USA/Canada 2002

Fri May 24th

Fly London Heathrow to Seattle, via Chicago

We’d stayed with Tony and Barbara overnight. Barbara took us to Northfields station where we caught the underground to LHR Terminal 4. Long flight in economy, and a 4 hour layover in Chicago. Got to Seattle around 3pm and took the shuttle bus from the airport to our hotel, the Best Western on Taylor Avenue North. We needed to keep active to defeat the jet-lag, so we went for a walk and found somewhere for a beer. Dinner at local restaurant in the evening.

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Sat May 25th

Seattle to Kamloops

I walked through Seattle’s downtown area, to the Alamo offices to pickup our Lincoln LS V8 rental car. Drove to hotel, picked up Lin and our luggage and off we went. Took the I5 northbound, lunch at a Denny’s and crossed the border into Canada at Sumas. Picked-up the Trans-Canada Highway at Huntingdon, and headed east under grey skies and showers, until we ran out of stamina. Got as far as Chase where we booked into the Country Inn. Drove around until we found The Loft Restaurant for (an average) dinner. We were just in time, as it was closing at 7:30.

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Sun May 26th

Chase to Lake Louise

Left motel and had breakfast at Sicamous. Drove through the Canadian Rockies to Lake Louise. Saw snow mounds and frozen lakes on the way. Checked into our cabin at Paradise Bungalows. Drove the couple of miles to checkout a partially frozen Lake Louise.

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Mon May 27th

Lake Louise, Emerald lake, Morant’s Curve

We drove to Field, and took some pics of the natural bridge on Kicking Horse River, before driving to Emerald Lake and walking around the lake, noticing signs of recent avalanches. In fact at the northern end of the lake we heard a loud crack, and looked up to see a small avalanch high up in the mountains.

We went to the visitor centre at Field and saw Elk grazing by the roadside. Late afternoon we went for a drive down the Bow Valley Parkway and spotted a nice vantage point for the Bow River, the distant Rockies, and a curve of railway line we later found out to be the famous Morant’s Curve which featured in a lot of the old Canadian Pacific advertising. saw more Elk on the way back to Lake Louise. Had a reasonable meal at the Mountain Restaurant above the Lake Louise shops.

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Tue May 28th

Lake Louise, Whitehorn Mountain, Icefields Parkway, Jasper NP, Athabasca Falls.

We drove to see Lake Louise in (partial) sunshine. Then across to the Lake Louise ski resort where we had breakfast at the North Face Bistro. We took the chair lift up to Whitehorn Mountain and took pics looking back at the Rockies, as well as some shy gophers.

We then drove north up Icefields Parkway past a frozen Bow Lake, into Jasper National Park, and up to the Columbia Glacier where we had the option of paying $40 for a trip on a snow cat across the glacier… which we declined. Drove further up the Icefields Parkway to Tangle Falls and Athabasca Falls. Saw bighorn sheep with crows standing on their backs picking off the bugs.

Back to Lake Louise, and a very nice meal at the aptly named Station Restaurant. Shame about the snooty waitress though. As it was still early and a pleasant evening, we drove down to Morant’s Curve again. We saw some movement down near the rail tracks, and realised we were looking at two grizzly bear cubs!

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Wed May 29th

Lake Louise to Waterton Park.

Decided to pop into the ranger station on our way out, and report the bear cub sighting. The rangers were quite excited as the cubs were orphaned the previous year (when a train hit their mother), and it wasn’t certain that they’d survive the hard winter, but they clearly had. A leisurely day so we took the Bow Valley Parkway, even though it was grey and rainy.

it stopped raining, so stopped off at Johnson River Canyon in Banff NP, and walked to the Lower Falls before having lunch at the cafeteria there.

Afterwards, we headed towards Calgary, then took Highway 2 south, driving through ‘brown outs’ where the wind was whipping off the top soil into thick dust clouds. Nowhere to pee on Highway 2, so it wasn’t until we’d turned onto a local road before we found a hamlet with a petrol station. Peed for about 5 minutes. Got to Waterton Park in the late afternoon, and found ourselves a bungalow in Aspen Village for the night. rain in the evening, had dinner at a lakeside restaurant.

