Vancouver and the Rockies July/August 2018 - Day 3 - Capilano Bridge, English Bay & The Keg

[jocat]

Index is here.

Day 3 - Wednesday 25th July 2018 – Vancouver – Capilano Suspension Bridge, English Bay and the Keg

We woke a few times throughout the night, but only for a minute or so each time. At 6:30am though, the sun was coming in through the sheer curtains - it seems we’d forgotten to close the blackout blinds behind them.

We got ready for the day and decided to eat breakfast in the hotel again this morning. We made it there for about 7:45 am and both opted for the continental option today. We did a bit of swapping and I ended up with the two pots of fruit with my toast and gave Martin my granola – the yoghurt had a bit of a funny consistency for me. As breakfast included tea or coffee, orange juice and toast, I’m still finding it quite good value at $14 as the drinks alone would cost about $8.

We went back to the room to get the bag ready for the day, then left again at 8:50 am and crossed the road to the Roundhouse subway station. We were buying a days transit pass at a cost of $10.25, which includes the subway, buses and seabus. As it turned out, we probably didn’t get our money’s worth, as we ended up walking further than we planned.

We had decided to ditch Grouse Mountain from our plans, feeling we’d see similar in the Rockies and headed to Canada Place to catch the free shuttle to Capilano Suspension Bridge.

We bought our tickets to Capilano Suspension Bridge Park from the information booth at Canada Place, then waited for just 5 minutes until the shuttle arrived.

The driver was very good and gave us lots of information about Vancouver on the journey.

We arrived at the park by 9:45 am and headed straight for the bridge, thinking it was better to get it over and done with before it got too busy (can you tell I wasn’t looking forward to it? )

That proved to be a good plan. By 11 am we had walked the bridge, the treetops adventure, Nature’s Edge walk, Raptor’s Ridge, rainforest exhibition and crossed back over the bridge. The queue to go across the bridge was now huge!

I’d been really worried about the suspension bridge and it moving – I don’t even like the small bridge on Tom Sawyer Island in Magic Kingdom because it’s not a static bridge. I obviously managed the Capilano Bridge twice, but I was holding on for dear life as I worked my way across it and my legs were shaking for a while afterwards. I think that smile is more of a grimace!

Once we’d made our return back over the bridge, we had a 10 minute break, sharing a frozen lemonade, before heading to the cliff walk entrance and the canyon lookout.

Just before we left, we noticed there was at least a 20 minute queue just to cross the bridge. If you’re going, my advice is to go early!

We finished there at 12:15 pm, left the park and joined the queue for the shuttle bus back. Within a minute, we were boarding.

Once back at Canada Place, we decided to go for a drink and a spot of lunch. The first place we found was Mahony & Sons. We sat at the bar for a drink first, while we waited for a patio table in the shade. I ordered a glass of wine and Martin had a Stanley Park Amber ale.

We finished our drinks and moved to the patio where we ordered a Diet Coke each, a Caesar salad with salmon and a club sandwich. We haven’t had a bad meal yet in Vancouver. The bill came to $50 inclusive of tip.

We decided to catch a bus to English Bay, so walked a few blocks up nearby Burrard Street to Burrard Station. Once on the bus, we passed a lot of high end shops such as Tiffany’s, Louis Vuitton, Hermes etc until we turned down Robson Street and out towards the beach.

We arrived at English Bay and looked at the A-maze-ing Laughter statues, before walking down towards Sunset Beach.

We decided to walk back to Yaletown from here, however we weren’t banking on the lack of shade. It was really hot and a bit further than we anticipated. The last 15 minutes were hard and it was such a relief to get back to the hotel for a drink and a cool down.

We relaxed for an hour, before getting showered and ready for dinner. We had a reservation at the Keg around the corner from us at 7:15 pm.

We checked in and were taken to our table in the 2nd floor dining room. Martin ordered a Whistler IPA and I ordered a glass of wine.

The waiter brought us some bread to share, and we ordered our steaks - I had a 7oz fillet and Martin had a 10oz fillet. I ordered mine with garlic mash and Martin had a loaded baked potato. It was all delicious.

