A Drunken Walk

                                   Long Suspension Bridge

     In Vancouver, Canada I could not resist walking across the longest suspension bridge in the world.  At  230-feet above the rushing Capilano River the 450-foot long bridge swayed with dizzying vigor. The wind swooped down to snare a man’s hat off his head carrying it like a floating balloon over the valley.

     The setting for this steel suspension bridge is in a temperate rain forest in British Columbia, Canada.  Many timid visitors watched as others stepped onto and walked drunkenly across the ravine. I compared it much like walking on a tightrope.

     A Scotsman by  the name of Mackay was so impressed with the beauty of the area that in 1888 he bought 6000 acres spanning both sides of the river.  The following year he suspended a hemp rope and cedar plank footbridge across the deep ravine.

    The bridge became quite an attraction and in 1903 a more secure wire bridge was built. Over the century the bridge was sold four times and the fourth and present steel cable bridge was built in 1956 with 13 tons of concrete firmly anchoring the cables in place on each end of the bridge. In 1962  hurricane Freda uprooted 82 large trees in the park with eight of them falling on the footbridge, but caused no damage!

    On the other side of the  swaying bridge I hiked several of the nature trails through the rainforest. Excellent interpretive signs, with delightful imaginative art work were informative. On successive trips to Vancouver I always make my way to Capilano to again cross the bridge.

On one trip there was a story pole carver on the premises who was happy to answer questions and explain his craft and the history of story poles.

    With no wind blowing it is  quite an easy walk. No matter what the weather, the lovely park-like forest on the far side is worth the walk, swaying and wobbly or not.

HIGH TEAS

                          The Empress Hotel  High Tea and Alternative

In 1908 the   chateau- style Empress Hotel was built by the Canadian and Pacific Railroad as

the most western hotel in its chain across Canada. Overlooking the harbor, it has become a symbol of Victoria and now is a National Historical Landmark of Canada.

In 1965 there was much debate about tearing down what had become a faded, dowdy hotel to make room for a more modern high-rise hotel. But because of civic concern the hotel underwent a renovation in 1965. In 1999, Canadian Pacific spun off its Canadian Pacific Hotels to the Fairmont Hotel chain.

The Empress now has three sittings for tea each afternoon. I was disappointed to see that tea is now served in the hotel lobby, often with a line of people waiting to get in. That couldn’t hold a candle to the wonderful high-tea I had in 1989 in the hotel’s Crystal Ballroom. The tux-clad waiters were attentive as they served us tiny finger sandwiches, scones with jelly and clotted crème with our tea.

Although not enthusiastic about either the setting or $60 fee I did tell my travelling buddy I was willing, but the call was hers. We decided to enjoy tea at the Point Ellice House and that was an excellent choice.

Since the Point Ellice House was on the Gorge it was a pleasant walk from our hotel. Another couple joined us. Tea was served in the old carriage house, which was built in the same spot where the burned barn had stood. We were at our table with linen tablecloth/napkins for nearly two hours. Besides finger sandwiches we also were served sweets, scones and all the tea we wanted to drink. We ate the scones in the proper manner as described in the Point Ellice brochure.

This tearoom also served as a small gift shop with some lovely things for sale. It was nice to see the absence of all the tourist junk.

Our server told us, “During the 19^th century this was an area full of lovely Victorian homes where the gentry and well to do people lived. This Italianate cottage was built in 1861, and was enlarged and landscaped between 1875-89. The O’Reillys, with four children, moved into the house in 1867. Peter O’Reilly was Irish and lived from 1828 to 1905.

“The O’Reilly family occupied the home for 106 years. Mr. O’Reilly was a government official. The family never threw anything away. They kept extensive records even including workmen who arrived to do various chores. There are over 10,000 Victorian objects in the home. The property extends several hundred feet along the Gorge.”

Mrs. O’Reilly apparently wrote a cookbook where there were three recipes for lemon curd or lemon cheesecake. Except for hot cocoa and candy or bon bons, chocolate did not exist in Victorian cooking. There was no such thing as brownies, chocolate chip cookies, or chocolate cake.

One daughter, Kathleen, was quite an accomplished artist and several of her paintings are on view in the house. She never married, as she found life at Ellice house too comfortable and happy.  She remained in the house until her death in 1945. After that the house passed to a nephew. In 1975 the Provincial Government bought the property.

