British Columbia - More hills than Ontario

Aug. 3

We were not looking forward to the time change in Vancouver but after the furnace that Toronto has been the mid-20s; the BC weather was a blessed relief.   Elaine (Meg’s cousin) met us at the airport and she and Mack were exemplary hosts.  The first night we caught up with them and managed to stay awake until 11 local time (3 am according to our bodies) and used a combination of melatonin and homebrew to reset our body clocks.

The growing, organic gooey statue.

                We woke up at a fairly normal time the next day and lingered over breakfast before heading up Burnaby Mountain to orient ourselves.  There were totem-like carvings of animals, people and abstract sculpture from a Japanese artist there (Burnaby is twinned with a Japanese city) as well as a living statue of moss and goo, very organic.  Elaine pointed out geographic points of interest around the greater Vancouver area as well as extolling the virtues of tobogganing down the park’s steep hills.  Back at her place, we visited with her son’s family (parents, a 3-year old and a baby).  The parents were both teachers (as is Elaine), so of obviously fine genetic stock.   The kids kept everyone busy and the adults helped themselves to plates of brownies and potato fritters to keep their energy up.  Meg has to work on her dreaded assignment so Elaine and Owen went to the nearby (and empty) tennis courts for an epic battle.  The evening was spent eating BBQ and learning how to play an intriguing award-winning German game whose name escapes me (Carcosse?) that we got hooked on during our stay there.

Meg shows her brave face crossing the bridge.

Elaine and I traversing treetops.

                Friday was tourist day, so off we went north of the city to the famous Capulano Suspension Bridge.  All three of us professed to not being great about heights, so we were braced for the worst.  It’s a fairly expensive ($30) admission, but we got a few hours’ entertainment and education out of it.  The starting area has some historical displays and costumed summer student waving at people or playing folk songs of dubious authenticity. We zipped over to the bridge, which we crossed with firm grips on the railings and no screams or desires to turn back.  We found we were more likely to get seasick than phobic on the thing as it did sway freely under the dozens of tourist feet continually traversing it (it can apparently hold 1200 people- but we did not test this out).  If the bridge were the entire attraction, then it would be a 15 minute roadside stop, but more was to come.  There was a treetops walk staffed by a costumed lad who was smilingly unable to answer any of our questions.  We then walked from tree to tree using rope and board bridges which did not nearly sway as much as their forbearer did.  The views were stunning and Elaine kept us enthralled with First Nations myths such as why the creator gave sumacs the smallest cones and how squirrels got trapped in pine cones.  The next stroll was along a boardwalk on the ground, where we saw a bird of prey with its owner and a pond of trout.  Multiple signs forbade us from defacing the boardwalk with graffiti or jackknives. 

Hanging off of the cliff face.

                Back across the bridge, we followed the CliffWalk, which was a walkway along the side of the cliff.  If you were brave enough you could look beneath your feet for at least four straight stories down. One section curved credible out over the trees and water and two platforms with Plexiglas floors.  Elaine was cured of her fears (if it was a miracle, we’ll take credit for it…) I had a firm grip on the steel railing and Meg wisely kept close to the rock face.  The path back to the main area had some good info on erosion and water conservation and the gift shop was exactly what you’d expect.

                Next stop was a picnic in a wooded park area before heading to a salmon hatchery.  The location was beautiful and the displays were decent but most of the functioning plant could only be viewed at a distance behind chain link fence.  Most impressive was the underwater viewing area of the fish ladder, as the salmon were running.  We could see them treading water (so to speak) sitting in the current through the lower steps, but if you peeked around the corner you could see the fish at the top flinging themselves out of the water continuously and seemingly futilely at a side wall. This wasn’t a delicate little hop or jump, these little  guys were throwing themselves bodily out of the water, sideways- what incredible strength and determination it took the poor salmon to get to the top of the water fall (it will be hard for me(Meg) to eat salmon again).

Contemplating life at lighthouse park.

                Meg decided to lose consciousness and thus missed the excellent West Vancouver lookout towards the rest of the city from a nearby park.  We then returned to sea level at Lighthouse Park.  A short walk through a forest of gigantic trees led to the coast and rocky outcrops with majestic views of the city and the coastal islands.  Elaine continued to define the west coast geography as the now-awake Meg stared out to sea.  On the path back we were educated by several info stops and followed the coastal road instead of the highway so that we could see what sort of mansions several million dollars can buy these days.



Meg terrorizing babies again.



                After returning home we went with Elaine and Mack to their favourite local place, which served huge portions of pub grub for a very reasonable price.  Meg and I walked back to better orient ourselves (and work off some of our dinner calories) and managed to return to the house intact.  Meg went back to her dreaded assignment and the rest of us chatted upstairs until fairly late.

                We got off to a slow start the next day but had a nice visit with Eric (offspring of Elaine) and his family before they were supposed to go on a trip( they actually delayed due to their newborn’s flu).  A fine quick visit was had and then we returned to Elaine’s with Eric’s huge dog Leo in the car (a golden retriever/elephant mix).   We dragged our feet again and were late getting to Mountain Equipment Co-op.  Meg needed a compact sleeping bag and we picked up a few other camping things (thanks to those who gave us gift cards- you know who you are!), and then Elaine dropped us off at Stanley Park. 

One tiny bit of the seawall.

                We were there to jog the seawall, an 11 km loop by the time we were done with it.  We got separated early, and I though Meg was ahead of me when she was actually behind due to a lengthy washroom line.  The jog was definitely worth it, as the views of the city and surrounding areas kept changing.  You go by statues, splash beaches, under major bridges and by busy sandy beaches (topless sunbathing is legal in Vancouver).  There was even a flowerpot island with a plaque dedicated to some poor guy who dove off of it at low tide.  A beautiful run, with breathtaking scenery, but on the day we did it the sea breeze was absent so it was quite warm.

                Our post-run rendezvous point was outside the aquarium, but by that point it was 90 minutes before closing so we decided to skip it and instead strolled downtown and found a decent Thai place with ultra-attentive service.  For our way home we had to find a bus and Meg found it hilarious that I speculated that a green circle with a picture of a bus in it might be a stop (it wasn’t).  We found a real stop and the bus driver told us just to take a seat when we tried to pay with paper money (not acceptable on BC buses).  Meg wrote him a thank you note (which didn’t implicate him in any way or jeopardize his job) on an old Toronto streetcar transfer she had and we got home safely.  More chatting and another round of the game (Carcosse?), with an expansion pack, before bedtime.