UBC botanical gardens and tree top walk
Well I decided on another adventure today. Can I drive over there? Well why not? Gonna make me nervous to do it. Well why not? Yeah I keep asking myself. Then I say well why not?

So the only way I was really going to do this is if I get a ticket online. I have paid for it so I either loose the money I just spent or I go. Well I bought the ticket to go.

This morning I knew I didn’t sleep the whole night through. I think I was over thinking a drive across Vancouver. Not a happy thought for me. I have said many times, but I am pushing myself to do things out of the ordinary for me. I want to do these things so I am going to do them. I am getting older and more wabally on my feet. So if I want to do these things I have to do them when I can as later I may not be able to do any of them. So this morning I am driving into Vancouver.

So up this morning, breakfast in my stomach and the dogs have their walk. Well it is now or never. I pack up my bag to go. It is 9:30 already. I should have been on the road already if I wanted to get there before it gets too hot. Or my ticket runs out. They have time frames to be in there.

Oh if you are interested in where I am going. It is the UBC botanical gardens. So I am making my way all the way across Vancouver to get over past Kitsalano. The farthest west I have been. I have been to Grandville Island. I have been to the museum in Vancouver. Oh I guess I have been downtown area a couple of times. Stanley park when I was 14. Haven’t been there since. Went with my brother when we flew out from Ontario and he took me along with him. I have been to West Vancouver. As of two days ago I have been up highway 99. Well I was to Whistler to a few years ago. But I would like to go again. Maybe a day road trip sometime or whether. Who knows.

So now today since I bought a ticket I was heading out. I planned my route. Take this road and get on that road and turn here. Then follow this road until the end and turn onto marine drive. Follow for a little bit and I should be there. You know easier said then done. If for some reason I get off of that route I will be hooped. I have no idea where I am. And have to guess my way through. As you can tell I have no GPS to follow. Road map I don’t even have in my car. I just plan my route and then I go from there. So off my planned route and unless I know a little about the area I may be going the wrong way. I do have a sense of direction and I can get around pretty good on my adventures, but there is that time every now and then where I am not finding what I want to find.

Well as you can see from the video I did make it. Took two hours and a few minutes. I didn’t take the the main routes. You know the ones with all the traffic. I was on back streets for a bit. I am happy to say I got there with out much traffic. I did hit allot of red lights though. Some construction as well. Where you had to get down to one lane. That’s always a challenge when a car is just behind you where you can’t see in your blind spot. You then start moving over and ooopppps there is a car in that lane. Well I made it there and I made it home again with no mishaps.

I wandered the gardens for about two hours. Went through the tunnel which took me under marine drive and over to more gardens over on the university side. This time of year and the dryness of the past few weeks. There is not many flowers in bloom. But it is still quite tranquil to walk through. Was very warm, but under the trees the temperature was so much better. After my drive I was walking a bit wabally. Instead of walking straight. I would be on one side of the path and then over to the other. You think I was a drunken sailor today. So the walk that would have taken me an hour took about two. As I walked allot further then I wanted to with walking sideways and then correcting myself. Too funny. Well not really when you want to be someplace and it takes twice as long.

I enjoyed most of the gardens and then headed for the tree top adventure. Hmmm with my wabally walking should I really be up in the trees. Especially on those bridges. They are swinging bridges to boot. Well I will see. I walk up the first one to the first platform. Well not too bad. I did wabally back and forth, but not enough to tip sideways. I think I can do this. I go from one bridge to another. I am a little out of breathe. I walk on. One bridge to another platform. Kids are behind me so I wait on one of the platforms for them to pass. They run ahead of me. Hmmm run on those bridges? They run across them. Me I take my time. One step in front of the other. Holding onto the edges for balance. And they run on. Having a good time. Well I will let them pass so they can go fast. I will just putter my way along.

I come to another platform. This on has stairs to go higher. Wow way above the tree tops now. The ground is way down there. I make my way along another bridge. Higher then the last. Then the bridges start to get lower and I come closer to the ground. Down to the last bridge and I am on solid ground again. Back to walking wabally on the trails. I walk for a little bit more and then the trail heads back towards the gift shop. I walk through the gift shop and then make my way back to the car.

I sit in the car for a few minutes . Have some water and contemplate my drive home. I think I can backtrack my route. Okay off I go. I make a stop on the way home to a viewpoint along marine drive. A wonderful view of the ocean and Vancouver island. I look out over the water. Hmm somewhere around here is wreck beach. Don’t see it from up here. Wreck beach is a nudist beach. I guess you really wouldn’t see that from the road.

I make my way back to the car and head for home. I follow the same route I took. If I get off on a wrong road or miss a turn I know ways to get to another route if need be. Well I have no trouble in finding my turns. For some reason Willingdon showed up faster then what I had expected and had to get in another lane quick to make that turn. I know roughly where I am now that I am close to Metrotown and a doc I have been to a couple of times. So any off routes I will be able to get myself home with no mishaps.

I make it home around 3:30. A very nice day out and about. Had a good walk in the sunshine. Made a drive into Vancouver to make myself proud. I am branching out more all the time. A few years ago I would never do anything like this. My outings where alway very close to home. I would never had seen any of the things I have saw lately if it wasn’t for me getting off my butt and telling myself I am going to do this. I am growing and I want to keep growing.

So until my next adventure.
Talk to you next time