Vancouver Day 2

We did not hike Grouse Mountain.

We did not go to the Capilano suspension bridge as planned.

We did not go to Whytecliffe Park.

Why? We started our day getting not one but 3 of Caitlin's tires patched after last nights flat tire. I can see occasionally driving over a nail - I do it all the time at the dump - but 3 in less than 2 weeks since she had her car checked out?

Then we went to CAA and got emergency medical insurance. Just in case.

Then we did go to Lynn Valley suspension bridge and ecology centre. Beautiful.




By the time we finished there it was raining harder and harder so we gave up outdoor activities, went out for lunch then back to the hotel.

Make sure you check out Caitlin's blog tomorrow for concert updates! All being well we leave here tomorrow morning and head south.

Vancouver Day 1

We went to the store Caitlin worked at Wednesday night.We were both up at 6:30 Thursday morning and decided to have breakfast then race up Mt. Seymour (elevation 4,150 ft) to catch the sunrise. My dad speaks fondly of a drive up there many years ago. The fog (cloud)? was so heavy driving up we ended up turning around and heading back down.

We went to Deep Cove instead. You can see the low cloud cover behind us.
We went to Lonsdale Quay, took the seabus across to Gastown. Made a stop at Rogers chocolates (my dad used to bring Roger's chocolates home from business trips and now I get to bring him some). Took the seabus back.

We had lunch on the trunk of Caitlin's car then biked around Stanley Park for a few hours.


And enjoyed the fall colours
Make sure you check out Caitlin's blog too for a different perspective.

I told Caitlin she looks pale in this picture. She said that is because the sun is rarely out in Vancouver. I think the plant behind her is a gunnera. This is exciting for me to see all the plants I read about in gardening magazines.We spotted these two raccoons on the side and took a few pics.
Then we spotted these ones across the road.
There were 7 coons! When I tried to walk to a view down that path you can see in front of Caitlin, one of them stalked me and kept getting closer and closer. I used my bike as a shield and we left. As we rode off someone started feeding them peanuts. I guess all they wanted was food.
A beautiful blue hydrangea

Aquarium Pics

We spent more than 3 hours at the aquarium. Caitlin has been there before so was a little bored because as an aquarium keeper I wanted to absorb everything. We also went to a 4D movie here. In addition to wearing 3D glasses, their are special features built into the chairs and the do things like mist you with water and blow bubbles when appropriate. Very cool.I wish I could remember the names of these cuties. They spend their lives like this.
This is an Irish Lord fish. They all looked grumpy.
Stawberry anemone
A caiman

This is Daisy. She is a Harbour Porpoise and is very interactive.
This is a brugmansia. I tried to grow one for years. It looked nothing like this.

And we finally made it up Mt Seymour! It was almost dark so this is the best shot we could get.And we had an almost flat tire at the bottom. Please pray we have no other problems this trip.

Vancouver - Initial Impressions

Vancouver is green. Very green. And manicured.
Everything is big. Big trees. Big bridges.
Big hills. Big leaves.
Vancouver drivers are crazy. Aggressive. Ignorant. I am content to let Caitlin drive. I am amazed how well she has adjusted to big city life. She used to say she wanted to be a hermit. She used to have a very poor sense of direction - had no idea how to get to an adjoining town and now she zips around congested highways at high speed.