Jericho Beach + Sunshade Report

During the 2010 Winter Olympics, there were many free attractions around town for people to attend. One of which was a Zipline that spanned across Robson Square in the heart of downtown Vancouver.



Mum wanted to try it, but the line up wait was anywhere between 4-7 HOURS during the Olympic period. Can you believe it?? 7 hours for 30 seconds!!!

Then mum saw on the news that the Zipline was still open during the Paralympics, and the line up wait was a lot shorter.......


So she decided to go do it......

Since mum'd only have to be in the shorrrrrrrt line up of 3.5 HOURS, I made sure she worked with STINKY on some much needed leash manners, and took me to the beach before she went off to wait in the shorrrrrrrrrrrt line up!!

We went to Jericho Beach, where the first thing I did there was POSE for pictures,


I can SMELLLLL the ocean already.....


Can I go now mum??? (with a tilt too)


FINALLY!!


Heading towards the beeeeeeeeeeeeeach!


Alllllll the way down!!!




Mum got a stick for me, what a good gurrrrrrrrl!


Now THROOOOOOOOWL it!!


Got it!!


Thank you, here is your reward - a pose from Miss Sunshade,


Now THROOOOOOOOWLLLL again!


Getting my paws wet.... in the freezing cold water....



I found a big stick,


And I asked mum NICELY, to throw it,


But she threw it so faaaaaaaaaaaaaaar out.......


WHY DID YOU THROOOOOOWL IT SO FAR OUT MUM??? The water was FREEEEEZING.....


I watched as the waves carried MY stick out further......


I saw a chocolate lab (blue arrow) that looked like he was carrying around some extra layers, he must like chocolates a lot. I thought maybe he would get MY stick (red arrow) for me, extra exercise you know?


But he seemed to think he was very fit and did not require more exercise as he completely ignored MY poor stick, leaving it floating in the freezing water all by itself.....


That's me giving him the "Geeeezus, you're such a terrible retriever!" look. Bet all the chocolates are ashamed of him!


SuperDALE to the RESCUEEEEEEEE!!




I successfully rescued MY stick, and I did not turn into a popsicle!


You are safe now dear stickie.....


Can't count on anypup except my SuperSELF!


I shook off all the freezing water (with the lazy chocolate in the back!)


Mum threw another stubby stick for me,


And I reminded her to not throw too far,


No more than wading depth please,


That's about the right depth,


Don't get me wrong, I love to swim during the warmer months, just not when the water is freeeeezing cold!


Got my stubby stick,




Time to go dry off now!!


After I dried myself with a sandbath, I headed up the beach and ran into a speedy man,


Notice something extremely MUSCULAR???


He did!


I'm not sure why he was wearing a mouth cover, maybe he had a cold??


Off to the blackberry bushes,


What's hiding in these blackberry bushes??


Well I'll show you when I find it,


There it is!!! A BUNNIEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!


Bye bye Bunnie!!!


You see me standing way way waaaaaay back? That's because I was waiting for mum's que.


You see, my mum has very good eyes for bunnies even tho she wears glasses. So nowadays, I have realized that instead of looking for bunnies myself, I would just reserve my energy by standing in one spot and let mum look for them. Once she finds them, she will whisper bunnies and point in the direction towards them, and I start stalking!

(mum: This is the funniest habit that Sunshade has recently developed. If there are no rabbits in sight, instead of looking for them, she will "stare" at me. I'm talking about one of those Border Collie waiting for a job, or hand signal kind of intense stare, right into my eyes. As soon as I whisper or signal, then she starts her stalk. A lot of the times, she'd actually stop and wait all the way behind (like the picture above) and let me go ahead to scout out the area. She'd wait until I give her some kind of que.)

I spotted something.....

(mum: Sunshade likes to stand there and watch the bunnies quietly. She doesn't make any noise, and is very careful with how she moves. Sometimes if she turned her head to look at me, she will move her head back very very slowly over a period of time while watching the bunnies from the corner of her eyes. It's like she's worried that if she moved her head too fast, she'd startle the bunnies and they would run away. )

I came back from a good chase,


Time to get moving now!


I came to a Wall of Shepherds......


I broke the Wall of Shepherds with my SuperDALE power!


I followed the shepherds for a bit,


And then I saw a pawty going on a little ways up,


I went to check out the pawty,


It wasn't a pawty worth crashing tho as there were no BOYZ with lovelies.....



Sunshade Report: Zipline

After mum abandoned me at home and gave me the prestigious job of STINKY-sitting (yes, I sat on him), she went downtown to Robson Square,


Her journey in the shorrrrrrrrt line up began,


1 hour later....... they were at the 3 HOUR mark....


Volunteers gave out Paralympic pins to keep hoomans happy,


Zipline Safety Rules


Things to keep hoomans entertained while they waited in the shorrrt line up,


They hit the 2 HOUR mark,


They watched as hoomans line up for hours to get to that platform, and then they chicken out and take their sweet time before stepping off the platform. This lady on the right, doesn't she look super scared???


(mum: in case anyone is interested, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3 camera has 12X optical zoom!!)

20 mins later........


Good job lady!!! Don't let those heels fall off, they can kill someone below, and yes, hang on to the bag too!

Only ONE more hour to go.....


They watched more hoomans zoom by, and cheered for hooman pups who were scared to go, (mum: I didn't talk in the video.)

Half an hour......


Finally, the zipline tower came in sight!!



They went and signed the If-You-Die-We-Are-Not-Responsible form,


Stepping into harnesses,


Getting hooked up,


Helmet on,


All dressed and ready to go! I think she was giving mum a treat here for being such a well behaved gurrrrrrl,


Going up the tower,


Mum watched as each person in front of her leaped off the platform and disappeared into thin aire....


Looking down at Robson Square,



Mum's turn! Does she look scared?? (remember, she's part Airedale)


Mum's good friend who is also MY good friend, Raul,


Maybe we should call him Raulina??

Here they go! BTW, watch Raulina, he was ALL OVER that pretty Aussie gurrrrrl (the hooman kind) who was receiving him on the other side!

(mum: he's almost as bad as you are with un-neutered male dogs Sunshade!!)