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Thu May 30th

Waterton Park to West Glacier in Montana, via St Mary lake

Walked to the same lakeside restaurant for breakfast. Headed back to the US border, and turned west into Glacier National Park. Drove to St Mary Lake and took the trail to St Mary Falls.

It was a beautiful day, a lovely walk, some spring flowers were out, and we hardly saw another soul. Sadly, it turned out that this was as far as we could go in the park; the Going-To-The-Sun Road was still not reopened after winter snows. So we headed back and took the long way round to the small community of West Glacier.

As we passed through the small town of East Glacier, we spotted the John Clark Art Gallery, so of course we went in, and ended up buying a nice watercolour. Also spotted a rock shop in Kiowa where we bought one of the Green River fossil fish.

In West Glacier, even out of season the accomodation was pricey, but we managed to find a cabin in the Great Northern Resort where the person in charge was wandering around with a .22 rifle shooting at ‘critters’. Very strange… I seem to recall he got into trouble for letting us have a family cabin for the price of a double cabin.

Walked across the road to the Discovery Center shop and restaurant for dinner.

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Fri May 31st

West Glacier to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

Back to the Discovery Center restaurant for breakfast, and then to the shop for some holiday momentos.

Drove south via Flathead Lake where we stopped for lunch whilst watching the humming birds outside. Continued south until we picked up the I90 freeway, and headed west.

We saw a sign for the Nine Mile Ranger Station in Missoula County, and took the exit. It was interesting if slightly underwhelming. Took a nice pic of the Clark Fork River and had a little stroll amongst the wildflowers before rejoining the freeway.

I was feeling drowsy, so took the exit into Superior, where I had a bit of a doze while Lin gift-shopped. I recall that she bought a bowl but neither of us can remember what it looked like! We finally fetched-up in the curiously named Coeur d’Alene which translates literally as the Heart of the Awl(!) We checked-in at the Days Inn motel, and then drove to the lake front where we wandered for a while, and even watched a game of softball. We drove back to the motel, and walked across car parks to get to the Australian themed Outback Steakhouse for dinner.

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Sat June 1st

Coeur d’Alene to Squaw Rock Lodge, Washington State.

Took the I90 westbound, but got off near Moses Lake to visit a Walmart store, where I bought my first digital camera, the Olympus C120. Headed down the Yakima River valley to Yakima itself. Then onwards as far as Squaw Rock Lodge on the Naches River, where we rented a cabin for the night. A pleasant location where we watched the rabbits on the banks of the river while we sat drinking beers from the bar.

Had a reasonable meal in the Squaw Rock Restaurant in the main building.

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Sun June 2nd

Squaw Rock Lodge to Ocean Shores, Wa.

Breakfasted in the Squaw Rock restaurant, and then headed west towards Mt Rainier. Highway 123 had recently been opened after the winter snows, and as we gained height, we found ourselves driving through walls of snow 10 – 12 feet deep. We were on the flanks of Mt Rainier, but we didn’t actually find a decent vantage point for a photo of Mt Rainier itself. Most of the roads were still closed. But was a nice drive with waterfalls and wildflowers in profusion.

We eventually joined Highway 12, and at Randle, we decided to take the Mt St Helens turning, even though we were told that the road was closed ahead. We continued down this road for perhaps 12 miles before signs barred the way. And once again, because of local terrain and forest cover, we’d not actually seen Mt St Helens. We returned to the main road and headed west. At Riffe Lake we pulled over and took a shot of what I thought might be part of Mt St Helens (but wasn’t!)

We continued west until we hit the I5 freeway, but instead of turning north (which is where we were headed), I turned south to the Mt St Helens visitor center, and even though it was a good 25 miles away, we got our first view and I suddenly realised why we hadn’t been able to get any closer!

We watched the obligatory information film about the 1980 eruption, and then headed north on the I5. We had no destination in mind, just somewhere on the Pacific coast to the south of Olympic National Park, and we found ourselves at Ocean Shores.

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Mon June 3rd

Ocean Shores to Vancouver Island, via the Olympic National Park

Left Ocean Shores, after a little gift shopping, heading north on Highway 101. Olympic NP is a vast area, technically called temperate rain forest on account of all the wet weather coming of the Pacific. The scenery from the road does get a bit samey after a while, but the beaches are quite dramatic. Wild seas, rocky shores, and beaches littered with tree trunks that have washed in.

