Fair warning: the pictures I’m going to share in this post — of skiing in Charlevoix, our last trip of the ’25/26 winter season — won’t do the experience justice. Because it’s not just about finding the perfect lookout point for a pretty photo; it’s about the 360-degree postcard views as you ski the highest…
Things you need to know about Jay Peak VT
It had been six years since we drove mere minutes across the Canadian border to Jay Peak VT. And, this time, we brought the snow. It snowed day and night during our entire five-day stay, in fact, which meant we finally got to experience the “Jay Cloud.” Plus the Jay wind (but we’ll get to…
Sunshine Village: read this before you hit Banff
Whether you’re planning to ski or snowboard at Sunshine Village as a day trip from your hotel in Banff or you’ll be spending a week onsite, overnighting at the Sunshine Mountain Lodge — or maybe you’re just poking around to decide if this Alberta ski resort is right for you — this post has everything…
Sunshine Mountain Lodge: review, tips & tricks
Sunshine Mountain Lodge at Sunshine Village in Banff, Alberta, is truly one-of-a-kind — but is it the right kind of lodging for you and your family’s ski trip? I tried to look up reviews of Banff’s only ski-in/out hotel before our visit and found them wildly incomplete. In this post, I’m going to help you…
7 tips for Sugarbush ski resort in Vermont
My top tips for Sugarbush ski resort in Vermont The first time I went to Sugarbush ski resort in Vermont, I’d only had perhaps 20 to 30 total ski days under my belt and my only experience was on easy green runs. I’d never even seen an ungroomed trail before. I had a lot of…
The only ski trip packing checklist you need
Once we started skiing, we progressively ditched the sunny southern holidays in favour of ski trips. Now that I’ve really nailed our ski packing list and system after eight years of trial and error, I figured it’s time to share! Assuming you’re going on a five- to six-day ski holiday, here’s the ski trip packing…
Best skiing in Lake Placid: Whiteface
After four visits to Lake Placid in the last couple of years, we finally did it: we skied Whiteface. And it is definitely the best skiing in the Lake Placid area. This has been a mountain we’ve wanted to conquer for a year or two, but didn’t feel like we were ready skill-wise until this…
Big White Ski Resort with Air Canada Vacations
Before kids, I was the kind of person who loved the occasional spontaneous travel experience — booking a flight and maybe a hotel at the destination and figuring out the rest on the fly. But with demands on my time at a premium and four people to book and pack and get on their way,…
How to teach your kids to ski
Despite spending a year in high school as a teacher’s aide for my co-op class, and yet another year teaching ESL in Korea in my 20s, I’m a terrible teacher. These two experiences are the sole reasons I didn’t go to teacher’s college. My patience wears thin very easily and I become frustrated with repetition…
Family-approved ski gear
I won’t go on and on about how much we’ve fallen in love with skiing. (If you really want to know, you can read this post or this one or this one.) But for anyone who’s considering skiing — especially with your kids — know that there are two essentials to making it work well:…