Monday 9th July – Today we hired a couple of bikes downtown and headed out round the Stanley Park circuit. It was a lovely day with warm sunshine. We enjoyed the cycling so much we carried on round the south side of town along the shoreline and back towards Stanley Park. We stopped along the way at a beach for a brew and a butty, super stuff. Late afternoon we wandered back up through the problems of East Hastings to the hotel for another Chinese feast and a beer.
Tuesday 10th July – Moving on day today and another car hire adventure awaits. We went downtown to pick up the car but the car wasn’t in yet and we were early so we went back to the digs and I went down for the car at lunchtime then picked Lynn up with the luggage.
The hire experience went OK but we ended up with a bigger car than we had expected. It was a very nice car, as they go but it was all gadgets with buttons for this, sensors for that. However it was very comfortable and roomy so off we set for Squamish and some more camping. Before we set off we had to find some more camp fuel – proving to be a real nuisance out here. Found a DIY shop that didn’t sell it. Told us we needed a paint shop. Found the paint shop, they didn’t know what we meant until they got another guy who finally got us sorted.
Lovely run up to Squamish and we found the campsite quite by accident. Nice friendly owners but we were back with the trees again. Not only were there trees but also mozzies which were a real nuisance. We had a lovely big pitch as before and the chumping queen was straight on the case finding wood for the fire. After we had site set up we went shopping and had dinner and a beer by the fire. Well wrapped up in an attempt to keep the mozzies at bay.
Squamish was about 6 miles away from the site in a pretty mountain valley alongside a wide river. The site itself was set in ‘woods’ next to the railway which chugged up and down the valley to Whistler. Whistler is where they held the 2010 winter Olympics.
Wednesday 11th July – Managed to sleep in today. After a leisurely breakfast we walked from the site up the Thomson trail up to Lake Brohm. Steep start to the walk but then got easier and ended up on the lakeside where we lunched. Trail back was probably more difficult going down as it was so steep. Got back to site mid afternoon and headed out shopping. Here in Canada you cannot buy alcohol in the supermarkets you have to go to liquor stores – what a bind. Also it is far more expensive here in Canada than it was in the USA.
In the evening we had a BBQ and tried to BBQ as many mozzies as we could – what a nuisance they were. Dinner was good but the evening cut short as we had to sit in the car due to mozzies.
Thursday 12th July – A day out locally today. First stop was ‘eagles run’ in Brackendale which boasts to be the bald eagle capital of the world!! They allegedly counted 1600 one day last winter. Oh I forgot to mention the eagles come down here in winter so we didn’t see any that day!! After eagle spotting unsuccessfully we headed into Squamish for a brew then down to the beach side via Sawmills Road where we had excellent views of Shannon Falls and The Chief – a local huge granite monolith where all the local climbers test their skills. Quite a sight I have to say.
We then headed across town to do a short walk and ended up having to turn back as the path ran out!! Very frustrating but an interesting if only short walk. We then went shopping headed back to site and had dinner. Mozzies once again really bad so after dinner we drove up the valley to a place marked on the map called Garibaldi, which in reality did not exist as we couldn’t find it. There were some stunning views along the way which in some way redeemed the trip out.
Friday 13th July – The dreaded Friday the 13th and we are heading for Whistler today. Well I say heading as we didn’t actually get there 'til late afternoon. We got delayed at a place called Brandywine Falls – sounds like something from Lord of the Rings!! It was actually quite a spectacular waterfall but once we had seen the falls we saw a sign for the Whistler bungee so we followed that. It was further than I think the signs lead you to believe but quite spectacular when you got there. We stood and watched a few folks leaping off then headed back down the long trail back to the falls and car park.
We arrived in Whistler 3.30ish and were amazed at the number of mountain bikers queuing for the gondola to the top so they could come tearing back down. There were also guys wandering around with snowboards and skis and there wasn’t any snow to be seen!! We made enquiries about gondola tickets but were too late in the day to get any real benefit from the tickets so we headed back set on coming back early the following day.
