08.31.03
I’m a Lumberjack and I’m OK….
8/31/03
The big trip today was up Grouse Mountain for a view of greater Vancouver. You get to Grouse Mountain via a cable car that climbs the 3,000 fee to the top in about six minutes. The place was obviously built as a ski lodge, which is pretty cool considering this places a number of ski runs within 15 minutes of downtown Vancouver, but doubles as a tourist spot in summer. The best reason to make the trip is the views, which are simply amazing. From the mountain top one gets a panoramic view that spans from Mt. Baker in Washington to half way up Vancouver Island and includes a clear layout of all of Vancouver city. We stayed until sundown and got a spectacular sunset, including a bright crescent moon that was plainly visible even in the mid-evening hours.
The tourist destination also has regularly running shows. We saw a birds of prey demonstration that was nothing different than any other large bird show you might see at the Zoo. It is still quite impressive to be less than two feet away from a golden eagle or a snowy owl. They also have a habitat with two grizzly bears that were rescued off the mountaintop after they were orphaned. Once again, being less than five feet away from 400 pounds worth of bear leaves an impression. By far the cheesiest, most touristy part of the evening, and one that I simply had to partake in, if for no other reason than to say I had done it, was the ‘World Famous Lumberjack Show’. They got two mountain men to come out and compete in axe, chainsaw and tree climbing competitions all while cracking cheap jokes and one liners. An opportunity to watch a lumberjack show was one that I simply could not pass up, mainly simply because of the opportunity to say that I had been to a lumberjack show. I was also quite amazed at all the things they did that you would simply never seen in the puritan lawsuit laden United States. The chainsaws were operated without safety glasses and the jokes had an edge to them, something that would be prohibited by insurance regulations and moral majority restrictions in the good old USA.