 09:46:29 And so out little adventure enters its second phase. The phases of the trip can be summarised as follows: Phase 1 - Vancouver Island Phase 2 - Vancouver Phase 3 - Alberta Rocky Mountains Phase 4 - Medicine Hat / Southern Alberta Phase 5 - West Edmonton Mall What does this have to do with a bunch of CBC employees working the picket lines outside the CBC Vancouver building? Not much. I just thought you'd want to know about the whole theory of this trip being divisible into distinct phases. By the way... the CBC employees aren't on strike, they are locked out, which is kind of the opposite thing. This is like the organisation that these people work for going on strike and not letting them come to work because of some dispute over wages or something. I'm not really sure what the deal is. I'm just not a very good Canadian anymore, I guess.  09:50:43 Today we have breakfast at the White Spot, which is a restaurant from right here in British Columbia and one that I remember fondly growing up.  10:49:12 After breakfast we're off to North Vancouver which requires a quick couple of stops on the SkyTrain after which we'll have to take a SeaBus.  10:49:26 Pulling into Waterfront Station we pass by another SkyTrain on its way out - a Mark II SkyTrain no less. (Mark II are the newer trains...) For those mass transit enthusiasts out there it might be of interest to mention that SkyTrains have no drivers, not to mention impeccable safety records. The advantages of driver-less mass transit are: - no one to go on strike - no one to smoke weed, get drunk, drive too fast and cause accidents - because there's no driver they've installed a seat right up at the front window which is really cool to sit in and perhaps most important of all... - there's no one to be mad at when you run to catch the train and it drives off without you  10:59:59 The SeaBus approaches the terminal. We'd better hurry up and get down there....  11:01:26 The SeaBus is actually part of the normal Vancouver transit system. Our transit fare for the busses and SkyTrain covers the SeaBus as well. This photo shows one of the things I like about the SeaBus (albeit in a fuzzy way)... that there's a big clock telling you exactly how long it will be until the next one leaves. What is annoying, however, is that here at Waterfront Station they put the clock right beside where you get on the SeaBus whereas on the other terminal at Lonsdale Quay they have the clock at the entrance to the walkway down to the terminal. In case it isn't obvious the reason this is annoying to have it right beside where the SeaBus leaves is that you don't know whether you need to run or not when you're all the way back at the entrance, which is quite a walk.  11:11:54 If you look carefully in the distance you can see another SeaBus in the distance outside the window.  11:13:50 And so we approach the coastline of North Vancouver.  11:15:41 This complex of buildings is called Lonsdale Quay. We shall return here later today, but for the moment were onto a normal bus to make our way up to a place called Grouse Mountain.  12:02:02 Voila! Here we are! I just saved you 45 minutes of waiting! (Too bad the actual trip didn't go that fast.... it was a slow and arduous journey on a city bus as it groaned its way up the side of the mountain. Anyway, this is the Grouse Mountain Starbucks.  12:10:04 There are two ways to get to the summit of Grouse Mountain. You can walk up the side of the mountain (this is referred to as the "Grouse Mountain Grind" and people do it regularly, believe it or not) or you can take the air-tram. Obviously we have opted for the easier option.  12:20:54 Rising above the trees we're on our way to the top of Vancouver.  12:22:38 In the distance is a formation know to locals as "the Lions". We saw this last year on the flight we took up to the mountain lake for lunch... if anyone remembers that. There is also something else interesting that this picture illustrates very well. Count how many clouds there are in the sky. Absolutely none. Which illustrates how lucky we've been with the weather thus far on this trip. Every day has been perfect.  12:25:09 The water you see down below is Capilano Lake which is where most of Vancouver gets its water from, I think.  12:25:28 Still on our way to the top we can see Stanley Park and downtown Vancouver in the distance.  