Walked 15.46 km / 23 384 steps
Day 3 started off with a new vacation milestone for me: Renting a Car
I always thought the process of renting a car would be a hassle and that the chore of finding parking and paying for gas would offset any kind of benefit, but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised! It was pretty darn easy.
Our first stop was Grouse Mountain (The Peak of Vancouver) less than 30 minutes out of town.
Because it was so warm in Vancouver I was wearing short socks and walking shoes that couldn’t get wet … unfortunately there was quite a bit of snow up there, so that put the kibosh on any nice long nature walks, I was a bit disappointed about that. Grouse Mountain is home to a Bear Refuge and there are currently two Grizzlies living up there (Grinder and Coola). The path was still completely snowed over so I walked to it as gingerly as possible not to get my feet wet… it took me FOREVER.
After admiring the beasts it was time for lunch! My favourite time of day. I was psyched because the lodge looked so nice and the views over Downtown Vancouver and Stanley Park from up there were terrific! I was looking forward to a loungy meal with a (slightly hazy) view.
The menu let me down a bit, I wanted a feast but it was pretty limited. Still, there was wine and table service so the default boxes were checked and turns out the nachos were quite delicious. (This is also where I was when I heard the news that Prince had died. RIP oh purple one)
Back in down near the car park, we walked over to the enclosure where the Grey Wolf is said to roam. Alas, no sightings.
Our next stop was at the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park just a short drive away.
The bridge is NOT SCARY, I don’t care what anyone says… it’s all hype. If you are deathly afraid of heights I can see why you’d hate it, but if you’re just a little leery (like me) once you’re standing on the bridge for two seconds you’re totally over any apprehension.
The best part of the park in my opinion is after you cross the bridge and get to the Treetops Adventure on the other side; I LOVED IT!!! Raised walkways between HUGE trees, beautiful nature walk, fresh air… I would do it again in a heartbeat! The trees impressed me so much – Douglas firs over 100 feet tall. It was amazing. Best part of the day!
We also “braved” the Cliff Walk, and again I have to say that it’s not as scary as it looks at all!!
Back “home” in Vancouver after our adventures, we dropped the car off at the hotel and decided to complete more of the seawall walk, this time heading away from Stanley Park towards Canada Place and find a nice place for supper. I fell in love with Coal Harbour! What a FANTASTIC FANTASTIC FANTASTIC FANTASTIC place! It was just so beautiful and peaceful, yet still bustling with people out for an early evening stroll; it reminded me of the passeggiata!
Searching through my pictures to find some to add here, I can’t believe I took so few! Well, I’ll just have to go back one day and take more!
Finding a place to have supper was a bit of a challenge, everywhere we tried has a 30 – 60 minute wait. I think this was due to the unusually terrific weather that dragged all the locals out to enjoy a beautiful evening. We finally squeezed into a pub that just happened to have a table ready outside at the moment we arrived! Sheer luck.
I thought to myself I should a order something “relatively” healthy since I had nachos for lunch and so I ordered a grilled chicken salad. It was disappointing but I didn’t care, it was just SO NICE to be able to east outside – first time in 2016!
We had a great view of The Drop sculpture right in front of us, but trying to get a good picture was impossible with my IPhone!
You can see it better here in pictures from other days:
Having a great time, loving this vacation!
No comments:
Post a Comment