CANADA

Vancouver Island.     British Columbia.

 Had a very “fresh” crossing to Sidney. B.C.     Looked around the capital Victoria. This place was gorgeous. A bit touristy but tastefully done. Horse and carriage rides and a small market near the harbour – lots of wood carvings and jewelery.  Victoria is somewhere I would like to spend more time but we had to press on.

Sunday 20th June

It’s Father’s Day in Canada. Al treated himself to a 24 hour fishing licence so today he was determined to catch a fish.  I was still in bed when I felt the RV moving…..he drove out the campsite at 5.00am with me still in bed.
                                                    But he’s a legend - look what he caught!

                                          ( Had to enlarge this Photo a little bit, but what a catch )

 North Vancouver.

First stop Grouse Mountain. The only way up the mountain was by aerial Gondola. I’m not a big fan of heights but not wanting to miss out, I gulped hard, and stepped in. We slowly ascended to 4,000 feet and there we dangled high above the tree tops at Lake Grouse with spectacular 360 degree views.

 

The Park on top of the mountain was beautiful. We watched a very lively lumberjack show with axe throwing, wood chopping and speed climbing. Plenty of audience participation and rowdy cheering.

Saw a very impressive “Birds in Motion” show with Golden Eagles and Falcons and Kestrels in a flying demonstration. All the activities were free and well organized.

Capilano Suspension Bridge
Continuing our “high” theme we couldn't resist Capilano Suspension Bridge. It was so much fun, as you step on the bridge 450 ft above the Capilano Canyon the whole thing starts to sway and your legs feel like jelly. The original bridge was built in 1889 and suspended on hemp rope. Today’s bridge is supported by steel cables (they heard we were coming).

Linda is on the right

Whistler Olympic Village.


The Village was so pretty and packed with young people so the atmosphere was good. Saw the medal ceremony arena. Whistler has everything for the outdoor junkie. The buildings and hotels were in keeping with an alpine village, log cabins and chalet type resorts.

Drove on and found Nairn Falls Provincial Park – simply the best!!







 The only sound we could hear was the rushing river below us.  Awesome views.  Fell asleep to the sound of water crashing over the rocks.

Friday 25th June
On this long and winding road, heading in the general direction towards Banff, we saw a little brown bear near the road side. We stopped and took lots of photographs, he was gorgeous, very calm and totally oblivious to us. Great to see a bear in the wild.

We saw a sign off the main Highway advertising Tunkwa Lake Resort.  We traveled approximately 25klm down a narrow track and there we found it....oh my god….Al was in heaven.  There was a 2 day fishing seminar being held at the resort - NOT that he needed to attend.  ha           ( How rude!! )

 

We picked a spot on top of the hill and did some night fishing.  Al caught a trout. 

                                              
The next morning we decided to hire a boat on the lake. OK I was kind of game for anything. We floated around the lake for 3 hours and the fish were rolling and jumping out of the water.  They eventually succumbed to the juicy worm and Al caught 2 stunning size trout.  We got ashore and had our photographs taken as "Best Catch of the Day".

Spiral Tunnels – purely by luck we saw a mile long train come through a mountain tunnel. Apparently there’s no set timetable for these trains so it was fluky we picked the right time.  I should add that Al loves trains and would have sat there all day to see it.  Not me! 

Covered a huge distance and arrived at Lake Louise Campground there was a big queue to get registered - think it must be school holidays.

Set up camp and within minutes Al spotted a big grizzly bear walking through the grounds.  A bear sighting always causes great excitement and news traveled like wildfire. All you could hear through the trees were campers shouting “A Bear!” “A Bear!” “Quick, where’s the camera?!”   Something we will never forget.

Lake Louise the most photographed lake in the world. In winter the temperature plummets to -50F. Last year the lake froze 4ft deep in ice. Enough for trucks to drive over.

Lake Louise

                                         Lake Moraine nestled in a spectacular valley.
          
 Took the most amazing road through the Rocky Mountains towards Banff. The size of these mountains are incredible makes you feel like a tiny little speck.  Banff is totally surrounded by mountains, it would look fantastic in the snow. 

 . 

Saw this derelict gold mine in a place called Nanton.  Still had the rock washer nearby.  All this stuff should be in a museum. 

Wednesday 29th June
Arrived at Calgary - what a shock - it's as flat as a pancake!   Such a contrast to the Rockies.  This year the famous Calgary Stampede is being held 9-18 July unfortunately we can't stretch it out that long. 

Linda took this one

Bomber Command Museum of Canada. The museum was a credit to the people of Alberta.

What A Photo eh?

Redwood Forest to British Columbia

Sunday 13th June

Drove along Redwood Highway and saw lots of Elks in the forest. Hugged the famous “Big Tree” it's 1500 years old, over 300 ft high and 68ft diameter.  Decided to stop at Six Rivers National Forest and found a secluded camp ground.  The National Forest sites are so much better than the RV campsites and Trailer Parks.  It's back to nature - BIG TIME.







Walked to Patrick Creek Lodge, a very classy restaurant and bar but as we were only out for a walk, Al didn’t have his wallet so we had to settle for a glass of water!! That’s a first.  ( This is Al.  I did really but you should have seen the prices )

Tuesday 15th June

After 4 dry weeks Oregon finally broke the drought. The sky just opened, thunder/lightning and torrential rain. We drove to Portland but the roads were flooding quickly. It had obviously snowed during the past couple of days and the rain was turning everything into slush. I grabbed the Lonely Planet Guide for some info on Portland. It said it was famous for its rain and strip clubs!!  Sorry Oregon we didn’t even get out of the RV.  Time to move on.   ( This is Al.  I really wanted to get out here!!  Wasn't allowed )

Wednesday 16th

Our next challenge was to find Mount St Helens in some very bleak weather. The volcano erupted 30 years ago and the blast dramatically changed the landscape, river and valley. We stopped at the National
Volcanic Monument and watched a movie and walked around their excellent information centre. Allen has always wanted to visit the site but as we climbed the mountain we got into thick fog and sleet. Visibility wasn’t the best but we could see the devastation it caused.

That night we booked into Magestic RV Campsite, what an awful place!! No grass, no trees just a horrible old depressing trailer park. I decided to catch up with some washing but when I pulled out my clothes I was disgusted to find 2 cigarette butts in the drier. Now that explains why my washing looked and smelled worse than before I washed it. Again no photographs required.

Thursday 17th

Got on the road and checked out the Boeing Tour and Aviation Centre just north of Seattle. Now that was impressive. We went on the Boeing Tour and went around the massive assembly building. Was able to stand on the viewing platforms and watch the 747, 767, 787’s being assembled. 

That night we drove to Anacortes and spent the night in the Ferry Terminal carpark. We needed to be there to catch the 8.30am ferry to British Colombia.