What's that smell?

Kevin got out of bed at 5am and headed across the street to the beach for some sunrise photography. I stayed in bed but couldn’t sleep much longer because my stomach was hurting and I was in desperate need of some Imodium AD. Maybe I had some bad cheese at the Tillamook factory. After Kevin returned from his photo session, I sent him on a mission to find some Imodium AD. He was back with the goods in a few minutes and within a short time it was working its magic! Although I didn’t feel really good, I was in good enough shape to be able to get on the road. To make up for the midnight fire alarm, the hotel management gave us a gift certificate for a free night. In spite of the fire alarm, it turned out to be a really nice place, and since we have a free night’s stay coming, maybe we’ll return.

Back in the car, our first stop was Starbucks and our second stop was the local casino! I had wanted to stop at one of the many casinos we had passed by throughout our trip and I was finally getting my chance. We visited the Chinook Winds Casino and Resort in Lincoln City, Oregon. My goal was to keep my spending to no more than $20 dollars. Kevin’s plan was to win big. I put my $20 dollars in the machine and he put in his $5 bucks. We both played video poker sitting side by side. I lost all my money and Kevin left with $1.35 more than he came in with. Not sure what he’ll do with all that money…I think his daily Starbucks habit cost him $1.80. The casino was fun and I was happy to get that out of my system for a while.

As we drove out of town, we stopped at a glassblowing shop where they allow people to participate in the glass blowing. We were able to watch and Kevin got some nice pictures of the process. Later, we walked across the street to the glass shop and I bought two beautiful pieces of hand blown glass. I love glass, so it was hard for me to keep the spending down to two items. At this point our car was so loaded down with all our stuff that Kevin could no longer see out the back window (good thing I kept my purchases to a minimum).

While driving down the coast we stopped twice to take photos of some more lighthouses. The lighthouses are hard to pass up and there a lot of them along the Oregon coast. Each one is unique in its own way and you could spend several days seeing them and all the other beautiful sites along the Oregon coast. Along the way we were looking for a state park to camp in, but every single one we checked out had a full campground. The Oregonians really love their camping. Around 8pm we reached the California border. We were going to stop and take a picture of us hugging the “ Welcome to California” sign but we never found one. We finally knew we were in California when we saw a California Lottery sign. I was in urgent need of a bathroom break and asked Kevin to stop at an Indian casino on 101. He was sure I wanted to pull some more slots again, but I was in and out of there within minutes. Just as the sun was setting we managed to find a county park campground a few miles north of Cresent City, CA. We were tired from a long day and still had to set up camp. There wasn’t a level spot on the entire site so we had to sleep on a slight downhill slope. Kevin cooked dinner and I helped with the dishes. Tip saver: Be sure to bring lots of paper towels with you when you camp, as they are an excellent dish cleaner. Also, paper plates and plastic utensils are a must have item as well. Right before bed, Kevin and I went on a short walk to find the garbage can. After walking the entire campground loop twice, Kevin asked a fellow camper if he knew where the garbage cans were kept. This guy told us they were near the restrooms, which happened to be right next to our campsite. So we walked back and found the garbage can disguised as a cut down tree trunk sitting about 10 yards from our place. Ugh!

The campground was extremely quiet except for the sound of me scratching viciously at my ankles. Apparently, I had gotten quite a few bug bites somewhere along the way and the itch was just kicking in. I was really wishing I had some Cortaid. Tip saver: Bring Cortaid!