Saw the aptly named ‘Tree of Life’ as well as the 1,000 year old Kalaloch Big Cedar.

Took a photo of the Shay Locomotive at Forks, and the attractive Crescent Lake, and eventually we arrived at Port Angeles to pickup the ferry to Vancouver Island.

We arrived at Victoria (now back in Canada) around 5 o’clock, and with no destination planned we headed north. The scenery on Vancouver Island was almost Norwegian with long inlets like fjords, and picturesque fishing villages. We found ourselves a nice cabin in Malahat at the Ocean View Motel, overlooking the Saanich Inlet.

Had a good meal at the Malahat Chalet next door.

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Tue June 4th

Around Vancouver Island

Decided to do a coastal drive. Set out for Victoria where we found a Denny’s for a late breakfast. Then followed the coast road clockwise, and got as far as Port Renfrew before the road ran out leaving just wilderness. Our choices were to return the way we’d come, or to take our chances with a minor road that crossed the island. Never ones to turn down the opportunity of a little adventure (especially when it wasn’t our car), we chose the latter.

The tarmac soon ran out and we found ourselves on a muddy and rutted logging road – and there were 60 kilometres of this before we hit civilisation again. There were times when we wondered about retracing our steps… after all Vancouver Island is largely wilderness and has both black and grizzly bears. It’s not somewhere to get stuck and for this leg of the journey, we saw no other traffic. We did have some worrying moments on some of the steeper sections when we were spinning the wheels, but we pressed on and eventually reached the small town of Lake Cowichan. Another 40 km and we were on the coast at the charming little fishing community of Cowichan Bay, where we stopped for well earned refreshments(!), and visited the Maritime Museum.

Then back to our cabin at Malahat, and another good meal at the Malahat Chalet.

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Wed June 5th

Malahat to Seattle via the Sydney to Anacortes ferry.

Coffee on our terrace overlooking the Saanich Inlet, then breakfast at the Malahat Chalet. Loaded the car and drove south, around the bottom of the Saanich Inlet, and then north to Sydney to pickup the ferry.

A nice cruise past Spieden Island, Shaw Island, Orcas Island, etc., eventually landing at Anacortes. Dropped our stuff off at the Sixth Avenue Inn in Seattle, and drove the car back to the car hire centre. Total mileage: 2836. Walked along the Seattle waterfront in the evening, and had an Italian meal.

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Thu June 6th

Around Seattle

Walked down to Pike Place Market and bought a dragon print on silk. Saw the Mt ST Helens 1980 eruption at the iMax cinema nearby, but suddenly drowsy, we went back to the hotel for a nap. Later, we took the monorail to the Seattle Center and went up the Space Needle. We also checked out Jimi Hendrix themed Music Experience Project, had drinks in the cafeteria, but didn’t pay to see the main exhibition.

Back to the hotel for beer and packing. Dinner at the hotel.

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Fri June 7th

Fly Seattle to London, via Chicago

Took the airport shuttle in torrential rain, and had fun with security. Firstly, they found Lin’s small penknife and confiscated it. Then they found a Swiss Army knife in my camera bag and forced my to go back to the check-in desk. Re-entering security, they then they found and confiscated a tiny (Christmas cracker novelty) screwdriver in my toilet bag!

We sat waiting in the departure lounge for our Seattle – Chicago flight, wondering what the delay was. Eventually, there was an announcement that our plane was struck by lightning just before landing, and they were giving it a safety check. Later they told us that the flight was postponed until Saturday. We tried to get on a BA flight, but it was full so they put us in the West Coast SEA-TAC Hotel, with a dinner voucher. Had to phone T & B to tell them we were delayed.

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Sat June 8th

Fly London Heathrow to Seattle, via Chicago

Because of the delay, we were upgraded to first class on the Seattle to Chicago leg, and after all the hassles with security the previous day, we were amused to find our in-flight meal included fruit salads served in cut-glass bowls! Changed at Chicago, and landed Sunday morning and met at Heathrow by Tony and Barbara.

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