Back at the site it was the ususal round of showers, fires, food, drink and battle with the mozzies – who seem to be winning at this place!!
Saturday 14th July – Early start as we were off to Whistler again! Got off to a bad start though as I left my boots back at the tent and we had to go back 17kms to get them, what a muppet!! Finally on our way again we parked in one of the many giant car parks and got our gondola ticket.
The first gondola was of the open bucket type with your feet swinging about under you, this took us half way up Blackcomb mountain. Here we had to get off and get another to took us almost to the top. Where we got off to change gondolas we saw a black bear, he was sitting in the grass about 100 yards away from the gondola station not bothered about anyone. It was great to see him sat there tucking into some alpine flowers. The second gondola took us to the bottom of the ski and snowboard trails where there was tons of snow!! So we got on the third gondola to take us up to the start of these trails. It was like a different world at the top with a dedicated course for snowboarding, downhill ski runs and courses it was remarkable.
Fourth gondola back down to the snow board finish, all gondolas so far have been bucket types. We were now waiting for our fifth gondola which was a large 16 person type enclosed gondola. Not just any old gondola tho’, this was the highest and longest in the world and we were waiting for a gondola car with a glass bottom!! It connected Blackcomb mountain to Whistler mountain via one continuous cable car system, what a feat of engineering and designed and built in Austria!
It was quite a ride across between the two mountains and it took about 12 minutes to do the journey. Now on Whistler mountain – keep up please – we headed for gondola number six to take us to the top of Whistler mountain. Another bucket type gondola and more spectacular scenery and piles of snow.
We actually walked down from the top of Whistler mountain back to the longest/highest cable car where we got in an ordinary car (no glass floor) back across to Blackcomb mountain. Here we had a wander about before getting gondolas number eight and nine back down to Whistler village and resort. We saw another black bear on the way down rolling around in the alpine meadow below us. It sounds like all we have done all day is ride on gondolas but we have in fact done quite a bit of exploring and wandering about in between.
A superb day was had on Whistler and Blackcomb mountains, probably one of the best ‘fun days’ of the trip!! On the way back down to Squamish number 1 chumper spotted some more wood at forty yards – good job as we were out of wood!! So after a quick gathering of the woods we headed back via the ‘Wigan chip shop’ in Squamish for dinner and the usual battle with the annoying biting little farts!!
Sunday 15th July – Moving on day again, this time it’s back to VC straight through town and down Tsasswassen where had a ferry booked for Salt Spring Island. The journey went OK although wet and foul, we did however manage to get the tent away dry!
The ferry across to Saltspring was steady but we couldn’t see much because of the bad weather. We arrived at the camp site around 4.30ish and it was an open spot with no trees!! We got all set up in nice cosy little site setting, just got the fire going when Mrs D spotted a huge Roland rat running at the back of the site so that was the end of this nice site feeling……… We got through dinner and watched some TV via the internet with good old free wifi on site. Despite Roland a good nights sleep was had and the following day the sun was back and all was beautiful!!
Sunday, October 14, 2012
USA WEEK 7 – Champoeg USA to Vancouver Canada
Many apologies for the delay with these scribblings I humbly apologise, if there are any of you left to apologise to…………..
Monday 2nd July – Today we headed towards McMinville and the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum. We hadn’t planned on coming here but the owner of the campsite in Golden Bay, where Myrtle the moggy was, told us about it and said it was worth a visit. Well worth the visit it was too, we had a super day out. Planned for a couple of hours but ended up being kicked out at 5 o’clock!
The main reason for the visit was to see the famous ‘Spruce Goose’ the wooden seaplane built by Howard Hughes. It is in fact made from birch not spruce but it is enormous and only flew once for a few minutes – to prove his critics wrong!
It made its one and only flight in San Francisco Bay on November 2nd 1947. After this it was put away in a hanger for posterity. After Hughes death it was put on display in 1980 alongside the Queen Mary in a large hanger but the Disney boys bought the exhibition and the plane did not feature in their plans so it was then sold to Evergreen who have put it on permanent display at McMinville.
