Re-Visiting Vancouver

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Vancouver is the town that hosted the 2010 Winter Games. Sharon recalls when she and Jim came here for the 1986 World Expo prior to their first Alaskan Cruise, and she’s been hooked on Alaska ever since. We were in no rush to rise this morning, and the scant light filtering in from our sheltered window did not provide much of an incentive. We headed by the Tim Horton’s, and on this Saturday morning there was no line so we popped inside. Sharon went with the chocolate chip muffin and today I asked for the Boston Cream and the honey crueler; alas, they were out of the Boston cream so I fell back on the chocolate iced donut (which was a poor substitution).



We went down to the multi-bus/shuttle stop near Canada Place. The next available bus was heading for the Capilano Suspension Bridge, so we chose to do that first. We got in the line for the complimentary shuttle out to the Capilano Suspension Bridge. Sharon had purchased access to the suspension bridge and to Grouse Mountain as part of our 2-day HO-HO trolley ticket. Besides the modest discount for combining the tickets, there is the advantage of not needing to wait in line for tickets at these attractions; but, you do need to show your payment vouchers to the HO-HO ticket agent to get your actual tickets to the attractions. Our shuttle made stops at three of the high-end hotels near Canada Place to pick up others going out to Capilano. Sharon had considered staying at a number of other hotels; but, the Days Inn offered accommodations for less than a third of what the others were asking. And its convenient location was within walking distance of food, convenience stores, pharmacies, transportation and even the cruise terminal. So, its petite accommodations were an acceptable alternative to a pricey bill.



We headed through Stanley Park where there were many people bicycling and enjoying the fabulous weather (that we’d brought with us from Las Vegas). The city offers may pick-up/drop-off spots for rental bicycles; and, individual bicycle shops also offer a much wider variety of bicycles to rent. You can’t rent bicycles in Stanley Park; but, you can bicycle in over a bridge (it’s the law). Then we went over Lion’s Bridge, a towering suspension bridge that arches over the waterway far below. On Sunday, we’ll be sailing beneath this bridge on our departure from Vancouver. There is an impressive visual treat for those able to look and see the vast panorama, stretching to a snow-capped mountain in Washington State to the south, and other Canadian mountains far to the north. Ahead of us are the local mountains that featured the alpine competitions during the 2010 Olympics. The agent had recommended that we could take a local bus from Capelano to Grouse Mountain for a couple of Canadian dollars, rather that taking the twenty-minute bus ride back to the Canada Place shuttle origin, only to board another bus back to and beyond the same place. And while that might have sounded like good advice, I observed to Sharon that we could seek out the award-winning Bella Gelateria that we’d heard of on the Red Line HO-HO the day before. She thought that was a pretty good idea.



We breezed past the ticket line and got in the line to head onto the foot suspension bridge. There has been a suspension bridge offering a vantage viewpoint to people since the late 1880’s. Originally, the bridge was made from hemp rope and cedar planks. Today, the support ropes are all twisted wire cables. Parents are warned not to carry children above the approximately four-foot side fencing. Any child foolishly placed on one’s soldiers would likely make the brief 4 to 5 second flight to the forested waters below. The bridge was sufficiently wide for pedestrians to use the bridge in both directions. The bridge sways some two hundred plus feet above the Capilano River below. There are several dozens of people on the bridge at a time. Occasionally the bridge would lurch in violent and repeated resonating motion as a number of people would move in lock step in one direction, continuing until they were forced to stop by others blocking their way. Some people seemed to be able to navigate the bridge without holding on to the hand rail, or by repeatedly holding and releasing and holding again with each step forward. Some parents were holding small children about chest high, which seemed to be borderline stupid; except that I don’t know how else some of these children could get across the bridge. We enjoyed the view, got some pictures, and headed back out.



