I love being a blogger. I love being a blogger in Vancouver where I am lucky enough to get invited to try out many of the local attractions including things like Theatre Under the Stars and Grouse Mountain. Even if you are not a skier, Grouse Mountain is always there. You cannot miss it at night with the ski hills lit up and you can, now on a clear day spot that amazing wind turbine, the Eye of the Wind perched on its peak.
We are not skiers, but we have been tourists prior to living in Vancouver and have also had the pleasure of taking visitors up to Grouse over the years. I have also headed up there on two preschool visits. Being a family on a budget, we have not explored too many of the attractions on Grouse, since the ride up there is pricey enough at $39.95. However that price includes a lot of mountain top fun, including the hilarious Lumberjack show, a ranger talk about the resident Grizzly Bears, and many other seasonal activities.
Being asked to explore up there, therefore, was a rare treat for us and cause for much excitement when we headed up last Tuesday for a day packed full of fun Grouse Mountain style. Loaded up with sun screen, hats and water, and our list of scheduled activities, we were ready to take on the mountain. Or after we ate up there first. Dang kids.
We checked out the resident Grizzlies first. Grinder and Coola have grown a LOT since I first saw them as roly poly cubs. Their stories of rescue are sadly not uncommon when humans and animals mix. They have an amazingly large refuge up on the mountain though and so I hope it keeps them happy. We also spotted the white wolves running below us on the Skyride.
Next on our agenda was the Lumberjack show. Oh my, those are good looking young men. The “drunken tourist” added to the thrills and Caity was quite worried about his well-being. Nothing like brawn and circus acrobatics mixed together up on top of a mountain.
Next on our schedule was the Zip Line. Now, we had watched the folks zooming over the path from the sky ride to the lumberjack show and based on that, we figured PIECE OF CAKE. Ahem. It pays to read the brochure more carefully as this was a lot more than a wee zip from tower to tower. There are five dual line routes. The last two are strung between two peaks, dropping you at the base of the Eye of the Wind. For a person like me and my brave children, this was an EPIC adventure. There we were, kitted up in harnesses and head gear, signing my children’s lives away in waivers, ready to send them hurtling across the void on a tiny skinny wire.
We didn’t really quite get what we were doing until we slammed into the end of that second FAST wire. I am no lightweight and all I can say is thank goodness I was SURE about my weight falling within their safety parameters. They told us it was a fast ride and they meant it. Even in our starfish positions we screamed down the line. We are all a bit stunned after that.
I think Caity was starting to feel a bit of trepidation as we took the leisurely Peak Chair Lift up to the final two lines. Believe it or not, I managed to take in the view. It was breathtaking. We were flying above the world, at great speed. The wind was whistling in our ears, the end of the line rushing up with the capable guides ready to rescue us in a moment as we slammed into the end of the run. And then it was over. We sped across the last line and staggered hot and exhausted to the base of the Eye of the Wind where we met my mom and Tara who had managed to catch most of our adventure.
An adventure it was. What an amazing experience to share with my children. We did something crazy and exhilarating together, which they now want to do all over again. I would have originally balked the price – $109 – but that price includes the Skyride, the mountain top activities LIKE the Lumberjack show and access to the Peak Chair Lift. Let’s not forget that this is a 5 line, two hour adventure.
Finishing our adventure staring out at the world from the amazing Eye of the Wind with its amazing 360 view from the peak of Grouse Mountain was perfect. Having a place like Grouse Mountain in our own backyard makes me remember why I love living in Vancouver. We have this amazing alpine playground right there at our finger tips. The beauty, the wilderness, the essence of the west coast, all there at Grouse Mountain.
My day with my family up on the mountain reinforced for me the want and the need to give my kids every kind of experience and adventure that I never had. I may not have the money or the talents or the skills to take them all around the world, but here in my own backyard I can at least instill that sense of adventure. With places like Grouse offering their Local’s Annual Pass, I can give them a hint of the possibilities out there. Nature, adventure, and pushing yourselves into new situations and having fun doing it, all right at our front door.
Who Blogged it Best? Grouse Mountain is running a great little contest in which you can win one of their Annual Passes and other great experiences like the Zipline and the Eye of the Wind simply by voting…FOR ME! 🙂 Check out the other great posts where the blogger’s share their Grouse experiences.
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