Eventually I fell asleep but morning came too soon. We woke before the sun came up, packed the car, and headed down the road. We both were ready to get home but we still had 350 miles to go. We ate breakfast in Eureka at a place called Christine’s. It was not a memorable breakfast but we managed to eat it anyway. Back on the road again, we detoured off highway 101 and drove through the “Avenue of the Giants”. After that we detoured again to take our car through the “drive through tree” tourist stop. We paid our $5 dollars, and as we approached the tree I got out with camera in hand while Kevin waited in the car for his turn to drive through the tree. I shot pictures as he came through the big hole in the trunk (6 feet wide, 6 feet 9 inches high). He had to stop once because the bike rack got caught (good thing we didn’t have those bikes), but luckily he noticed right away and was able to adjust it and get the car through. Some vehicles were too large to fit through and had to go around. It was all pretty corny but fun to do. Back on the road, Kevin smelled something really bad and after about 10 miles of driving realized he had stepped in dog poop back at the drive through tree. A quick stop to clean his shoe and we were back on the road. I took over the driving just outside of Santa Rosa. We drove over the San Rafael Bridge, happy to be back in the Bay Area and almost home. We spent the last hour of our trip talking about next summer’s vacation, but glad that this trip was coming to an end. We arrived home about 4:30pm, spent the first 10 minutes playing with our very happy dogs, Sophie and Zoe, and then unpacked the car. We called the kids to let them know we were back and decided to all go out for dinner. Jenn, James, and Ava came over to our house first and it was wonderful to see our granddaughter, at 17 months old, recognize us. As Jenn and James drove up, Ava was squirming to get out of her car seat and she put her little arms out and gave us a big welcome home smile. It was a fun trip and so nice to be home again!

Midnight Fire Drill

We got up early once again and went across the street to the Mercantile for a breakfast sandwich and coffee (no Starbucks today). There weren’t many other people awake yet, but we did run into a man who lives in Portland and works in Fremont. He says he flies there every Monday and returns on Friday (quite the commute). We went for a 2.5 mile hike and Kevin got the chance to shoot some waterfalls. It was still raining but he managed to get some really beautiful shots anyway. We checked out, and headed for Oregon. We passed by South Bend, Washington where their claim to fame is being the “oyster capital of the world”. There were haystack high piles of oyster shells all over this town. Amazing! Kevin was driving too fast to get any good pictures. As we drove through Washington State, we saw a lot of “clear cut” areas where the loggers have stripped the land of all the trees. It is really ugly! We eventually crossed the bridge between Washington State and Oregon and landed in Astoria, Oregon. It was nice to be back on Oregon soil. I have to say that of all the places we have visited, this state seems to be the friendliest. Everywhere we’ve traveled in Oregon, the people have been extremely friendly and helpful to us. We even stopped in front of someone’s house today to look over the map and the homeowner came out and asked us if we were lost and needed directions.
The rains finally stopped today, and we have been able to take pictures along the Oregon coastline. Clumsy Janet took a tumble down a short hill but managed to protect the camera…oh yeah, and she’s ok. Thankfully no one saw it happen—how embarrassing! We were going to camp tonight but the largest campground in the area (with 295 campsites) was completely booked. The next place we checked out felt like we’d be camping in the local storage yard, so we decided to move on. We drove for about 11 hours today minus all the stops. Along the way we stopped at the Tillamook Cheese factory to do the self guided tour. It was a lot of fun! We got to see the cheese assembly line where they cut and package the cheese, and then got to taste a variety of cheeses. Our favorite cheese was the extra sharp white cheddar. Since we didn’t know where we were going to spend the night, we decided to just wing it and have ourselves an adventure. So, instead of trying to find a place to stay, we headed out to a lighthouse at Cape Mears and enjoyed finding things to photograph. Heading back out of Cape Mears, we stopped at Oceanside, Oregon and took some pictures of the ocean during the setting of the sun. We tried to book a motel room here, but the places were closed for the night, so we drove on down the road. It was very, very dark and Kevin did a great job of driving. We were crossing our fingers that no deer would run out in front of our car. It would have been very difficult to stop in time because it was hard to see too far in front of the car.
We finally found a place to stay in Lincoln City, Oregon which is right on the coast. We had settled into our room and were checking out our photos for the day when the fire alarm went off. The time was 2 minutes after midnight and everyone had to evacuate the hotel. We were grateful that we were still dressed and not in bed yet, as many of the guest came out in their pj’s (not a pretty sight). Some of the guests came with pets in tow and small children looking half awake. No one looked amused. Now we are back in the room and it is 12:29am. It’s time for bed. Oh! There was no fire, the inn keeper had accidentally hit the fire alarm and was very apologetic to everyone. Hey, maybe we’ll get a free room out of it! (ha!)

