Day 12: The most “suspenseful” day of the tour

Hey Blog Land – Sorry you had to put-up with Aaron yesterday.  I will do my best to keep from subjecting you to that anymore.  He’s been so stressed-out from the “Funniest Staff Member Competition” lately, trying to keep-up with Andy in the battle for last place.  I think it’s starting to get to him a little.

What a great day we had yesterday!  It was a day-off of sorts, as we didn’t have any singing to do.  The day started with the boys loading the bus and saying goodbye to their host homes.  We didn’t have a good parking spot at the church, so we double-parked while Andy and I loaded the bus in the street.  The North Vancouver folks were very fond of the boys and spoiled them rotten with trinkets, snacks and praise. 

The only snafu of the morning was the case of the missing money box and freewill offering.  Despite the best efforts of the search parties, we couldn’t locate the previous night’s income.  As we were heading back towards the hotel to see if it was there by chance, we found it!  Whew!

The reason it was such an important deal, besides the obvious, was that it was our only Canadian currency for buying anything, especially souvenirs while in Canada.  Today’s journey had us traveling to the Capilano Suspension Bridge, located about 1 mile from the evening’s hotel stay for all the boys.  The bus was acting a little sluggish on the hills in the area, so Rodney dropped us off at the bridged and ventured-off to find a bus garage that could check the fuel filters on the bus. 

So the obvious question is:  why in the world is there a suspension bridge in the middle of North Vancouver?  The answer is simple:  Some man, whose name slips my mind at the moment, bought this land on a gorge, about 6,000 acres, about 100 years ago.  Apparently, he had too much money and time on his hands, and being an avid outdoorsman, desired to use his land for such activities.  Well, between his house and the rest of his land was this enormous gorge, which he decided he was tired of walking up and down, so he built a huge suspension bridge to walk across it.  A few years and capitalists later, it is now an awesome education and scenic tour. 

The entire site is very high quality and first rate.  Our trip started with a historical tour about the park and the journey it took to get to the present state it is in.  It was quite the story, which you can hear if you are ever in Vancouver and decide to go to Capilano Park.  (You can also hear it if your son is a good journaler.)  After a brief washroom stop, it was on to the awesome bridge.

The bridge is huge, at 420 feet long and the height of the Statue of Liberty’s eyes.  I am pretty proud to say that not a single boy was afraid to go across it!  We took our sweet time, swaying in the breeze and rocking with each step someone would take along the way.  You can really feel the breeze whistling through the canyon as well, which was pretty neat.  We were very high above the enormous Douglas Fir tree tops.

Once across the bridge, the boys gathered and were treated to a very cool nature tour about the rainforest we were at.  (It’s technically a “rainforest”, because of the rainfall it receives each year.  According to the tour guide, it is about 9 feet per year.)  He brought us around to the trees, some estimated to be 1300 years old.  The favorite part of the tour may have been the Banana Slug, which is native the area.  They are yellow, and about the size of a hot dog.  The reason they are so protected in the region is that they emit a slime that numbs the mouths of their prey.  The tour guide invited any boy to lick it, but the boys shied away from the idea.  (More to come on this, in a moment.)

Then it was onto the treetops.  The park had created a walkway in the treetops between seven of the larger trees in the park, bringing you over 100 feet above the ground overlooking the wildlife and vegetation around you.  The boys enjoyed this quite a bit, as they could walk around to their hearts content and take great pictures.  While we were waiting for the last few boys to finish-up, I told the few boys with me that I would put their picture in the blog if they went back to the Bananna Slug and took a lick.  Connor Withrow took me up on that offer, so here it is!

We made our way back across the bridge again, but the fun was not over yet!  The scariest part of the park is a cliff walk that suspends you off the point of a cliff and brings you on a walkway mounted to the side of a mountain.  At one point in the walk, you are actually walking on a glass floor, so you can imagine you are standing on air.  It was a pretty neat experience for the boys. 

The last stop was the gift store.  Seeing how we had limited Canadian Currency on hand (about half of our remaining funds were with Rodney and our bus being worked on…), I asked the boys to go easy in this gift store.  They responded by spending more money here than at any other stop on the tour.  Thanks boys, appreciate that one.

With the bus still finishing-up at the garage, we took the 1 mile walk back to the hotel.  (Don’t feel too bad for them, it was all downhill!)  By the time we arrived, the bus had too, and we ate our lunches in the parking lot while I checked all the boys in to the hotel.  We left all our bags on the bus and headed straight for rest period – and it was a good one!  I let the boys sleep a little longer than usual, since they were up so late the night before.  When I tried to wake them up, they wouldn’t get up!  So I let the sleeping boys sleep a little longer.  I think it was the right move.  They had free time in their rooms to work on letters, journals, repacking their suitcase and play their games until dinner.

While they were journaling, I scoped out the area for a good spot to eat, but nothing was really in our price range.  Even the Denny’s around the corner runs about $15 a meal.  So we did what anyone would do in our situation and ordered pizza for a pool party.  The boys didn’t wait 30 minutes after eating to go swimming, so I watched them extra close.  ;-)

After showers and a smidge more free time, it was off to bed to rest our little heads for our journey towards the east in the morning.

P.J.