Finally an Update! And Grouse Mountain

Hey guys, it has been FOREVER I know. I'm sorry. I put off all my school work because I am a piece of shit, and got swamped at the end of the semester. And for finals. And then I had work. Ugh.
But, that's all over now, so we can go back to updates!

During March, one of my friends from Korea, who is currently on exchange in Texas, came to visit. She had never been to Canada before, so we decided to give her the BIG Canadian experience, starting with a trip to Grouse Mountain.
I know, I've been here a few times now, but this was the first time that I went while there was snow and skiing (I did not go skiing)

It was SUPER cold up on the mountain, which was to be expected. The day was nice in the city though, which always makes it hard to dress accordingly.

For my first time ever, I actually got some food from the mountains chalet. It was surprisingly good, and decently priced. I got a fake chicken cutlet, with fries and BBQ sauce, and my friend got pizza and fries. Mine was delicious, and hers looked pretty good too. The coffee, however, was pretty average. Drinkable, but not refill worthy.

It was an enjoyable day, despite not being able to get to the bear area (only accessible for people with skies, or snow shoes) or beaver tails (same reason).  I think it was pretty Canadian, and she had a lovely time as well, so that's a win in my books.

New area

way way WAY back in the day, I mentioned that I was moving into the apartments at my school, yea? I'm sure I did. Anyways, I'm all moved and stuff, and, I gotta tell you, living on a mountain is great! It is also super convenient for school and classes and stuff. Not so much for work though. It takes almost an hour to get to work on the weekends, which sucks, but is alright.

So, I got some pictures of my "backyard" for you guys. Now, I don't actually have a backyard-I live in an apartment, that would just be silly. BUT, my building is hella close to the bike/walking paths, where we go jogging quite often. Its really pretty, but, I'll just show you.

These are from the late summer, early fall:

Pretty, right? I have a great view of the Coast mountains, and the Inlet that separates Vancouver from North Vancouver (clever names, right?). One of those mountains is Grouse, which we climbed earlier this year as well! This area is part of a conservation area, and there are bears and deer and all sorts of other wild animals that roam the woods. I haven't seen a bear yet, and I'll have to wait for the spring, when they come out of hibernation. I have seen deer and raccoon, and TONNES of birds.

And we also get some of the greatest views of the city proper. Especially sunset, which dips like red fire across the horizon.

These are from mid-late autumn, early winter(ish)

Busy, and mountain climbing

I am trying to be better at being not busy, but apparently, that isn't happening. But, the thing is, I think I have time, I just have terrible time management. So, I'm going to try and work on that, and keep this updated more regularly than it has been lately.

That said, I had a friend down from Ontario, and, much to her dismay, I dragged her ass up the Grouse Grind. She was NOT impressed. Not until she got to the top, of course.

See, the thing is-the air is different in BC than it is in Ontario. Less smog, no humidity, but its also a lot thinner, making it hard on people who aren't used to it.
I don't find it that bad, but, I've been here for, like, 7 years. If it still bothered me, well, that would be a condition of sorts, right?

Absolutely breathtaking view from the top of the mountain. Totally worth the grueling hike up the mountain. I would like to try it again, just to see what my best time is right now. I'm thinking somewhere in the 35-50 minute range. The first 1/4 is brutal, but the rest gets easier, and the body just kinda deals with it.
Now, one thing to keep in mind here is that, while it was May during the hike, it's still a mountain. Which is above the snow line. Which, you guessed it, means snow. It was SOOO cold! Holy crap, wow. Freezing. It doesn't look bad in the pictures, but, the area with the bears had at least 3m of snow. They were also still in hibernation.

So, overall, it was a lot of fun, despite the difficulty of getting up. There were a few moments when we thought we'd have to turn back, but, we made it, with spirits mostly intact.

Hopefully, it won't be such a long wait before my next update!

xox

Visiting Friends

Wow, has it been a busy month! And it is just going to get busier, before it gets better. But, that's cool. I'll do a point form thing of what I've been up to in the next post, but, this time, I had some friends come and visit!

They have visited before, but this time, they stayed longer (a bit) and we were not just at the Comic Con.

We tried to go and do the Grouse Grind, but the damn thing wasn't open for the season yet. For serious, I felt so stupid bringing them up there, and then failing in our mission.
Oh well, the views and walk that we did do was great.

After that failed event, we went for a walk around Stanley Park, and specifically the Beaver Dam. It was weird, there were no chickadees out for feeding, which is one of the main reasons we went out there. There were some cranes and wood ducks about though, and that was pretty cool. Not into being fed, mind you, but cool.

We also did some walking around the beach, and got to see some baby geese, and other awesome Vancouver type shit. We also walked around the Rose gardens, which had many flowers already in bloom-mostly tulips. There was also a really cool bee hive, set up an an initiative for supporting the bee populations to ensure the pollination of the flowers in the gardens. It was pretty science-y.

We finished the evening with a pretty solid dinner at Capstone, which you may remember from my previous post about fondue. It was the same place, but they changed the fruits and veggies that came with the cheese and chocolate a little, and added some extra other things-like ice cream! Seriously, this place is amazing. So tasty, and surprisingly filling. This filled 4 of us, after a long day of walking.

Photos from school

I promised you guys some photos from my awesome on a mountain school. I finally bothered to connect my phone to my laptop, so here's a bunch of photos that are school related. Mostly.

Lynn Valley

A few weeks ago, before all the rain and-in the mountains-snow, the hubs and I went to Lynn Valley. Call it a last of the season hike if you will, even though I think we will be going for a few more throughout the winter season. That's one of the awesome things about Vancouver-many hiking trails are open year round.

Lynn Valley is huge. Like, mindbogglingly massive. You can walk from Mount Seymour to Grouse via Lynn Valley. Sure, its an almost 30K trek, but it is doable. There is a lake there that we didn't even find. An Entire Lake. Not found. Shows how big we're talking.

There are rivers, waterfalls, ponds, and all kinds of plant life. It's fantastic. Other cool thing? It has visible remnants of the last ice age, carved out in its cliffs and gorge. Nothing like a glacier park to make me happy.

No, seriously. I love this stuff.

Now for the photos!

xox