See Ya Canada...enjoy our bikes

We got up early, walked down to the pier, shot some pictures, and stopped on the way back for a really tasty egg, bacon, and cheese breakfast sandwich at a local deli. Of course we also had to stop at Starbuck’s for our morning drinks.
After breakfast we drove to a town called, “Sookie”, to hike along the shoreline and possibly get some nice ocean shots. We found a 3 mile hike complete with cedar groves, big ferns, moss covered trees, and views of the ocean. After the hike we drove to the Bouchart Gardens but changed our mind about going in because it was getting late. We turned around in the parking lot and headed back to Sydney. Driving back down the road we had just been on, we came up on a huge auto accident. We’re not sure how it happened but there were multiple cars, trucks, and buses involved and one truck was completely upside down and people were talking to someone trapped inside. There were no police, firemen, or ambulances there yet so we figured it must have just happened!
We got back to Sidney and walked down the quiet, quaint street looking for a place to eat. After checking out quite a few menus we settled on a Thai restaurant. Now you might think that we’ve gotten along extremely well on our trip, but like Ricky & Lucy, we’ve had our ups and downs and this meal was definitely one of our “downs”. Luckily the food was incredibly fresh and delicious and saved us from a serious argument. We didn’t talk much the rest of the night, but after being together 24/7 for the last 11 days, it was understandable that we needed a break from “couplehood”. Tonight, we didn’t mind that we were sleeping Ricky & Lucy style.

The morning brought a better mood for both of us and we checked out after visiting Starbuck’s and the deli with the delicious breakfast sandwiches one more time.
We visited Bouchart Gardens, happy we hadn’t missed it, as the grounds are amazingly breathtaking and gorgeous. We could have taken thousands of pictures but tried to control ourselves because we had to be at the ferry by 1:30pm in order to catch the 3:00pm boat back to Port Angeles, Washington. We were now veteran ferry users and knew exactly what we needed to do to board the boat. Kevin even enjoyed some dog tips from a seasoned dog training professional while we waited in line. “Better watch out Sophie and Zoe; Kevin’s got some new tricks up his sleeve when we return”.
The boat ride took about 90 minutes and once again we shot more pictures. We were very happy to set foot on American soil. There really is “no place like home”! The wind was blowing really hard on deck, which gave me the chance to try out some new hairdos…check out my latest Sanjaya hairdo.

We were pretty tired and decided not to drive too far down the coast before stopping for the night. We looked for a campsite and found a state park about 30 miles outside Port Angeles. The campground was located on the western shore of Cresent Lake. It took a while to decide on a site but we finally chose one and setup camp. I had to make sure we were in close proximity to a restroom, and made Kevin find the trail to it before agreeing to stay at the site he liked. Poor Kevin! The things he puts up with. Kevin cooked dinner, and I sprayed us with mosquito repellent as the bugs were as thick as thieves. After dinner we went on a short hike to shoot some night photos of the lake and then turned in around 10pm. It rained off and on during the night—a quiet, peaceful rain—and we woke early, packed up, and got back on the road. We had breakfast in Forks, Washington at their local café. Forks is a small logging town on the western edge of Olympic National Park and there were quite a few locals eating breakfast with us as well. For $8 bucks you get two eggs, hash browns, toast, and about half a pound of bacon…Kevin loved it! As we left the café, the rain was coming down in sheets. We were a bit disappointed because we wanted to start taking some photos of the Washington coast and with the bad weather we didn’t know if we would get the chance. We headed out to an Indian Reservation called La Push where there was a chance we’d get to photograph sea stacks and arches along the ocean, but it was raining so hard we decided to drive on. Farther down highway 101 we stopped at Ruby Beach and saw some excellent photo opportunities that we couldn’t pass up. We wrapped the camera up in a towel, put it the case, and carried it down the trail to the beach. My job became chief assistant to the head photographer. We worked great as a team and Kevin was able to shoot numerous pictures without getting the lens wet. Kevin carried our other camera in his backpack under his jacket and looked like the hunchback of Notre’ Dame walking down the path. There were a lot of tourists like us, bent on getting a picture of this amazing coastline in spite of the poor weather. One man on the beach was wearing a camouflage kilt and had no jacket on. He looked like a woman wearing a skirt (a very ugly woman). We got our photos and moved on. The rain was pouring down and so we decided to check out “Lake Quinault Lodge”. We had read that Theodore Roosevelt stayed at this lodge many years ago so we thought it was worth a side trip. The place overlooks a beautiful lake and looks a lot like the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite, but costs a heck of a lot less to stay at. Lucky for us they still had rooms available and we booked it immediately. The AAA card we have brought the price down to a reasonable rate. It’s been raining all day and the hike we planned had to be curtailed, but we’ve enjoyed spending the day catching up on our blog in a nice warm lodge, filled with overstuffed leather chairs and couches, and a large stone fireplace with a crackling fire. There is an entire wall of window panes that lets you look out to the lake and watch the water. We would love to return to this lodge one day for a family vacation. We are really glad we stopped here and especially glad we decided to stay. Tomorrow we plan to make it to the Oregon coast.

