Our Canadian Blog

Friday: Stanley Park

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 16:40:18 +0000

Friday morning we woke up to rain, which looked set to go on all day. We pottered up to Davie ‘Rainbow’ Village for a good American-style breakfast at Denny’s, and then Pete headed up Granville St to do some last bits of shopping, while Cat popped back to the hotel to get proper boots on and drop her stuff off, and head out for the long walk - down to the seawall just by Granville Bridge, and then all the way along it, round the peninsula of Stanley Park, along the edge of Coal Harbour, and then back up through town to the hotel again. Given the weather, this was possibly slightly insane, but nevertheless it was quite fun until the combats had completely stuck to Cat, and the boots had turned into mini-puddles inside thanks to the rainwater running down the *inside* of the legs. Still, that didn’t happen till well after halfway round...

Cat found, further round from English Bay...

Second Beach
Third Beach
Prospect Point Lighthouse (tiny, just by the Lionsgate Bridge)
Random snake-head sculpture sticking out of a tree
“Girl in wetsuit” sculpture, sitting on a rock
the Kids Dryer (sadly not working so didn’t dry Cat off)
Beaver Creek (in the picture)
the Totem Poles
Dead Man’s Island (home to the Navy, apparently)

It took about 2 and a half hours. Cat was completely soaked through, but it was worth it, because now, she can say that she did it! In the meantime, Pete had finished his shopping and headed for the Sports Bar, hockey, and a couple of pints in the warm and dry... !

The evening was rounded off with dinner at the Hamilton St Grill (yay steak) and then we headed back through the rain to the hotel to crash out earlyish so we could get up in time to pack next morning, ready for checkout at 12.

Thursday: Lynn Canyon

Thu, 27 Nov 2008 02:41:40 +0000

Thursday morning again started early, and skipping breakfast to get it on the North side, we headed back up to the Waterfront station to catch the seabus. From the seabus we caught another bus up to Lynn Valley Canyon Park, and headed for the cafe... to discover it was closed. So, no food till we got back to Lonsdale for a late lunch, then. However, we headed over to the bridge and trails.

First, you have to get to the main trails, which means crossing the suspension bridge. It’s fairly solid, but it swings and bounces when people walk down it. If you’re Cat, this is scary, and you refuse to look down. If you’re Pete, it’s not scary, and you hang over the edge taking photos, despite the fact that it’s about 20 storeys high above a fast-flowing river!

Safely across, and we headed up the path to find the 30-foot pool. The water there was incredibly green, and so clear, and Pete was happily skimming stones across the wider patch as Cat clambered over the rocks to look for the waterfall she could hear feeding into the pool. Then we wandered back down the path, and once back at the suspension bridge, went the other direction, downstream to the Twin Falls. Sadly, the path takes you across a footbridge at the top of the falls so you’re looking down on them, but because of the way the canyon is, you can’t get down to the bottom on the paths. Never mind, they were spectacular enough, thundering down through a narrow feeder mini-canyon into the falls, and then back into a slow, clear green river further on.

We clambered back up all the steps on the other side, and wandered up to look round the gift shop and Ecology Centre, before heading for a bus back to Lonsdale Quay.

At Lonsdale we headed for the market and its food courts to find some lunch, and then set off in different directions - Pete headed for the seabus, and back to the hotel via a couple of shops, before wandering down to the Sports Bar to have a drink and enjoy the Thanksgiving NFL games. Cat wandered round the market first, and then caught the seabus back and walked into Gastown to look round the big tourist shops for the last bits of souvenir shopping before heading back to the hotel to drop stuff off, and then out to the sea-wall at Sunset Beach, and then along it up to English Bay while the sun set. Sadly, it was too cloudy for much of a sunset, but the heron that was pottering along the beach made up for it. Finally, we both made it back to the hotel room and crashed out with the Canucks game on TV for the evening!

Wednesday: Grouse Mountain

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 05:23:23 +0000

Wednesday’s forecast was good, so we woke up reasonably early, Cat checked the forecast, and then we headed for Seabus and bus to Grouse Mountain. One cable-car ride up the mountain later, and we got to the top around 11, and stopped for cake before heading out to see what there was. Sadly, not enough snow for any winter sports, nor for the sleighride, but there was some snow, stunning views, a frozen-over pond to skate on, and reindeer, and Pete’s favourite - the ziplines! We started by wandering around the little patch that’s the main area of Grouse Mountain, where the chalet is, and the ski-lifts all meet. We stopped to look at the views, wandered over to see if we could find the grizzly bears (they were hiding), paused to look at the wonderful wood carvings, said hi to the reindeer, and then headed for the skate hire. We spent well over an hour out skating on the pond before deciding it was time for lunch, which we grabbed in the little hamburger-and-fries place that did the cake, and ate with a view out over English Bay and Vancouver, just stunning.

After lunch we headed back out to the ice for a bit, and then decided to see if we could find out about the ziplines. We wandered up to the building we were told they were running from, paid our fees, and then it was time to harness up, have the safety talk, and head for the ziplines. The first was fairly slow, fairly flat, and very short, just to get you in practice. The second was quite steep, long, and definitely one to practise the screaming on, whizzing through the trees and across the lake for 14 seconds. The third was shorter, a bit more gentle, and you pushed yourself off, just back across the lake to the north shore. Once everyone in the group had made it down to the bottom, we picked up our trolleys and set off on the walk back up the side of the mountain to the top. We arrived just in time for the end of the sunset, and then headed back out to the cablecar, and back across to downtown Vancouver. We wandered from the Seabus up to the Keg for an excellent dinner, and then headed home, where Pete went out to the Sports Bar to see what the hockey was doing, and Cat stayed home to relax.

Tuesday: Granville Island

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 05:23:22 +0000

On Tuesday we got up late and headed across Granville Bridge to meet Phil on Granville Island. We headed through the public market (resisting the fudge) to get some food and chatter our lunch away, before wandering up to the Granville Island Brewery, where the guys bought a taster round of beer, and Cat tried some Cane Cola.

Phil then had to go, so we wandered on into the Kids Market, to have a look round there. We did some Christmas shopping, popped into the Magic Shop, and got excited by all the rainbows around the place, before heading back across to the little arty shops by the public market, wandering round along the edge of the island under Granville Bridge, and finally stopping for some more Christmas shopping before heading back across the bridge and home to rest our feet.

Monday: Aquarium and Hockey

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 05:23:22 +0000

Monday was absolutely beautiful, so we set off up Davie in the sunshine to walk through the rainbow village and up to English Bay. We went round the beach and turned up into the edge of Stanley Park, stopping to look at the cute black ‘grey’ squirrels, and then headed on through the park, round Lost Lagoon, up along the seawall and into the Aquarium. We spent a couple of hours there, watched the dolphin show, saw the baby beluga whale along with Mum and Grandma, admired the colours of the tropical fish, made cute noises about the sea otters and turtles...

Eventually we figured we’d seen everything, so we left Stanley Park and headed back up to Downtown Vancouver to find a drink (at the Elephant & Castle), dinner (at Moxie’s), and then up to the GM Stadium for a thrilling ice hockey game, Vancouver Canucks v. Detroit Red Wings (defending Stanley Cup champions). Twice the Canucks came back from behind to equalize, twice the stadium went wild.... but that was nothing compared to the response when they then scored in sudden-death overtime to win the game! Even Cat got excited enough to jump up with everyone else, which never, ever happens! In a happy mood from the home win, we wandered back to the hotel to wind down. Go Canucks, Go!