it's a long way down

thursday was not nearly as nice and i wasn't feeling great but i thought some fresh mountain air might help so decided to head for Grouse Mountain. breakfast was some stuff i'd picked up at a supermarket the night before and a waffle and espressos at Medina cafe. then it was down to the waterfront to catch the Sea Bus over to North Vancouver before taking a bus to the base of Grouse Mountain. to get to the top you can either hike the 2.9km Grouse Grind, (nicknamed Mother Nature's stairmaster) or take the Skyride. i took the second option.

after watching some of a cheesy lumberjack show i went to see Grinder and Coola, the two orphaned Grizzly Bears. Coola's mother was hit by a car : (  . they don't know what happened to Grinder's mother. they are gorgeous and remind me of my kittens the way they play together. they seem to be pretty happy and love the water.

as you can see it was pretty foggy but every now and then it cleared and something else was revealed. since i had come all this way i decide i might as well go zip lining, which is basically like going on a flying fox. the first one was very tame and basically a practice run to see if you could brake. the second run was short, steep and fast and was awesome. this is some of my group on the 3rd run.

this is a deer at the bottom of the 3rd run

there were 5 runs in total. the 4th and 5th are 1200m and 1500m respectively and while they are longer and considerably higher above the ground than the 2nd, they were less frightening despite (or maybe because of) half the ride being in fog.

here i am getting ready for the last run. the helmets are purely so you don't hurt yourself when you hit your head on the equipment above, which you do frequently

back down via the ski lift

dorky photo of me and our guides

after that it was off to something a little less exciting, another show for the tourists. this one was much better than the lumberjack one, and was also educational. it was called Birds in Motion. all of the birds were bred in captivity. we saw a red-tailed hawk, a peregrine falcon, and a golden eagle. i think this one's the hawk

and i think this is the eagle (shows how much attention i paid)

and then it was back down the mountain

grabbed dinner on the way back at a Mexican place i read about in one of the many free papers they hand out daily (or weekly). it was called La Taqueria and was predominantly tacos. i went for the meat ones

clockwise from top left is Al Pastor (pork marinated in achiote, chili and pineapple), Pollo Con Mole (chicken with chocolate mole sauce), a grilled beef one with peppers and onions, and Pescado (grilled fish with pico de gallo). yum. then i came here to VPL (Vancouver Public Library - not the other thing) to write the last 2 posts.