Whacked in Chilliwack!

In the morning, Kevin once again woke me up by throwing a pillow at me from his bed. Apparently two double beds are the easiest to get in Canada. We both slept so well every time we were in separate beds that we’re considering two beds in our new addition (ha, not likely!). Kevin worked on putting some pictures in the blog and then decided it was time to pack the car. I wanted to finish an email I was writing before helping him with the packing. Kevin left for the car with a few bags and the ice chest but returned quickly. He told me that I needed to get up and come with him because someone had stolen our bicycles. At first I thought he was joking, but quickly realized by the look on his face that he wasn't kidding around. He looked like he was about to throw up. What a shock to see the bike rack on the car with all three locks cut and the bikes gone. Our largest lock lay on the ground and looked like it was cut by a very strong metal cutter. It was a sad and sick moment to realize that our bikes were taken and there was nothing we could do about it. The motel owner told us he had come outside around 1am and noticed the bikes and thought he should call us to tell us to bring them in, but he didn't want to wake us up. He told us this to “cheer us up”. We were feeling sick about the whole thing and also feeling really stupid for trusting that our bikes would be okay up on the rack with three locks. The motel owner didn't charge us for our night stay. We were grateful for his gesture but still very upset about the theft. We called the police and filed a report but we doubt there is any hope our bikes will ever be found. Thankfully, our sister in-law, Lynette, is our insurance agent, and she called us back within an hour to let us know that our bikes would be covered under our home insurance policy. Although we won't ever see our bikes again, we're happy to know that we'll be able to buy new ones when we get back home. "Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there!” We miss our bikes and have been going through the full spectrum of emotions following our loss.
We left Chilliwack feeling as though we’d never want to return! Stopping at Starbuck’s on the way out didn’t even help our moods. We were in a slump and it was really hard to pull ourselves out of it. Thankfully the drive to Vancouver took only an hour and we found the ferry terminal with no mishaps. The entrance to the terminal is just like a bridge toll booth where you buy your tickets to cross over to Vancouver Island. The charge was $65.00’s for two adults and a car. I had worried for days if our bikes on top of our car would be too tall for the ferry holding area, and now I didn’t have that to worry about. I wish I did! We were instructed to park our car in lane #41, which was one of eight lanes of cars all stopped in long lines waiting to board the ferry for the 2pm crossing. Since we had about 1.5 hours before leaving, we locked the car, grabbed our cameras (we never leave without those) and walked over to the building in the middle of the complex where there was a food court. We bought sandwiches and ate quickly because we didn’t want to miss the boat. We were rookies at this ferry stuff and weren’t exactly sure how this whole thing worked. But like an airport, there are signs that let people know when their lane is ready to board. When we saw the people who owned the car in front of us in the food court area, we relaxed a little knowing we couldn’t