Skiing at Nashoba Valley

For someone living in the tropics and only have summer and rainy seasons, it's always been a wonder how it feels to play with snow. We went to Nashoba Valley today to try either skiing (or tubing but we ended up just skiing due to time) as it will be quite an experience for sure. It has been snowing hard with up to 14 inches of snow in the area the past couple of days and the sun is up this day so it's a good time to go. I've been to Whistler, BC but its more like a sightseeing than for adventure, so this would be my first.

view upon our arrival

There is quite a number of people in the resort today, although I was told there could have been more. Still it didn't stop us from pursuing our plans. We left around 10am-ish from Brighton, MA and arrived in this resort located in Westford, MA almost an hour after and since we were a bit hungry at that time, we had our lunch first before we proceeded.

The number of people were starting to get less at that time and people started to leave, although the food cafeteria is very packed that we had to wait for sometime before we got settled.

me

After lunch, we immediately signed up for the rentals and lessons. Yes lessons, but more about that later. We paid $92 each, inclusive of lift ticket, ski (or snowboard) rentals and group lesson.

We were lead to an area after to sign some sort of a waiver, formal registration, then had our shoe size taken and we were almost ready to go.

We had a hard time wearing the ski shoes. It is very uncomfortable and tight, and I had a hard time slipping my feet on it. I was told it's really supposed to be tight, but I should have followed my instinct and had it changed to a slightly bigger size because my feet was tired the whole time after.

Wearing the ski shoes itself was frustrating. It took us like 15 minutes or so and needed help from one another to actually have it worn correctly.

Afterwards, we were given our skis and poles and headed out. It was hard to walk with the ski shoes, and slightly harder with the ski blades on it. We went out the ski area and waited for an hour before the lessons started.

I sure am glad we did the lessons, because I don't think I'll have a good time as it is frustrating at first to try to ski. I sure am glad our instructor were very patient with us. I had a hard time though keeping my feet parallel.

An hour of lesson and off we go. We were thought the basics of skiing, walking with skis, maneuvering and most importantly, stopping. I still found it hard to go up the slope by walking and I mostly slide back down that I have to control the sliding with the poles. It was tiring but fun, and felt like I had a workout of weights (for my feet) and cardio right after.

had fun!

It was a fun-filled day. I had a good time actually to finally try to ski minus of course the problem with my shoes but overall, I'm sure glad we did this today. To cap the night, we went to a Yangtze River Restaurant in Littleton, MA nearby IBM Mass Lab - Littleton Campus to reward ourselves for the hard work.

Whistler during Winter

Our first order of the day this morning was to have breakfast at the Executive Lounge of Renaissance Vancouver Harbourside Hotel.

 

my breakfast. I find the mini ketchup bottle cute!

 

 

We had to leave the hotel early as our destination today was quite far from Vancouver. We took a taxi to Pacific Central Station (CAD15) and by 8AM, our Greyhound bus left the terminal bound for Vancouver. Our bus tickets were pre-booked a couple of weeks ago (CAD50 for adult and CAD25 for Seniors Companion). I expected the journey to be long, as it was stated in our ticket that we should expect to arrive by 10:30AM.

I've been to Whistler almost two years ago, and followed the same itinerary to go there from Vancouver (although I took an earlier bus that time). Similarly there were stops along the way and the whole trip passing the countryside was very relaxing because of the beautiful views along the way.

 

As we approach Whistler, I started to see skiers left and ride enjoying the snow with their gears.

inukshuk

The bus dropped us off at Whistler Visitor Centre, most of the shops nearby were still closed so we entertained ourselves by exploring the area. Whistler is a resort town in British Columbia located 120+kms from Vancouver.

 

me

The place is like a winter wonderland for us who have never experienced a single drop of snow back in our country.

 

Vancouver and nearby towns like Richmond and Whistler in British Columbia hosted the Winter Olympics 2010. Same played as host to 2010 Winter Paralympics as well. There are still some remnants of the event placed all over Whistler.

Olympics logo

 

Time passed by quickly when you are occupied and was surprised it was already passed the lunch hour. We had our lunch at The Chinese Bistro.

 

wonton noodle soup

chicken and pork over rice

braised beef rice topping

 

As I have been out of country for more than 2 weeks already, it was a welcomed experience for me to eat tasty dish with rice again. In the end we were full and satisfied with the lunch items we ordered, although the place was a bit pricy (our bill was about CAD40 for the items above). We then had our winter shopping, specifically for winter clothes. I think I was underdressed earlier today as I felt too cold at that time.

Then we went near the platforms where they board gondolas going up either to Whistler or Blackcomb mountains. We decided not to go up there as down where we were was already cold and we may have a hard time up at the mountain.

We instead just went people watching and sightseeing from this point. It was a good vantage point to watch the scenes going around.

 

 me

boards

 

We continued to explore the place, entering a few shops thereafter, or mesmerizing at the buildings and structures in the village.

Before boarding our bus going back to the Vancouver (scheduled at 4:30PM), we had our early dinner first at KFC.

 

buddha

Then we started to walk towards Whistler Visitor Centre again as we waited for the arrival of our bus that will take us back to the city.

 

We arrived a little before 7PM back at Pacific Central Station and headed back to our hotel and decided to sleep early for we are leaving Vancouver tomorrow.