excellent tour

i went on an excellent (hostel) organised tour yesterday. its run by this quirky 65 year old guy (Erik) who does 2 tours per week completely voluntarily. he was very good - amazingly enthusastic and fit for his age. we went to various places downtown which he gave us lots of interesting background about, took numerous buses, the sky train, and a ferry, all for only ~$10 which is amazing value. the highlight though was walking around some forest trails in Lynn Canyon. beautiful scenery - snow, a river with falls, tall, straight trees (redwoods and norfolk pines, maybe?). he told us that the bears were hibernating, but we would have been safe anyway as they have never been known to attack a group of adults of 6 or more (and there were 6 of us in total, quite a small group for his tours). the other highlight of the tour was the little corner store we stopped at before the trail walking - it was used for a scene in terminator2. that's right, you read correctly - T2 - the all time anomolous sequel movie! there was a signed picture of linda hamilton in all her weapon-adorned glory! well, i thought it was cool. there is a big film industry here known as "hollywood north". in fact, we saw some filming on one of the main streets last night.

Erik runs a different tour on fridays which i will probably go to. although he is also running a special one on xmas eve, saturday, where everyone on the tour goes back to his apartment for food, drinks etc. really generous of him, although i dont know if i'll be around here on xmas eve so might have to just go this friday instead...