go anywhere until they moved their car. We walked back to our car and waited some more. Kevin went for a short walk and found a bald eagle nearby and got some good pictures. Soon it was time to board. We were motioned into the bottom level of the large ferry. Surrounded by buses, people with boats, RV’s, and cars, I was wondering if I would get claustrophobic down in the belly of the ferry boat. Luckily, people go up the stairs to spend time on the ferry during the trip. It was a lot of fun! We stayed on deck and took pictures the entire trip even though there were plenty of seats inside with a full cafeteria and arcade as well. The crossing took about 1 hour and 40 minutes. As we got close to Vancouver Island, they announced over the loud speaker that it was time to go back down to the belly of the beast to our vehicles. Within minutes of docking, the large doors opened up and everyone drove off the ferry. It all went really smooth.
Tired and cranky from the day and the emotional toll of losing our bikes, we made the decision to skip camping for a day and look for a motel. We picked the closest Best Western motel, which was located in the town of Sidney, and were relieved that they still had rooms available. Sidney is a quaint little harbor town with a pier (and two Starbuck’s). It boasts as having the highest amount of bookstores of any town on Vancouver Island. We eagerly unpacked our car and filled the motel luggage cart with all our gear, making sure to not leave anything valuable or dear to us in the car. We weren’t taking any chances after being whacked in Chilliwack. We navigated the fully loaded luggage cart down the hall. Kevin pushed while I pulled. As we went over the threshold of our room, I decided to back up the cart because the bags weren’t fitting through the doorway at the angle we first attempted. As we pushed forward again, one of the tri-pods hanging from the luggage rack swung and hit me square in the mouth. It hurt really bad and soon I had blood dripping down my lip. I quickly went to inspect the damage. The tri-pod had also hit my front tooth and I was concerned that it had cracked my tooth. Luckily it only affected my mouth. Kevin whipped out one of the cameras and captured the injury. Once again, you’ve got to love photographers! My mouth swelled up quickly and I looked like I had just lost a prize fight. Kevin got his scar and now I got mine. I quickly found the ice chest and guzzled down a beer (I wanted to make sure the alcohol killed any possible infection). The drink stung my lip but eased my pain. Within minutes we both realized we needed a “vacation” from our vacation and Kevin went back down to the office to book the room for an additional night stay. We were really worn out and it felt great to know we wouldn’t have to leave for 2 days. After I recovered, we got back in our car and drove down to investigate the Sidney pier. We then decided to drive over to find out where the Bouchart Gardens were since we planned to visit there sometime during our visit. We ended up exploring some coves on foot and then headed in the car to the city of Victoria. Once in the city, we found plenty to photograph. We parked near the wharf and took pictures of it along with the parliament building and various fountains, statues, flowers, and people. By the time we left, it was past 10pm and we still hadn’t had dinner. We waited until we got back to Sidney to eat and found the only place still open was McDonald’s. The food tasted great

