Entry 7 - for our Canada adventure 2017

Entry 7 – Sept 7^th – 13^th for our Canada adventure 2017. 

Our flight from the east to the western side of Canada was reasonably smooth but unfortunately, the views below were obstructed by cloud. As we got near the Rocky Mountains area the sky also appeared to be full of smoke immersed with clouds. Out of control fires were still burning to the NW and SE of the Rocky Mountains which had been burning for around 3 months.

View from plane wind of river many kilometres away

Vancouver airport seemed very quiet in comparison with all the other airports we had experienced. After collecting our baggage, we sat in a quiet corner utilising the free airport internet access assessing our next move. As it turned out there was a set fee for taxi’s taking tourists to the city centre of Vancouver which we took up. As it was still morning we dropped our baggage at our hotel accommodation for the next 3 nights and as recommended by the hotel clerk we walked down to the cruise ship terminal (with no ships present on this day) viewing the sights of the area, returning at check in time of 3 pm to put our feet up in our room. The gradient from our accommodation to the harbour was quite steep giving our legs and cardio-vascular system a good work out.

Canada is a place requiring different types of taxi's

Our room on the 30^th floor would have provided fantastic views if it hadn’t been for the smoke haze. Unfortunately, Vancouver was smothered in thick smoke from the burning fires hundreds of kilometres away.

A mixture of cloud and smoke.

Day two seemed to be the day for any planned walking as the weather forecast was for ongoing rain. We spent several hours walking around Stanley Park accompanied by light drizzle. Looking across towards the cruise ship terminal we saw a couple of cruise ships had arrived early morning. It took a while to work out why our feet were protesting. The surface had been man made bitumen and not a forest provided soft cushioned walking surface we had become accustomed to over the last 6 weeks of walking.

Looking at the water surface just in front of ship life boat a seaplane is moving towards the ships stern 

Another dreary day with clouds low in the tree tops

Day three we thoroughly enjoyed a few hours in the museum of Anthropology followed up by an inspection of the city library.

Outside view of Vancouver Library

Inside view of Vancouver Library

It was quite interesting reading about different interpretations how humans came into existence. The below picture titled, “The Raven discovering man kind in a clam shell.”

We had hired another vehicle for 3 days to explore the North Vancouver area staying in Airbnb accommodation. After losing nearly an hour with hire vehicle collection issues then getting stuck in a traffic jam for another couple of hours we felt exhausted by the time we arrived at our North Vancouver accommodation after a drive of about 20 kilometres. 

Our initial focus had been to experience Lynn Canyon Park. We joyfully woke to a clear blue sky causing a discussion for a change of itinerary. Due to the potential of clear sky we decided to visit Grouse Mountain today, still in the North Vancouver area, a commercialised mountain peak with potential of great views.

At Grouse Mountain, we identified one of the offered options “The Eye of The Wind” at the top of our wish list. We paid our money and jostled with the crowds making our way up the Mountain to the wind turbine, (the same as seen all around the world for the generation of green power) where a viewing platform had been mounted just under the centre point of the blades. We were greeted by a sign showing, “CLOSED.” Initially we were angrily disappointed and would not have visited Grouse Mountain if this information had been provided in any format prior to paying our money at entry.

We recomposed ourselves and viewed the other offerings, the Lumberjack Show, saw the grizzly bears, the tail end of the bird show, sat in the theatre watching their publicity films and had a general walk, look around. We reservedly enjoyed our time at Grouse Mountain assessing it as a half-hearted operation, with an obvious lack of maintenance and lack of attention for customer service. We had to search to find someone to speak with who refunded us $21 for the additional cost incurred for the eye of the wind. We couldn’t even find the location of the photo sales – of us going up on the chairlift.

We enjoyed visiting Lynn Canyon Park, a spectacular coastal temperate rainforest with hiking trails and a suspension bridge providing views directly above Lynn Canyon, vindicated our decision to explore North Vancouver. The setting was magnificent with grand trees towering high above us and it was all free.

The other attraction for this area was the Capilano suspension bridge park a very commercialised attraction with publicity literature splashed all over Vancouver. After the (next most publicised) Grouse Mountain disappointment we weren’t even tempted to consider Capilano suspension bridge park. 

We spent the second half of our final day at North Vancouver finalising our research for our cruise ship requirements, washing our clothes and re-packing our suitcases, readying ourselves for another American Customs experience. 

Our North Vancouver accommodation provided another new experience for us, sleeping in a king size bed. We kept losing one another in the bed.

After posting this entry we are to drive back to Vancouver where Steve will leave Mary and our luggage nearby the cruise ship terminal, return the hire car and walk the 800 metres back to Mary and board the ship for 7 nights.