Thursday September 7, Day 51

Starting trip meter: 10303
Starting time: 7:30 Pacific Daylight Time
Starting Location: Prince Rupert, British Columbia, Canada

Going to sleep was easy last night and waking up to the announcements at 11PM when the ship was leaving port did not bother us, but shortly before 2AM, the seas became very rough and the ship was pitching and rolling enough to wake us up. We had no problem with seasickness, however, it took forever to get back to sleep, and by that time, the steward was knocking on our door telling us that we were a half an hour from our arrival in port. That meant it was 4:30AM! We obediently jumped out of bed, and were ready to go at 5AM when another announcement said that the Canadian Customs would not be open until an hour later, and that they were going to slow down our disembarkation process. Consequently, we went to the cafeteria and drank coffee until time to go below to the van.

There was no problem going through customs. We set our watches ahead one hour as we were now back in Pacific Daylight Time, and drove through Prince Rupert in the rain and darkness of early morning. It is official now, we are no longer in Alaska! Our hearts are a little heavy at leaving, but we hope to come back some day.

The most exciting event today was seeing two black bears near the road as we approached the city. Still have not sighted a bull moose, although we saw numerous road signs warning us that they would be standing in the road waiting on us.

Arrived in Prince George during rush hour traffic, and rain showers and promptly found our camp site for the night. We drove downtown and walked many streets trying to decide which place we wanted to have dinner in. It was too mushy to cook out. We ended up choosing Italian, and headed back to wind up the night.

Today’s weather: Pouring rain at 7:30 in the morning. The rain diminished as we moved inland. The high today was about 60° and the low was around 45°.

Miles driven today: 476

Friday September 8, Day 52

Starting trip meter: 10779
Starting time: 10:30AM
Starting Location: Prince George, BC

Great night’s sleep, and we both felt very rested in the morning. The new air mattress is wonderful. Had our oatmeal and coffee, and we were ready to go. Before we left the grounds, we were able to reach Bobbie Lou to tell her that we anticipated being in Olympia by Monday. They leave Friday for Hawaii and we were concerned that with all of our delays with the repair of the van, that we would miss seeing them entirely. It will be so nice to finally see their home after all these years.

Drove south on 97 toward Vancouver. We were in and out of showers all day long, but at least we had brief moments of sunshine. One shower did produce a lot of slushy hail which covered our windshield for a moment. Luckily, we saw a fox along the side of the road. Again, however, Barney was sorely disappointed that the anticipated moose did not appear. Instead, we took a “picture” of one hoping that would help to satisfy him.

Stayed the night in Cache Creek, at a camp site that immediately we had problems with. Our “river site” offered no view of the river, the showers were 25¢ for 5 minutes, which we hate, and worse yet, you had to hop out naked to run across the room to deposit another quarter if you were not finished, there were only 2 washing machines working, and only 2 dryers, and they also ran on 25¢ for only a few minutes, the hand blower did not work in the bathroom nor were there any paper towels, the so called “Internet access” was them pulling their line out of the wall, and us standing at the front counter to check e-mail and also to try and upload the site. Not much fun. The best part of the evening was cooking the steaks that we had bought earlier in the day and the fact that at least the rain had ceased for a while. This experience truly makes us appreciate the wonderful places that we have stayed in along our way.

Happy Birthday Tyler, we have been thinking so much about you, and your mommy, hope you are doing much better by now.

Today’s weather: Rain, sun, rain , sun, sleet and hail, rain, sun, etc, etc, etc, 60s/40s.
Miles driven today: 280

Today’s Picture

Saturday September 9, Day 53

Starting trip meter: 11059
Starting time: 9:30 AM PDT
Starting Location: Cache Creek, BC

A sweet roll and coffee served as our breakfast so we brushed our teeth and were off for Vancouver. The country side in this area is low mountains and, to our surprise, desert like. They irrigate in the valleys and were growing an unknown crop in huge fields covered with plastic sheeting. They must harvest this crop before winter as it gets down to minus 20° Fahrenheit in this area. The road is following the Thompson River which must be great for rafting and fishing based on the number of sportsmen and rafts we’ve seen. The river is moving very swiftly and it has many rapids. It looks cold but also like great fun for the younger and braver.

The terrain changed rapidly to very high rugged mountains that were heavily forested with fir trees. We went through at least a half a dozen tunnels, and many extremely windy passes, coming finally to a place called Hell’s Gate. We are not sure of the elevation at that point, however, the Fraser River below seemed very far down, with many rapids through some very tight canyon walls. We imagined that it must one of those rivers that rafters must dream about, or possibly have a nightmare or two anticipating the trip.

We dropped down from the mountains into a charming little town called Hope. Although it was raining, it seemed as if all of the townspeople were out and about. They had beautiful parks, and lots of flowers everywhere. We drove up and down many of their streets, had lunch, and commented on how nice it must be there when the weather is better. (Wetter is NOT Better).

Arrived in the Vancouver area in driving rains, so much so that visibility was minimal, as if we were in the clouds themselves. As luck would have it, they had the Lions Gate Bridge closed for repairs the entire time that we are to be here, and that meant we had to back track, take a detour, and of course, we got lost. We did get to see much more of the downtown area than we had planned for today, and we were both pleasantly surprised and looking forward to seeing even more. The city is very metropolitan, with high rise office buildings, and impressive landscaping, waterfalls, statuary art works, fountains and such to compliment them as well.

