Chasing the Sun

We decided to run from the persistent fog today and chase the sun. The grey fugs been stuck over Vancouver and Richmond now for over a week. There's no wind or breeze to shift it. Occasionally the sun manages to burn some of it off. It's even interfered with filming that was going on in Steveston.

So were going up Cypress Mountain today. We need the SUN!. Over in West Vancouver over the Lions Gate Bridge spanning the Burrard Inlet , the fogs still present but as we go higher it get less until we emerge in brilliant sunlight.

Going, going

Gone!

The snow gets thicker as we climb higher. The roads are fully cleared though. Better than some of the side roads down in Vancouver!

We stopped half way up Cypress mountain at a scenic view point. There were many other people that had stopped to marvel at the views. Or maybe the non views! The whole of the lower mainland was shrouded by the fog. It looked like a land completely covered by snow. Not even the tops of the skyscrapers of Downtown Vancouver could be seen. The scene was quite awesome and beautiful. Would the ice age have looked like this I wonder. The sun shone down on the fog and it was surprisingly warm. Down under the fog the ships in the Georgia Straights and English bay warned each other of their presence with their fog horns and the sound echoed eerily up the mountain side.

Mount Baker can just be seen above the fog over the Boarder in the States
We sit a while and soak up some of the warm sun.

This area is known as the Cypress Bowl.

There's skiing and snowboarding slopes up the mountain.The ski slopes are not too busy today despite the car park being fairly full. Its a week day and its also the inauguration of Barack Obama today. Many people are watching it on TV's.

The ski lodge on the mountain is a completely new one but not quite finished yet. It's much larger than the old one. The restaurant and the large cafe next door are up and running. The food was great. We all chose a different salad. Mine was a goats cheese and spinach salad, mmmm......tasty. The yam fries were also really so tasty much better than potatoes chips. Oh and the restaurants called the 'Crazy Raven'. When you see the ravens running about outside you realise why.

The new ski lodge is large and functional with no design pretensions. Quite unlike the lodge up Grouse Mountain.

By the mid afternoon the fog in the lower mainland had lifted very slightly so the skyscrapers of Downtown could just be seen. Only just though.

We stopped in at the Park Royal Village in West Vancouver for tea in the Urban Tea Merchant. A very up market tea shop. The scones were just so good Mine was ginger and orange flavour. The tiny covered pot contained a portion of a tea flavour jelly (or Jam) and the other pot had clotted cream. Together with a pot of earl Grey tea just delicious! There was an America Whole Food store Nancylee want to shop in. It was about as big as our Tesco store in Hampton! All the organic and whole food items you could think of.

Of course as the evening closed in the fog descended once more. The drive home took for ever as the traffic was awful. Probably because of people trying to find alternative routes home as the Pattullo Bridge over the Fraser further up the river has been so damaged by a fire and has had to be closed.

Listening to the television this evening I wonder how many people skived from work today to watch the Obaramania .