USA : You got wood? I want wood.

So, its been 4 days since our last blog and ALL of the adventures have since ensued.

Our first wobbly, mapless drive around Vancouver almost put us off of the idea of Canada entirely, but after our initial set back, we made our way through 'the hood' (East Hastings) unscathed and embarked on an exploration of Gas Town.

We ambled through the cobbled streets delighting at the quirky curio shops full of treasures and floor to ceiling stacked second hand book shops where we found books written by traditional English authors to give to our Couchsurfing hosts.

Our word of mouth adventure continued as we accosted confused and slightly scared Vancouver locals in coffee shops, on public transport, in the street seeking advice on what not to miss in this fascinating city.

A highlight of Gas Town was The Steam Clock, one of the worlds first steam powered clocks; the steam is supplied by the underground system of Central Heat Distributors Ltd, with the component parts costing approximately $42,000 and weighing over 2 tonnes.

We experienced the Vancouver ferry which took us over to North Shore, and couldn't believe it when we encountered a lovely gentleman who we discovered was from Broxtowe in Nottingham, what are the chances? Following this we took a jaunt through Stanley park where Susie enjoyed a nature walk in the woods and Jan enjoyed running from the imaginary "psycho-killers".

Thanks to Kevin and Sara we were hooked up with our next set of couchsurfers who were just delightful. Leah and Adrien were kind enough to take us in a allow us to indulge in great conversations and plenty of banter along the way. We were introduced to the world of Catan, hence the title of this post and an example of the laughter we are referring to.

After deciding to stay in Vancouver for another day we ventured up to Capalonia Reservoir and Dam where we were able to see the snow dusted tree tops of Grouse Mountain. We hitched a ride on the Funicular to the peak to admire the talents of the snowboarders and the sky scape of the city of Vancouver below. Unable to resist, we flung ourselves down on our backs and burrowed out two twin snow angels. We 'snow-bouldered' one another into oblivion before indulging in a coffee and the awe-inspiring view.

Granville Island was our final destination that day, where we enjoyed a leisurely stroll around the markets and Artisan shops with local products made by local people.

Vancouver, to us, was city full of kindness, laughter and creativity.
Our first few days on the start of the West Coast road trip were spectacular and the generous hearts of our wonderful new friends kept us warm against the chilly weather. 

Peace and love,

Jan and Sooz.