We did the tour of the museum and we also did the cockpit tour of Hughes plane and sat in up front in the seats that were once occupied by Hughes and his co-pilot, quite a special moment!
Also in display in the museum was the history of aviation going right back to the Wright brothers. There was also a good display of the aircraft used by Evergreen over the years.
In an adjacent building there was a space display. This was also excellent as there were space rockets, the lunar module from the moon landing, a blackbird and historical timeline on space travel. There were also a few USAF fighter planes there too. All in all an excellent day out and well worth the visit.
Tuesday 3rd July – Today we headed out towards the Columbia river Gorge. Quite sad really as this was pretty much where our trip started at the mouth of this enormous river. We had to go through Portland which was a huge sprawling mess but the gorge was quite a sight.
We visited the highest waterfall in Oregon, had a hike to the top, found another long bridge over the river, saw a huge hydro electric dam operation where in the basement they had someone sat at a computer counting and identifying fish in the lake. What a job, I think it was so they could keep an eye on fish numbers…..
In the evening we headed into downtown Portland where we had a walk and some grub. The centre where we were looked OK, typical of a large US city being super clean with what looked like an excellent public transport system. There was a blues festival in town but sadly it started on the day we were leaving.
It was then back to our campsite at Champoeg, which was not the best with a dingy corner for campers and it was extremely busy too. Oh well at least it was the last camp for a while, our next being a good few days away up near Whistler in Canada.
Wednesday 4th July – It’s US independence day today and we are moving on back up to Seattle via Mount St Helens. The drive up to the Johnson Observatory on St Helens was fantastic. Super views up into the crater which was venting steam all the time we were there. At the top there was a theatre where we watched two short films about that devastating day back in 1980 on May 18th. At the end of the film the curtains pulled back to reveal a most spectacular view right across and into the volcanic crater.
A steady run up to Seattle followed this, the last of our adventures in the US. We arrived in Seattle late afternoon, ditched the bags at the motel and went downtown to see if there was some 4th July event going on anywhere. I have to say, down town was pretty quiet. All we saw from our harbour side vista point was a display of fireworks going off in any direction you cared to look. Sadly nothing close enough to walk to. Slightly disappointed we headed back up to the motel for an evening not under canvas!!
Thursday 5th July – With the car now empty and all traces of chumping expeditions removed we went to drop the car off at the infamous Budget. Car now gone, with no hassle or fees I might add we headed back to the airport for the train into town.
We were going to check out the train station for our rail adventure into Canada tomorrow. Amtrak had sent us an e-mail saying that the station in Seattle was undergoing refurbishment and to allow more time. Good job we went as it was a major expedition just finding the station amongst all the building work!! After we got sorted for the following day we headed across town for a look round the centre of town. It was OK but usual city stuff, hard work wandering round towns.
Late afternoon we headed back up to the motel and got the bags sorted for the train tomoz. We did have a baggage allowance and Lynn was a bit concerned over the bag weights and would be happier as soon as the bags were checked in!
Friday 6th July – Early start into town for the 7.50 train to Vancouver. Bags just sneaked through within limits so there was a big sigh of relief. The journey was superb, the train very comfortable and roomy and the food tasty and reasonable. We did have a bit of a delay crossing into Canada over the river due to a broken rail. This however seemed to fly by due to the carriage entertainment. As we approached the border, the guard announced that there were 8 carriages on the train which would be let off 1 carriage at a time to get through customs. He said if anyone was willing to go to him and sing the Canadian national anthem over the speakers throughout the train, their carriage would be let out first. Well there was a line of Canadians attempting to get their carriage out first and the singing was interesting. We managed to get out 5th and the deal was whoever sang got to leave the carriage first. Quite entertaining, you wouldn’t see that on the transpennine express!!
We arrived at Vancouver Station early afternoon and got a cab to the hotel. The reception area was very nice and there was a microbrewery on site. We got a room key and went to a very small and untidy, unready room. A quick trip to reception got us another marginally better room overlooking the delights of East Hastings (more on this later.)
