Pemberton Festival
By ruth | August 6, 2008
This year was the inaugural Pemberton Festival, and since I’d never been to a music festival, and Pemberton is pretty, we booked tickets.
You could check in early at the Hyatt in Vancouver, so Dave did, but he couldn’t check in for me wihout my being there -but they gave him my camping wristband anyway, strangely. He picked me up from work at 4, and despite what you may have read in the papers, the roads were perfectly clear all the way up. We stopped at Whistler to check me in -and discovered that we’d lost my camping wristband.
At this point Dave got quite panicky, but we went and asked nicely – and were stonewalled. Apparently the campsite was sold out, they couldn’t risk overcrowding, and they couldn’t take the security risk of not knowing exactly who and how many people were in the campground. Later events proved this to be utterly ridiculous, but at the time they appeared fairly reasonable. So, trying not to hyperventilate, we went back to the car to tripe- and quadruple-search for the wristband – and found it. It had slipped down the side of the passenger seat. Phew.
On we drove to Pemberton, marvelling at the empty roads and the smoothness of the journey. We arrived at the airport parking area at 7:45pm, and were directed into a queue of cars. We had no idea what we were queuing for. Hours later we reached a point where we were directed to park. We then joined a long disorderly line of people with all their camping stuff waiting to go through security. After a long wait the line started moving – apparently security had given up and we went straight through, to join a disorderly throng waiting for shuttle buses. The buses did not turn up, and when the odd one did it was mobbed by thousands (I am not over-stating) of people.
Many hours later, after deciding to camp at the airport (where there was no running water) to avoid violence, then changing our minds because more buses were coming, and being told that buses would run all night, then being told that the next bus would be the last one, and fighting tooth and nail to get on it, and making some friends in the process (strange as that may sound), we finally arrived at the festival campground at 2am. Six and a quarter hours of queuing, and we felt like refugees from some natural disaster.
They’d marked out neat little 10′ by 10′ camping areas at the campsite, and you were supposed to check in and be told which was yours. By the time we arrived they’d given up, there was no one giving directions, and everyone just pitched their tents wherever they found a space. Our new friends gave us some of their booze they hadn’t had to smuggle in, to help calm us all down; we pitched our tents surprisingly well given the circumstances; and we went to bed at about 3:30am.
We were awake again by 8am, when the neighbours started playing music -as was their right, since the noise curfew was 3am to 8am. The view from the campsite was stupendous, and (except as the topic of much aggrieved conversation for the next few days) the tribulations of the previous night were all but forgotten. We went in search of breakfast and coffee, and found the ‘General Store’ tent, which sold all manner of snacks and convenience foods, including bread, bacon and ketchup; but no coffee worthy of the name. Dave made bacon butties, which we offered to our new friends, but only Shane took us up on them. They were very tasty. Bellies full of piggy goodness, we headed for the festival site in search of decent coffee.
No one checked our wristbands on the way in to the festival.
I am writing this nearly two weeks later, so my memory is a little vague. I know that the day was very hot, and Dave wanted iced tea. The nice lady at the coffee stand didn’t sell iced tea, but she sold tea, and she sold ice, so it all turned out well.
We wandered back to the tent via some of the stalls, found our new friends and went in search of beer. The beer tent opened at lunchtime so we queued up; we needed another wristband showing that we were legal drinking age. Stupidly, I hadn’t brought ID – I thought it would be quite obvious that I was over 19. But rules are rules, and I was denied my red wristband – until the nice lady decided to be even nicer, and asked me quick-fire what year I was born, and believed me. The guy who clipped on my wristband afterwards empathized, saying ‘This country has such a backwards attitude to alcohol…” I think I was very lucky, because the following day when it was much busier, they were insisting on two forms of picture ID, even from men with white beards.
So, we drank beer – $7 for a 330 ml can of Molson Canadian or Coors Light poured into a plastic cup, which is pretty shocking from several perspectives – and waited for the music to begin. It soon did. I have only vague memories from that first day. Metric seemed pretty good; we paid vague attention to them. We ate fast food and we drank more beer, and at some point after visiting the Bacardi dance tent we lost the others.
