{"id":1100,"date":"2011-09-02T19:33:55","date_gmt":"2011-09-03T02:33:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/minniebiz.com\/gmcmotorhome\/?p=1100"},"modified":"2011-09-03T19:34:11","modified_gmt":"2011-09-04T02:34:11","slug":"we-love-vancouver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/minniebiz.com\/gmcmotorhome\/2011\/09\/02\/we-love-vancouver\/","title":{"rendered":"We love Vancouver!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, we drove our own car into the city with little or no idea of where we were going.\u00a0 Our only clue to our destination was Bill\u2019s suggestion that \u201cgastown\u201d was one of the attractions in the city, and a tourist map that showed several neighborhoods.<\/p>\n

Today, I have a new \u2018favorite city\u2019.\u00a0 We took a tour of Vancouver and a stop at the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park on a bus with 16 other people from England, Australia, Alberta, and Brazil.\u00a0 Our driver\u2019s name was Don and he was very nice \u2013 entertaining but very laid back.\u00a0 He was full of interesting tidbits about the city and what has happened there in the past \u2013 old and recent history.<\/p>\n

There were two long stops, one of an hour and a half at the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park (we loved it) and another of an hour and a quarter at Granville Island shopping area \u2013 an amazing place that I would put in the same category as Boston\u2019s Quincy Market or San Francisco\u2019s Fisherman\u2019s Wharf but much better than either of those.\u00a0 It is not \u2018touristy\u2019, it is a place where everyone goes shopping for fruits and veggies and artsy junk \u2013 lots of fun.<\/p>\n

The Capilano Suspension Bridge Park is a great place for kids of all ages.\u00a0 The bridge itself is a suspension bridge across the Capilano River.\u00a0 The bridge is 450 feet long and 230 feet above the river.\u00a0 It is very \u2013 considering the size of the cables \u2013 wobbly and shaky but also very strong.\u00a0 The 2 cables are each strong enough to hold up a fully loaded 747 airplane.\u00a0 A huge tree fell on the bridge during a storm in 2006 and the tree snapped where it hit the cables and they held the rest of the tree up until it could be removed.\u00a0 It is very safe.<\/p>\n

The bridge leads across the river to a walkway that is made up of short suspension bridges connecting platforms that surround these giant Douglas Fir trees that are about 3 or 4 feet in diameter and hundreds of feet tall.\u00a0 The walkway is far above the forest floor and a real adventure- just like in \u201cThe Swiss Family Robinson\u201d story.\u00a0 They call it \u2018Treetops Adventure\u201d.<\/p>\n

After you cross the bridge back to the entry gate and shops there is a new adventure, called \u2018Cliffwalk\u2019 which is a walkway along the face of a sheer cliff.\u00a0 It has very solid wooden, glass, and steel pathways suspended with steel components anchored to the rock in the face of the cliff.\u00a0 It has a section that gets 10 or 15 feet away from the cliff and seems to be suspended in mid-air.\u00a0 All of this is pretty high \u2013 maybe 100 feet and a thrill if heights frighten you.<\/p>\n

The Granville Island shopping center is actually a peninsula that was created by filling an area (I forget that part of the history) of the bay.\u00a0 The city owns it I think and blah, blah, blah \u2013 CRS!!\u00a0 The area has lots of shops.\u00a0 They are mostly food oriented and very nice.\u00a0 The prices seemed pretty good even by our US standards (\u201ceverything costs more in Canada\u201d).\u00a0 The fresh produce at the every-day farmers\u2019 market looked wonderful.\u00a0 If we lived here we would be there all the time.<\/p>\n

The photos are of Vancouver, the Capilano bridge area, and us.\u00a0 The may seem out of order because we went through Vancouver to Stanley Park, the Capilano area and then Stanley Park and Vancouver again. \u00a0 \n\n\n \t\t\n\t\t\t\t