Lucy and Ricky

Lucy and Ricky (a.k.a. Janet & Kevin) woke up around 7:30am to Ricky throwing a pillow at Lucy from his own queen size bed across the room. Lucy slept all night without waking up which is very rare for her. The first task for the day was an early morning bike ride before breakfast so we got dressed and headed out to take the bikes down off the car rack. We rode across town and down to the park where we found a trail around part of the lake that later turned into a series of single track trails. Our favorite trail was the "Cedar" trail. Riding through it was like being transplanted into a place near the Russian River in California surrounded by enormous cedars. We had a great ride and after about an hour rode our bikes over to MacDonald's for a breakfast burrito. It seemed to be the most popular place in town and it took quite a while to get our food. There was a young couple at the table next to us who had shaved their one year old boy's head and had given him a mohawk. It was quite the striking haircut---he definitely stood out!
We rode back to the motel, locked our bikes up on our rack and went to our room where we spent the next hour or so working on our blog. We were just about to leave when we got a phone call from the front desk asking if we were checking out today because "check out time is 12 noon". We looked at the clock which read, 12:05pm. Yikes! Time had really gotten away from us. We had a long way to drive, and we still needed to stop at the grocery store for supplies. We pulled into the store's parking lot and walked over to get a shopping cart and found out that it cost a quarter to use a cart. Kevin found the thought of having to pay for a cart difficult and insisted that we use the red plastic baskets to shop with. Soon he was moaning that the baskets were too heavy and was now over the whole “quarter for a cart” issue. Groceries are expensive in Canada. One small can of Blue Diamond Almonds cost $5.69, and a six pack of Canadian pale ale is $14 dollars. We didn't buy the wine because a bottle of red wine that we'd pay $7 dollars for at home, cost about $24 dollars here. Also, the taxes in British Columbia on alcohol and hotels can be as high as 21%! But hey, the ice was free.
Finally we were ready to get on the road. We passed through more gorgeous country with a lake or snow covered mountain around each turn. We went through a town called, Sicamous, which boasts as being "the houseboat capital of the world". It did look that way as everywhere we looked, we saw houseboats. Shortly after "houseboat town", we drove passed a small store where Kevin spied a few people eating ice cream cones. He had to have one and got the car turned around in about 3 seconds. He was on a mission for ice cream. We went into the store and headed over to the ice cream counter. The young man at the counter asked us for our receipts which we didn't have, so he sent us over to the register across the store where we stood in line to pay for our $2.75 single scoop ice creams. With receipts in hand we went back to the ice cream counter to wait in line again. Kevin made it through the wait and soon it was our turn. The customer right before us had just been handed an ice cream cone that looked to be about 10 inches high. He mumbled something under his breath about only ordering a single; Kevin and I glanced at each other with that knowing look that we were sure he had really ordered a triple cone or bigger, and was now embarrassed about ordering such a huge amount. What a pig we thought! When Kevin was handed his cone, it was equally as big. These scoops were the largest we have ever seen. Kevin took on the same embarrassed look that the previous man had. I stopped the server when my cone reached about 4 inches, and it was still way too much ice cream, but boy was it delicious. We went outside to join all the other pigs. If you’re going to eat an ice cream cone of this size, it is better to be surrounded by a bunch of people doing the same thing. Pigs feel better in a pack. While working on our cones, we met a couple who have lived in the local area for the past 30 years. Over this period of time the husband had developed the advanced ability to eat a monster double scoop…this requires a big stomach and the ability to balance a quart of ice cream on a waffle cone. No easy task! They told us that the place we were planning to spend the night, Hope, BC, was where the Sylvester Stallone movie, "First Blood", was shot. We wiped the ice cream off our faces and headed back onto the highway. We passed by so many waterfalls, but there were no safe places to pull over and take pictures so we just kept moving. The weather turned colder and rain started to fall. We drove on for hours but the weather wasn't letting up. We stopped a couple times to look at campgrounds but with the rain it was hard to decide if we should camp or not. It would have been okay setting up camp but taking down a wet tent in the morning didn't sound very appealing. As we contemplated where to stay, we saw a sign that said, "Bridal Veil Falls"--2 Kilometers ahead. Glad to hopefully get a chance to photograph a waterfall, we eagerly followed the signs to it. We reached the parking lot and gathered up our cameras and tri-pods and headed off in the direction of the waterfall. A light rain was falling but the trail was short and we made it to the falls in a matter of minutes. It was a spectacular waterfall and we were glad we had stopped to see it. By the time we finished shooting the pictures, the rain had really started to pick up and we made the decision to find a motel to spend the night in. The GPS came in handy and we located a Days Inn Motel in the next town of "Chilliwack". Chilliwack sounded like a fun place to spend the night, and off we headed toward the motel. It was pouring rain as we pulled into the parking lot and we were grateful there was still room available. We were able to park our car right near the front door and Kevin backed the car in so we could unload our things under the porch awning. We barely got wet. We checked to make sure everything was locked up and that all three locks on our bikes were securely fastened. Janet asked the motel owner if it was a safe place to park and he answered that he couldn't provide security but he locked the front door of the motel at night. The room was okay--once again we slept Lucy and Ricky style--we were glad to be in a nice warm room hunkered down for this rainy night in Chilliwack, BC.

Bonjour Lake Louise!

