Grouse Mountain

The zipline tour of Grouse Mountain was something we wanted to do from when we tentatively looked up 'Vancouver attractions' all those months ago before we had fully decided to come here. When we got to Vancouver I was all for doing it and herself was unsure and wary. By the time we got up there the roles were reversed somewhat!

Our day started by making the trip to the mountain itself, which involved the SeaBus that is still just about a novelty to us. I had checked the weather forecast during the week and thankfully the predictions of a scorcher of a day proved accurate. It's pretty easy to get to the mountain, a bus picks you up at the SeaBus quay and drops you at the base. From there you can either decide to hike up for free (not today, thanks all the same) or take the SkyRide, essential a tram that goes up the face of the mountain. This is a pleasant, gradual ascent, that would only trouble the most nervous of types and if you get in at the front of the contraption there is an amazing view of Vancouver and beyond as you crawl upwards.

Emerging from the tram is like entering a different world. It had the feel of an Austrian village, set amidst forested mountains, all wooden cabins and buildings, without a McDonalds in sight. Our initial cover charge granted us access to our transport up, as well as the birds of prey show, lumberjack show (haaa) and the GRIZZLY BEAR HABITAT. Initially we hadn't really planned to go ziplining, but more on that later..

Our first stop was the birds of prey show, where a number of the aerodynamic killing machines were brought out and set loose on us. I'm only exagerating slightly as their flight paths often held no regard for humans and people in the front rows of the outdoor seating often went scrambling for cover. It did allow me to take one particularly good photo of a bald eagle as it whipped past my face. Also note the paraglider in the background, that has to be metaphoric or something:

Once our aerial bombardment was through, we found ourselves watching the car crash entertainment that was the Lumberjack Show, complete with bad jokes, over enthusiastic players and audience participation. We left fairly sharpish. Those grizzly bears weren't going to be goggled at by themselves.

Once I had exhausted all of the excuses other attractions it seemed like there was no choice but to put our names down for a zipline tour. I had planned to do my research into it before hand and I have no shame in admitting I felt out of my comfort zone signing a waiver that would leave the tour guides in the clear in case of injury/death. DEATH!! My nervousness was matched only by my stubbornness that 'I'm here now I might as well do it.' While the sight of a frankly batshit crazy surprisingly adventurous but elderly lady should have eased my fears, the knowledge that she was only doing the first 3 lines set my mind racing again!

Up we trekked to the first platform, climbing the wooden stairs and getting locked into a harness that stood between us and injury/death. The first line was actually fine and good fun once I relaxed my grip of steel on the handles. They also have some guy up a tree or something taking a photo of you, to keep you even more occupied during this first run. I didn't see him, hence why I'm not looking at him.

*Churning stomach not shown

 While it's meant to ease you into the experience I think of it as more lulling you into a false sense of security as line 2 sees you going from 0 to 60kmph in a matter of seconds. When I realised I hadn't actually left my stomach several hundred metres behind or below me I enjoyed line 2 for approx .5 seconds before I slammed into the landing zone. Line 3 was a joy by comparison, taking us over a lake at a brisk pace.

Here is a video of zipline 2 as seen through the helmetcam of  'tanissaurus' just a few weeks before us, so the weather etc is the same. Note it takes about 20 seconds in total and that shes actually travelling about 60kmph there.

We then parted ways with the wacky granny and her son and began to belly clenching walk to zipline 4, which besides being much higher than anything we had done, also would see us reach speeds of 80kmph. I was a little apprehensive to say the least! Apparantly some people back out upon climbing the platform and from the sheer drop and general fear of the unknown I could see why. Thankfully though we stiffened our resolve(s) and were soon propelled across the valley. Again once the initial shock passed I started to enjoy the experience and had an incredible view as i whizzed from one mountain top to another. I even relaxed enough to look around, unlike tanissaurus in this next video...

Poor camerawork aside, her assessment of 'holy damn' is quite correct - the feeling of adrenaline pumping and overall relief at having survived travelling 80kmph 1,400 feet in the air attached to a wire in the sky is hard to beat and at this stage I was disappointed I only had one zipline left to do!

