Vancouver, BC🇨🇦

I was all stressed out about crossing the border into Canada, but there was absolutely no need to be. There were very little food restrictions this time, we were well below the alcohol limit to bring across the border, and we didn’t have any firearms etc…Luckily the customs officer didn’t give us the attitude that our fearless leader bestows upon Canada; so we smiled and took back our passports after answering their questions and were on our way to the Capilano River RV Park in the city of W. Vancouver. We arrived in the campground and had a quick lunch and got to the all important task of adding the British Columbia, Canada sticker to our trailer!

We then left the campground to explore the immediate area and saw a bunch of signs for various tarred biking paths into different parts of the city. Since we had no idea what led to where, we decided to take the stairway up to the entrance to the Lions Gate Bridge since it had a walking path on the both sides of it. Well we soon learned that it was a walking AND biking path and these bikers took their transportation seriously! The bridge is about a mile in length each way and it towers over the waters of the Burrard Inlet, connecting North and West Vancouver to the city. It offers amazing panoramas of the North Shore Mountains, the Vancouver skyline, and the Pacific Ocean. Well, I’ve got to tell you, as we crossed the bridge the views were quite spectacular, but my poor heart was in my throat the whole way as I was holding onto the damn railings for dear life because it really felt like we were accomplishing a death-defying feat! And did I mention how crazy-ass some of the bicyclists were? Not many shouted out to us that they were approaching from behind and there wasn’t that much clearance for us both to be able to be able to fit, so I tried to press myself against the railing whenever I could. Oh and then there were clueless pedestrians who walked two abreast so they would block the poor cyclists…I found the whole thing quite stressful, although I did a little better on the way back. Oh and the other very cool thing about this bridge that I have to mention is that it has 3 lanes of vehicle traffic that uses a ”dynamic counter-flow system” to accommodate heavy traffic. It was fascinating to see the center lane green arrow turn yellow and then become a red X as the middle lane then became open to traffic coming the other way…and the drivers immediately changed lanes at the prompts - it was impressive!

Once we realized what an amazing walking/biking path system that they had here in the city, we decided to leave our big-ass Ford F250 truck at the campsite and walk EVERYWHERE we intended to go! It felt a whole lot easier since A) we wouldn’t have to deal with traffic, B) it was more scenic and C) it was a great way to get our steps in for the day! Some of the long-termers in the campground tried to convince us to take the buses…but I sensed that “just hop on the bus down the street and take it to…” was more involved than these country bumpkins were prepared for! So we walked to a bunch of different grocery stores - one nearby in a mall the day we arrived and then one downtown the following day. Then we found the Whole Foods that was kind of equidistant and a much nicer walk over the river and through the various bikepaths. The Whole Foods was in a cute little area near a Home Depot…a picture of which I am including because it wasn’t your average Home Depot, but built to fit into the neighborhood. Karl’s big brilliance when going food shopping is to bring my backpack type laundry bag for carrying said groceries a good distance. My hubby can be pretty studly because those groceries were heavy some days! We had to do a bunch of grocery store trips because we had let all of our stocks of meats and vegetables become depleted before crossing-the-border and we were determined to do our shopping it on foot!

We also took the opportunity to do some fun touristy things while in Vancouver. On Sunday we went for a walk along the Stanley Park Seawall. We took the Lions Gate Bridge (again) over to the park and walked the impressively scenic walkway. It was a beautiful day and we were struck by the amount of runners and runner-clubs that were out and about. It was incredibly scenic but we somehow missed a turn somewhere and ended up in downtown Vancouver. So we backtracked on the Seawall walk and eventually found our way back (after chasing out tails for awhile)! We ended up walking about 8 miles that day - which felt more like a dozen miles when we were lost and had no clue how many miles we still had in front of us…But It was memorable and beautiful at least! In the pictures below I’ve included a picture (the one in the middle) of the Skawsh Rock. As we were approaching it from a distance I was like - oh my goodness, it’s a MaiTai (or some Polynesian drink)! I sent a pic to my friend asking her what she thought it looked like at first glance and she replied with - a whale spouting. I then read somewhere later that it’s sometimes referred to as “Nine Pin Rock” because it looks like a bowling pin… I also thought it looked like a human heart - so feel free to pause for a little Rorschach test of your own and let me know what you see!

On another sightseeing day we walked to Capilano Suspension Bridge Park which was about a 2.5 mile walk each way through city streets. It was kind of a pricey excursion, but the adventure turned out to be worth it. The bridge is 460’ long and is suspended 230’ high. All the pictures you see in the brochures and on line make it look a LOT longer and more intimidating than it was, but it was pretty cool nonetheless. Some folks were holding onto the sides for dear life because the bridge bounced as you walked on it - but I think I was totally desensitized from fear after having survived my Lions Gate Bridge adventures! We also got to walk amongst the treetops in the rainforest following 7 suspension bridges with towering platforms to take in the views. The treetop walkway is constructed of reclaimed wood and it was both beautiful and impressive. They also had a “Cliffwalk” which also looked a little intimidating when reading about it. The Cliffwalk is described as “a gravity-defying cantilevered walkway clinging to the granite cliff high above Capilano Canyon”. In actuality, It’s 700’ long and up to 30 stories above the canyon. It’s quite impressive how they were able to connect the walkway to the granite, but it’s not death-defying at all and we didn’t find it scary or difficult to do.

The last picture of these nine below is of a banana slug (or Ariolimax columbianus) which we got to see in their living forest exhibit. They’re the world‘s second largest terrestrial slug and can grow up to just over 10inches! If you’re into that kind of stuff - you should look them up because they’re pretty cool!

During our stay in the campground I made a new dog friend. Nova made me smile each time I saw her - especially since she started off shy and then became my girlfriend… There was also a cute little Bishon, GiGi who had one of the front campsites and was a very nosy cutie - keeping track of all the people coming and going. Lots of other cute pups in this park that I got to pet, but only Miss Nova stole my heart! After a week in W. Vancouver, we were heading North where we would be moving a lot quicker!