The sun came up early (around 5am) and Kevin was busy taking pictures of Janet waking up from a restless night of bear fighting. Janet knew it wasn’t a pretty sight! You’ve got to love a photographer (Janet is getting payback from all the unwanted pictures she’s taken of people!). We packed up camp and headed off to breakfast. We ate at a small café in Fairview Hot Springs where there was one waitress for each table…seems everywhere we go in Canada there is a “Help Wanted” sign. When we asked what kind of bread they had, the young woman explained that they had either white bread or brown bread. This is a good way to explain it! The breakfast was good and the bread was especially tasty. We gassed up our car on the way out of town, paying about $1.20 per liter, which comes out to about $4.00’s a gallon. It looks nice on the sign since they show it in liters but it’s expensive to fill up. You have to pay inside at most stations but at least here you can pump your own gas. Kevin had a hard time resisting the fireworks they sell…you can get lots of serious stuff here.
Off we headed for Lake Louise. We turned off on highway 93 and quickly had to stop at the park kiosk where we were greeted in French by the woman running the booth. Bonjour! That will be $17 to get a park pass. Merci!!! Off we went. Right away we realized that the price was worth the scenery. It was so beautiful! We were in a canyon with a gorgeous river on one side and tall rock walls on the other side. We passed by a hot spring which seemed to be a hot spot. In hindsight, we wish we would have stopped but it was early morning and we had a lot to see. Lake Louise was about 60 miles away and we knew it would take us a long time because we’d be stopping to take pictures along the way. We stopped numerous times to take pictures of the amazing snow covered peaks. They were everywhere and it was hard to resist stopping and taking a picture of each one. We pulled the car over when we saw another car stopped taking pictures. Always a sign that someone has found something good to photograph! Sure enough, there was a group of mountain goats grazing on a hillside right above the road, no more than 50 yards away. As they moved across the hill, they sent rocks flying toward the car, but it was worth the risk of rock fall. Kevin got out the big telephoto lens and was able to get some great pictures of goats walking around on the steep terrain. We continued on our way toward the lake and at one point a bicycle race flew passed on the other side of the road. There were police leading the way and all the traffic on the other side was backed up for miles. It was fun to watch the racers go by and we felt very lucky to be on our side of the road rather than the racers side. When we got about 10 miles from the lake when Kevin decided to take a cut off because it was a smaller road and the potential for better photographs was expected. Within a minute of being on this road, two mature grizzly bear ran right out in front of our car and crossed the road. Kevin stopped the car and asked me to hand him the camera. Right then, two grizzly bear cubs ran out in front of us and crossed the road to their mother. She stood there with the two of them, staring us down to let us know not to mess with her and her bear cubs. Kevin was able to snap off a few pictures. Although he wasn’t exactly happy with his picture, it turned out pretty good. What a rare occasion that was! Janet told him that he had little chance of talking her into the hike he wanted to take once we reached the park, now that she had seen the bears. This time these were no phantom bears. The last thing you want to do is to mess with a momma grizzly around her cubs.
We reached Lake Louise shortly after, and were really fortunate to find a parking space. Apparently parking spaces at the lake are at a premium at this time of year. We changed into walking shoes, packed a picnic lunch, and headed over to the lake area. Wow! This lake is truly picturesque and worth the trip. The water takes on an aqua milky blue color from the glacier runoff, and the snowy mountains surrounding it are magnificent. The Chateau Fairmont is located at one end of the lake and a boat house that rents canoe’s sits on one edge of it as well. There are so many visitors though, that it looks like a ride at Disneyland. We took pictures of it and then decided to get started on our planned hike. There were so many people there that we didn’t think bears would be a problem on the trail. They weren’t! But the hike was extremely strenuous and Janet’s heart was beating really fast. We started the hike at 5600ft and by then end of walking up 3 kilometers to Mirror Lake, we had climbed 1000 more ft. to 6600ft. Janet was beat and we were able to sit and eat our lunch before heading back down. It was a really pretty hike and it was great to get our exercise in for the day. We took more pictures once we got back to Lake Louise and then headed out of the park. There are so many snow covered peaks that it’s easy to get oversaturated by them. Many looked like a chocolate cake with powdered sugar dusted over the tops of them, while others had huge mounds of snow on them that looked like they could break loose at any minute creating an avalanche. Avalanche signs are posted all throughout the highways in this part of the park. As we drove on, we entered Glacier National Park of Canada. There were many glaciers, waterfalls, and mountain peaks to see. We also went through tunnel after tunnel after tunnel which reminded us of the tunnels we went through in the Italian Riviera. It was a beautiful drive! But it was getting late and Kevin was getting tired, so Janet took over the driving. Since we were coming down a steep mountain, she drove pretty slowly. We arrive in Revelstoke around 7pm and since it was late and raining we decided to check into the Best Western. We found a channel on TV that showed our entire motel parking lot on camera, so Janet went out and moved the car directly under one of the cameras. The surveillance camera helped us get a good night’s sleep knowing that the camera was pointing at our car and bikes, recording any crime that might occur and hopefully detour thieves.