It had been dry and sunny in BC for weeks and weeks, and the festival site soon turned into a dust bowl. Asthmatics had real problems; there was no point washing anything, because dust covered it within minutes of getting it clean; people were wandering around with bandannas covering their faces; and I saw kids wearing industrial dust masks.
Musical highlight of the Friday was Interpol; we left the beer area and set up our picnic blanket nearer the stage and big screens for them. We’d wondered if they’d be any good live. They really were. And there was a corker of a sunset while they were on, which I enjoyed.
Because I’m very nice, I stuck around for at least half of Nine Inch Nails – I am definitely not a fan. I can see that they’re very good at what they do, but I don’t see the appeal. We spent some time being soothed by the ‘light art’ Cubatron before going back to the tent. Nobody checked our wristbands…
Thank goodness for ear plugs; we were woken by the sun beating on the tent rather than the noisy neighbouring campers.
Saturday wasn’t as sunny but was just as hot, despite some fun rain showers that sent people running for cover, leaving their litter behind. We set up camp with the others next to the fence in the beer garden; Shane and Ian managed to smuggle in five camping chairs and we had our blanket. We got very settled in and relaxed while various bands I hadn’t heard of played forgettable music. The Canadians were very excited about the Tragically Hip, who are huge here but not anywhere else. We didn’t think that much of them.
I was most excited about the Flaming Lips – I anticipated a spectacle, so we went right up to the area next to the stage – not the front of the front, but still the front. If you see what I mean. First thing we saw was a bunch of people dressed up as Teletubbies. I could only really see them on the big screen, because I’m short, but tall Dave took photos. There was a drummer wearing a Cymru shirt, and a guitarist in a skeleton costume. Then the lead singer (I can’t be bothered to look up his name) appeared inside a giant plastic hamster ball, and zorb-surfed the crowd. Spectacle, as expected.
Next, plumes of red and yellow confetti shot into the sky and floated down past the fluffy clouds and craggy mountains, and big while balloons started floating around, and streamers appeared, and it was a party.
The music is not to everyone’s taste, and lots of people were just holding out for Tom Petty; and the show was msot definitely more about show than music; but it was lots of fun, and I enjoyed singing along to ‘Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robot’.
We left to get some beer at the end, and found ourselves moving very much against the tide; despite the 45 minute wait, people were streaming forwards to find a place to watch Tom Petty. I had no idea he was so popular. We said hi to the others and had a beer, then went back to the front. I hadn’t intended to go to the proper by-the-stage bit, because I hate crowds, but there seemed to be lots of space, so we did. We hung back though, near the exit, and once the crazy woman who’d brough a small child in a stroller into the crowd saw sense and left, it was all relatively civilised.
Tom Petty fans – who knew there were so many? And so very fanatic? They knew all the words to every song! Personally I’d been a bit lukewarm about seeing him, but I’m glad we did. He’s an authentic rock god. Charisma and presence and talent and lots of rock. And the crowd was completely pumped.
We stayed to the end, and then headed back to the tent to socialise with the others until the small hours.
We woke to rainfall. I got up to go to the loo and saw a scene of dishevelled wetness. Hmm, glad we put everything under cover before going to bed…
There was only really one band we wanted to see on Sunday – Vampire Weekend. The headliners were Jay-Z, which would have been mildly entertaining, and Coldplay, who are dreary, so we decided to cut our losses and leave early, to avoid another shuttle debacle, beat the traffic, and get home for an early night.
We still had to wait 30 minutes for a shuttle, despite leaving at 10am, but apart from that it all went smoothly. We were home and very glad to have a decent shower by mid afternoon.
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Owl Lake; wedding; sea wall cycling; John and Debbie
By ruth | July 17, 2008
I’ve been very remiss about blogging, again, so here’s another round-up. Sorry.