We had a fairly quick ride back down to Vancouver. Again, we had two lanes in our direction open over Lion Bridge of this three-lane bridge. Every half hour the direction of the center-lane is changed. We asked the driver where to find the gelato place, and he directed us to Bella Gelateria. The founder won the 2014 award for Gelato Master at the World Competition in Italy, and in the same year both the Champion and People’s Choice Award at the largest Gelato Competition in North America. We both got the 2-scoop cup, Sharon getting the chocolate cherry and salty caramel; while, I got the black sesame and honey, rose water, pistachio and cream. The server asked if I’d tried these two flavors before, and when I hadn’t, insisting that I try them first, say, “These flavors are really out there!” Certainly, the sesame ice cream was a whole new experience; although, the other was a subdued pistachio flavor. I enjoyed them both, as Sharon enjoyed hers, especially the salty caramel.



We found the place to wait for the free shuttle. The agent was predicting snow drifts at the summit over twelve feet, and cautioning that one should wear appropriate foot wear. His cadence was particularly distinct to pause after every syllable, clearly designed to see if he would catch the attention of the twenty-something who had showed up in flip-flops. The youth finally did catch on and asked, “Are you talking to me?” The guide shrugged it off, “I’m just saying…” I was starting to wonder if I was underdressed with my cargo shorts, which I broke out again with weather reports predicting temperatures much warmer than yesterday. We had to wait some for the Grouse Mountain shuttle to pick us up, and we waited what seemed like forever to get out of town, stopped at one light for eight changes. We seemed to make that up not needing to wait in the ticket line, and went straight to board the tram. One tram had just departed, so we had to wait 8 minutes for its twin to arrive. The tram whisked us quickly up about one half mile. One small boy on the tram announced, “My ears are popping.”



During the winter, there are many winter sports venues available including alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, and snow-boarding. Most of these were closed now; although, the chairlifts at the summit were running and carrying people for scenic viewing. We headed off to see the grizzly bear refuge where the mama and cub had appeared after hibernation during the previous month. We followed the painted grizzly tracks in the dry and sometimes damp asphalt path. I took Sharon’s picture beside a twelve-plus foot snow drift next to the path. The walk turned out to be longer than we wanted; so, we stopped at the location of the Lumberjack Show which was included in our Grouse Mountain Adventure Ticket. We only had to wait a few minutes before it started at 2:00PM. It was similar to the one that we took our mothers to see in Ketchikan four years ago. Two lumberjacks competed in several logging contests, culminating in the log rolling challenge. We were seated in the Green River section while our adversaries were the more remote adversaries from Blue Mountain. Our guy ended up losing.



Afterwards we headed to the Theatre in the Sky. We had to wait a while to see a very interesting special on a Grizzly Bear preserve in a remote area in British Columbia, where the guide would return each year to bring one group of tourists to experience the grizzly up close and personal in an environment where they are protected from hunters and consequently not threatened by humans.



We rode back down and were amazed now by the throngs waiting in the terminal for a ride to the top at 4PM in the afternoon. Traffic wasn’t as bad as our journey up the mountain. We decided to go to the Cactus Club for dinner, but we were told that they had a problem with the computer system in the kitchen, and they were expecting perhaps a 30-minute delay. We put our names on the waiting list and they handed us a pager. We went off and took some pictures, and as we headed back our pager lit up, so the delay was just 10 minutes. I ordered the Sushi Cone appetizer, which was very good, and had the butternut squash ravioli with prawns. Sharon ordered so delicious chicken tenders.



Since the Bella Gelateria was on our way back to our hotel, we decided to try them again, reasoning, that if we’d known about them yesterday, we’d have gotten some then as well. It’s pretty good reasoning; except, we DID know about them the day before. We weren’t expecting the line to be out the door and out onto the sidewalk to the corner; but, it was. We decided to wait. They eventually did get two additional people behind the counter filling the orders, to help the one very exasperated girl. This time I got a triple flavor cup with the Madagascar Vanilla, Chocolate Chip (they actually had a very exotic Italian sounding name for this) and again the Black Sesame. Sharon had the Salty Caramel again but this time with Belgian Brownie Chocolate gelato. So, on our final full day in Vancouver, we’ll have to revisit the gelateria. Sharon declared on the way back to the Hotel, that this has been the best day yet, but then she amended that by noting that seeing her mom again was pretty special too. But that Salty Caramel Gelato seems to have given mom a run for her money.

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