- 7:00 a.m. Awake
- 9:00 a.m. Blenz Coffee Bentall 5 - Breakfast
- 9:15 a.m. Vancouver Convention Centre - Breakfast
- 10:42 a.m. Capilano Suspension Bridge
- Noon Bus to Grouse Mountain
- 12:20 p.m. Start Grouse Grind trail ascent
- 2:24 p.m. Finish Grouse Grind trail ascent (2 hours, 4 minutes)
- 2:30 p.m. Grouse Mountain summit cafe - Lunch
- 2:40 p.m. Grouse Mountain summit gift shop
- 2:50 p.m. Board gondola to return to parking lot
- 2:56 p.m. Disembark gondola
- 3:10 p.m. Board bus to Lonsdale Quay
- 3:45 p.m. Lonsdale Quay - Boarding SeaBus
- 4:00 p.m. Canada Place - Disembarking SeaBus
- 5:30 p.m. Dawn's conference presentation
- 6:57 p.m. La Taqueria Pinche Taco Shop - Dinner
- 7:30 p.m. Hotel - shower, change clothes, receipts, blogging, and so forth
- 9:40 p.m. Dawn done with convention dinner
- 10:00 p.m. Vancouver Lookout
- 11:00 p.m. Back at hotel
- 11:30 p.m. Asleep
NOTES
- Sick - runny nose; moving forward nonetheless
- Capilano Suspension Bridge:
- Arrived around 10:30 a.m. and glad not later--coming back across the suspension bridge was a crawl by 11:30 a.m.
- Bridge wobbles but has fine chain fence enclosures and thick cable at my elbow height, so didn't feel afraid, just a bit off balance
- Skipped bathrooms by parking lot (line) and found bathrooms inside the gate empty
- Treetops Adventure was well done but I moved through it quickly...wanted to get through it and get to Grouse Mountain
- Cliffwalk was also well done but moved through quickly
- Wifi password: "csbguest"
- Grouse Mountain's Grouse Grind trail:
- Facts (via):
- 2.9-kilometre trail up the face of Grouse Mountain, commonly referred to as “Mother Nature’s Stairmaster.”
- Elevation Gain: 853 metres (2,800 feet)
- Base: 274 metres above sea level (900 feet)
- Summit: 1,127 metres (3,700 feet)
- Total Stairs: 2,830
- Completed in 2:04:00 (average time: 90 minutes)
- Saw woman with baby climbing
- Took a slow methodical climb and finished feeling tired--but not wrecked...rest of day was able to function OK
- Entrance was quite a bit away from the gondolas, out on the road
- Regretted not wearing technical shirt--cotton tee shirt soaked up sweat and shocked me with cold when put backpack back on
- Stopped a few times to rest, eat a bit of a cheese muffin, and drink water...really out to enjoy
- Quite a few people out for speed and let them by; easy to hear huffing and puffing as they approached
- Lots of trees and a few chipmunks...saw bits of the bay far below nearer the top
- Getting to "1/4 Mile" sign put in perspective how far/long ascent would take
- Another woman complained of asthma and stopped frequently...I trailed her and her daughter for some time, until I took a break and they disappeared on ahead
- Lots of handy ropes and stairs...helped me a few times keep balanced
- Gave up caring about wiping away sweat after about 30 minutes...realized no way to finish without getting drenched...accepted it and moved on
- Gondola down took only six minutes
- Proud I finished
- SeaBus:
- No problems at all; super easy to board/disembark
- Saw a helijet with rotors spinning on the Vancouver side
- Learned "quay" gets prounced "key", not like "quail"
- Dawn's presentation:
- Thought she did a great job; sounded confident and slides looked professional
- Enjoyed seeing other presenters discuss microrobotics topics, including a mini robot that follows plumes of aerosols to the source using Levy Walk and spiral surge techniques
- Vancouver Lookout: empty when we visited (10:00 p.m.)...beautiful city lights
- Food:
- Vancouver Convention Centre coffee shop - pumpkin muffin, sausage biscuit, cheese muffin, espresso shot
- Capilano Suspension Bridge - Earl Gray tea to help soothe throat
- Grouse Mountain Summit - Espresso shot
- La Taqueria Pinche Taco Shop - breakfast burrito special (black beans, soft egg, mini potatoes, etc.)
- Canada Place - Jugo Juice Acai Protein