On the last weekend in June we went camping with Tim and Brigitte and their two dogs. Of course, them being them, that meant driving in their Jeep up past Pemberton; going up a very hairy logging road several kilometres, making good using of the Jeep’s four wheel drive and rock crawling capabilities; then hiking several kilometres to a lake inaccessible by road (although tracks showed it’s popular with ATV users).
The hike was fairly challenging, despite being easy on paper – level and not too far. The trail was by turns underwater, under swamp, under snow, and under huge fallen trees. We were carrying biggish packs too, and it was extremely hot, so I think ‘challenging’ is a fair term to use.
The campsite at Owl Lake was very beautiful; not right on the shore, which was swampy, but earby, and with mountain views and plenty of shade. There were areas that were clearly heavily used by the ATV drivers, which were full of litter and old tarps, and which I found very creepy, so we stayed out of them.
We got eaten alive by mosquitoes, unfortunately; but Dave used his fire knife to light a lovely smoky fire, which helped to keep them away. Unfortunately my long-sleeved top, which I thought was protecing, was too loose-weaved a material, and my back and arms got bitten mercilessly through the fabric, because I hadn’t used bug spray there. 120 bites. 120. I still can’t believe it.
After a slightly restless night listening to the dogs’ bear bells, we had a tasty and nutritious breakfast (KD!), broke camp, and with some chivvying from me (I was anxious to leave the mosquitoes behind), left to hike back to the Jeep. I strode off ahead, which given the prevalence of bears wasn’t very clever, but Birch the dog looked after me, and we had no encounters.
The following weekend, I had my hair cut, we did domestic sorty-outy stuff, we went to Mountain Equipment Co-op to look at bug repellent devices, and I went to Kate’s bridal shower at Harjinder’s house in Richmond.
Last Friday evening was Kate and Graham’s wedding at the Fairmont Oceanside. We were a small, exclusive group, and the ceremony made me cry (I was not alone – the bride and groom both cried, which set everyone else off).
On Saturday afternoon we went for a long bike ride, all the way around the sea wall from Kits via Science World to Stanley Park, then round the Stanley Park sea wall, and back to Kits via the Burrard Bridge. It was lots of fun and very beautiful, and not too hard either. We saw two giant cruise ships leaving under Lion’s Gate Bridge; and some cool beach art near Third Beach. The beaches were all jam-packed.
As is becoming traditional after a long bike ride, we went to Rocky Mountain Flatbread Co. for delicious pizza and beer before walking the bikes home.
On Sunday we went to the Kitsilano Community Market and bought vegetables to feed John and Debbie with; and six punnets of raspberries for $12, with which Dave will make frozen yoghurt.
J & D arrived in remarkably good time, so we fed them a snack and took them down to the beach to see the sunset before letting them go home to bed, although in the end we flaked out before they did.
I had the day off on Monday, so while Dave slaved over a hot computer, we all went to the Naam for breakfast (of course); then walked along Point Grey foreshore, Kits Beach and Vanier Park to Granville Island. We didn’t have long to linger in Granville Island unfortunately, because we were meeting Dave for lunch, but we did visit the Kids’ Market, the Net Loft, and passed through the Public Market on the way to the Aquabus. We got waylaid by a street magician who bullied us into watching his show, but it was quite good so it’s OK.
Downtown was chaotic due to a power outage, and the bus we caught was horribly hot and crowded, but we weren’t going far. Dave took us to Earl’s, but had to dash off to a meeting after wolfing down his burger. We lingered over salads and mojitos, then caught the bus to Stanley Park, where we wondered aimlessly before finding the free trolley bus. It takes you round the north sea wall past Deadman’s Island, Brockton Oval, the totem poles, the girl in a wetsuit, and Lumberman’s Arch before climbing up to Prospect Point. There we got off, admired the bridge, and ate ice creams (maple and walnut, mmm) before getting back on a trolley bus round to Second Beach, past Lost Lagoon and back to the bus loop.
