Upper Yosemite Falls Trail

Today we climbed up a trail called the Upper Yosemite Falls Trail. It was an almost vertical climb up the rockfalls in hot sun for and was even harder than the Grouse Grind. We mostly walked on broken rocks which had sometimes been formed into stairs. It was 11.5 km there and back and climbed 820m. It took us 4 hours to walk up and 2 hours to walk down.
We spotted some squirrels, a woodpecker and a small lizard I named Wizard.
We had to have lots of stuff to eat like Jelly Beans, cookies and sandwiches. At the top we had an apple and some other snacks then raced down to the valley floor because there was a storm coming.
The view at the top was amazing! we saw all over the valley and the waterfall that went over the steep face.
I was exhausted after that huge walk.


Looking back into the valley past the shear rock faces we walked past. (Emma's photo).



Looking across the valley from the top. You can see the storm clouds. You could hear the thunder rumbling as it echoed off the walls of the valley.



Us at the top. Mum was scared that children, specifically me, might fall off. (Cathy's picture)



The Lower Yosemite falls from the bottom of the valley. I took this the next morning on our way out of the valley. Dad says that a lot more water comes over the waterfall in spring.

By Zak

- Posted using BlogPress from Mum's iPad

Cycling the Golden Gate Bridge

In the morning, Dad, Mum, me and Zak went to the Apple Store to look at iMacs, iPad 2's, iPods and iPod nanos. The downstairs had iPads and iPods and iPod nanos. The upstairs you went up some glass stairs where all the iMacs were. Upstairs we looked at iPod cases which had all these different designs.

Next we went to a cooking shop where Mum got picnic knives of the colours red and yellow. We got a cable car to Blazing Saddles and met Simon, an old friend of Mum and Dads. I noticed he had a short ponytail but I didn't say anything because I thought my parents already knew that. Simon went on a single bike but the rest of us used tandems.

We walked our bikes for two blocks down and then hopped on near the seaside. We pedalled until we had a good view of the golden gate bridge. We took some photos of us in front of the golden gate bridge. A bit further on, Zak spotted four dolphins jumping happily in the waves. I was pretty sure they were Pacific Whitesided dolphins. We biked up a steep path that wiggled all the way back to the Golden Gate Bridge. As we biked along the breeze hit me like I was being knocked out cold although I already had my jacket on. We biked over the Golden Gate bridge passing some other bikes who had stopped to admire the view.


It was a suspension bridge, much bigger than the Capilano. Not long after that we hit the other side. Zak spotted a seal poking it's head out of the sea. It bobbed up and down as though to say "hello", "goodbye", "hello", "goodbye", "hello", "goodbye". We biked and biked and biked until we reached the seaside. We locked up our bikes, had ice creams, and headed back to the docks.

We queued up for the ferry. In a few minutes we had hit the decks. Up at the decks it was very windy and if it had not been for the string that tightened my hat onto my head, it would have blown off and never been seen again. Zak mucked around by the rails, while I tried taking photos of Alcatraz prison. It is not used anymore but visitors are allowed to go there and pretend to be prisoners for tours. Not long after that we found ourselves biking up to Blazing Saddles and hitting the finish line.

Emma.