After that we took some chair lifts down the slope, had some food and drinks on a mountain top patio and went home tired out after our adventures.

I still can't believe how sunny it is here..waiting for winter to bring its wrath. And in other news I got paid commission last week, so I'm pretty happy with that. OK, til next time...

Kitsilano and Metrotown

As I think I've mentioned, I usually have a day or two off by myself as herself and anyone else we know are working. This week I went to Kitsilano and Metrotown for some shopping.

Kitsilano feels like a seperate town and not just a smaller district in a big city. As well as being a beach/outdoor pool/museum and planetarium town, it also has a lot of seond hand and thrift stores.

These are great, you can find pretty much everything in there from entire kitchenware sets to office furniture, gym equipment and TVs. Then there's also clothes, DVDs, CDs etc etc. I love poking around because you never know what's going to show up, and some of the ornaments and household items are crazy. My favourite find was 3 huge pitchers from Oktoberfest 2004-2007. A close second was the A Day In The Life of Ireland photobook. What I ended up buying was a rainjacket for $10 and a Terry Brooks series for $4.

tiny photo is tiny

Metrotown or rather Metropolis at Metrotown is a huge mall connected to the train station that takes a couple of hours to walk around.

It is 3 stories high and is the type of artificial environment, constructed by those devious capitalists that anarchists and communists despise secretly love. From the glass tunnel that links the train station to the mall, to the air conditioning that subtly keeps you in tip top shopping condtion or even the ginormo-food court, the mall is structured to ensure you NEVER HAVE TO LEAVE. Strangely enough there were a lot of shops that I haven't seen anywhere else and I finally found some clothes shops simillar to Penneys or TK Maxx.

It's getting colder so I've invested in some winter clothes..Amazingly though the dreaded rainy season has yet to hit. I'm aware this post was pretty boring/consumerist... But tomorrow we're getting back into the great Canadian outdoors as we go to Grouse Mountain, one of the highest points in British Columbia. I'm sure there will be loads of photos to follow.

I'm also considering putting together a post on the different beers I've tried. The days of partying on the weekends are gone, due to work and to be honest due to the different lifestyle over here. There's less boredom and less dependance on alcohol-based fun. And less craic sometimes but anyway.

The Fair at PNE

The Fair at PNE is an annual two week event that combines an adventure park, carnival, food festival, marketplace and animal show. It takes place in East Vancouver and is far enough East that the less desirable members of Vancouver street life aren't bothered with it. They are visible having the craic (so to speak) on the bus journey though.  Once you get to the Fair a general ticket will set you back about $20 and you can eat until you are obese, get nauseous on a rollercoaster or some other deathtrap, catch some washed up bands like Hanson (LOL), lose all your money trying to win a bigass stuffed panda, buy a schticky (LOLOLOL), go for a stroll with a snow cone corn dog deep friend mars bar lemonade and generally re-enact any North American first date/romantic comedy. EVERYTHING costs extra, but you can get 'ride tickets' or something like that. And tbh you could bring a lunch and just spend the day wandering.

You can also see some crazy animals like 'sheep', 'chickens' and 'cows', that all live in a building called a 'farm' and it's where you get dinner from. Because even the thought of a hula hoop makes my stomach churn, I sat out all of the adventure park rides except the Ferris Wheel. I could have sworn even the Wheel itself contrived to look patronising as I struggled to calm my treacherous insides during the slightest rocking motion.

That said, this was a great slice of (North) Americana. It is an assault on all the senses and (though I hate the phrase) FUN FOR ALL THE FAMILY. There are beer gardens, EXTREME stunt riders, acrobat and animal shows (not together, unfortunately) loads of food stalls to keep little people full of sugar, animals, games etcetcetc. I didn't have my camera with me this time, hence the odd collection of photos from my phone.

Those white and grey things in the sky are called 'clouds'. Apparantly they become quite common around these parts in another month or so.. I tried my hand at a few of the games and won about 100 coupon tickets. That entitled me to 5 hamburger yo-yos, some pencils or two weird alien figurines. Despite my best protests I was not allowed to cash them in for 5 hamburger yo-yos :(