Then home for a bit of R&R, before another bus towards Dunbar to find the Modern Club restaurant for Osaka-style okonomiyaki, which John had been craving. Vancouver can satisfy most food cravings. It was my and Dave’s first okonomiyaki experience. I had salad, then veggie tempura (yum), then pork okonomiyaki. It was way too much food, but I finished it, which tells you something.
J&D are now left to their own devices and I am back at work.
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Festivals and cycling
By ruth | June 24, 2008
We had no plans for the weekend, so of course we ended up doing loads. On Saturday we cycled along the sea wall to the Dragon Boat Festival, then back to Granville Island for lunch. On Sunday we cycled up Broadway to the Greek Festival, had lunch at East is East, then cycled on to Spanish Banks, went for a walk on the beach, and cycled home.
Lots of cycling.
The festivals weren’t that exciting, unless you’re really into dragon boat races or Greek culture. I’ll let the photos do the talking.
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Babies
By ruth | June 18, 2008
Slightly belatedly, I’d like to congratulate several friends on the births of their first children.
Congratulations to:
- Rhian and Robbie on the birth of Caio
- Stuart and Rachel on the birth of Eli
- Neil and Suzie on the birth of Olly
- Jo and Greg on the birth of Felix
And crossing fingers for Kirsty and Ben, and Mark and Roisin, who have a few weeks more to wait.
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Round-up
By ruth | June 17, 2008
Bad lazy blogging from me. Once again I am just going to sum up what I’ve been up to in the last few weeks – if I can remember, that is!
Well, I went to Abbotsford for the first time – there’s a new hospital and BC Cancer Agency centre opening there in August, and I volunteered at a staff open house. It’s a very impressive building, and very shiny and new. Hospitals without patients in them are rather weird though!
Dave and I had some friends over for dinner – Anke, Michael, Brigitte, Tim, Kate and Graham. Dave made a range of mezze type food plus mac and cheese especially for Brigitte. Everyone tried some of Dave’s home brew, and seemed to like it (I know I do); and Michael plied us with various delicious types of booze, including bubbly.
Of course we went up to Whistler for the last weekend of (non-glacier) snowboarding on Blackcomb, on June the 7th. Our main aim was to take photos with which to taunt friends back in the UK. We’re mean like that. Unfortunately it was pretty cold and the sun only made 
occasional appearances, during which we stripped off layers, pretended to be warm and took lots of photos. The snowboarding itself was fun in a hilarious kind of a way – the run down to the gondola home was a man-made strip of snow through green meadows, and even as high as we could go the slush was heavy and surfy.
It rained on the Sunday so despite it being the last day of snowboarding, we hung up our boots and went for a walk with Tim, Brigitte and Zach instead. We walked along the Cheakamus River Trail, which is forested and very atmospheric. We saw six bears over the course of the weekend; one at the side of the highway on Friday evening; three from the gondola on Saturday afternoon; one from Tim’s jeep in the Whistler Interpretive Forest on Sunday; and another at the side of the highway on the way home.
Last Saturday Dave went on Graham’s stag do (about which, of course, I know very little except that Dave now wants to take me on a boat up Indian Arm to Granite Falls); and I went on Kate’s hen do. (Brunch; brewery tour; cocktails and dinner at the Dockside patio; TheatreSports improv comedy; at which point I bailed due to inability to keep my eyes open.)
One other thing worthy of note: last night we went swimming in Kits open-air pool for the first time this year. I am not fit. This time last year I was swimming quite regularly and I set off expecting to be able to do the same amount, having not swum for a year. Kits pool is 137.5 metres long, which is 5.5 times the length of a standard 25m pool. They mark the distance on the bottom of the pool, and when I reached 25m and realised I wasn’t even a quarter of the way and flagging fast, I began to panic. By the time I reached 50m I was completely out of steam and had to swim over to the wall for a rest. It took me three pitches to complete the length.
I’m glad we went though, because after three days of sunshine, Vancouver’s summer has disappeared again. Hope it comes back by the time John and Debbie arrive! Less than a month now!