12:25:48 Looking back down to where we just were we can see the Southern end of Capilano Lake and Cleveland Dam.  12:35:54 I should mention that Grouse Mountain is a bit touristy... Here we see the Lumberjack Show in progress already. We'll have to return later to catch the later show.  12:44:24 A view out across the Rocky Mountains.  12:50:59 Up here on Grouse Mountain they are testing a new system for rehabilitating bears into the wild. As a result there are two little Grizzly bears that live up here. You can see the leg of one of them in this photo. Ok... so you can't really see it.... but they are there, somewhere.  13:03:21 Here we see "the Lions" peeking through a gap in the trees.  13:10:21 A view across Vancouver. It's so flat and boring from up here. But at night when the lights are on I bet it's pretty spectacular.  13:10:55 Here we see downtown Vancouver with Canada Place and BC Place Stadium clearly visible.  13:11:16 Grouse Mountain has a restaurant, of course, for dining with a view over Vancouver.  13:11:22 Didn't I just take this same photo?!??  13:12:12 And this one too?!?? Why am I taking basically the same photos twice?  13:12:15 Stanley Park visible through the trees.  13:12:15 I am actually not sure what this is supposed to be a picture of.  13:12:21 Or this one either... what am I doing?!??  13:13:21 I guess I just feel like it's these great views that require me to take pictures of them even though they don't really turn out as great pictures in the end.  13:21:45 Ok. I remember why I took this one... two things.... 1) the gondola coming into view and the ships way out in the distance moored off of Stanley Park and Kitsilano.  13:23:18 Another air-tram / gondola arrives at the top of Grouse Mountain.  14:39:53 Ok. So there's not much to do up here. Wish I'd known that before I paid the $30 to get up here. We might as well watch the Lumberjack Show though. Here we see two lumberjacks competing in various lumberjack events. This is the chop tree, stick board in, climb up, repeat until at top of tree and then chop block in half event.  14:41:45 This event is pretty straight-forward... axe-throwing.  14:42:05  14:47:43 Another straight-forward event... sawing logs.  14:52:36 Here one of the lumberjacks shows off his skills with a chainsaw.  14:56:14 He makes a little chair for the youngest audience member.  14:58:08 This is the climb to the top of the tree event.  15:01:57 Oh.... I forgot to mention that they had this one other lumberjack guy pretend that he was like a drunk tourist during the whole show and now while everyone is distracted he sort of climbs up to the top while no one is looking.  15:02:50 Here's the classic lumberjack event... the log rolling thing event.  15:06:15 Ok... so back to the supposed drunk tourist dude who has now made his way all the way to the top of the... thing.... whatever these two really tall trees with a sign on top is called.  15:07:39 So once up there he does this whole funny routine where he drops stuff and climbs from one side to the other.  And stands on his head....  As a tourist, of course, he wants to take a picture of the crowd below.  12:38:09 He can't quite get us in. Maybe if we all squish together? Or... maybe... what if he takes a couple steps backward????  15:12:24 Punchline to joke of stepping backward being that he falls off, but of course he has a previously unrevealed safety line attached and he just slides all the way down to the bottom along one of the support wires.  15:24:35 Ok. Let's get out of here. Here we are about to depart on the air-tram / gondola thing back down to the base of the mountain. Check out all the ships out in the bay.  15:28:15 And here we are on our way down.  15:30:21  16:04:19 From Grouse Mountain we make our way a short way down toward the city again and make a stop near the Capilano Suspension Bridge. The actual suspension bridge (one of Vancouver's main attractions) being like $30 and yet another overly touristy thing we decide to skip it and go to the nearby Capilano Salmon Hatchery which is not only free, but also probably a lot better anyway. Anyway, on the walk down the road to the Hatchery there was this cool house on stilts that I felt was worth a photo.  16:11:59 At the top of the road down there was a sign that said "Salmon Hatchery 1 km". Then again, after walking more than half a kilometre there was another sign that said "Salmon Hatchery 1 km". What the hell?!?? So now we're just kind of lost in the woods and wondering if the trail will EVER actually lead to the Salmon Hatchery because it's taking a really long time.  16:22:24 Well, I don't know where the Salmon Hatchery is, but it's a nice walk through Capilano Canyon anyway.  