Tales from the Adventure of Life: Day 9: Vancouver (being a tourist)

As expected, I woke up in the middle of the night with an extreme feeling of falling uncontrollably down a snowy hill. It was interesting and I went back to sleep.

I woke up in the morning, showered, grabbed my day old newspaper, and headed down to the market for some breakfast. I got a crepe and some juice and found a nice table in the cafeteria area near a door. I look at my crepe and realize I should probably eat it with utensils. I leave all my stuff at the table and wander back to the crepe place. The guy asks if I am looking for something. Uhhhh yeah, a fork? He points to the cup of forks right next to the cash register. I grab one and head back to my table. The fork proves to be ineffective at tearing off bites of crepe. So I use a hand/fork approach that kind of works. I take a few bites and decide to read my newspaper. I awkwardly flip through the giant flimsy pages. The sun is shining brightly and is making it difficult to read the translucent pages. The door opens and I am hit by a blast of cold air. I don't mind too much but my napkins go flying across the room. I try to play it cool. I pick up my napkins and continue attempt at eating my crepe in a civilized manner. I feel that since I am fancy enough to be reading a newspaper at breakfast, I should be fancy enough to use utensils. I again give up and pull out the newspaper. I skim a few articles and look at some pictures. Who has time to read all of these words anyway? I love reading, but it would take me a whole day just to actually read the whole newspaper. I have touristy stuff to do today! I give up on being fancy and put down the newspaper and eat the rest of my crepe with my hands.

I walk to the T Rex and put all of my electronics back on. (I have heard people really like to steal stuff out of cars in the lower 48 so I have been hiding my GPS, CD player, and Scan Gauge (spiffy truck computer reader that I love) every night) I type in the name of my first destination: Capilano Suspension Bridge. It is the biggest tourist attraction in Vancouver so it is easy enough to find. I get there around 10:30, before most of the crowds. I go to grab a park map. They have 5 sets of maps, each labeled with a flag: Canada, Japan, Germany, France, and some other one. WTF?!?! Where is the American one!!! Then I remember that it is just the language. I can probably understand Canadian just fine. The place seems to be trying to make people feel closer to nature but all I can think about is the engineering of it. There are bridges and boardwalks and things built up in the trees all over.

Back to the details. The first thing I see is the totem pole collection. They are pretty and all but I have seen plenty of totem poles. I snap a picture and move on to the bridge. I check out the information display about the bridge. It explains the history. I am disappointed to find that while the original bridge was built in 1889, it has been rebuilt multiple times. The current bridge has its planks replaces every year and the cables aren't even that old. Regardless, it is still impressive. It also explains that the bridge is safe. It says that the cables are tested to 100,000 lbs and that people should not worry about them breaking. I laugh a little. Of course the cables are fine. They are as big as my wrist. They could support a lot more than a few dozen people. Feeling smug about my engineering knowledge, I walk across and take a number of pictures. The other side of the bridge holds what appears to be a huge boardwalk system partnered with a treetop path. I make a big loop and walk both paths. I see some tourists taking pictures of the signs that ask people not to graffiti the rails. I am amused but I guess I really can't judge considering the things I take pictures of. I am extremely disappointed by this misleading map scale. It looks a lot bigger on the map. I am also envious of the engineer that got the project to make the treetop path. That would be a nice, fun, simple project. I walk back across the bridge and head to the cliffwalk. I stop in the giftshop along the way and am instantly reminded of my days working at Alaska Wild Berry Products. The giftshop has a whole fudge section and I think sells some of the exact same things. I quickly leave the gift shop and find the cliffwalk. This thing is cool. It is a narrow path suspended from a cliff using a few steel beams and cables. Everything else I have seen thus far has been wood/cables. The cliffwalk structure is bolted into the rocks somehow. I can't see enough to figure out exactly how. I enjoy my walk and head back to the truck.

Next on the list is the other walking suspension bridge. This one is in Lynn Canyon Park and is free to see. I enter the information into my GPS and head off. Along the way, I see signs pointing to the park that don't match up with my GPS directions. I decide to follow the signs. I am smarter than a computer. It must be confused. I follow the signs for a while and then they disappear. Meanwhile, my GPS keeps telling me to make a U turn immediately. I finally give up and follow the GPS. I end up in a secluded bus terminal, no bridge to be seen. I remember there is an ecology center near the bridge so I tell the GPS to take me there. I follow the directions and end up on the same route I was originally on. If I had gone just a few more blocks, I would have seen the next sign. I arrive at the place and it starts to snow.

