From Squamish to Vancouver...

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Hey there! Fri, Oct. 6, 2006

Cissi & I had a great time in Squamish, B.C. We woke up early and drove to Cheakamus Canyon (30 km north of Squamish), parked at the parking lot and hiked for about 30 SECONDS to our first climb. Climbed all kinds of fun routes. They were slabby, beautifully textured, ranged in grades from 5.7-5.10a (some 2 pitches) and peaceful as anything. Ran into a few other climbers, but otherwise we had the area to ourselves all day! We basically climbed until the sun went down behind the snowcapped mountains. Luckily we were close enough to the car to rappel into the front seat! (Ha, Ha). From there we drove back to the hostel, picked up gear we stored there and drove like mad to Vancouver. The roads were scary windy and pitch black dark as hell. We made it to the HI hostel around 9 p.m., showered up, settled in and then went for a late dinner. After walking up and down the bustling streets of the West End, we decided to go for Mongolian BBQ because it smelled SOOO very tasty! It was a great time putting together our meals and watching this chef whip up our food in front of us. It was a wonderful end to our climbing day. Fell asleep as soon as we returned to the hostel. Slept like babies.

Today we woke up and had a yummy breakfast of hot chocolate, coffee, fresh buns, fruit and muffins. Filled up we headed off for Commercial Drive via the Skytrain. The day was warm and sunny. Then we made our way back to the hostel to sort out the passport situation for Cissi and to have a late sushi lunch and have a nap. Turns out that we may have a 50 / 50 chance of getting across the US - Canada border, as Cissi doesn't have her passport. So we'll try to leave for the border tomorrow and hopefully get to Seattle. If not, we'll return to Vancouver and try for the Swedish Consulate on Monday for a temporary passport. If that doesn't work (the consulate is closed on Mondays) we'll drive back through Canada making stops along the way.

We also had a great East African dinner (at Simba's) of curried lamb & spinach, curried cottage cheese with saffron rice and naan bread. YUMMY!!! We're stuffed like pigs and a little tipsy (maybe just me, not Cissi...).

Let you know what happens tomorrow....

Maybe we'll be blogging from the US... maybe not.

Be well,

The travelling bears Cissi & Charles

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Comments

[superdude]

wow
i am so super jealous of you guys. whether or not you got into the U.S., it sounds like you are having an absolutely amazing trip. i haven't been replying to every post, but i've been reading. miss you guys lots. A.