Bucket List 30th Birthday
I turned 30 on July 25th this year so we took a bucket list trip to Whistler to celebrate! From July 24-28 we and 30,000 of our best friends hung out in Whistler to celebrate me turning 30! What we didn’t know was that Redbull Joyride was on its final weekend in Whistler and so there were a bazillion people there.
We got a bit of a later start than we had hoped, on July 24 as to be expected with kids involved. The drive was just incredible with views the entire way and we enjoyed the whole thing! We happened upon Jack’s Bar from Virgin River which is crazy because I love that show when we realized we wouldn’t make it to Whistler for dinner. We also found out after the fact that they were filming the next season there a few days after we were there! Got in to our condo, after about 5 and a half hours on the road and realized we had an amazing view of the mountains at our Airbnb and went to bed. We’d recommend this cute little Airbnb as long as you aren’t over 6’ because it’s an older condo building so the bathroom ceilings are dropped and the shower head is perfect for my height at 5’6” and not at Corban’s at 6’5”.
July 25 was my actual birthday we got up and walked to the village to get breakfast at a little vegan cafe and got coffee at Moguls and then drove to our aerial obstacle course. We checked in at 9:30am at the Adventure Group, did the practice course and then started the actual deal. We proceeded to spend the next 2.5 with just us and our guide laughing, falling, seeing a huge black bear, and ruining our hands on the cables. Aerial obstacle was a bucket list item for me, we had no idea what to expect and it was the highlight of my trip! Then we went and got lunch at The Green Moustache and went for a bike ride to Green Lake. The glacial melt color of the water in Whistler was continually mind boggling to me. Something about me is I love water, being in it, seeing it, drinking it, haha! It’s to the point now that when we drive by water we say “water alert”. We watched some people absolutely send it at the Whistler Bike Park, went back to drop off our bikes and change and then went to Black’s pub for dinner and then watched some Red Bull Joyride on the slopes. We went in the hot tub to rest our sore bodies and then got to bed.
July 26 we slept through our alarm so woke up and ran out the door to get coffee and breakfast at Moguls, and then to check in at 9:30 am again for our zipline series back at the Adventure Group. The zip-lines were amazing, we did our first side-by-side ride up to cougar mountain and then zip lined, walked, and zip lined down the mountain, I think there were 5 zip-lines. It was our first time zip lining and we both loved it! I needed sunglasses and a phone case with a strap or a go pro but we tracked the fastest one on Strava and Corban got up to 60mph! It’s no joke! This was another bucket list item for me and thankfully after our first zip-lining experience we’d both love to go again! Then we went to Hunter Gather for lunch and drove to Brandywine Falls. We hiked to a tiny little lake and then drove back to the village for vegan chocolate ice cream that was to die for. Went for an evening bike ride around Alta Lake and Whistler Golf Course, the weather was perfect for biking and there were so few people out around Alta lake on the trails. Then we went to The Mexican Corner for dinner which had the best view of Joyride from our table outside on the balcony. Went back to the condo and went in the hot tub and then headed to bed.
July 27th we got up and Corban went for a little bike ride and then we got The Green Moustache for breakfast and then walked half way up the slope at 10am to watch the Red Bull Joyride final. We walked to the Westin to get our couples message which was our planned activity for the day and it was so relaxing. Came back to the condo and took us a while to get Corban’s flat that he got on the morning ride fixed and then we went and biked around Green Lake again and watched a sea plane take off, another bucket list item we’ll have to check off next time is riding in a sea plane! Then we biked on some more trails down by Fitzsimmons Creek which is the milky teal alpine snow runoff color which I’m obsessed with. Then we went to find dinner which was a fiasco because we were both so over trying to find food that I could eat as a vegan and could get enough protein for Corban. Ended up at Stonesedge Kitchen but they were down a bartender and the service was insanely slow so we got our drinks, after 20 mins and then left. Headed back to Hunter Gather for a great, late dinner at 8pm and then went back to the hotel and went in the hot tub and crashed.
July 28 was leaving day. We stopped at Moguls for breakfast and coffee, big Moguls fans after this trip, and then headed south. We stopped at a few beautiful pullouts on the way, stopped to see Shannon Falls and then sat at the border for an hour and a half. It took us way longer to get home than it took to get there but that’s to be expected on a Sunday afternoon.
We so enjoyed our bike rides, especially in the evenings and in the perfect biking weather. We both decided that our next trip we needed to see way less faces. Being constantly surrounded by that many people is so overstimulating!! We enjoyed our food-especially me having so many options as vegan in Whistler was amazing. I had made a Pinterest board ahead of time and saved a bunch of activities and restaurants and that made it way easier. We were really happy we booked one activity a day in advance and then had the rest of the day to be flexible and do whatever we felt like. Next time we need to do some gondolas as well as a sea plane ride. Whistler Insider had an amazing page all for vegetarian and vegan eats in whistler which was incredibly helpful, here the link if you want to check it out.
