Day 20

Day twenty, July 28, 2011

We were finally able to get connected to the Internet so before leaving our room, we wrote down directions to every place we were going to visit today.  We walked downstairs to grab something to eat from our free "continental breakfast".  This when I realized yet again how much I miss Embassy Suites and Hampton Inns.  The Happy Day's Inn interpretation of continental breakfast consisted of apples, 5 donuts, and water.  We decided to pass on this offer.

Our first stop was Grouse Mountain.  We ventured out to the peak of this massive mountain by means of a famous skyride lift.  Once again we were sadly unprepared.  I was the one who found this famous tourist attraction and was an advocate for stopping here but I guess I did not really think it through. I showed up to the bottom of the mountain and stood in line for the sky lift dressed in sandals and a tank top.  When Rob and I scooped out the attire of the guests around us, we realized that most people were wearing jeans, sweatshirts,  and sneakers.  Then it hit us, we were going to be traveling to the top of a snow capped mountain...of course it will be cold up there!  What can we do about it now?  We boarded the sky lift and journeyed up about a mile above Vancouver.  The scenery was stunning! But like I said parts of the mountain were still covered in snow!!! We were even told that there was skiing on the mountain all the way into June this year.  It was about 50 degrees at the top of the mountain (once again according to Rob, I would beg to differ!).

After our 6 minute ride we reached the top.  We headed directly to the grizzly bear habitat, however, they were still sleeping in their hut so instead we took the ski lift up even higher (to even colder temperatures!). From here we took an elevator up through the wind turbine to the highest point of the mountain. (Originally this was not part of the plan but when I heard the words"it's the only one in the world" I was sold.  I did not even need to know the only one with what, I knew I had to do it. We paid the man and as I investigated further found out this wind turbine was the only one in the world with an elevator to the top....even more perfect!)   Once at the top you were able to look down at the bay and the entire city of Vancouver.  We were now 4,100 feet above sea level, what a view!  And when you looked down you could see through the glass floor panels and look at what was below you. The next event, my favorite, the "world famous" and very funny lumberjack show. Through this comical performance lumberjacks took part in several competitions to see who was the strongest most experienced lumberjack.  Of course our (very cute) lumberjack won.  After the show the audience was given a chance to walk down and take pictures with the lumberjacks ( including our very cute one), but Rob had his mind set on our next stop!  We walked to the theatre in the sky and watched a documentary on the history of this mountain and another movie on how the grizzly bears in this habitat were saved and brought to Grouse Mountain.  After the movies it was time to descend down the mountain and move on to our next attraction.

We traveled only a short way down the road to one of the biggest tourist attractions in Vancouver the Capilano Suspension Bridge.  Here we hiked through treetop trails and crossed the (quite wobbly) suspension bridge.  My photographer and I separated for a brief moment because he saw a photo opp that he just could not pass up.  At this time I walked over to a small pond and was watching the trout jump out of the water.  My peaceful break was suddenly interrupted by an elaborate photo shoot (AI involved Steph).  This girl took her shoes off, crossed over the sidewalk, and was standing the the rocks surrounding the pond.  Her friend captured a few shots here but they did not stop.  The next poses were of this young girl kneeling on the rocks.  Again these shots must not have been sufficient, the girl began to lay on the rocks (only inches away from the pond).  She went from legs sprawled out to laying her on stomach, then to her back, and right back to her stomach.  This shoot had to have been about 10 minutes - I hope she got the shot she was looking for!  Speaking of photo shoots, earlier in the trip Steph made an amazing suggestion.  After the photo fiasco in Vegas ( when we asked Jeffrita to take our picture in front of the welcome to Vegas sign and she only got one small piece of the sign in the picture) she said we are only going to ask people with $600 cameras or more (another words experienced photographers) to take our pictures.  Well I guess we are not the only ones who think like this because our very own photographer - Robert was asked to capture a beautiful moment of another family! I hope he did his csmeraband new fans proud!

With all of this hiking we were already starving and ready for dinner.  We decided on another famous tourist attraction, the Spaghetti Factory.  A great choice, still not like Mom's macaroni but it did curb the craving for homemade Italian food for the time being. 

At this point we are a little more than half way done with our trip and Rob was quickly running out of clothes.  We were on our feet all day, so we made it an early night and decided to go back to the hotel and take advantage of their washing machines on site.  We figured that using the machines in our hotel would be easier than going to a laundry matt in another city.  Of course when we arrived back to the hotel the machine was in use.  Finally it was our turn.  I walked down the stairs and began to follow the signs to the laundry room.  It led me through a door to the first floor of guest rooms.  The next door I opened looked like it led to a cellar or basement.  I cautiously continued to follow the signs for the laundry room and walked down the stairs.  Again there was another door marked laundry room so I walked out that door and next thing I knew I was outside in a parking garage.  I tried to turn around and go back through the door but it locked behind me.  I walked a few steps and saw yet another door labeled laundry room.  I approached the door and  tried to open it but it was locked!  I walked through the small parking garage and tried to get my bearings.  At this point I had no idea where the lobby was. I picked left and began to walk around the building.  Sure enough after walking around the hotel I was back to the front lobby.  My next trip to the laundry machine I was sure to get the key and bring Rob!  Off to Seattle tomorrow!  Peace, love, and happiness, the Nomads!