whistler -- vancouver's disneyland. And recordings!

For the second time in four years, I went up to Whistler. The first time, I tried snowboarding -- a painful experience it was. So painful that, on the second day, I took my volleyball kneepads because I couldn't fathom falling on my knees ever again.

Whistler village, though, is a world on its own. Kind of like Disneyland. People go there to yes, enjoy all the winter sports that Blackcomb and Whistler mountains have to offer, but down in the foothills of these great mountains is an entire village devoted to shopping, eating, drinking, clubbing, and more shopping. There's a GAP, a Roots, a Guess store and even a Lululemon store (why anyone would wear lululemon pants in snow-weather, I have no idea). A handful of coffee shops (including 3 Starbucks), a couple of high-end grocery stores and several pretty nice restaurants of various cuisines adorn the village paths that all truly look the same. And of course, atop these stores and restaurants are private townhomes and condos--all up for grabs, for about 2 million dollars and up. Hotel room prices in the Village, of course, fare no less. It really is no wonder that the 2010 Olympics would be hosted here; in fact, Whistler is such an appropriate location!

In any case, the reason for my trip to Whistler was a youth band/choir music festival that was taking place there. The Asia tour band from UBC went up there as, I suppose, guest performers, as well as the Vancouver Gospel Choir -- these guys were pretty awesome. An okay trip.

Right now I'm listening to a recording of our most recent concert, Artunian trumpet concerto, Music for Prague (we destroyed, in the most literal sense, the third movement), and Pines of Rome. Mmm. The fourth movement of Prague sounds actually alright...surprising. I got this CD and a DVD of one of our Taipei concerts, which I'm looking forward to watching later this afternoon. Hopefully that will turn out to be a good surprise as well.