Since we had a long weekend here in BC, we decided to take an impromptu trip to Whistler with the dogs to get crazy! It’s about a three hour drive from our house to Whistler Village which wasn’t too bad in our new dog-friendly car! (PS The Toyota Matrix was definitely designed with dogs in mind, LOVE mine!) As always, we were on the lookout for a hot deal on a pet-friendly hotel and boy did we find one! The Listel hotel’s whole first floor is dog friendly, and being located in the heart of Whistler Village made it a very desireable spot to stay! Best of all, at $100-$150/night you can afford to splurge on wine and bully sticks, too!

We’ve brought the dogs to Whistler before, and they both loved walking around the village and exploring the various shops and restaurant patios open to dogs. But for some reason, Roxy decided she wasn’t going to walk AT ALL  on this trip, so we carried her everywhere. At 27 lbs, Roxy is no purse dog, so this was a huge pain in my butt and my shoulder which is now out of commission.

One of the best things about the village is that dogs are welcome in many of the stores and on several patios. Even if they’re not allowed in the store, there’s always plenty of water stations outside to keep them hydrated and cool. These two buddies were snuggled up outside a particularly happening pub, so Cash decided to make a pit stop to introduce himself.

After an evening of friends, fun, dinner and drinks, we decided to leave the Village and head up to Alpha lake which boasts one of the best dog beaches I’ve ever seen, Arfa lake. Not only is there a grassy off-leash area, there’s also a dog dock!

Since there isn’t a sandy beach area for dogs, everyone kind of just hangs out on the dock. It was 32 degrees when we arrived and probably even hotter in our car, so the cold lake was looking pretty inviting, even to our lazy pampered dogs!

We began unloading our stuff out of the car and onto the dock when I noticed Roxy getting a little to closee to the edge for my comfort. Suddenly, my little daredevil decided to dive right off the dock and into the freezing cold lake! Still fully clothed, I had to hurriedly rip off my shorts and top (good thing I had a bikini on underneath!) and jump in after her. Probably a bit overdramatic, but whatever.

I have to say, the look of shock on her face once we pulled her out was priceless. She did not jump in again.

Although he hates water, the heat must have been too much for him because right after we got Roxy on dry land, Cash decided to follow suit. The look on his face was less surprised and more terrified. 

 

That was more than enough adventure for those two. Roxy sunned herself on my towel for the rest of the day while Cash avoided the dock completely. Him and Jer went for a long walk around the lake, and found a shallow spot that he could just wade in to keep cool. 

Everyone at Arfa lake (people and dogs alike) was awesome. The people were friendly and the dogs were sweet and well behaved. Although we never got the other humans’ names, by the end of the day everybody knew the name of each dog and ended up sharing their towel with a wet and smelly stranger. My dogs were particularly popular, mostly because of their hilarious theatrics but also because they’re just so dang cute!

 

After tiring themselves out,  we headed back to the Listel for a nap followed by more exploring. I was really hoping to snap a pic of the dogs in front of the famed Olympic rings, but Roxy wasn’t willing.

All in all it was a pretty great weekend. The hotel staff were sad to see the dogs go and enthusiastically welcomed us back for another stay in the future, and I’m sure we’ll gladly oblige them! By Monday afternoon the temps had dropped to a tolerable 25 degrees, so the dogs stayed calm and cool in the back.

For more info on the Listel Hotel, check them out at http://www.listelhotel.com/ 

For more info on dog friendly Whistler, check out this site http://www.whistler.com/pet_friendly/