Dave and Dan learn their (A)BC

Once upon a Christmas Eve, Dave and Dan left the city to began their adventure across the province of British Columbia (BC).

Their first stop was the slopes of Apex Mountain, in the Okanagan Valley - well known for its' champagne-powder snow and (much to Dan's dismay), its' array of double-black diamond runs!


Dave took them all in his stride...


But - oh no - "Dan - Don't do it! I'll find some green runs for you I promise!"




Dave needed a soothing Canadian beer to calm his nerves, after a day of teaching Dan to conquer the blue runs!


and Dan thought she definately deserved one too!
By the end of Day 2 however, Dan was pretty pleased with herself. Now, the green runs were 'easy', and the blue runs, well... not so hard!











It was not all hard work though - the 1km ice skating loop was magical...





... and we thought this photo was pretty cool too.



Dave took some time-out to ice skate amongst the fir trees...


Before heading off to... (drum roll)





...yep - Avalanche areas and the Okanagan Valley & mid northern BC, for some amazing scenery...

Some crazy Canadians thought there was a beach in the middle of Whistler Village...

But judging by the signs, it was not much of a beach to us!

It was not all ice and mountains though. We decided to check in on the winter home of the bald-headed eagle, in Brackendale, just outside of Whistler (apparently the biggest population of eagles in the world)

We also had time to see the 5th highest waterfall in the world...

...and the 2nd largest granite monolith in the world...Not bad for a morning's drive eh?

Dad C - this photo is for you. This is a wood heap!

After 10 days exploring the province, as the new year set in, it was time to head back to Vancouver...

and luckily, we were greeted with a spectacular sunset to help us forget that our "vacation" was over...