A Slightly Terrifying Adventure.

You know that saying “Doing it for the Gram”, aka “Doing it For Instagram”…. It’s one of those things people my age seem to always say, when a very “Instagram worthy” moment presents itself.. and you absolutely MUST get a photo. I know this feeling probably too well, and lately I’ve been seeing so many gorgeous photos all over Instagram, of the view from the Lions Gate Bridge, here in Downtown Vancouver. I always wondered to myself “how the HELL did that photographer take this?!”.. it always seemed like they must have been literally hanging off the side of the bridge to get these angles/shots. Every month I’ve been writing on my To-Do List “Get some Lions Gate Bridge Photos”, and I just never got around to it. Well.. last week that all changed.

I ended up getting stranded at Park Royal in West Vancouver, and instead of calling a cab I figured I might as well just walk home over the Lions Gate, and FINALLY get a few photos! I had just been at a Photo-Shoot and I had all my camera gear in my backpack, and I figured this would be perfect, an easy no-brainer! I was so so un-prepared for what lay ahead haha.

Firstly, I don’t LOVE heights. I don’t have a full-on phobia about heights or anything, but it’s always an un-pleasant feeling. Whenever I’m up skiing at Whistler, or riding in the Gondola’s, I always feel sick to my stomach mid-ride and curse myself for putting myself there in the first place. Being up super high makes my legs feel all weird and shaky, like I need to stretch them out or jump. This is obviously a terrifying feeling to have on a chair-lift or anywhere (probably why I haven’t been skiing in like five years).

Anyways so back to the Lions Gate Bridge… It all started out very strong. I was strolling along getting all kinds of artsy little photos, and then I got in the pedestrian lane, and merged onto the bridge. Ok so the first terrifying thing was the fact that the pedestrian walkway and the bike lane, are basically the same lane. I kept looking over my shoulder ever ten seconds to make sure a bike wasn’t coming full speed to hit me/knock me off the edge of the bridge. This was unsettling enough… but THEN I realized another terrifying thing. The bridge actually felt like it was SWAYING back and forth, which is insane because it’s a huge structure, but seriously every time a bus or a truck drove by the entire thing vibrated under my feet and freaked me out so bad. I was so nervous that the bottoms of my FEET were actually in a full sweat. Very attractive obviously. Another weird thing is if you look down, there is a crack in the sidewalk where you can see the roads/ocean below, and the movement of all the cars and boats is off-rhythm with the cars on the actual bridge.. so this overwhelming vertigo feeling came over me.

Okay so at this point I was about 25% of the way across the bridge, and every part of my body wanted to turn the FUCK around and go back… but I kept telling myself not to be such a baby and just keep going. Also I wasn’t anywhere NEAR the magic “photo-taking spot”. At this point I had come this far, and I NEEDED that goddamn photo. So on I went.

I got less nervous as I went along, but not much. It was a lot more terrifying than I imagined it would be. I think if I were on a bike it would be no big deal, but being on foot had a whole other vibe. Finally I got to the magic photo spot, and I got right next to the railing and sort of stuck my camera over it, and just took as many photos as FAST as I could. I think I looked really REALLY sketchy to anyone who was driving by, but I was just trying to get it over with, and not fall in the ocean in the process.

After a quick few shots, I literally RAN the rest of the way over the bridge, with about thirty pounds of camera gear on my back. I really underestimated just how heavy my backpack was, and I’m still paying for it now as I type this. I breathed a huge sigh of relief after finally making it over the bridge, and I then started walking down the Stanley Park Causeway….. it took me about ten minutes to realize I was walking down and INCREDIBLY narrow “bike ONLY” lane, and I had totally missed my turnoff. So that was interesting.

I have never been so happy to finally get home haha. However, I have to say the photos turned out to be so gorgeous, and I’m glad I did it.. I won’t be walking over it anytime soon though, that’s for sure.

Hope you guys are all doing well. I’ve had one hell of a Reading Month, make sure to check back with me next week for my “June Wrap Up”,

xoxo,

Carly.