Grouse Mountain

It was a beautiful fall day and I had a hankering to see the bears. So we went to Grouse Mountain for the day.

No trip to Grouse is complete without a stop in the hollow tree trunk.

 We stopped to see how everyone's growth is coming along. Remember when they weren't even as tall as the little bears? Now some of them are almost grizzly height.

Well, almost Grizzly height.

The bears were out and so sleepy, so they almost didn't move at all. Perfect for picture taking.

 One thing I love about visiting Grouse (aside from how perfectly beautiful it is, and the bears) is how we always meet tourists. They're always so eager to talk and it's really a high point for us too.

This visit was no exception. On our ride up the gondola, there was an immaculate blonde woman in a shin length fur coat. Here at the bears she struck up a conversation. She was from London, here on business.

Apparently she is required to travel all over the world for business, but her favorite place of all is Vancouver because we're so friendly. I don't always feel like Vancouver is a friendly place. But it's a pretty good place, isn't it?

 The kids went mountain climbing. I made the mistake of going about to that ridge, maybe just above. I'm not sure this picture actually shows how steep the hill is. When I got up there, the earth just seemed to fall away - right down to Port Coquitlam. I had to sit down immediately.

Eventually I made it back down to flatter ground. Sometimes I forget about my fear of heights. I mean, I practically live on the suspension bridge. Then I do something like this.

I gave Liz my camera and she was kind enough to take some pictures for me.

Next we waited for the bird show next to Beaver Tails.

I was in love. There's a picture of me somewhere with the bird, if I find it, I'll add it to this post.

Then we went for a stroll - down the hill which we've never really done before. There are some beautiful views this way.

But - I am so not a skiier. Could you imagine me on these steep hills at high speeds? I'd die.

In this picture below we met up with our British friend. Surprisingly she'd never seen deer in the wild before. I guess they don't have them in London! Can you spot the deer in the picture?

 We had lunch on the patio. There are pictures of that somewhere too.

And then we stopped at Cleveland Dam

I'm missing so many pictures of this day. Suffice it to say, I got some great family pictures here in the fall colours. Not sure where they are. But here's a few of the kids.

Then we drove to Stanley Park. I really need to spend more time here.