I'm back! And alive. And in Alaska. If you've been wondering where the blog's been, apologies for the radio silence over the past couple of weeks - I was in an RV for most of it with seriously limited Wi-Fi. Recap follows below. I've split it into two parts, just because a lot has happened and I don't want to just give you text wall.
So, you know how I've been travelling mostly solo for the last 2 months? For the last two weeks, I've had the joy of road tripping with my mum and sister. This is a slightly odd thing for my brain to deal with, but the first week has turned out wonderfully.
If in doubt, Tim Hortons
I think I left the last post at the point of going to retrieve Mum and Amy from the airport. Turns out the flight was delayed nearly an hour, so I pulled my usual and had a bagel and cuppa from Tim Hortons while I waited. They turned up eventually and then it was off to the city to check in to the hotel.
A hotel! I've been staying in hostels for the last 2 months (give or take an AirBnB and emergency hotel), so this was pretty nice. Not the absolute swishest of places, but they did have toiletries that I could filch. Hurrah. Oh, and this view out over the city.
Mum and Amy were fighting the jet lag, so we went for a walk down to the bay, where we found a very nice Chinese restaurant for tea. We were the only non-Chinese people in there. I take this as a sign that it's proper Chinese food. It was delicious, but expensive. Ah well.
Be Our Guest
We made up for the expensive tea the following morning by visiting Tim Hortons for breakfast. And to think I'd been doing so well about resisting the call of the Tims...
Anyway, the morning continued with a trip to Granville Island Market, which was pretty cool. Grabbed some delicious reasonably priced fruit and then set off for a walk around the sea wall.
Which involved getting a ferry, of which no photos, for some reason. Anyways, the sea wall was lovely and warm with a nice breeze and this random inukshuk...
Then off into Stanley Park, but not before we bumped into a family of raccoons. So cute.
Stanley Park is a little bit huge, but mostly forested, so it made for a gorgeously cool walk after the heat out in the open. There may have been some giggles about bears, to which Amy's response was to sing the Winnie the Pooh song. On repeat. For ages.
After a lovely afternoon strolling around the park, we popped back to the hotel and then had tea at the White Spot Diner (most delicious) before heading back to the park to see a production of Beauty and the Beast. Great show. Even better for being outside in lovely weather.
Jurassic Goat
The following morning we boarded a free bus up to Capilano Suspension Bridge on the northern side of Vancouver. Yay, free things. Plus, I got discount at the bridge because I have HI membership - see, perks of staying in hostels.
Anyhoos, the Capilano Suspension Bridge is just a bridge across a ravine. It also happens to be very wobbly. And sort of bouncy. And has the delightful ability to freak people out without even trying. Unless you're not really bothered about heights or wobbly bridges, like me, in which case it's just fun watching everyone else freak out and pull funny faces with every wibble.
The complex also includes a tree top walk, somewhat dampened by the fairly large number of people using it. The walk through the forest is pretty cool though and I have to mention the owls, because OWLS.
Following a leisurely wander around the bridge complex, we hopped onto a public bus (oh my) up the road to Grouse Mountain. More entry fees, but easily made up for by everything on offer on the mountain. We took in a guided walk with one of the rangers, a ride up the chairlift to the top of the mountain, a most amusing lumberjack show and a glimpse of the mountain's two captive grizzly bears.
Great fun. Especially when the chairlift inexplicably stopped while we were hanging just outside the bear enclosure. I may have joked that we were like the goat in Jurassic Park... just hanging there... waiting to lure the bears out...
As mentioned above, the lumberjack show was also awesome. Bizarre, but awesome. See photo of two men trying to balance on a log while trying to knock the other off...
After coming back down the mountain, we were told that the free shuttle bus back to the city was buggered up and we'd have to get another public bus instead. Cue Mum giving me all her change because I had none and then a ridiculously long time stuck on a bus in traffic in Vancouver's boiling heat. Nice.
Amy decided we should rectify our resulting bad moods with a trip to Tim Horton's for tea. And of course no one objected.
His name is Wes
On Monday morning we took a super long taxi ride out to Delta, south of Vancouver, to pick up the RV. After some wrangling because we'd turned up earlier than the company wanted (not our fault), we finallly got on the road.
Sort of. So, Mum's driving along a bit stressed because she's driving an automatic, on the wrong side of the road and it's a whole lot bigger than anything she's used to driving. I'm grumbling about the map and directions I've got to work from. They are shit. Super shit. And as a result, we ended up going in entirely the wrong direction and nearly ended up getting on the ferry to Victoria... or Nanaimo... or something.
Oops.
Anyways, we sorted it out, after a few minutes of me thinking I was going to get dumped at the side of the road for getting the directions so badly wrong. This is still bugging me, because usually I'm pretty bloody good with navigation. How annoying.
