We did manage to leave downtown Vancouver for a couple of days thanks to our friends. We had a great day in North Vancouver, which is beatifully situated along the harbor, but is all houses rather than apartment buildings. It's got great access to the mountains, and we hiked a bit through the awesome pine trees, and played on a famous rickety bridge crossing a ravine, which is I think the oldest bridge in Vancouver, and still working! I also remembered going to some sort of pub for a very local breakfast, and felt just like a lumberjack.