I decide to check out the ecology center. It is rather interesting. It also suggests that by eating meat I am damaging the earth. Depressing. I decide to leave and find the bridge. I'll find a cheeseburger for dinner or something. I walk toward the bridge and find a picnic area. The tables are covered with about 30 mini snowmen and snow animals people have made. It is adorable. I continue on to the bridge and watch the boy in front of me fall. It is insanely icy. The wooden steps leading to the bridge are covered with a thin layer of ice that is right at freezing (creating a thin layer of water to lubricate things and making it nearly impossibly not to fall). The ice is then covered with a thin layer of snow. I walk down the stairs, clutching the chain link fence for support. I hear a little girl behind me telling her dad that she wishes someone would just dump hot water all over the place to melt the ice. Nice try, but please please please don't do that. I laugh a little as I make it to the bridge. This bridge is shorter than the last but it is still impressive. I also think the actual structure is older. I step on the bridge and it is icy too. I carefully walk across clutching the cable. I reach the bottom of the parabola of the bridge and stop for pictures. The bridge is narrow and slippery and people keep walking by and bumping me. I am asking to drop my phone into the river below. I get my pictures and get my phone back in my pocket with no mishaps. I make it to the other side and decide to do some hiking. I start down a trail and am met with more icy steps. I stumble and slide along for a bit, determined not to stop until I at least find something cool to take a picture of. After walking over more ice and a few marshy spots that cover my boots in mud, I finally find a clearing with some views of the river. This will do just fine. I take some pictures and trek back to the truck. I am happy to make it back without falling over or dropping my phone in the river. The whole experience was gorgeous despite the frustration from the ice. The fresh (and light) snow made for some really cool contrast.

It's only 2ish so I decide to head on to my next destination: Deep Cove. I find it on my GPS and take off. The GPS leads me into a neighborhood. "Destination on Left" it says. It's a driveway. I look around and finally find a trail head. I don't want a trail head. I am looking for a park. This is the third time this trip I have tried to find a park and have instead been lead into a neighborhood and abandoned by my GPS at someone's house. Apparently I need a new approach when finding parks. I backtrack to a main road and find some road sings leading to a park. I arrive at a nice park overlooking the cove a short time later. I get out and spend some time walking around and looking at the water. I should note that the water in Vancouver is amazingly clear. In the cove and at both rivers with the bridges, I can clearly see the bottom. I walk along the beach for a bit and see a dad with his daughter. She sees a shell.

"Look Dad! A shell!"

"Oh, that's a nice one. Why don't you pick that up?"

"NOOO!!! It's going to bite me!!"

I think her dad finally convinced her that it was safe to pick up and no was longer alive. It was pretty cute I have to say. I wander around the beach and walk up the main street. I decide to head on to my final destination for the day. I set the GPS to Stanley Park. I drive over the Lions Gate suspension bridge and follow the road signs to the park. I am not letting that GPS drive me to some random place. I am in the downtown area now and there is way too much traffic to be messing around with my GPS. I successfully find a place to park. I walk to the viewpoint and take some pictures of the Lions Gate Bridge. I decide to find the sea wall. I start down a steep switch back trail and see a sign. "beware of rabid raccoons". Should I be concerned? I decide not to and continue down the trail. I finally find the sea wall and start walking along it. It is pretty cool and nice and scenic. I found the perfect time to come; the sun is starting to set and the colors in the sky are vibrant. I look out into the bay and see the head of a seal. Cool! I have never seen one swimming before. I have seem them sleeping on the rocks or beach but not in the water. I see a lighthouse and some boats. I take a ton of pictures as the sun goes down. It is getting cold and will be dark soon so I head back to the truck. (with no encounters with rabid raccoons)

I drive back to the hotel and decide to get some ice cream and sushi for dinner. I walk down to the market and get some ice cream.

"I'll take the cookie dough."

"Actually, that's not cookie dough."

"Well it looks good, I'll take it,"

"But it's not cookie dough."

"That's ok."

"Here, try it first"

"Ok, now can I just have it?"

I get my ice cream. Whatever it is, it is great! I wander around the market and browse the shops. I am in a shop full of really sparkly things when the lady comes up. "Please let me know if I can help!!" Ok lady, I will. I look some more and the lady comes back and informs me she has something to help hair. What?? My hair looks great! She shows me some hair clips that are really sparkly. Oddly enough, I had been meaning to buy a hair clip and haven't gotten around to it. With some pressuring and my rejecting her attempt to sell me the most sparkly clip possible, I give in. I'm done with my ice cream and don't want to end up buying anything else. I get some sushi and head back to the room. (wow sushi here is cheap!!)

Anyway, pictures!