Safely back on the right track, we finally made it to Whistler, where I discovered the RV's name was Wes (reg plate 145 WES, so definitely a Wes) and we headed straight into town to find our activity for the evening.
Ziplining.
Oh yes. This sounded like great fun to me. Amy didn't seem entirely convinced. 5 lines through the forest above Whistler, with tales including a cougar eating a fresh kill on one of the landing platforms during one trip. Fortunately we didn't run into any cougars or other delightful wildlife. Unfortunately, none of us took a camera, so I am limited to sharing these glorious shots with you which were taken by one of the staff.
Aren't we graceful? I was trying to turn myself upside down there, but couldn't quite convince myself to let go of the strap.
Following our little adrenaline fix, we headed back to the campsite for the evening where a friendly Canadian chap kindly parked Wes for us after watching Mum deliberate for a while. Yay, friendly Canadians.
Wes is trying to kill us...
Day two in the RV began with Amy taking a turn at the wheel. This meant a leisurely drive through the coastal mountains and on into the almost desert like region beyond. What should have been an uneventful drive was first interrupted by the carbon monoxide alarm going off. This resulted in Mum throwing herself across the RV as she tried to open windows while Amy pootled down the road. Wes, we decided, was trying to kill us.
It was also interrupted by Wes's complete inability to maintain revs going down hills. Which resulted in stalling. I thought it was pretty much impossible to stall an automatic, but between Mum and Amy, Wes stalled quite a few times during our first few days.
Anyways, we managed a stop at lovely Marble Canyon just for a few minutes to recover from the madness. I geeked out slightly because they have stromatolite-like microbial formations in the lake. This is awesome.
It was, however, approaching TOO HOT. Which only got worse when we finally got to Juniper Beach Provincial Park, our stop for the night. We spent the afternoon lazing around in the sunshine, too warm to do anything and Amy actually went and stuck her feet in the river.
This would become a recurring theme...
Which is pretty much how it went until the directions GoogleMaps had produced for Mum tried to send us down a dirt track. A good 20km or so from the campsite. Amy niftily turned the RV round and we pootled off back the way we came.
Fortunately, once in Clearwater (which is on the main highway, so god knows why the directions sent us so far wrong), the site was easy to find. We grabbed lunch at the Painted Turtle restaurant on the site where I finally got round to trying London Fog. This is pretty much like a latte, only with Earl Grey tea instead of coffee. It is delicious. Plus, look at the view from our table.
After lunch had chance to settle, we hired a canoe for an hour of paddling out on Dutch Lake, on which shores the site sat. This began as a sort of leisurely meander, Amy and I doing the paddling, Mum being chief photographer.
It was great fun. Until we turned to head back to the dock and realised that the wind was determined to blow us back the way we'd come. Hilarity ensued as Mum took over paddling from Amy and then Amy took over paddling from me. Mum was in the Sea Cadets and had a bit more idea what she was doing, so she got to be captain. I think we might have still been paddling round the lake if it had just been me and Amy...
That evening, Amy decided to stick her feet into the lake while I took photos of the moon being pretty. It really was a gorgeous moonrise.
From there it was just a short drive up to Mount Robson Provincial Park and our campsite. Having arrived so early, we decided to take the trail up to Kinney Lake at the feet of Mount Robson. We were rather under-prepared. Amy decided to sing Be Our Guest in order to either stop her feet hurting or to scare the bears away. The 4.2km "easy" track climbed quite steeply in places. It was too hot.
In the end, we did reach the lake, which was a beautiful cloudy blue-green thanks to the large amounts of rock flour - very tiny rock particles - suspended in it.
There wasn't a suitable place for Amy to stick her feet in the river flowing down from the lake, so we all stuck our hands in it instead. It was icy cold, as can only be expected from a glacier fed river.
After a long trek down from the lake, we spent another evening enjoying the peace and quiet at the campsite.
Again, Amy discovered that glacier fed systems are icy cold, but put her feet in it anyway. Mum made friends with a dog called Louie. And then we toddled off over the provincial border, past the town of Jasper and on up a winding road to Maligne Lake. This entailed negotiating the crowd of parked cars and associated idiots who had near enough blocked the road part way up. On a bend.
I have no idea what they were gawping at. Probably a bear or moose. Neither of which they should have been so close to. Anyways, we eventually made it up to the lake, grabbed a delicious and reasonably priced lunch from the cafe and then set off to visit our second Moose Lake of the day.
Amy did not stick her feet in this one. I think we may all have been slightly worried about bears.
And then back down to Maligne Lake, which is a beautiful bright blue-green.