We unpacked and had a stroll into downtown Vancouver. We had quite a stretch towards Stanley Park, the cruise terminal and town centre. We were wrecked when we got back. We dined and had a local beer in Pats pub – the on site brew house – and it was very nice.
A note on East Hastings, it is an area of VC where all the folks with problems reside. Not just ‘problems’ but serious drug problems and serious mental health issues. The road out of town – East Hastings – is strewn with very shabby looking hostels where all these folks live. There are obviously some staff who keep an eye over them, feed them and assist them with their drug habits. I understand that they have to be somewhere but nothing on earth could have prepared us for what we saw in East Hastings. There was open needle use, all sorts of dodgy looking deals going on and lots of people with an array of injuries from minor to serious from either scuffles or drug related issues. It was quite shocking. The thing was that our hotel was in the middle of all this and we had to walk through it to get into and back from downtown, quite an un-nerving experience. The police were on hand many times daily resolving issues with the guys and local business owners. Very sad to see and there must be another way………..
Saturday 7th July – Today we had another walk into town via the seafront and towards Stanley Park. We noticed shed loads of bicycles going past and eventually found a hire shop. Great to see them all on official cycle paths. In the afternoon we called into VC Police Museum for a shuffle round. It was very interesting with loads of historical stuff on the force going back. The building used to be the mortuary where post mortems were undertaken. We were very surprised to find out that no less than Errol Flynn (Lynn’s brothers idol and hero) was taken there when he died and had his post mortem done in the building we were in! There was even a copy of the post mortem report on the wall in the mortuary next to the very table where he sadly laid dead all those years ago. We seemed to be in there ages, it was a very interesting visit. After the police museum we headed back up to good old East Hastings and our hotel where we had a splendid Chinese meal for dinner.
Sunday 8th July – Looking through the local what to see and do guide we noticed that there was a local custom to do ‘the Grouse Grind.’ Now the Grouse Grind is a mountain across the bay which is a 3000ft almost vertical climb up a steep winding path to the top of Grouse Mountain. At the top of the mountain is an alpine resort where they ski in the winter and hike in the summer. There is also at the top a hotel, various viewpoints one of which as at the top of a wind turbine, a collection of birds of prey and two grizzly bears who were found abandoned as cubs and have been living up there ever since. All sounds pretty good. So we decided to do the ‘grind’ so we got our bus ticket which was $2.50 and got a bus into town, a ferry across the bay then another bus to grouse mountain, splendid value! It all worked out very efficiently and we were at the bottom of the climb. Now the locals or anyone for that matter can register at the bottom and as you climb your progress is monitored electronically so you know your time, can attempt to beat personal bests an such like. Additionally when you cross the line at the top your name comes up on a screen to say you have finished and in what time. We didn’t bother with this we just struggled on up slowly and did the ‘grind’ in two hours. There were others passing us running, walking quickly and generally on a mission to get to the top. Looking at the time boards at the top, the best time for the day was 37 minutes!! We were wrecked again as we found it very difficult.
After a butty and a brew we had a wander around the top. Super views down to VC and out towards Vancouver Island in the distance. We found the grizzlies who lived in a huge compound and were very entertaining. When they were found, they were both in such a state it took weeks to save them, they had to be fed via drips intravenously. It took so long to get them right that by the time they were, they could not be put back into the wild and the decision was taken to keep them atop Grouse mountain in a dedicated enclosure.
After the Grizzlies we saw the birds of prey which were magnificent then watched a lumberjack type show before heading back down by a cable car. All in all a superb day out on the mountain and quite a public transport epic to get there and back. Back at the digs, well deserved showers and more of Pats ale and fine foods.
Monday 2nd July – Today we headed towards McMinville and the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum. We hadn’t planned on coming here but the owner of the campsite in Golden Bay, where Myrtle the moggy was, told us about it and said it was worth a visit. Well worth the visit it was too, we had a super day out. Planned for a couple of hours but ended up being kicked out at 5 o’clock!
The main reason for the visit was to see the famous ‘Spruce Goose’ the wooden seaplane built by Howard Hughes. It is in fact made from birch not spruce but it is enormous and only flew once for a few minutes – to prove his critics wrong!