We agreed that it was going to be too mushy to camp out tonight, plus the fact that we would probably have had to drive forever to find a decent place, so we set up camp instead in a nice Best Western. We will be here tonight for sure, and perhaps tomorrow night also. It is the Abercorn, and we can be reached at 604-270-7576 x254. This will give us a chance to upload to the Internet, and get caught up on the rest of our e-mail. The things that we do for our family, and friends! Don’t worry, we love it!

Today’s weather: Cloudy and cool in the AM. Rain again starting about 10:45 AM and hasn’t stopped as we approach Vancouver.
Miles driven today: 241

Today’s Pictures

Sunday September 10, Day 54

Starting trip meter: 11300
Starting time: 9:30AM
Starting Location: Vancouver, BC

What a day we had in Vancouver! This is a fabulous city. We had one of the most wonderful days of our entire trip, and compared to all we have seen and done, that is really saying something.

After breakfast, we headed to the downtown area. Almost all of the shops were open, and there were people everywhere. The size and quantity of skyscrapers surprised us. There were restaurants of every description and plenty of customers to go around. From there we drove to Stanley Park, which is a lush green jewel of gigantic trees, flower gardens, teahouses, marinas, huge swimming pool, yacht club, hiking trails, playgrounds, and scenic vistas of both the downtown and the bay areas. Next, we drove out to the University of British Columbia and through the surrounding neighborhoods. We stopped at the Botanical Gardens, however, it was threatening to rain at that point, and since the colors showed signs of early frost, we decided to spend our time elsewhere and we were glad that we did.

There is an area on Granville Street called Gallery Row, and we spent several hours in the afternoon walking the streets, browsing the shops, people watching and eating. In addition to every imaginable art gallery you could want, there were upscale clothing boutiques, jewelry stores, a large store called the Future Shop which carried every thing associated with electronics and computers, and eateries to suit any palate. Many of the cafes had outdoor seating, and with the sunshine finally out, they became the seats of choice. We had our lunch at the Cactus Club, split an order of steak fajitas that were very good, and watched Tiger win the Canadian Open, his 9th win of the year.

Some of the simplest things in life can become very complex and difficult in Vancouver as we came to find out. For instance, parking or “P”ing as they put it turned out to be quite a lesson to be learned. Click here to see what we mean.

We then drove to the bay area, luckily found a place to park, and decided to walk off our lunch by joining the rest of the residents that had turned out to take part in this beautiful weather. It is difficult to describe how many people we saw all through the city. It was not like a packed throng condition, but more like an atmosphere of participation. Every where we looked, there were people of all ages either walking, biking, jogging, rollerblading, or some just sitting on the lawns and park benches soaking in the sun, reading, or holding hands with someone they loved. We were so caught up in the atmosphere of it all, that we set out on another long walk, and ended up at an outdoor cafe called the Milestone to partake in a Bellini, which is a very popular frozen drink that we had observed being drunk by many others at various places throughout the city. We sipped our drink on the verandah, and watched the sun set over the bay with ships and boats of all shapes and sizes dotting the horizon. It was a sight that will not soon be forgotten.

Today’s weather: Drizzly in the AM, Sunny and beautiful in PM. High upper 60s/Low upper 40s.

Miles driven today: 84

Today’s Pictures

Monday September 11, Day 55

Starting trip meter: 11384
Starting time: 9:30AM
Starting Location: Vancouver, BC

Arrived at the Canadian Customs Rebate center within an hour of driving, then promptly sat in a double line of traffic for almost an hour to get through USA customs. Our welcome back into the states!

Stopped at Wendy’s for lunch, the first one that we have seen in ages, and also filled up the tank at $1.599, which was a thrill. The skyline of Seattle was very inviting, so we got off of the freeway, which we also had not missed, and drove through the downtown, admiring the tree lined streets and the handsome buildings. We also stopped at the infamous Space Needle, but elected not to spend the time to ride up, opting to do other sightseeing. After strolling around the Seattle Center and stretching our legs, we were eager to get on to Olympia.

Shortly after we had entered the state of Washington, we could see Mt. Baker off to the east, and at 10,775 feet in altitude was beautiful to see, however, on the drive from Seattle to Olympia we could clearly see Mt. Rainier, and at 14,411 feet in elevation it was unbelievable. It stands alone and towers over everything else for as far as you can see. It appeared to be completely covered with snow.

The highway leading into Olympia is quite nice, with groomed medians and large beds of flowers and other plantings. This is the Capital city of Washington, and it’s domed building sits up on a hill and is impressive in it’s setting. We spent some time driving through the streets and admiring the quaintness of the town. Ran the van through two cycles of wash, and even with the brush it came out still covered with stuck on dirt, but so much better than before.

The directions to Bobbie and Dave’s home were perfect, and we arrived shortly after 5pm. We were immediately charmed by all of the flowers, the picket fence, the setting of the house overlooking the bay, and the dock leading out into the water. We fixed a drink and took it down the slope to the dock and watched the harbor seals, and birds while we waited their arrival home.

The evening was spent by all four of us catching up on so many things, and then being treated to a fabulous dinner of marinated shish-kabobs that Dave grilled outside, cucumber salad seasoned with fresh ginger and homemade raspberry pie. Everything was wonderful, and their home is spacious and beautiful.

Today’s weather: Clear skies, and mild. High low 70s/Low 50s
Miles driven today: 321

Today’s Pictures

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