North Van Part 2: Whytecliff Park and Grouse Mountain!

On the Saturday before they left, we headed back to North Van again for a double dose of fun! It was a gorgeous sunny day...again! and the teacher I work with had recommended we should check out Whytecliff Park, which is is West Van. 

It's a beautiful little spot that looks across the ocean to some of the islands on the other side.  We decided to have a picnic in this little ferry watching spot! 

Although the park was crazy busy, we climbed down the rocks a bit and managed to find this secluded little spot, it was perfect! 

What a view! 

No Canadian picnic would be complete without maple bacon crisps!

and no Braithwaite/Jones family picnic would be complete without delicious treats! Mara and Mom had picked up these key lime and coconut pies earlier that morning from Sweet Thea at Burnaby Farmer's Market while I had to work.  They were super delish!

and we also picked up a pack of cookies from Butter Baked Goods.

I think it would be a perfect spot to watch the sunset too! especially by this heart rock!

I will never get tired of those snow capped mountains, they are sooo pretty!

and here's our obligatory feet shot...just for fun!

By made this rather cool panorama of our spot!

and then we went exploring to the edge of the rocks...and I got daring for this pose! (it was a lot higher than it looks here!)

Then we walked across the little causeway of rocks to get to the giant rock in the middle of the water.

When we made it to the top we discovered some of Mom's favourite trees, the Arbutus!

and posed for some pics right at the edge of the rock.

After, we cooled down with some much needed ice creams! Mango and watermelon flavour did the trick nicely!

We stopped in at Capilano Lake after that because Mara, Mom and By had been there earlier in the week but Mara thought she had lost her photos from that day so we took a few more!

My mom was in love with this plant! and I'm pretty sure she swiped some to take back in her suitcase, you can't take her anywhere!

It was a beautiful view!

and I was glad I got to check out the dam again because last time we came it wasn't nearly as powerful as this!

After our quick stop off, we headed on to Grouse Mountain.  This is actually the first time we'd made it here, there's just so many mountains and so little time!!

Catching the gondola up was quite an experience!

You can see Capilano Lake in the picture above, where we had just been standing a few minutes before that!

and then the whole of the Vancouver skyline in the background!

Despite it being such a warm and sunny day, there was still snow at the top! and even people still skiing! 

Mara and By checked out the grizzly's as Mom and I had rather inappropriate footwear for trekking through the snow! but they were sleeping and so they didn't see much!

There are lots of awesome carvings up top, this one was big enough for us to all fit inside!

Despite all the snow around, it wasn't cold at all!

That's Mount Baker in Washington state in the distance!

We ended our night with a spectacular meal in The Observatory restaurant.  

This was our view out the window!

and not only was the view incredible but so was the food! These were our little Ceviche appetisers, I love how they were served on the little spoons!

We loved how artistically the mains were presented! Most of us got the beef, but Mara went for hay infused chicken! 

and all the little veggies were stacked up so cutely!

and then the sun started to set!

and we were met with more spectacular views!

I have never seen a Vancouver sunset that I didn't fall in love with!

We finished off our meal with these cute little chocolate dipped waffle cones filled with sorbet!

and patted ourselves on the back for choosing to eat at somewhere so awesome! 

It costs $40 usually per person to ride up the gondola to check out Grouse Mountain.  If you eat at this restaurant, your gondola ride is free.  Their entrees are $40 each so essentially it's a ride up and a meal for free! We would definitely recommend it!

We snapped a few more pics outside as we waited for the gondola back down.

and soaked in that view for one last time!