Today, we were up on Vancouver's Grouse Mountain for the third time this August. It started back on August 6th. That was when the mountain offered one-day, free access to the mountain for local residents who were quick enough to snap up an online offering. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a dark day and not a great opportunity to showcase the mountain which is only a 20-minute, free shuttle bus from downtown Vancouver.
The offer was expanded because of the first poor weather showing. We used the same free tickets when ascending on August 14th. That Thursday turned out to be rainy and foggier than our first trip up. Jay and I enjoyed it nevertheless. We saw lots of deer even though it was rather cold and damp.
We got email last week indicating that annual passes for seniors were on sale for around $30 less than the normal fee. We thought about it and decided it would be pretty easy to arrange three outings over the course of a one year period, even if we are out of town for five of each twelve months! That is the point we break even so any additional days up there will be gravy, as the saying goes. We got our e-passes by email but picked up the physical cards and lanyards today. It was a grand day for our first use of them.
The peak on the last two occasions was socked in with fog and clouds. Today, as the pictures show, we had fine blue sky. It was a hot day of about 29C in New Westminster and nearly the same on the top of Grouse Mountain. We like the fact we can now go anytime when we see that the weather is good. It takes around one hour from our apartment in New Westminster to get there. We can go just to eat a picnic lunch and say hello to the orphaned grizzles, Grinder and Coola.