16:33:34 If we were walking the other direction we would eventually pass underneath the Capilano Suspension Bridge.  16:35:18 Up ahead is a smaller bridge than the Capilano Suspension Bridge, but at least it's not really scary and doesn't cost $30 to go on. (Do I sound bitter? Perhaps. I guess I am still mad about how much Grouse Mountain cost.)  16:36:04 A view along the canyon from the Capilano Non-Suspension-Non-Touristy and Free of Charge Bridge.  16:37:04 Ok. Let's hope that's the Salmon Hatchery up ahead because this was the longest "1 km" I've ever walked in my entire life.  16:39:10 Ok. Good. It IS the Salmon Hatchery. Finally!  16:41:34 A Heron sits atop the water thing looking for snacks.  16:41:41 Oh! Wait! Is that the ice cream guy I see over there? (The Heron thinks)  16:42:55  16:47:26 Ok... so... just a brief overview here... the point of the Salmon Hatchery is to provide a safe habitat in which the Salmon can come and mate with each other and have babies. Normally in the wild hardly any of the Salmon babies that are born survive, but here in the hatchery nearly all of them survive because they are in special tanks and protected from predators until they are old enough to head out on their own.  16:47:57 But the first step in making Salmon babies is for the adult Salmon to get together. In one of nature's weird things this can't take place out in the ocean or anywhere more convenient for a fish to do such things, instead it has to take place up-river and inland in shallow stream-beds. What this means for the fish, who generally live out in the ocean, is that they somehow have to get from the ocean to all the way inland and up-stream to visit the Salmon equivalent of a singles bar to hook up with other eligible Salmon.  16:48:13 Fish being fish this requires swimming AGAINST rapid currents and, at times, even jumping up river rapids and waterfalls through the air (where bears will grab them). It's a lot of work... and did I mention that most types of Salmon then die after spawning? That's quite a life. Anyway, I am sure you've all heard of or seen Salmon jumping up waterfalls before.  16:49:53 So here at the Salmon Hatchery they've constructed special "steps" that the Salmon can climb up in order to get to places where they can safely mate with each other, and these are complete with windows so people can watch them. (Rough equivalent to those places in Amsterdam where you go in a booth and put in a quarter to watch people having sex, except that watching Salmon is free.)  16:50:26 Now, I'm not going to lie to you.... catching a Salmon in mid-air as it jumps is a pretty difficult thing to do because they jump so fast. But would you look at that??? How fast am I with my camera?  16:51:05 And there's another one in mid-air! (Yes, I know that they are out of focus, but like I said it's really fast so...)  16:52:16 Come on Salmon! Jump!  16:52:26 No, seriously! Get your ass moving and jump!  16:59:32  17:02:44 Check out these two mini movies of Salmon jumping. The top one was a bit lazy and he just kind of swam really fast up through the water, so you can't really see him. But the second one just launches through the air, as you can see.  17:03:40 Here we see one of the viewing areas of the "steps" where the Salmon are jumping.  17:15:25 So here we see a model of the Salmon Hatchery that I've marked to show the most important things. That water thing we saw earlier keeps the Salmon from going any further upstream and forces them into the "steps" that we saw.  18:00:32 Oh! Ok, well I guess we're back at Lonsdale Quay again. I just spared you another 45 minute bus ride. Here we see the view across Burrard Inlet toward Canada Place (left) and GM Place Stadium (right).  18:05:22 Lonsdale Quay (marked by the big "Q") is a cool little touristy sort of indoor market and shopping place that has some cool stuff.  18:06:09 It's also a nice place to hang out at for a while and I often take the SeaBus over here when I am visiting Vancouver, even though taking the SeaBus automatically requires an additional zone on whatever transit fare you have.  18:29:32 I wish that sushi was this cheap in Europe. Ok, so it's not super quality sushi... but it tastes really good and it was only six bucks.  19:08:49 Back on the SeaBus again we can once again see Mount Baker in the distance past the distinctive red cranes that are part of the port that is Vancouver.  