Fog-town

Unwilling to let the fog take advantage of our plans, we set out in coats and gloves (actually, I forgot my gloves and my hands were angry at me!) down Davie Street to the most highly recommended bike rental place in downtown Vancouver. The gentlemen working there was lovely and we picked up two cruisers and a basket and set out to explore downtown Vancouver, Stanley Park, the Seawall, and Granville Island. We headed first for Coal Harbor so Cindi could see where Dean has a panic attack when he can't find his car in "Red Sky at Morning". We also had a slightly incident where I needed to put the chain back onto Cindi's bike and subsequently spent 10 minutes in a hotel bathroom trying to clean grease off my fingers. I don't know how mechanics manage but hats off to them!

Coal Harbor in ep 3x06- and in the sunshine!

Man, it was a foggy day. I will be saying that often. Last time I rode around Stanley Park, it wasn't the shiniest of days but you could at least see across the water. This time? Nothing. Nada. Maybe five feet of visibility. While you missed out on the view, the fog did make for some gorgeous pictures, especially of the totem poles in the mist. The one unfortunate part of the ride around the park was that part of the Seawall was closed. We had to ride up and over the extension of the Lion's Gate Bridge which meant for some sore thighs but a good workout! And I will say, the ride back downhill more than made up for the rough uphill climbs!

Totem Pole Park

overlooking Lion's Gate Bridge which is invisible in the fog

large hollow tree

Stanley Park Pavilion

the Pavilion in ep 5x09

also as a farmer's market in 8x03

and as a restaurant in 8x03- ahhhh TV magic!

After our ride around the park, we joined back up with the seawall and rode down Sunset Beach. Although, there would have been NO way to see the sunset on this beach because of the fog. I will say that one good thing the fog does is liven up the colors, especially on tree leaves. The seawall took us to the Burrard Bridge and we rode up and over that (not as uphill as I had originally anticipated!) to rejoin the seawall again, just on the other side of False Creek. We followed the path back under the bridge and headed to Granville Island.

we recognized the under part of the Burrard Bridge from ep 9x03 we watched that night

After a several mile ride, including some unexpected uphills on a cruiser, as well as a trek across a bridge and some wanderings around Granville Island, it becomes absolutely necessary to wander into a hammock store and get yourself settled in one for the next hour. OK, it wasn't that long but I did nearly fall asleep. It was so comfortable and requires NO space that I was thiiiiiiis close to getting one for my living room. I didn't in the end but I still sometimes regret it. We spent a few hours wandering around the loveliness that is Granville Island, spending a lot of time in the Public Market because it was warm, there were stands after stands after stands of delicious fare and we needed lunch. BONUS: some French girl working at my favorite cookie place gave me a great deal on chocolate chip cookies that made me very happy during dessert that night!

happy I didn't have to walk across the Granville Bridge this trip

When you're in Vancouver and you're a HIMYM fan and you've just ridden a lot of miles on a bike, then you HAVE to stop at a Tim Horton's. So we did. And then we went home, contemplated leaving to go to the hot tub across the street, decided we were unable to leave the apartment for anything less than Jared and Jensen and instead just took hot showers, ate a yummy dinner and watched a lot of Supernatural, including the newest episode that night. Worth it.

A Supernatural Day

Our first full day in Vancouver was pretty foggy so we decided to leave the city and venture out to find some Supernatural locations. Thanks to a phenomenal website (supernaturallocations.com- all pictures not labeled as mine are from that website), we were able to decide what areas of outer Vancouver we wanted to visit and what we could see that would be recognizable. This made for an investigative, uncertain, exciting and rewarding day! Our first stop was to find the iconic Men of Letters bunker, first discovered during the 8th season. Turns out that we would not only find the bunker- which was recognizable but also covered in grafitti, which makes you realized how hard working and talented the set department is on Supernatural- but also the bridge where Sam and Dean had a moment with their grandfather Winchester. It was a fortuitous start to the day for sure.

episode 8x12

where Sam and Dean meet their grandpa Winchester

we found the bunker!

there was no Impala when we were there, sadly

Next on our list of spots to hit up was Fraser Park next to the river that featured a trestle bridge that features in many-an-episode. The trestle bridge just happened to be turned out after our initial picture taking so we got to see a different view of it as well as see a boat go underneath and through the bridge. Fraser Park was gorgeous and I easily could have walked or gone on a run there all day long. There were many places for families to picnic or play and I can only imagine what it must look like during the summer or when it wasn't so chilly or foggy.

walking up towards the trestle bridge

first views of the bridge

the trestle turning out

hanging off the bridge

episode 3x07

episode 3x04

Sam and Dean having a moment with the trestle out

Hook Man! episode 1.06

Cindi and the boat

this guy is sitting where I was standing to take the picture above

This bench was one of the benches that we passed while walking through the park

 Next we headed out to the Watchmen set. Supernatural doesn't have (well it does now...) a permanent set. Now they have the Men of Letters sets and for awhile they were filming on a temporary movie lot in Vancouver but when they need a large area to represent a town or have an outdoor showdown, they use the set of the movie Watchmen. This was in a big vacant lot in the middle of several industrial businesses, including a few mechanic places and some delivery places. We pulled in two different places but eventually found a place where I could stand up on the side of the car and take a picture or two. It's hard to tell but the tops of the buildings definitely were recognizable.

ep 5x04- you van see similar building tops

same episode, same buildings

Then it was off to our last stop of the day: New Westminster. Both the tourbook and the online things I was reading gave a very different impression of New Westminster than it actually was. The winery we were going to go do was in a business park in what seemed like a very shady part of town. We ended up crossing over the train tracks and finding the beautiful quayside which was much more what I had expected in my mind. After walking down the quayside next to the river, we found some Supernatural sites, including the parking garage from "Nightshifter", a few buildings used in "The French Mistake" and "Bloody Mary" as well as some outdoor "walk and talks" that the boys have.
 

we recognized these stairs...

turns out they were from ep 5x01

inside the upper parking garage

also seen here from ep 2x12

didn't take a picture inside but ep 5x15

my shot of the outside of the military store from above

We passed 15 bridal shops- clearly walking with S&D were

 Our walk back took us past two iconic Supernatural restaurants. First was Burger Heaven, where both Dean and Garth spent some time. We also passed a place called Boston Pizza, where I commented that I didn't know Boston was famous for its pizza. Later, come to find out that its interior was used for a scene between Cas and some demons. I might have popped in if I had known.

our view of Burger Heaver

episode 6x03

and just a different view from 6x03

inside the bizarrely named Boston Pizza

  Even though our first full day in Vancouver was specifically designated to see new places and track down Supernatural sites, it would certainly not be the only day we saw things from the show.