GROUSE MOUNTAIN, Vancouver, Canada.Growing up in the tropical heat of Nigeria, what we're blessed with are beautiful beaches, mountains, dense jungles, mangrove forests and low lying deserts. I have never seen snow or experienced what it feels. The closest I have come to seeing it was in the news or movies. Coming to Canada then, a country where half of it is sometimes covered in snow for 5-6 months of the year, with some places experiencing snow all year round, you'll not be wrong to imagine I'll be covered in snow almost immediately after I arrive.
The reality however is, I had to wait 5 months and 9 days before I get to tick that off my bucket list. For one, I came to the warmest part of Canada, and the coldest temperature I've experienced so far was a -3°c which I practically still biked in it without catching a cold or flu afterwards. Secondly, it literally didn't snow in Vancouver this year, although for the past two years the city has become covered in snow at the peak of winter. Finally, since my program will be ending the next April, I spent my December holiday working and looking for opportunities. As such, I ended up not going up the mountain to see some snow or having any sort of outdoor fun at that. This means seeing the snow capped mountains only from a distance. Nine days into January, just before academic activities starts taking its toll, I finally heeded a friend's call to head up the mountain for some hiking and snow shoeing, and grouse mountain was our choice. Feed your eyes with the array of pictures, I hope you get a tip of the fun I had from the pictures and when next you're in Vancouver, maybe you can make it up there too. |
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LIONS GATE bridgeThe Lions gate bridge is a suspension bridge that crosses the first narrows of Burrard Inlet and connects the City of Vancouver, British Columbia, to the North Shore municipalities of the District of North Vancouver, the City of North Vancouver, and West Vancouver. It was opened in 1938. The bridge got its name from "The Lions", a pair of mountain peaks situated in the north of Vancouver. When you approach the bridge from the south, you will see a pair of cast concrete lions, apparently in significance of the mountains the bridge was named after. This was what attracted me to the bridge in the first instance. I was also attracted to the bridge because of its artistic feel. In fact, it looks like a mini version of the very popular 'Golden gate bridge' in San Francisco, California, USA.
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LUNAR ECLIPSEA lunar eclipse, popularly referred to as the blood moon due to its reddish color is a phenomenon which occurs when the Moon passes directly behind Earth and goes into its shadow. This can occur only when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are exactly or very closely aligned with Earth between the other two. A lunar eclipse can occur only on the night of a full moon. The type and length of a lunar eclipse depend on the Moon's proximity to either node of its orbit.
During a total lunar eclipse, the Earth completely blocks direct sunlight from reaching the Moon. The only light reflected from the lunar surface has been refracted by Earth's atmosphere. This light appears reddish for the same reason that a sunset or sunrise does: the Rayleigh scattering of bluer light. This type of scattering occurs when sunlight is scattered off the atmosphere. Due to this reddish color, a totally eclipsed Moon is sometimes called a blood moon. Unlike a solar eclipse, which can only be viewed from a relatively small area of the world, a lunar eclipse may be viewed from anywhere on the night side of Earth. A total lunar eclipse can last up to nearly 2 hours, while a total solar eclipse lasts only up to a few minutes at any given place, due to the smaller size of the Moon's shadow. Also unlike solar eclipses, lunar eclipses are safe to view without any eye protection or special precautions, as they are dimmer than the full Moon |