First off, pictures of Whistler are posted here. Eventually I will get around to labeling them with sarcastic and witty comments, I promise.

The Cast

For the cast of characters you'll see in these pictures (for those of you are understandably confused about my family): Me (duh!), Nick (my brother), Rob (my half brother), Dad, Aunt Mary and her three children Caroline, Catie, and Rob, and my Aunt Nancy and her son Graham (her daughter Emily is being all cool in Mexico). Also there were Rick & Dale & Louis (all long-time family friends). Rick and Dale's son Adam wasn't there when I finally arrived (he only stayed the first half week), and their daughter Alex was in school.

The Mountain

We skiied Wednesday through Friday on Whistler and Blackcomb. I tried four sets of demo skis before settling on the Solomon women's X-Scream's. I love funny ski names (my alternate choice was called "Monster Head"). Ate really well (which is to be expected in that crowd). Stayed at a really huge, posh townhome, I can describe it in two words: "heated floors".

The Zipline

Saturday morning we did ziptrek where we crossed the river valley between Blackcomb and Whistler on a serious of 4 ziplines where we launched from the tops of trees and crossed the river over 150 above it - one time on the longest zipline in north America at 1100 ft long. It was one of the scariest things I've ever done. It makes me laugh that Nick was so frightened, though. Mr. Bad Ass backcountry snowboarder himself kept his hands gripped around the rope, white knuckles all the way. It was hard not to laugh, especially after the number of times he blew past me on his snowboard this week.

The Pacific Northwest

It was a cool drive back on the Sea to Sky highway, very aptly named. It makes me wish I could live somewhere (anywhere!) more beautiful than Houston. Then I had an excellent sushi dinner with George, Tracy, and Irwin (and talked about G&T's imminent very exciting trip to the British Isles), an even BETTER desert, and then hung out. Irwin has the most kick-ass surround sound system I've ever experienced, I just sat down in the middle of the room, and was completely encompased by the sound (I couldn't even concentrate on anything else). He is a total bachelor though. He doesn't have a light in his bedroom. Not a single one. You just have to count on the light from the bathroom and closet to illuminate it when it gets dark. I'm not even going to speak about decorating, luckily his friend Joann should keep his things in order! George and Tracy's place is also extremely cool (for different reasons). I love their hardwood floor, their view, and their black cat.

My cousins

And the funniest overheard conversation of the trip, between my cousins Rob P., Catie P., and my brother Rob. They range in age from 6 to 8 years old and are all as cute as buttons.

The scene: the rental mini-van eating snacks from the gas station while we wait for Nick and Dad to change Aunt Nancy's flat tire.

Catie (scolding): Be careful, remember what Mommy said, if we drop food in the car, the car people will make us pay for it.

Rob Kohart (confident): Don't worry Catie, Daddy and Aunt Mary have lots of money.

Rob Phillips (knowingly): Yeah, but they'll probably take it out of our college funds.