We had a lazy start this morning and didn’t need to be out the door till 10.30. We have a tour booked called the “North Shore Discovery Tour” which takes us out of the city of Vancouver and up to the north shore.

We started the day at a Salmon Hatchery where we learnt about the life and migratory habits of the Pacific Salmon. A dam was built in this location last century (we visit the dam later in the day) which affected the migration of salmon and their numbers dwindled by almost 90%. This is primarily because salmon return to their place of birth at the end of their lives and the building of the dam meant that they couldn’t make their way home. The hatchery is surrounded by old growth forests and we took a walk through some trees that were over 600 years old

Our next stop was at the Capilano Suspension Bridge. This 450-foot bridge spans high above the riverbed and swung quite wildly while we walked across. On the other side there was a treetops walk through some more old growth trees. The kids got an activity pack on the way and had to find clues as we visited different areas. There was also a suspended walkway around the cliffside which provided great views of the river below.

We then drove up to Grouse Mountain which is a ski field during the winter months and doubles as an outdoor activity park in summer. We took a Gondola up to the top and spent a few hours looking at the attractions. We watched an owl show and Thomas even got to get close and take a photo. The highlight was the bear enclosure where we got to see two bears really close up. They were both rescued as orphans and have been at the reserve for the past 23 years. We heard a talk from the bear keeper and then walked over to watch the Lumberjack show. This took about 30 minutes and was hilarious. The 2 lumberjacks participated in a competition and tried to outdo each other. They also involved the audience and Emily got to be the timekeeper for one of the events.

Our final stop was at Cleveland dam which was the reason why the hatchery needed to be built. It was quite a scenic and picturesque stop and provided great photo opportunities.

We didn’t get back to the hotel till after 6 pm and just walked over to a nearby Italian restaurant for dinner