Denver to Vancouver Summer 2019

14th August 2019

A lazy start to this morning. We are feeling the fatigue now. A different room almost every night has been interesting, but it is tiring!

We had been recommended the Capilano Suspension Bridge, and upon investigation, it looked rather scary! I really wanted to visit, but Andrew and Oli were rather more reluctant. They both are not great with heights - Andrew in particular doesn’t like ‘edges’, but he agreed that as I had managed a sea plane, he could manage a bridge.

We boarded the courtesy bus to the park, after a rather basic breakfast at Tim Hortons, which is the largest fast food restaurant in Canada. Set up by a hockey player in the 1930s, it is now owned by Burger King. It was ok. Only ok.

The courtesy bus took only 20 minutes, and the very nice driver, Toby, talked us through the areas we were passing.

People in Vancouver are softly spoken folk. If you have ever watched ‘Fargo’ you will know what I mean when I say they sound similar - a Minnesota sort of accent. They seem like shy people, very reserved. That was Toby.

We sped through the entry point of the park, where we read about the First Nation. Vancouver is located in the traditional territory of the Squamish, Musqueam and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations, members of the Coast Salish linguistic group - very much like the native Americans. After reading about the history, we were at the start of the suspension bridge.

Capilano is a First Nations name belonging to the Squamish Nation and originally spelled Kia’palano, meaning “beautiful river”. In 1888, George Grant Mackay, a Scottish civil engineer and land developer, arrived in the city of Vancouver. He purchased 6,000 acres of forest on either side of the Capilano River and built a cabin on the very edge of the canyon wall. In 1889 he suspended a footbridge made of hemp rope and cedar planks across the canyon with the help of a friend and a team of horses who swam the ropes across the river. The ropes were then pulled up the other side and anchored to huge buried cedar logs. After his death, the hemp rope bridge was replaced by a wire cable bridge in 1903. After this, the bridge and area changed hands many times, but in the last 30 years a local woman has turned this area into a major tourist attraction. It is very very well done - well cared for and loads of history and time to look around.

The Capilano Suspension Bridge stretches 450 feet across and 230 feet above the Capilano River. It is only as wide as two single file lines of people. One crossing one way, and the other crossing back. It was quite busy, so it was also very wobbly. I loved it - it felt great - almost like walking on air (if you could forget all of the Japanese tourists). Oli looked less happy about it, but Andrew really surprised me, - he basically told himself it would all be fine, and it was.

The next part of the park was the Treetops Adventure. This is a series of seven suspension bridges attached to eight 30 ton, 250 year old Douglas-firs. They were less wobbly, but felt quite secure anyway as they were smaller lengths. Much happier faces from the male contingency.

We spent a lot of time just walking around the park. We have seen so much beautiful nature on this trip, that even when in a city, we have gravitated toward more of the nature style experiences. I think it is in us all to love nature - even the real city people.

The final experience ‘Cliffwalk’ - this is a series of cantilevered and suspended walkways jutting out from the granite cliff face above the Capilano River. Not for the faint of heart, it is high and narrow and, in some sections, glass (very strong glass) is all that separates you from the canyon far below!

I was more happy on this as the walkways don’t wobble. Oli was fine too. Andrew - well this was the biggest challenge, but he did it. I crossed in 30 seconds and looked back to see him clenching his fists and muttering to himself halfway along.

After all of the bravery, we stopped for some food (A bridge dog - an extra long hot dog) and then made our way to the bus. This was such a great experience - worth every cent.

Arriving back in Canada Place on the bus, we decided to visit Vancouver Lookout. This is an observation deck 553 feet above Vancouver. We walked straight in and took the lift up. We had such a clear day that we could see all over Vancouver and its surrounding areas. Shiny glass skyscrapers one side, and mountains, water and trees the other.

With aching legs we walked back to the hotel for a rest. We packed up our bags for one last time as we leave tomorrow. Sad times.

We took a taxi down to the Gastown area. Gastown was Vancouver's first downtown core and is named after "Gassy" Jack Deighton, a Yorkshire seaman, steamboat captain and barman who arrived in 1867 to open the area's first saloon.

Gastown's most famous landmark is the steam-powered clock. It was built in 1977 to cover a steam grate, as a way to harness the steam and to prevent homeless people from sleeping on the spot in cold weather. We thought it was going to be Big Ben size - no. More living room in Hornchurch size. We got there are 8:45 and caught its quarterly ‘chimes’. It plays the Westminster chimes in steam train style parps. So sweet!

Gastwown is a really great area. Buzzing with bars, restaurants, tourists, shops. It’s really busy, but nice. We had a delicious last meal - Italian again, and some local BC wine to celebrate a trip well planned.

After that we walked slowly back to the hotel with an ice cream. Still time tomorrow to fit in some last minute things!