Vancouver 2016 Day 9: Capilano Suspension Bridge

10/22/2016
Vancouver 2016 Day 9: Capilano Suspension Bridge

Today we started off with a checkout from my work hotel and a checkin at the Fairmont as our final nights stay. We dropped off our stuff and then headed to the Public Market to go enjoy the market again and so I could share the epicness of the Rosemary Sea Salt bagels with Michal, and also buy like 4 of those awesome turkey stick pepperoni things. Amazing.

EPIC BAGEL

Michal got her new Merrells, and they match mine!

Nanaimo Bars... yes

We got a couple more apples, cause as I mentioned earlier, west coast apples are literally the best apples. Armed with some snacks, we got a Car2Go and drove up over the north bridge and towards Grouse Mountain.

We first stopped off at a South African store as mentioned by a friend at work, to grab some necessary biltong and chat with the shopkeepers.

Now, I had kinda failed at the planning for this, as I thought from my brief look that you could drop a Car2Go at the Capilano Suspension Bridge. You cannot. It turns out you need to drop it waaaaayyyyy up the hill at the Grouse Mountain parking lot, which is at least a good 5-7 min drive further than the Capilano Suspension Bridge. Fail!! So we dropped it there and then were like... "Uh... what do we do now?"

We waited for a bit at a bus stop but it seemed like the busses weren't going the way we were going and it was a bit of a fail. It seemed like it would be a 30 min walk or so back to the place we were aiming for and we really wanted to get there more swiftly. So, we hitchhiked.

At first no one stopped for us, but after only a few short minutes a middle-aged British lady in a fancy Acura SUV stopped and asked if we wanted a ride... with one stipulation. She was on her way to pick up a dishwasher (that someone had left for her on the side of the road?!) and he husband said to find someone along the way willing to help her lift it into the car. She said it was up to us, but she'd happily give us a ride if we agreed to first help her lift the Dish Washer into the trunk. Ha! I said we were trying to get there quickly.. but... if it was close... sure! We drove a little past the bridge area and to a side street where, sure enough, the "free to a good home" dishwasher was still available. I helped her get it into the car and then she dropped us off at the bridge. Win, win!

The bridge was beautiful but slightly terrifying. There were a lot of people on it and MAN that thing sure sways a lot back and forth!! Jeez!!! I did not expect it to be so sway-y, and I was kindof glad to be at the other end of it. (That said, you still need to cross back on the same bridge on the way back!)

Once we got to the other side safely, it was cool to check out the other walkways and they had another fun walking thing between the trees, which was also kindof scary! Fun times though.

We stopped along one of the hikes for another snack until at some point they let us know that the trail was closing. We finished up our bagels and random dried meats and then headed across the bridge again on the way back. It was a bit less insane on the way back as there were less people on it, so that was good :) You can still see me gripping the side for dear life, though.

We were then running a bit late for our dinner meet-up with our friends Lianne and Kristin, so we took the bus to the Water Taxi terminal and managed to get across quickly on the Water Taxi. That was pretty sweet as it dropped us basically right in Gastown and only a couple blocks away from the restaurant we were going to!! Pretty sweet. We met our friends at this place called the Pourhouse and it was a great dinner and a great catchup with them.

After dinner, we headed to yet another place on my food hitlist, Cartem's Doughnuterie. It was a fun spot and the person at the counter was so pleased with my overexcitement for their doughnuts that she gave me a coupon for the next one free (that keeps happening to me!) Since we were leaving the next day I gave the coupon to our friends. :) A great spot and a nice place for a coffee and a dessert to share to finish off the meal.

Michal and I then headed back to the hotel and started packing up our stuff. After some SNL and hanging out, it seemed quite necessary to have one more Poutine. I was saving the piece-de-resistance, La Belle Patate, for when Michal had arrived. Even though I am insane, she was on-board, and we got a Car2Go and drove 6 or 7 min across downtown to go pick up some Poutine at like 1:30am. Crazy crazy. It was tasty and we slept well.