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Weekend with Kate
By ruth | May 27, 2008
Weekend before last, Kate came to visit. She’s currently living in L.A. so it’s not a long flight, and she’s in the same time zone as us.
She arrived on Friday while we were still at work, so we left her a key and a map and she went to Granville Island and found herself a beer. After we got back, we went out to Presto Cucina for Italian, then down to the beach to see the sunset.
On Saturday we had (as is obligatory when guests come) breakfast at the Naam; then walked along the sea wall to Granville Island. Dave was melting in the heat so we went to the Net Loft for a cold caffeinated drink, then showed Kate some of the sights, before going to the market to buy the makings for an evening of barbecued deliciousness. 
We left Kate at the Maritime Museum and went home to start getting things ready. Kate came back in the early evening, and Anke and Michael arrived laden with meat, olives, gherkins, antipasti, bread, beer, and wine. We’d already catered for six people, and there were only five of us, so we had plenty to keep us going. We sat out on the deck enjoying the first warm weekend evening of the summer, and keeping well hydrated. Dave’s home made burgers and the pork tenderloin that Anke and Michael brought were probably the highlights.
We had a slow start the following morning, but got our act together to drive to Horseshoe Bay, park, and catch the ferry to Bowen Island in time for Bowen Island Sea Kayaking’s afternoon trip. Kate had never been sea kayaking before and is now a convert. Howe Sound is ideal for it – sheltered, and surrounded by majestic snowy peaks; while Bowen Island is a house-voyeur’s dream – multi-million dollar waterfront homes you can only see from a boat. You can even see the ski slopes of Cypress Mountain (still with lots of snow on them) from your kayak.
My arms are not kayaking-fit so I was aching by the end of the trip, and very keen to have a beer and some snacks. We went to the extremely popular pub/ restaurant in Snug Cove, then had time for a brief wander through the woods before catching the ferry back.
For dinner we had the steak we hadn’t barbecued the day before, and Kate says she’s still thinking about it now. (Marinated in Jamaican jerk sauce.)
Monday was Victoria Day (a Canadian holiday – hurray for Queen Vicky), and I was actually pleased to see it raining hard. Kate wouldn’t have got the real BC experience if it hadn’t rained at least once.
In the face of indecisiveness from the others I decided we’d go to Capilano Suspension Bridge, for a taste of the rainforest, and because the bridge is cool. There’s a free suspension bridge at Lynn Canyon, and Capilano Suspension Bridge is extremely touristy and over-priced, but I had a hankering to see what they’d done with it. Turned out to be an excellent decision – Dave and I got half price tickets (limited time offer) for being BC residents, plus free entry for a year; and Kate got a hefty student discount.
The bridge really is scary and impressive; the nature tour was quite interesting; the ‘treetop’ walkways were fun; the white water in the canyon was sufficiently roiling; and I took lots of photos of totem poles. We got very wet in the rain, but the forest gave surprisingly good shelter; and Kate got to wear a particularly fetching free yellow waterproof poncho.
Shortly after that, Kate had to get back to the airport and fly back to L.A. to ponder the wonders of steak and sea kayaking. She was probably glad to escape the rain though.
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Avalanche Skills Training Level 1
By ruth | April 25, 2008
Over the Easter weekend, Dave and I took the Avalanche Skills Training Level 1 course run by Whistler Alpine Guides Bureau. It involved two evenings in the classroom and two days on the mountain, including some backcountry powder turns.
We’d booked split boards for the course, but unfortunately they were needed by someone else, so we got a refund and had to use snowshoes instead. In a way that was a good thing, as we’d wanted to try them out for comparison.
The first evening in the classroom, we met our fellow students (Ashley, Ian, Sholto, Brigitte and Tim), and our instructor, Jeff. All but Ian and Jeff were snowboarding; Jeff used to be a snowboarder but learned to ski because it’s much more practical for ski touring and guiding.