It made its one and only flight in San Francisco Bay on November 2nd 1947. After this it was put away in a hanger for posterity. After Hughes death it was put on display in 1980 alongside the Queen Mary in a large hanger but the Disney boys bought the exhibition and the plane did not feature in their plans so it was then sold to Evergreen who have put it on permanent display at McMinville.
We did the tour of the museum and we also did the cockpit tour of Hughes plane and sat in up front in the seats that were once occupied by Hughes and his co-pilot, quite a special moment!
Also in display in the museum was the history of aviation going right back to the Wright brothers. There was also a good display of the aircraft used by Evergreen over the years.
In an adjacent building there was a space display. This was also excellent as there were space rockets, the lunar module from the moon landing, a blackbird and historical timeline on space travel. There were also a few USAF fighter planes there too. All in all an excellent day out and well worth the visit.
Tuesday 3rd July – Today we headed out towards the Columbia river Gorge. Quite sad really as this was pretty much where our trip started at the mouth of this enormous river. We had to go through Portland which was a huge sprawling mess but the gorge was quite a sight.
We visited the highest waterfall in Oregon, had a hike to the top, found another long bridge over the river, saw a huge hydro electric dam operation where in the basement they had someone sat at a computer counting and identifying fish in the lake. What a job, I think it was so they could keep an eye on fish numbers…..
In the evening we headed into downtown Portland where we had a walk and some grub. The centre where we were looked OK, typical of a large US city being super clean with what looked like an excellent public transport system. There was a blues festival in town but sadly it started on the day we were leaving.
It was then back to our campsite at Champoeg, which was not the best with a dingy corner for campers and it was extremely busy too. Oh well at least it was the last camp for a while, our next being a good few days away up near Whistler in Canada.
Wednesday 4th July – It’s US independence day today and we are moving on back up to Seattle via Mount St Helens. The drive up to the Johnson Observatory on St Helens was fantastic. Super views up into the crater which was venting steam all the time we were there. At the top there was a theatre where we watched two short films about that devastating day back in 1980 on May 18th. At the end of the film the curtains pulled back to reveal a most spectacular view right across and into the volcanic crater.
A steady run up to Seattle followed this, the last of our adventures in the US. We arrived in Seattle late afternoon, ditched the bags at the motel and went downtown to see if there was some 4th July event going on anywhere. I have to say, down town was pretty quiet. All we saw from our harbour side vista point was a display of fireworks going off in any direction you cared to look. Sadly nothing close enough to walk to. Slightly disappointed we headed back up to the motel for an evening not under canvas!!
Thursday 5th July – With the car now empty and all traces of chumping expeditions removed we went to drop the car off at the infamous Budget. Car now gone, with no hassle or fees I might add we headed back to the airport for the train into town.
We were going to check out the train station for our rail adventure into Canada tomorrow. Amtrak had sent us an e-mail saying that the station in Seattle was undergoing refurbishment and to allow more time. Good job we went as it was a major expedition just finding the station amongst all the building work!! After we got sorted for the following day we headed across town for a look round the centre of town. It was OK but usual city stuff, hard work wandering round towns.
Late afternoon we headed back up to the motel and got the bags sorted for the train tomoz. We did have a baggage allowance and Lynn was a bit concerned over the bag weights and would be happier as soon as the bags were checked in!
Friday 6th July – Early start into town for the 7.50 train to Vancouver. Bags just sneaked through within limits so there was a big sigh of relief. The journey was superb, the train very comfortable and roomy and the food tasty and reasonable. We did have a bit of a delay crossing into Canada over the river due to a broken rail. This however seemed to fly by due to the carriage entertainment. As we approached the border, the guard announced that there were 8 carriages on the train which would be let off 1 carriage at a time to get through customs. He said if anyone was willing to go to him and sing the Canadian national anthem over the speakers throughout the train, their carriage would be let out first. Well there was a line of Canadians attempting to get their carriage out first and the singing was interesting. We managed to get out 5th and the deal was whoever sang got to leave the carriage first. Quite entertaining, you wouldn’t see that on the transpennine express!!
