John suggested we walk into the city, which I was very happy to agree to. It is an hour to Canada Place from here and downhill for half the way and flat for the rest. At 8.30ish it was also not hot, although the forecast was for the mid 20’s.

We went into the Dr Sun Yat Sen classical Chinese Garden using a side entrance and followed the path around to the cache. I was busy counting down and didn’t even see the tortoise on the path, but John did and stopped me to admire it (she nearly stepped on it! – JB). The listing asked us to spot the cache and not just feel for it as it is in an Urban Park….and ‘beware of sharps’. We had been thinking about wildlife in Canada but not about needles in parks. It was no problem to find and pick up, but the warning was sobering.

We left out the main entrance and by then the park was getting busy. I checked later to find it was the first Chinese or "scholars" garden built outside of China, located here in Chinatown. The mandate of the garden is to “maintain and enhance the bridge of understanding between Chinese and western cultures, promote Chinese culture generally and be an integral part of the local community. ” The garden is named in honour of Dr. Sun Yat-Sen a nationalist leader who is considered the “father of modern China.” The attribution is not arbitrary, as it emphasizes his connection with Vancouver. While traveling the world to raise awareness of, and funding for, the Chinese nationalist movement, Sun Yat-Sen stayed in Vancouver on three different occasions for extended periods.

The cache was in the free park, but there is also a garden which has a charge for entry. We were happy to be in the free bit. The main pool was quite milky so John was not surprised to see some large Carp in it. It did allow for some nice reflections though.

The next block or so I was pleased to get through. We had seen a few cannabis cafes as we walked and also seen a few people sleeping in parks. In this area there were a number of beggars and also people using hard drugs on the street – so the sharps warning was clearly real.

The Gastown area was familiar to us from our one previous stay here so we did not go to see the Steam Clock, although it was only a slight detour. We were heading to Canada Place to see if we could get the free shuttle to Grouse Mountain when we spotted some volunteers outside the station. We were advised to go to the Information Centre and that was perfect. They sold us a ticket we can use all day for the trains tomorrow and tickets for Grouse Mountain so we did not have to queue. The free shuttle even went just over the road, and, although we did have to wait for a new one to arrive, it gave us time for welcome, though expensive, ice-creams.

The driver of the shuttle was very chatty and we also found the couple behind us were from New Zealand as well (Thames). It was a 25-minute ride in the cool air-conditioned bus to get to the Skyride and very little delay to get on-board. A big group of young school children were also heading up when we arrived and we saw them throughout the day.

Grouse Mountain is one of the North Shore Mountains of the Pacific Ranges. It is named after the sooty grouse which is found in the area.  With a maximum elevation of over 1,200m (4,100 feet) at its peak, the mountain is the site of an alpine ski area, Grouse Mountain Resort, which overlooks Greater Vancouver. In the summer, Grouse Mountain Resort features lumberjack shows, the "Birds in Motion" birds of prey demonstration, a scenic chairlift ride, disc golf, mountain biking, zip lining, tandem paragliding, helicopter tours, and a guided eco-walk. The mountain operates aerial tramways, known officially as the Skyride. The Summer access is also provided by the 2. 9 kilometre Grouse Grind hiking trail, which is open for hiking from May to October. The trail is very popular, but also very demanding rising 853m in that short distance. There are 2830 stairs on the way. Annually, over 150,000 people hike the track taking on average up to an hour and a half to complete the hike. The record is about 23 minutes.

After we got to the top we headed for the lumberjack show, which had good reviews. It had 2 people who chopped, used a saw, threw axes and climbed a tall tower. In the meantime, they were supposedly in a competition but it was all scripted banter and the second show we saw part off seemed identical, although still fun. It was meant to finish with a log rolling competition with a twist at the start, but the final twist was at the end. A supposedly dopey tourist went up the pole and did an act 60 feet in the air. It was a clever end. The script was also good with sly allusions that were geared at the adults in the audience.

We were thirsty more than hungry but John joined the queue for bbq food and drinks while I found a table and moved it into the shade. It was in the mid 20’s and the sun had a lot of heat in it so all the umbrella tables had gone. We enjoyed our meal but it took too long for us to see the bird show.

Instead we walked to see the Grizzly Bears. The park has 2 that were orphaned. Grinder was found in 2001 in Invermere, BC. He was wandering alone on a logging road, dehydrated, thin, weak and weighing only 4. 5 kg. His mother was never found so we’ll probably never know why he was alone. Grinder is outgoing and high-spirited. He has established himself as the dominant bear despite his smaller size. If you see Grinder and Coola play fighting, you can bet he started it. In 2001, Coola was found orphaned on a highway near Bella Coola, BC. His mother had been killed by a truck and, of her three cubs, Coola was the only one to survive. Coola is an easy-going bear, content to let Grinder take the lead in new discoveries. He can usually be found submerged up to his neck in the large pond, carefully feeling around for his underwater 'bath toys' - a log, large bone and favourite rock. We didn’t test the easy going part and were happy to be behind the barriers as the bears are huge.

The park has Rangers and they did a number of talks during the day. I was sorry we missed the one about the Birds as we could hear some of it and it sounded good. But we missed the first show and by the time the second one would have been on it was 31degrees and we had headed back down to the shuttle.

In the meantime we had gone up the Peak Chairlift to the top. I had done a chairlift in Cesky Krumlov which had been fine but this was higher and more open so I was stupidly nervous. Closing my eyes helped. I did ask about walking down but it is not advised and it would not be fair on John. Going down was easier as well. We were lucky with timing so got on quickly in both directions and had just 2 of us on the seat. When we got back to the bottom, the groups of 4 were being enforced from what we could see.

We also did the Eye of the Wind at the top. It was from an observation deck (accessible by elevator)^] on a 1.5 megawatt wind turbine at the peak of the resort. The facility, which is anticipated to eventually supply 25% of the resort’s electricity, is the first wind turbine built in North America in an extreme high altitude location. It was inaugurated on February 5, 2010, by BC Premier Gordon Campbell prior to the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games. The turbine weighs more than 250 tonnes and rises 65 metres from its base to the top of the tower. Three 37.4 metre, fiberglass reinforced polyester blades sweep an area of 4,657 square metres. The views were OK but the day was a bit hazy and this had an impact.

From the shuttle we headed home to get into the cool. We stopped first for a drink and a snack which we were pleased about as it was warm on the bus.

We headed up the road for a later dinner with no real idea of what we wanted. We ended up in a great little place that had great beef for John and delicious gnocchi for me. The woman who seemed to own the place was very welcoming and friendly and made suggestions for tomorrow to us. She was keen to recommend a number of beaches, one of which is dress optional we were warned. We are not likely to go to a beach in the time we have left but it was kind of her to give advice.

We then quietly strolled back to our BnB with the temperature still in the high 20’s at 9.30pm.