We learned about avalanche terrain – start zones, terrain traps, the effect of the steepness and aspect of the slope; and a little bit about weather, snow conditions and snowpack. We were each given an ‘Avaluator’ card, which helps you to assess the risk and complexity of the terrain you want to ride. You use the ‘ALPTRUTH’ acronym to assess the risk (A – have there been any Avalanches in the area in the last 48 hours? L – has there been significant Loading of the slopes due to snowfall or wind? P – are there any avalanche Paths on the terrain you want to ride? T – are there any Terrain Traps (such as gullies, crevasses, cliffs, big rocks) to look out for? R – what is the avalanche patrol’s Rating for avalanche danger today? U – have you come across any Unstable snowpacks (have you heard any whoompfing noises or cracks as the snowpack settles)? TH – are there any signs of Thaw?)
You then look at how many factors need to be taken into consideration (this is a bit complex to go into in detail here) and decide whether the terrain is ’simple’, ‘challenging’ or ‘complex’. Based on all of that you decide whether to proceed with normal caution, with extra caution, do something mellower, or just go home!!
Normally, the first day on the mountain is spent learning how to use avalanche rescue equipment and conduct a proper search for buried victims, but the weather forecast said that Saturday would be beautiful and the avalanche risk low; whereas it was going to be windy and snow a lot overnight, so the avalanche risk would sky-rocket by Sunday.
So we spent Saturday touring in the backcountry, looking at the terrain, discussing its risk, practising ‘avaluating’, doing lots of trudging uphill, and getting some sweet powder turns. (First we had a coffee in the Roundhouse, looked at a topographical map of the region we were heading for, and discussed the weather and snow reports.) We practised cautious travel, such as checking the terrain above for start zones before picking a route up, and crossing more risky zones one at a time so that if a slide were to happen, only one person would be in danger and the rest of us would be able to rescue them.
I hadn’t realised, though it seems obvious now, that you’re in more danger from avalanches when you’re hiking up than when you’re riding down, because you move so much slower and are exposed for much longer.
(It turns out that although snowshoes work pretty well, the fact that you have to carry your snowboard on your back rather than converting it into skis makes the whole thing much harder work.)
In the evening, we regrouped in the classroom for more book-learning and slides, then watched a genuinely harrowing video about a real-life avalanche incident and its victims. I’m pretty sure one of the main aims of this course is to scare the students into realising that going into the backcountry is not something to take lightly. It worked.
As predicted, on Sunday the avalanche risk was very high. We established ourselves in a big patch of deep snow near the base of Harmony chairlift, where we spent several hours telling hopeful people that avalanche patrol were still blasting Harmony Ridge and the chair wouldn’t be open for a while. Meanwhile we learned how to use our transceivers, shovels and probes efficiently, and how to work as a group in a burial situation.
Jeff set up several scenarios, and pretended to be a panicking guy whose friends had got buried. It was very well done – we learned from a lot of mistakes along the way. For instance we learned that as well as making sure all of us had turned our transceivers to receive instead of transmit (so we could find the buried transceiver), we had to check whether the panicking guy was wearing a transceiver and had switched it to receive. We spent ages getting confused because we were picking up Jeff’s beacon signal…
We also learned to look for surface clues such as ski poles and pieces of clothing, to check if they were attached to a person, and to probe near them and near other potential burial sites such as trees and rocks, while two people conducted the transceiver search; to have a spotter to check that we weren’t in danger of the rescuers being caught in a second avalanche; how to dig effectively so that we had access to clear an airway and get the person out easily if there’d been trauma; and the importance of having a group leader who asked lots of questions, directed the team and kept an eye on the big picture.
We did get some powder too, once Harmony opened and we were able to access Symphony Amphitheatre, where we were able to hike a small distance for some untouched snow and do some more rescue scenarios. Jeff also took some time to dig a snow pit and show us how you test the snow density and check for weak layers.
The end result was that we all got a lovely certificate, and left the course knowing a lot more than we did before, but also knowing how little we still know. Jeff’s advice was to do some low-risk backcountry riding to put what we’d learned into practical use, and then take the Level 2 course. He emphasised that we are definitely not qualified to take other people into the backcountry. But he was excited that we’d all enjoyed it so much.