After dinner, Martin had a second drink, before we paid the bill before we left - $117 plus $20 tip.

I had started yawning at the dinner table - I’m only managing until about 8:30 pm before I’m tired, but at least I managed to stay awake until around 10 pm tonight!

We walked back to our hotel, and relaxed in front of the tv for an hour before I did fall asleep.

[parisdisneyfan]

Ok, you are a lot braver than me! Capilano bridge is definitely off my agenda for a future trip to Vancouver. I've had problems yesterday with just walking over small bridges over gorges Food and drink and the rest of the views look great though!

[MarionG]

We did brave the Capilano bridge when we were there although I'm not good with heights and bridges. Amazed at the queues. There were only us and a few other people on the bridge when we were on it 10 years ago.
We had a Keg restaurant in our hotel in Banff oooh those steaks...

[anji]

Wow! How much did the bridge actually move? I'm not sure I could do it - probably if I had a clear stagger at it, rather than waiting for other people to get out of the way but would want a large drink afterwards! Well done

[Gunna]

Well done on crossing the bridge, it does sway a bit especially, we felt, once you had passed the half way point. We went later in the day and benefited from smaller crowds although some people taking hundreds of photos of their groups in various set ups and on different phones and devices seemed to hold people up!

[jocat]

Originally Posted by parisdisneyfan

Ok, you are a lot braver than me! Capilano bridge is definitely off my agenda for a future trip to Vancouver. I've had problems yesterday with just walking over small bridges over gorges Food and drink and the rest of the views look great though!

See more...

If it was just up to me, I probably wouldn’t have done the bridge, but Martin was really keen to go there. He often doesn’t request much in the terms of planning places to visit on our trips, and is happy for me to organise things, so I had to make sure his wishes were taken into account really. I’m glad I managed to do it for him though.

Originally Posted by MarionG

We did brave the Capilano bridge when we were there although I'm not good with heights and bridges. Amazed at the queues. There were only us and a few other people on the bridge when we were on it 10 years ago.
We had a Keg restaurant in our hotel in Banff oooh those steaks...

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Even at the time we went, it was fairly busy on the bridge itself. It might not have moved so much if there were less people on it!

[jocat]

Originally Posted by anji

Wow! How much did the bridge actually move? I'm not sure I could do it - probably if I had a clear stagger at it, rather than waiting for other people to get out of the way but would want a large drink afterwards! Well done

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It wobbles quite a bit! I found it a bit disconcerting getting on to it in the first place, as you feel the movement as you’re stepping down on to it until it levels out a bit. It’s more that you feel other people’s footsteps, particularly if they’re quite heavy footed. A couple of people thought it would be funny to jump up and down a bit, but there were messages being played on a loudspeaker telling people not to do that.

Originally Posted by Gunna

Well done on crossing the bridge, it does sway a bit especially, we felt, once you had passed the half way point. We went later in the day and benefited from smaller crowds although some people taking hundreds of photos of their groups in various set ups and on different phones and devices seemed to hold people up!

See more...

It was quite an achievement for me, considering my hatred of unstable structures, but I’m glad I managed to do it.

Glad that you had smaller crowds when you went too.

[Melbatb]

We went early to Capilano (first bus of the day) but it was soon busy! It was such a lovely day. You did well crossing the suspension bridge if you don’t like them! It sure does wobble!

Again, you found another lovely restaurant for your evening meal!

[jocat]

Originally Posted by Melbatb

We went early to Capilano (first bus of the day) but it was soon busy! It was such a lovely day. You did well crossing the suspension bridge if you don’t like them! It sure does wobble!

Again, you found another lovely restaurant for your evening meal!

See more...

We nearly didn't do Capilano, as the intention was to do the Sea to Sky gondola tomorrow. Thank goodness Martin was really keen to do it - little did we know what was to come tomorrow to change our plans, so he would have been really disappointed to end up doing neither.

[WileyCoyote]

Ooh great day, go you on the bridge , looked worth the views and scenery. You are finding fab places to eat, it’s all looking yum. Nice afternoon too , very different sights , you must have been wilting in that heat though.