19:12:28 The SeaBus approaches Canada Place. No cruise ships here today.  19:34:50 A seaplane comes in for a landing in Coal Harbour.  19:34:51 And the sun begins to set over Vancouver as the seaplane pulls into the little seaplane "airport" down in Coal Harbour. But.... what's all this construction here? They are driving piles into the water to building something out here... but why would they build something so far out into the water and ruin the views of Stanley Park from here?  19:35:19 Another seaplane comes in for a landing.  19:35:52  19:36:54 Mount Baker in the distance.... can you see it?  19:37:00 A view across the Burrard Inlet toward Grouse Mountain, where we just were. (I didn't want to ruin the picture by putting a big arrow on it, so Grouse Mountain is in the centre.)  19:37:10 A close-up view of Mount Baker in the distance. The skies are really clear and the weather perfect. I can't remember seeing Mount Baker so often on any visit to Vancouver before. But the down side of all this visibility is that the smog becomes apparent. I didn't even know that Vancouver HAD smog.  19:42:22  19:45:48 No, seriously... what's all this construction? Well, apparently it's the new convention centre that they are building as a facility for the 2010 Winter Olympics press corps.  19:47:52 What's this building? I have no idea what it's called, but I thought the flags were cool.  20:05:47 And so another day comes to an end. Walking back to the hotel from the SkyTrain we come across a film crew at work on a parking lot. It doesn't appear to be a major film production with any major stars, so there's no point in hanging around. Yet another tiring day today... I barely have the energy to go to 7-11 and buy crappy junk food before going to bed. Today's Travel Information White Spot Restaurant www.whitespot.ca The White Spot is a really great restaurant. It's changed a lot since I was a kid, however. Some MBA got a hold of the place and made it all trendy, but it's still good. I recommend the Pirate Meal, if you're a child... or just child-like, like me. Grouse Mountain www.grousemountain.com Grouse Mountain's $30 admission and lack of anything really worth paying that much money for makes me wonder if I would ever recommend it to anyone. I certainly wouldn't do it again, if that means anything. I don't think that the views of Vancouver are really that great from up there. Vancouver, the city, is just a city, after all. Perhaps a city prettier than some, but all cities are basically ugly somehow. And besides that, what makes Vancouver pretty is the fact that you can see the mountains around you when you're there. Except that when you're ON the mountains, all you can see is the city, so that's not really all that spectacular. (The same principle applies to people who build their houses up on the side of the mountain so that they can have a beautiful view of the ugly city below... which I don't understand.) I might further add that it is actually Grouse Mountain that wrecks the view of the mountains when you are down in the city itself because at night you can see the lights from it up there and it's just a big ugly man-made scar on what would otherwise just be mountains. And if that wasn't enough it was cheesy touristy and we didn't even get to see the baby Grizzly bears. The lumberjack show was cute though, I guess. So, I don't know. It's up to you whether you think that's worth a long bus or car ride plus $30. Capilano Salmon Hatchery www-heb.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/facilities/capilano/capilano_e.htm In contrast to Grouse Mountain or the Capilano Suspension Bridge the Salmon Hatchery is really great. If you don't have a car to drive there then just get off the bus at the Suspension Bridge and walk uphill a bit on the main road, then turn left down the road that has the sign pointing toward the hatchery. One suggestion though. Unless you want to walk a LONG way through the forest and along the canyon, stick to the road for cars because that way is a lot shorter. Lonsdale Quay www.lonsdalequay.com Lonsdale Quay is a must-do activity when you visit Vancouver. Not because it's like so super spectacular or something, but it's really cute and worth the visit. You're sure to find something there in the shops and food courts that interests you. (Not to mention that it's fun to ride the SeaBus over.) 
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