After tea we toured the house. We each were given headphones, that worked wonderfully well, and a cassette recorder. The Chinese houseboy told the story of the house. Periodically he was interrupted by the English parlor maid with some tid bit of information. Occasionally an excerpt from a diary was read. It was a very creative, imaginative way to tell the story.

It was a delightful way to spend the afternoon and to end our visit to Victoria.

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA

           A Fun Day With A New Friend

            With a full day planned ahead of us, we were up early and had breakfast before walking down to Canada Place. We were the only people on the link-bus with the driver, Andrew, a friendly informative young man. Our first stop on this fine day was Capilano Suspension Bridge. (see post in March ‘11)

            After enjoying the rain forest park on the other side of the swinging bridge we returned and admired the many story poles on the grounds and talked a bit with one of the carvers. The First Nation’s people are trying to eliminate the term totem pole by calling them story poles. The Spanish thought the natives worshiped the poles and thus called them totems, which in Spanish means idol. That is not the case as the poles tell a story, usually the family history.

            Then we returned to the bus stop and flagged down Andrew, who had instructed us to do so. After only a short wait he returned to pick us up for the ride up Grouse Mountain. On the bus was a lone Aussie, Ann, from Adelaide. Australia.  Having visited her home town, we got to talking and learned she was traveling alone, so we asked her to join us for lunch and the afternoon.

            We rode the large gondola 3700-feet up the mountain. The views from the Altitudes Observation Restaurant were spectacular. We watched clouds drift past completely obscuring our view except that of the falling snow. Then the clouds would drift off and it would be clear and we could see the ocean below. We enjoyed a hot leisurely lunch before watching a movie about the mountain and its activities. There were four grizzly bears in a sanctuary on the property, but to get there we would have had to slosh through wet slushy snow and none of us was wearing appropriate footwear. We spent most of the afternoon on the mountain.

Since it was a beautiful clear evening we elected to eat at the revolving restaurant, which happened to be at the top of our hotel. We had a leisurely dinner enjoying the view as we rotated one and a half times. Since we’d been in Vancouver several days we recognized many of the buildings down below as the restaurant revolved. It was the perfect end to a fun full day. 

ADVENTURE OVER A RIVER

A SWINGING BRIDGE

My first visit to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada was a cruise stop. I saw just enough to whet my appetite to see more of this marvelous city. However, on that first trip many years ago I did walk across the Capilano Bridge.

On my week-long visit with Jan I had a couple of things I wanted to make sure she saw and the swinging bridge was one of them. Like me, she is pretty fearless, so I knew there would be no problem in getting her to walk across the bridge suspended over the river 230 feet below!

The bridge is located in the Pacific Northwest Temperate Rainforest which extends from northern California to southern Alaska. The Capilano area receives 78-97 inches of rain a year! The Western Red Cedar here grows up to 200 feet tall.

The 450-foot long foot-bridge over the Capilano River is the longest suspension bridge in the world. A Scotsman by the name of George Grant Mackey, a civil engineer, was so impressed with the beauty of the area that he built a cabin for himself and his wife. Then in 1889 with the help of local natives and a team of horses he pulled taut the first cedar plank and hemp rope bridge over the gorge.

The bridge became such an attraction that in 1903 a more secure wire bridge was built. In 1914 that bridge was replaced with another wire bridge with both cable ends firmly encased in concrete. The fourth and present bridge was built in 1956. There are 13 tons of concrete anchoring each end. During a 1962 hurricane eight large trees fell on the bridge, but remarkably resulted in no damage to the bridge!

On my first trip the wind was blowing pretty hard and blew a couple of hats off heads carrying them into the ravine below. This time the winds were a lot calmer, but the bridge still swayed pretty well with several people crossing at the same time. On this trip we took the time to enjoy the wonderful walking paths through the forest on the other side of the gorge. There are several creative colorful information signs stating fun information along the way. Several benches are located in picturesque spots for one to sit and enjoy the peace and sounds of nature.

Capilano is too far to walk from downtown, but the local bus took us right there and the friendly driver told us what his return times were so we could   either go farther up to Grouse Mountain or to return to town.