Tags: avalanche, course, risk, training, whistler, whistler alpine guides
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Brr
By ruth | April 23, 2008
It’s been unseasonably cold in BC recently. We went up for the closing weekend of Whistler Mountain (Blackcomb is still open until June), expecting some slushy spring conditions. We woke up on Saturday to temperatures of -9C in the village and -18C on the mountain.
Brr!
The last run of the day, down the Saddle, was so cold I was genuinely worried about frostbite.
Tags: whistler, cold
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Catch-up
By ruth | April 8, 2008
This is another one of those ‘Phew, I have time to stop and take a breath, blimey haven’t blogged in a while’ posts.
At Easter we did an Avalanche Skills Training course in Whistler, which involved going into the backcountry (up on snowshoes, down on snowboards) and learning how scary and dangerous the terrain is. I will blog that in more detail at some point – also on the Powderroom.
On the course we meant some like-minded people with whom we’ve since done a couple more backcountry days and some tree riding. Two weekends ago we caved in and bought brand new split boards from the Prior factory – I’ve been feeling a little alarmed about the extravagance ever since.
We spent my birthday weekend in Whistler, and I got lots of gorgeous gifts. Dave got me a truly gorgeous book called Islands in the Salish Sea, which was an inspired present.
Last week I went to Kelowna with work for four days then flew home and went straight to Whistler again for the weekend. This weekend, believe it or not, we are staying in Vancouver. I plan to sleep a lot. And do laundry.
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Sunny Vancouver with Caroline
By ruth | February 27, 2008
Our friend Caroline has been staying with us, and she brought the sunny weather with her. She had a day on her own on Friday while Dave and I toiled; but I was pleased to see the blue skies and think of her out there enjoying them while I sat at my desk.
On Saturday, after a leisurely (and huge) brekafast at the Naam, we drove to the North Shore and parked by the fish hatchery at Capilano Canyon. We hadn’t planned to visit the hatchery itself but I needed the loo, and an exploratory visit revealed that it’s free of charge, and quite interesting.
We then walked up to the top of Cleveland Dam for views down the canyon and back across the reservoir (though the Lions were hidden in cloud). Then, even though Dave and Caroline didn’t believe me when I confidently said we could walk down the other side and get a bridge over the canyon back to the car park, we did it anyway. It was a lovely green walk with lots of light and shadows, and as we crossed the bridge (see, I knew it was there) a juvenile bald eagle flew overhead.
Caroline and I exclaimed so loudly over the views of Mount Baker from the highway that Dave, who was driving, decided we should drive up to the Cypress Mountain viewpoint so he could see too. It really was amazingly clear – not just Baker itself but the surrounding ranges could be clearly seen.
Then we went to Horseshoe Bay to drink coffee and watch the world (and the big ferries) go by, before heading home. We had a light dinner at Hapa Izakaya on Yew, which was very nice and reasonably priced – we’ll be back. The gyoza and the beef carpaccio were particularly good.
On Sunday Doug and Alice picked us up and we drove to Stanley Park for a walk along the sea wall. The views were still fantastic, and the mountains of Vancouver Island looked closer than I’ve ever seen them. Dave and I hadn’t been to the sea wall since we moved here, and I do like it. A lady with a powerful telescope let us look through it at a pair of nesting bald eagles; and we stopped on a bench in the sun for 20 minutes while baby James had his lunch.
Caroline was catching the Greyhound to Whistler in the afternoon so we drove up to Main St. for lunch/ brunch at Locus, which was really lovely. Doug and I both had the Southwestern Benny, and it was so tasty I had to finish every scrap.
Hopefully Caroline caught the 3 o’clock bus and had panoramic views all the way up the Sea to Sky Highway. (Especially since on the bus you’re higher than in a car and you can see over all the construction barriers!)
Tags: weekend, caroline, vancouver
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