Wednesday finally brought a free afternoon and a mountaintop banquet to get us outside the Whistler Westin where the IUFRO Tree Biotechnology is being held. The hotel has been extremely comfortable -- it better be for the price -- and even though we are surrounded by a gorgeous environment it's still been pretty much business from 8AM to 5PM the past couple of days. Like all the big ski resort areas these days there area ton of things to do, and a big population of twenty-somethings going full-tilt outdoors pretty much everyday. It's going to be a great venue for the Olympics, but I'm definitely glad to be enjoying it ahead of the crowds ans at a much reduced cost.
In the afternoon I got tied up with some work discussions so that Gi and I missed a hike with friends through some old-growth forest somewhere nearby. However, there are hiking trails in every direction, so we struck out on our own walking a mile or so over to Lost Lake and back. The tiger lilies were in bloom, as was the Canadian bunchberry (Cornus canadensis), which is a low-growing herbaceous member of the same genus as our southern dogwood. The flowers are a dead give away.
We traditionally wrap up the meeting at noon on Thursday, so the closing banquet was tonight. For the event the organizers rented the restaurant at the top of Whistler mountain, trucking us all up via the gondola starting around 6:30. Some of us were hoping for an opportunity to ride the new
Peak-to-Peak gonadola that was built for the games, but it wasn't in the gameplan. Still, the views were spectacular and the food was great. We stuck around for the sunset, which was much more interesting than the band they hired for dancing, and eventually got shooed off the mountain around 10:15.
It turned out that I made a small goof when I made our reservations, booking us through Friday morning instead of checking out tomorrow. The hotel has been absolutely inflexible about changing reservations, so Gi and I have decided to stay one less day in Banff (actually we're staying in Golden, BC, just outside the park). But it means we'll get another afternoon and night to enjoy Whistler, which might not be such a bad tradeoff given some of the things we've been reading about accommodations in the Banff area.
Wednesday finally brought a free afternoon and a mountaintop banquet to get us outside the Whistler Westin where the IUFRO Tree Biotechnology is being held. The hotel has been extremely comfortable -- it better be for the price -- and even though we are surrounded by a gorgeous environment it's still been pretty much business from 8AM to 5PM the past couple of days. Like all the big ski resort areas these days there area ton of things to do, and a big population of twenty-somethings going full-tilt outdoors pretty much everyday. It's going to be a great venue for the Olympics, but I'm definitely glad to be enjoying it ahead of the crowds ans at a much reduced cost.
In the afternoon I got tied up with some work discussions so that Gi and I missed a hike with friends through some old-growth forest somewhere nearby. However, there are hiking trails in every direction, so we struck out on our own walking a mile or so over to Lost Lake and back. The tiger lilies were in bloom, as was the Canadian bunchberry (Cornus canadensis), which is a low-growing herbaceous member of the same genus as our southern dogwood. The flowers are a dead give away.
We traditionally wrap up the meeting at noon on Thursday, so the closing banquet was tonight. For the event the organizers rented the restaurant at the top of Whistler mountain, trucking us all up via the gondola starting around 6:30. Some of us were hoping for an opportunity to ride the new Peak-to-Peak gonadola that was built for the games, but it wasn't in the gameplan. Still, the views were spectacular and the food was great. We stuck around for the sunset, which was much more interesting than the band they hired for dancing, and eventually got shooed off the mountain around 10:15. 
It turned out that I made a small goof when I made our reservations, booking us through Friday morning instead of checking out tomorrow. The hotel has been absolutely inflexible about changing reservations, so Gi and I have decided to stay one less day in Banff (actually we're staying in Golden, BC, just outside the park). But it means we'll get another afternoon and night to enjoy Whistler, which might not be such a bad tradeoff given some of the things we've been reading about accommodations in the Banff area.
jeff, that is GONDola not GONADola--get your mind out of the tree reproduction or whatever!!
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