'Vancouver Town' - Rolf Harris
The 'Sea to Sky' highway has it all. Snowy mountains, lakes, creeks, glaciers, a squillion trees, sea views, the whole shebang. Gorgeous. The road south to Whistler is narrow, twisting and has very steep grades. The road from Whistler down to Vancouver was massively improved for the 2010 winter Olympics.
I first visited Vancouver almost forty years ago. I caught my thrilling first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean as I cane in to land from London in pouring rain (it is rain forest) and we went straight off on a camping trip. When we returned, three weeks later, I was astounded at how beautiful it was, with bright sunshine glistening on the Pacific and discovering that it was surrounded by snowy mountains that had all been hidden in the murky weather when I arrived. It was so much smaller then. It is still lovely though.
Today, we arrived in the gloom, with not a mountain to be seen and the sea a murky grey. Never mind; we were both here not long ago and had already decided not to dawdle on this trip. We just drove through Stanley Park over the scary Lion's Gate Bridge and from thence back into the USA.
Just north of Vancouver, at Britannia Beach, we went into a copper mine. We are now far more educated on this subject than when we woke up this morning. Although I happily use the tube all the time at home, I have a horror of caves. Nothing gave me greater relief than when George ended a brief dalliance with pot holing when he first went up to Oxford. So it was with great braveness that I went down the mine. It is a very atmospheric place and many movies have been shot there, including (thrillingly) Scooby Doo. Surprisingly, the road from Vancouver was only built in 1958 and so all the mine staff and their families only had access via steam ship. It was a true 'company town'.
I first visited Vancouver almost forty years ago. I caught my thrilling first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean as I cane in to land from London in pouring rain (it is rain forest) and we went straight off on a camping trip. When we returned, three weeks later, I was astounded at how beautiful it was, with bright sunshine glistening on the Pacific and discovering that it was surrounded by snowy mountains that had all been hidden in the murky weather when I arrived. It was so much smaller then. It is still lovely though.
Today, we arrived in the gloom, with not a mountain to be seen and the sea a murky grey. Never mind; we were both here not long ago and had already decided not to dawdle on this trip. We just drove through Stanley Park over the scary Lion's Gate Bridge and from thence back into the USA.
Just north of Vancouver, at Britannia Beach, we went into a copper mine. We are now far more educated on this subject than when we woke up this morning. Although I happily use the tube all the time at home, I have a horror of caves. Nothing gave me greater relief than when George ended a brief dalliance with pot holing when he first went up to Oxford. So it was with great braveness that I went down the mine. It is a very atmospheric place and many movies have been shot there, including (thrillingly) Scooby Doo. Surprisingly, the road from Vancouver was only built in 1958 and so all the mine staff and their families only had access via steam ship. It was a true 'company town'.
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