We started with a short walk to Tim Horton's for donuts for breakfast. (It seemed like a logical choice after dinner at McDonald's) and then walked into Gastown to pass some time before the 9:00 shuttle left.
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| The men at the Steamclock in Gastown |
We weren't sure about the weather (and therefore the miniature railroad) so we opted to save our second trolley day and head on the free shuttle to the Capilano Suspension Bridge instead. (FREE is a relative term....the bus will take you there with no problem, but you have to have a ticket from the bridge to get a ride back. Sure, we'll take you there for free, but it's going to cost you to get back.)
We had prepurchased these tickets too, so we got to walk right past the line and get on the bridge before the masses. (Great plan.....it is less wiggly with less people.) We walked past some more totem poles (and the story of the Capilano Family and the bridge itself) on the way.
I convinced Jacob that the only way to get to the other side was to walk across the bridge (true statement) and that there was really cool stuff on the other side (also true statement), so he made the huge step to cross the bridge. (Bribing him with the gift shop at the end helped with the bravery.....not too proud to admit it.) We took it nice and slow....and held on for dear life.
Once we go across the river, the bravery continued as we took to the trees for a treetop adventure. (The scavenger hunt reward at the end got my nervous one up into the trees.) It was breathtaking up there.....absolutely beautiful. Getting places early has its advantages. We had the treetops mostly to ourselves. As we were leaving, there were lines on every landing and across the smaller bridges.
The next phase of the scavenger hunt brought us to the ground for the nature walk and the birds of prey.
The final step to being a Rainforest Explorer was the Cliff Walk. Luckily, we didn't know much about it, so nobody knew how skinny or high up or far out it was. SO glad that we go to experience it as a family.
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| We are hanging off a cliff...seriously |
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| See how skinny |
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| My bravest child...there is only a grate under him |
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| The effects of water on rock. Jeffrey was more worried about where the water was coming from. |
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| This is apparently a banana slug. Mostly, it was just ugly and gross. |
The last stop was the promised gift shop! Everyone got something to remember the adventure by. (Jacob refused to document the memory...he got a moose like Joshua.)
We got on the bus just as it was starting to rain. The rain let up as we got further down the mountain. We even needed sunglasses for lunch at the Cactus Club Cafe and some more walking around.
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| Olympic Torch - Vancouver 2010 |
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| Grouse Mountain, which we could NOT see the day before |
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| You can get this relit for the low price of $15,000 |
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| Digital orca...another piece of art |
We wandered back down to Gastown for dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory. (We also did some souvenir shopping.....Canadian Mounted Police bobblehead anyone??). Dinner was really good. It's just like the old Spaghetti Warehouse that used to be in Norfolk. Salad and ice cream was included in the meal and you can't really go wrong with that. I had a redo on meat lasagna and it was much more what I was looking for! The bread was warm and soft and plentiful! My only big complaint with Canadian dining (besides the price) is the lack of ice in the drinks. You are a stone's throw from the Arctic. Chop some ice off a glacier and put it in my water, please!
We stopped by a wine shop for some Canadian wine to take on the ship, and went back to the hotel for an early night. All of the boys snuggled in to watch the Smurfs before bed, but fell asleep rather quickly.
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