- Posted using BlogPress on my Mum's iPad

Emma's Zipline experience

On Friday Aunty Leanne, Mum, Dad, me and Zak went zip lining at zip trek near the Whistler gondolas we went to the day before. I was very excited and not at all worried. When we got there the instructors went over the rules and helped us into their harnesses. Our zip lining instructors, Courtney and Jonny were very friendly.
We started off by walking up a steep path near a gondola. There was a warm up zip line that was 4 meters high. I went first. I got very excited and felt jumpy. I started to get excited butterflies in my stomach. Jonny tightened my harness and attached me to the zip line. Before I knew it I was whizzing along at full speed. I didn't put my arms and legs out to slow me down because it was too good. Before I knew it, it was over. Courtney detached me from the zip line. She told me to sit down on the log nearby. So I did, but I couldn't. I kept jumping up and down and trying to video my family.
No one was too frightened by it, so we carried on. We hopped in the zip trek bus. It took us all the way to the rainforest zip lines. Courtney told us some facts about the rainforest. Some of it confused me. But that didn't worry me! As soon as we got there, I hopped out of the back of the van and followed the instructors closely. I did this because I wanted to be first again. I had liked the first time very much and I thought I would like this one even better.
I did! Jonny said one of the trees tasted like bacon. For some strange reason Zak went up to it and licked it. He actually said that it tasted like bacon. Courtney said the next tree tasted like meatloaf. Zak licked that again. "Now he is addicted to trees", said Courtney.
Then we walked to our next zip line. Courtney harnessed herself onto the zip line and sped to the other side. I went first. Jonny harnessed me in. I had my camera dangling from the harness. I didn't take any photos. I sped to the other side almost as fast as light.
This one I tandemed last with Jonny. I gripped tightly onto a red rope. We sped across slightly faster than the last time.
On the the next ride we waited for everyone else to get across. Finally, last but not least, I wrapped my arms around Courtney's legs. We sped faster than light across to the other side. I think I went faster than with Jonny because rain was bulleting down on us.
Next was the free style zip line. You were allowed to go upside down if you wanted. I went somewhere in the middle. Jonny spun me upside down. I enjoyed the ride having never been flipped upside down zip lining before.
When we got to the other side, we started to walk back. This disappointed me as thought we were going to zip line all the way back.
We went to a small cabin like house. There were tree trunks stuck to the wall. Zak tried counting the tree rings.
For some reason Mum was quite frightened by it all, but I wasn't one little bit! I definitely wanted to do it again.


By Emma.


- Posted using BlogPress from Mum's iPad

Whistler - Ziplining

In lieu of a real posting about our second day at Whister, here are a couple of videos...

Emma videoing the view as she takes a tandem ride across the river.


Zak coming across the river.


- Posted using BlogPress from Cathys iPad

Whistler and Blackcomb - by Zak

Today we went to Blackcomb Mountain where we took a gondola up. Unfortunately the lifts up Blackcomb were closed so instead we went up it's neighbour Whistler. Then we took a second gondola called Peak 2 Peak to Blackcomb.
On the hike, there were lots of signs that showed types of plants and animals such as bears. After a two and a half km hike we reached Blackcomb Lake where we took lots of photos and tested the freezing water. We also found the valley echoed really well. We were almost out of time to get back before the last gondola went so we rushed down.
When we got to the bottom we went to a cool sweet shop.



Zak with an Eagle


Emma, frightened by a cougar!



By Zak

- Posted using BlogPress from Mum's iPad

Bicycle! Bicycle!

13 September

Today we met Leanne in Stanley Park for a ride. We had rented two tandems. One for Cathy and Zak and one for Emma and I. Before Leanne arrived, we went for a bit of a walk in the trees to see if we could spot a another raccoon or squirrel. We found a squirrel but he was not sitting still long enough to be photographed!
After lunch we set off around the park, it's about 9km and flat, following the sea wall path. We stopped along the way to look at things including a horse drawn wagon and 3 otters. Emma and I had fun racing Cathy and Zak and all the other people cruising around the path. I was a little worried that we might be breaching park etiquette going so fast but Emma kept yelling that we needed to go faster because the others might catch us! After we finished the loop around the outside of the park we headed back into the woods and cruised around some of the gravel paths. A few squirrels were spotted along the way but again avoided being clearly photographed.
Emma and Zak didn't want to return the bikes after such a fun day! Emma was asking if she could ride on our tandem at home but as Zak has only just gotten big enough for his first ride two weeks ago she will have to wait a couple more years...



- Posted using BlogPress from my wife's iPad

Capilano Suspension Bridge - by Emma

11 September

The Capilano Bridge is a suspension footbridge. It is 140 metres across and 70 metres high. It was like walking on a sailing boat because it swayed as you walked which made it hard to walk straight. Walking up the stairs at the other end was especially hard and much steeper.









