Reunion and Grouse Mountain

Reunion of old friends - John Mahaffy and me.

The gondola to Grouse Mt summit.

Grizzly bears.

The lumberjack show - chopping...

sawing...

and log rolling.

An immature bald eagle (they don't get the white head until they mature).

A Harris hawk.

A great horned owl.

Thursday, August 3^rd.

My Porter flight to Vancouver left at 10:30 and arrived in Vancouver at 12:30 local time. My old friend John Mahaffy met me at the luggage carousel and then drove me from the airport up to Grouse Mountain. His grand nephew had given him two passes for the cable car lift to the summit where there were several tourist activities to check out. First, we had lunch at the restaurant at the summit. John and I have not seen each other for at least 30 years! I got in touch with him again a couple of years ago when a mutual friend passed away. We had texted numerous times since and talked or WhatsApped. I met John in junior high school and knew him through high school and for a time afterwards before our paths diverted. So over lunch we got to talking about our lives and some of our friends. After that we walked over to the bear enclosure where they have two grizzly bears that they are trying to rehabilitate. Then we took in the lumberjack show, where two lumberjacks competed in activities such as log cutting, axe throwing and 60-foot pole climbing. It was all funny and very entertaining. Next was the raptor flying demonstration where they used a bald eagle, a Harris hawk, a red-tailed hawk, a great horned owl, and a peregrine falcon to educate us about raptors and show us how they fly and hunt. Amazing birds! Then we took the alpine car back down to the car park. From there we drove to the Airbnb I had booked for my stay in Vancouver. I dropped off my suitcase and we drove to the Black Bear Neighbourhood Bar for dinner. We sat outside on their patio and John had fish and chips and I had a tuna poke bowl. We spent an hour there talking and continuing to catch up. When he took me back to the Airbnb, I discovered that my phone had died, and I couldn’t retrieve the code for the front door, and I couldn’t get in. Luckily John had not driven away yet and I was able to charge the phone sufficiently in his car to regain the code. I worked on the blog for a short while before a much needed sleep. A great first day to start the trip!