Gorgeous. Took a walk round another of the marked trails, although this one seemed to go on for much longer than the map suggested and we started wondering if we'd gone the wrong way. Fortunately, Wes finally loomed into view in the car park and it was off to the campsite and the associated bear warnings. We were starting to get used to them...
Well, that covers week one of my adventure with Mum and Amy. Week two should be posted shortly. Just as soon as my brain wakes up again. 5am start to catch a plane this morning is not agreeing with me.
It was also interrupted by Wes's complete inability to maintain revs going down hills. Which resulted in stalling. I thought it was pretty much impossible to stall an automatic, but between Mum and Amy, Wes stalled quite a few times during our first few days.
Anyways, we managed a stop at lovely Marble Canyon just for a few minutes to recover from the madness. I geeked out slightly because they have stromatolite-like microbial formations in the lake. This is awesome.
It was, however, approaching TOO HOT. Which only got worse when we finally got to Juniper Beach Provincial Park, our stop for the night. We spent the afternoon lazing around in the sunshine, too warm to do anything and Amy actually went and stuck her feet in the river.
This would become a recurring theme...
Why have you stopped paddling?!
Day three should have been fairly uneventful. Get in the RV. Drive to Kamloops. Get groceries. Drive to Clearwater. Park RV. Explore.Which is pretty much how it went until the directions GoogleMaps had produced for Mum tried to send us down a dirt track. A good 20km or so from the campsite. Amy niftily turned the RV round and we pootled off back the way we came.
Fortunately, once in Clearwater (which is on the main highway, so god knows why the directions sent us so far wrong), the site was easy to find. We grabbed lunch at the Painted Turtle restaurant on the site where I finally got round to trying London Fog. This is pretty much like a latte, only with Earl Grey tea instead of coffee. It is delicious. Plus, look at the view from our table.
After lunch had chance to settle, we hired a canoe for an hour of paddling out on Dutch Lake, on which shores the site sat. This began as a sort of leisurely meander, Amy and I doing the paddling, Mum being chief photographer.
It was great fun. Until we turned to head back to the dock and realised that the wind was determined to blow us back the way we'd come. Hilarity ensued as Mum took over paddling from Amy and then Amy took over paddling from me. Mum was in the Sea Cadets and had a bit more idea what she was doing, so she got to be captain. I think we might have still been paddling round the lake if it had just been me and Amy...
That evening, Amy decided to stick her feet into the lake while I took photos of the moon being pretty. It really was a gorgeous moonrise.
The glacier-fed lake was icy cold!
Day four in the RV began with a drive to the tiny settlement of Valemount where we grabbed a delicious bite to eat at Don's Social House, a little diner just off the highway.From there it was just a short drive up to Mount Robson Provincial Park and our campsite. Having arrived so early, we decided to take the trail up to Kinney Lake at the feet of Mount Robson. We were rather under-prepared. Amy decided to sing Be Our Guest in order to either stop her feet hurting or to scare the bears away. The 4.2km "easy" track climbed quite steeply in places. It was too hot.
In the end, we did reach the lake, which was a beautiful cloudy blue-green thanks to the large amounts of rock flour - very tiny rock particles - suspended in it.
There wasn't a suitable place for Amy to stick her feet in the river flowing down from the lake, so we all stuck our hands in it instead. It was icy cold, as can only be expected from a glacier fed river.
After a long trek down from the lake, we spent another evening enjoying the peace and quiet at the campsite.
Idiots abroad
The end of my first week with Mum and Amy began with a gentle drive from British Columbia into Alberta, with a first stop at Moose Lake.
Again, Amy discovered that glacier fed systems are icy cold, but put her feet in it anyway. Mum made friends with a dog called Louie. And then we toddled off over the provincial border, past the town of Jasper and on up a winding road to Maligne Lake. This entailed negotiating the crowd of parked cars and associated idiots who had near enough blocked the road part way up. On a bend.
I have no idea what they were gawping at. Probably a bear or moose. Neither of which they should have been so close to. Anyways, we eventually made it up to the lake, grabbed a delicious and reasonably priced lunch from the cafe and then set off to visit our second Moose Lake of the day.
Amy did not stick her feet in this one. I think we may all have been slightly worried about bears.
And then back down to Maligne Lake, which is a beautiful bright blue-green.
Gorgeous. Took a walk round another of the marked trails, although this one seemed to go on for much longer than the map suggested and we started wondering if we'd gone the wrong way. Fortunately, Wes finally loomed into view in the car park and it was off to the campsite and the associated bear warnings. We were starting to get used to them...
Well, that covers week one of my adventure with Mum and Amy. Week two should be posted shortly. Just as soon as my brain wakes up again. 5am start to catch a plane this morning is not agreeing with me.
Ziplines and canoes and hiking! Hurrah!
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