On the other side there were posters of rocks and animals. The animals were more interesting.
Next we went to the tree hut. There were bird skulls and eggs. Up the stairs on the railing there were these marks that looked like some kind of secret message. A bit further on there was a pond with trout. But me and Dad also noticed something else, there were little insects in the water. Their arms and legs were stretched out and they were slowly drifting across the water.
Then we went on a cliff walk. We walked across this bridge and you could see cliff all around you! It was a very long bridge. There were trees on the rock walls. The trees were growing windy. They had a display about why the trees did that. There were other displays that were something to do with the ice cracking the rocks. There were glass floors on some parts. We took photos.
At the end there were knobs you turned to find answers to questions. One of the answers was that 1% of water is usable and 0.26% is drinkable. We looked at some really cool totem poles on the way out. The totem poles were stories. There was a totem pole with a hole in it. I used Zak as a foot stool when I had my photo taken through the hole.

By Emma.

Grouse Mountain

Emma at half way...



Cathy got a perfectly timed shot of a falcon catching a lure.


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Vancouver - Grouse Mountain

10 September

This morning we jumped in the car to go to Grouse Mountain. There is a gondola to take you to the top, or you can walk. The guide book said it was an hour and a half walk so we set off to walk up planing to take the gondola down. It was steep and slow going. At the 1/4 mark, we'd been going for about 35 minutes. We adjusted our ETA to 2 hours 10... We had lots of water and jelly snakes to munch on so just kept moving along. We passed quite a few people who were taking extra long rests and were passed by many people who were making an extra effort. The 1/2 way mark came and went and we were still going, then the 3/4 mark came and went. Zak and Emma were obviously tired but kept on going without any complaints and then we heard Zak going 'Woo hoo' from a little ahead - he had arrived at the top.
We had made it in 1 and half hours.

At the top there is an enclosure with a couple of Grizzly Bears which we got to see up close and they do a show with birds of prey and another with lumberjack stuff. We arrived at the bird show in time to see the very last bird, a Bald Eagle, swoop down the hill and then just fly off. The guys doing the show weren't happy about this. Apparently the eagle has a habit of making a single pass for the audience and then flying off down the hill so that they have to go and find it... We went back to catch the entire presentation a couple of hours later. It started late because they were still trying to recover the eagle!
The lumberjack show was largely a comedy with some demos of a couple of different techniques and lots of laughs.

We had planned to do a couple of things today but by the time we had taken the gondola down to the car park we switched the plan to pizza and ice creams for dinner. As we left the carpark in search of pizza, we saw the guys from the bird show with their radio tracker trying to find their Bald Eagle.

- Posted using BlogPress from my wife's iPad

The Pacman

On Saturday 20th August we decided to make a Pacman. As Zak needed a costume for his school social. We decided to make it a Pacman because the costumes were supposed to be based on the 80's. Also Dad had showed me the game. We all had a good fair go at it but I can't say I was the best. I thought Dad was the best, until Mum topped his scores.
Dad and Zak designed Pacman, thinking of the best ways possible. Two of their designs were square boxes which I didn't like because they didn't look at all like Pacman. Both of Zak's sat on your head and Dad's didn't. Dad didn't fully get Zak's design, but Zak managed to explain. So we ended up using Zak's circular design, (although Dad had a circular design too). We went on a shopping trip to buy yellow and black card.
As soon as we were home we set to work, cutting circles and other shapes from the card. We used most of it. Partly because we needed it and partly because it was quite expensive. When we had finished cutting the pieces out we stopped for a food break. Then we used the hot glue gun to glue every thing together.
When it had dried me and Zak tested it out. Zak found out the hard way, that the arm holes were too small for him. But perfect for me! Zak panicked shrieked as Mum and Dad tugged the pack - man off. Eventually it came free. I quite enjoyed watching him, I found it funny and amusing as he always teased me. We made the arm holes bigger and Zak tried it on again, it fitted him.
He retested it at his school social, His friend Mat was wearing his Dad's Hawaiian shirt an Afro and some extremely large sunglasses! Mum said they really fitted in! They looked hilarious! When Zak came back it looked as though it had been tampered with. But in fact some large year eights had tried it on. I wondered if I could ever use it again. It looked a lot like it needed some tender, love and care.
By Emma

- Posted using BlogPress from Mum's iPad