Sightseeing today, we set out for Grouse Mountain, just north of downtown Vancouver. After much traffic (big city curse) and 90 minutes of travelling, we arrived at the base of the mountain. It’s busier than Lion’s Head on a Saturday in Cape Town with every gym bunny in Vancouver donning trail shoes to run up the 1300m high mountain. You can even clock in and record your time!
We decided to take the easy route and squished into a cable car with one hundred other people to head up to the peak station. Being short and in the middle of the car, my view was of everybody around me, but it made the view from the top all the more spectacular. The outlook over the sea, the bay with the large inlets and the city of Vancouver below with many mountains on the horizon was just awesome. It truly is a beautiful city and reminded me a lot of Cape Town. The weather is also similar, lots of rain and not much snow, but this is a more broken and jagged coastline.
We then took a chair lift to the summit of the mountain and marveled at the huge wind generator on the top that is complete with viewing pod 20 storeys up. We enjoyed more beautiful views on the other side of the mountain away from the city and enjoyed a nature walk: a very amusing lumber jack show and watching a couple of huge grizzly bears that were orphaned as cubs and now live in the wildlife refuge up here. They have a large area to roam in complete with rocks, forest and small lake, but I still prefer seeing them in the wild.
The Future ……..
Here ends this tale of our journey as from here it’s more about chores and job hunting than sightseeing and looking forward to what the future holds. For all of you who keep asking me when we are coming home, here’s a brief summary of our plans for the next few weeks.
On Wednesday 29 September we fly to Salt Lake City, Utah, USA to attend the church general conference – what a special opportunity and on Monday 4 October we return to Toronto for a week. We will spend some time back in Niagara with Liam’s relatives. On 12 October we fly to Ireland for a quick week there and we arrive in SA on Wednesday 20 October, glad to be home and hopefully to sleep in the same bed for longer than a week and have our clothes in a cupboard! Ah the luxuries of life!
This has been the adventure of a lifetime and a blessed opportunity. We have climbed mountains; canoed across lakes and up rivers; jumped off cliffs, swam in icy waters with strange creatures, seen every kind of bear that Canada has to offer, black, white and brown and grown richer for our experiences. We come home with a trunk full of memories and many dreams fulfilled. Thanks to all our beloved family and special friends that have shared this adventure with us.
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