So, I know I said there would be more from Seattle in this post, but it made more sense to continue in the order the actual events took place, so this post is going to be about our trip to Vancouver, British Columbia instead. We drove up from Seattle, WA for a day (and a night). I tried to get a photo of the Welcome to Canada/British Columbia/Vancouver/You Are Here sign, but there weren't many, and I had put my camera away by the time we saw one. Sigh. Anyway, the mountain views coming into Vancouver were nice.
We decided to check out the
Capilano Suspension Bridge, since it seemed to be the most recommended tourist attraction. We got there around lunch time, so we ate at the Bridge House restaurant, just across the street from the bridge park.
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| Bridge House restaurant near Capilano Suspension Bridge in Vancouver, BC |
Alexis had a salmon sandwich with sweet potato fries (they called them "yam fries"), and I had buffalo shepherd's pie with a side salad. She got some good food photos on this trip. We were sitting next to the big front window, so the natural light helped.
Next, we went across the street to the bridge park.
When you first enter the 27-acre park, there is an area called Totem Park, which has several totem poles placed by local
First Nations people in the 1930s.
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| Alexis looking pleased to be at the bottom of the totem pole |
The 450-foot-long bridge was originally built 230 feet above the Capilano River in 1889 with hemp rope and cedar planks attached to Douglas-fir trees, but it is now constructed of pre-stressed wire cable attached to 118-ton anchors. Thankfully!
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| About to get on the bridge! |
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| View from the bridge |
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| Capilano River below the suspension bridge |
Once we got to the other side, we went on the Treetops Adventure, which is a series of smaller suspension bridges through part of the rainforest, then we walked around the forest floor for a while.
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| Jennifer and Alexis somewhere amongst the treetops |
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| View of Capilano Suspension Bridge from the forest floor |
We also went on the Cliffwalk, which is a series of bridges and platforms on the face of a granite cliff along the river. It's only been open since June of 2011, so it's fairly new and allows you to see areas of the park you might not be able to see otherwise. And since it apparently didn't look scary enough, they added a glass floor platform.
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| Cliffwalk |
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| View of the Capilano River from the Cliffwalk |
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| Alexis standing bravely on the glass floor platform (Jennifer did it, too) |
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| Mountain view from the Cliffwalk |
We saw mostly trees and ferns, but we did see a few flowers that I had to take photos of as we approached the gift shop.
I almost never say this because I'm not much of a souvenir purchaser, but their gift shop was really nice and had a good variety. I bought Ed a Canadian tea sampler set and some salmon jerky. Oh, and they had lots of really thick fudge in several flavors. We got five pieces (all different flavors), and they were all good--and rich. Five pieces may have been a bit too much for two people, though.
After surviving the suspension bridge experience, we just drove through and walked around downtown Vancouver to check it out.
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| We liked how you can see the mountains from downtown |
Back to Seattle next--for real this time!
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