Canada: "A fight for our lives!"

Today was a pretty long day for us! We arrived at the Canadian Border around 4pm. The Border Patrol Agent took our passports and grilled us with lots of questions. The one question that stands out is: “Are you carrying any alcoholic beverages?” We thought they were going to confiscate our two newly purchased six packs of beer, but after Kevin told him we had some beer, he asked if we had more than two flats. Since we didn’t know what flats were, we said no and he waved us on through. We didn’t lose the beer, or the wine, or the Scotch…oops, forgot to mention that at the border. After about 50 kilometers of driving we got our first glimps of the Canandian Rocky’s. Impressive! The rivers began to take on a milky blue look. We found out that the milky look comes from the silt loosened by glacier water as it melts and runs into the rivers.

Around 7pm we pulled into Dutch Creek, an RV/campground with free internet, laundry, and showers. We didn’t care so much about the laundry or showers since we had just left Mary and David’s, but we did care about the internet since we had a lot of catching up to do on our blog.
After taking 2 trips around the loop to eye-ball everyone in the camp, we decided on #14, a spot tucked in near the back of the cul-de-sac that looked very quiet and peaceful. After careful inspection of the young couple in the neighboring site, we noted that they had no children, radios, or ATVs and therefore, we might have a calm, peaceful night. We set up the tent, moved all the sleeping bags, etc. into the tent and then Kevin cooked dinner. When we camp, Kevin seems to do most of the cooking...too bad this doesn't seem to happen at home. Kevin cooked up two filet mignon steaks with rice and tomato. It was so delicious! Once he had finished washing the dishes (another perk of camping with him), we headed over to the laundry room/internet hook up to work on the blog. Just as we were about to reach the room, we saw a couple approaching from the other direction carrying a laptop. They were headed toward the only internet hookup in camp! So, we quickly went into double step walking and reached the door five steps ahead of them. Sad but true, we wanted to be sure we were able to work on the blog and would go to any means to be able to do so even if it meant cutting off other campers. They turned slowly and sadly, and walked back to their campsite. You snooze, you loose! Although it was nice to be able to connect to the internet, we had to keep getting up out of our chairs to activate the motion sensitive lights in the laundry room. The lights went off about every 5 minutes.
We finished our blog entry sometime around 11pm and headed back to camp. We were tired and went straight to bed. Within a few minutes we realized we had a neighbor a short distance away who was ready to party. They cranked up their music while someone in their group proceeded to bounce a basketball on the asphalt over and over again. It sounded as if someone was standing right in front of our campsite. We heard what sounded like a fight break out and the music was turned down. It sounded like another camp guest decided to take the law into their own hands and confront the noisemaking offenders. It seemed to work! We fell asleep after an hour or so. This is when the tent attack took place. Janet bolted upright out of a sound sleep as Kevin seemed to fight with a vicious attacking animal trying to rip open our tent. We were in a fight for our lives, and it was at this point that Janet caught an elbow in the eyebrow. Janet let out a loud scream, sure that the attacking animal was now in our tent and we were about to be eaten alive. This same morning we had watched TV at the Spraktes house and heard about three separate bear attacks where people had lost their lives, and when we checked into this campground, the literature we were given confirmed that bears were in the vicinity and we should take precautions with our food, etc. So here we were in the middle of the night defending our lives against a vicious bear attack. After some screaming and rustling around, Kevin realized that he was punching nothing more than the rain guard being whipped against the tent entrance from the strong wind outside. We both started laughing at our phantom bear attack; relieved that it wasn’t really a bear after all. We didn’t get much sleep after that but we made it through the night. Not sure what really got into Kevin…maybe it was the wild mushrooms he had with dinner. :-)

p.s. Does anyone need a tent with a few holes punched in it? Gets good airflow.