but ridable with a foot of fresh powder. So there I was on a deserted, powder rich run on a great day at Whistler, enjoying every turn ... not to say I didn't face-plant a time or two.

More on Whistler later ...

Allright, continuing the tale (February 27th, 2009).

One of the other special things about Whistler for me was enjoying some quality time with J-Thrilla. I am a BIG fan of this kid, and we turned in quite a performance. We were the non-stop, no-holds barred, "let's take a shot at 8 AM", bash brothers. We puffed cigars outside the pubs, kept the beer flowing inside the pubs, then closed down those pubs; we even sipped brew in the hot tub. Good times!

Day 3 on the mountain was forgettable except for the last epic run of the day. I became seperated from friends most of the day (ehh -- DITCHED!) and was ready to head back to the condo to relax. I was down in the Creekside village looking for some grub but only came upon ridiculous lines. Boo on lines! I decided to call it a day and walked to the bus stop to grab some transportation to Whistler Village. Talking to local 'Joe' I found out that ride was going to cost $2; everywhere else was complimentary. Quite a dilemma; I had 2 options. 1) Hang out with Joe and pay $2. 2) Gondola back up and ride gloriously (FOR FREE!) down to Whistler Village one last time.

If you know me, you know what I did. Gondola baby. As soon as I made this decision, I was IMMEDIATLY rewarded. Still hungry, I scavanged through my backpack for any leftover granola bars. BAM, I found two leftover sandwiches from JD and Caitlyn's lunch at Portabello the prior day. I unwrapped one at random and discovered the leftovers of JD's masterpiece with egg salad! MAGNIFICIENT; I knew the kid was a genious. I scarfed down the sandwich, every bite better than the last.

I hopped off the goldola and started boppin down the mountain, just takin' her easy. As Whistler Village came into view, I hear a "yo Brent" from behind me. I took a seat, swivelled around and saw my bro, my flesh & blood, J-THRILLA! We decided we needed ONE MORE EPIC WHISTLER RUN; "to the top" he said and I said "YUP."

Thirty minutes of lifts and we were as close to the top as we could get. We rode down through a deep powder bowl, some moguley junk, and just a few more last Whistler runs. Riding down with James on that last run was perfect.

Some other things I'll remember from Whistler were the Ketchup Chips (weird), the drunken singing couple walking back from NYE at 4 AM, and the "2000 Sweet Running Mix".

I can only imagine what Whistler is like with full coverage ... someday I shall return.

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