We arrived at Vancouver Station early afternoon and got a cab to the hotel. The reception area was very nice and there was a microbrewery on site. We got a room key and went to a very small and untidy, unready room. A quick trip to reception got us another marginally better room overlooking the delights of East Hastings (more on this later.)
We unpacked and had a stroll into downtown Vancouver. We had quite a stretch towards Stanley Park, the cruise terminal and town centre. We were wrecked when we got back. We dined and had a local beer in Pats pub – the on site brew house – and it was very nice.
A note on East Hastings, it is an area of VC where all the folks with problems reside. Not just ‘problems’ but serious drug problems and serious mental health issues. The road out of town – East Hastings – is strewn with very shabby looking hostels where all these folks live. There are obviously some staff who keep an eye over them, feed them and assist them with their drug habits. I understand that they have to be somewhere but nothing on earth could have prepared us for what we saw in East Hastings. There was open needle use, all sorts of dodgy looking deals going on and lots of people with an array of injuries from minor to serious from either scuffles or drug related issues. It was quite shocking. The thing was that our hotel was in the middle of all this and we had to walk through it to get into and back from downtown, quite an un-nerving experience. The police were on hand many times daily resolving issues with the guys and local business owners. Very sad to see and there must be another way………..
Saturday 7th July – Today we had another walk into town via the seafront and towards Stanley Park. We noticed shed loads of bicycles going past and eventually found a hire shop. Great to see them all on official cycle paths. In the afternoon we called into VC Police Museum for a shuffle round. It was very interesting with loads of historical stuff on the force going back. The building used to be the mortuary where post mortems were undertaken. We were very surprised to find out that no less than Errol Flynn (Lynn’s brothers idol and hero) was taken there when he died and had his post mortem done in the building we were in! There was even a copy of the post mortem report on the wall in the mortuary next to the very table where he sadly laid dead all those years ago. We seemed to be in there ages, it was a very interesting visit. After the police museum we headed back up to good old East Hastings and our hotel where we had a splendid Chinese meal for dinner.
Sunday 8th July – Looking through the local what to see and do guide we noticed that there was a local custom to do ‘the Grouse Grind.’ Now the Grouse Grind is a mountain across the bay which is a 3000ft almost vertical climb up a steep winding path to the top of Grouse Mountain. At the top of the mountain is an alpine resort where they ski in the winter and hike in the summer. There is also at the top a hotel, various viewpoints one of which as at the top of a wind turbine, a collection of birds of prey and two grizzly bears who were found abandoned as cubs and have been living up there ever since. All sounds pretty good. So we decided to do the ‘grind’ so we got our bus ticket which was $2.50 and got a bus into town, a ferry across the bay then another bus to grouse mountain, splendid value! It all worked out very efficiently and we were at the bottom of the climb. Now the locals or anyone for that matter can register at the bottom and as you climb your progress is monitored electronically so you know your time, can attempt to beat personal bests an such like. Additionally when you cross the line at the top your name comes up on a screen to say you have finished and in what time. We didn’t bother with this we just struggled on up slowly and did the ‘grind’ in two hours. There were others passing us running, walking quickly and generally on a mission to get to the top. Looking at the time boards at the top, the best time for the day was 37 minutes!! We were wrecked again as we found it very difficult.
After a butty and a brew we had a wander around the top. Super views down to VC and out towards Vancouver Island in the distance. We found the grizzlies who lived in a huge compound and were very entertaining. When they were found, they were both in such a state it took weeks to save them, they had to be fed via drips intravenously. It took so long to get them right that by the time they were, they could not be put back into the wild and the decision was taken to keep them atop Grouse mountain in a dedicated enclosure.
After the Grizzlies we saw the birds of prey which were magnificent then watched a lumberjack type show before heading back down by a cable car. All in all a superb day out on the mountain and quite a public transport epic to get there and back. Back at the digs, well deserved showers and more of Pats ale and fine foods.
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