People actually have asked me why I didn't call them when I was in Vancouver BC for a week, since they know I like to stay in touch. Well, I really did plan to call, despite the roaming charges my carrier would have loaded on the cell phone bill. There was a little problem, though.

Our agile guide took 16 of us into the wilds of Capilano Canyon, an hour or two outside Vancouver. You get there by bus and skytrain and ferry. In the canyon, he showed us the mountain none of us was strong enough to climb. Then he marched us into the rainforest for several delightful but exhausting hours. Twenty-somethings were kind enough to catch me whenever I was about to slide down a hill involuntarily, or fall over one of several steep cliffs. I refrained from picking the three mushrooms I spotted, and refrained from losing my lunch at the sight of a couple of giant slugs near the narrow trail.

Somewhere in the Capilano Canyon my Sanyo cell disappeared. At first I thought it was taken by one of the bears our guide kept referring to with great enthusiasm. Brown bears move rather quickly when they want to, and I'm told the rainforest is their territory. Perhaps my Sanyo was pilfered by one of the wild salmon fighting its way upriver near the Capilano salmon hatchery, where we stopped for lunch. And then again, the villain may have been a raptor who took advantage of my sheer terror on the Capilano suspension bridge, the longest such bridge in the world. A pterodactyl could have rummaged in my shoulder bag while I was swaying and praying on that bridge, and I would not have noticed.

Around midnight, safely back in Vancouver, I wandered into the lobby of my residence and accosted a traveler who was using a laptop, asking him to look up my cell carrier's Web site, so I could get the toll-free number and notify it to suspend service. An hour later, we were still talking about history and politics. We looked up my Redroom site on his laptop, and I urged him to join Redroom since he is a published writer. There -- my good deed for the day was done.

A three-minute journey to Granville Island, in a tin-can ferry about the size of two bathtubs strapped together with masking tape, was my only other nerve-racking adventure that week. And Granville Island is wonderful -- hugh open air market, live music, art, locally-run shops.

Perfect weather -- sunny days and rainy nights in Vancouver. Great restaurants, friendly people. And a lush community garden right in the middle of a busy commercial street. Just remember, though, a trek through Capilano Canyon requires caution...

(c) 2009 Jeanne Powell