Kamloops to Whistler

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Kamloops to whistler was to be a drive of a lifetime, it started out rather ordinary and finished with an adrenaline rush. But that is getting ahead of the script.
It was a dreary start to the day with rain and more rain. Frizzie did his usual cooking in the rain on preparing bacon and eggs and this was his view above.
The country side was dry and dead looking with many of the pines also dead from beetle attacks. It was around 11 am when wazza missed the turn off and carried on driving for about 20 minutes before it was apparent we needed to turn around or end up in Alaska.
After turning around we found a nice country diner and had some healthy home cooking.

The service was terrific at the town of Clinton and the lady at the Cordial Restaurant could not have been more attentive with a cup of coffee that never ended and a huge plate full of food to feed an army of truck drivers. It was a great diner and we recommend to all travelers.

After lunch we reset our GPS and set off to find the correct roadway near Cache Creek. And when arriving at highway 99 we turned right and into a different world. The road was steep and we drove along edges of roadways that dropped down into oblivion. The Autumn shades of the trees were beginning to give a real taste of the Canadian beauty. But the Cayoosh Creek Canyons were something that must be on every travelers list of must doos. The diversified views, the flora and fauna and the depth of the canyon below the road level left me with a sense of foreboding

We arrived at Whistler (the home of the 2010 winter Olympics) just on dusk and the rain had set in as well. It was to become difficult to find accommodation for the night, but with the help of the staff at the information center we found some.

It was called the Southside Hostel and Under it was another incredible diner, The Southside Diner. Address 2102 Lake Placid Rd Whistler, BC, phone 604-966-0668. Frizzie and I had an incredible breakfast there and the most amazing service you have walk the walk to to talk the talk.

We did the usual walk around the traps here and inspected the new rebuilt railway station, bridge and surrounding gardens. it was a treat.


Then it was on to the ski facilities of Whistler to check out both the new and the old chair lifts and the preparation that was beginning in earnest as the snow season approached. The face-lift to the town site and the new slope for the games was looking good and all that was needed was the snow. But by the same token it was just relaxing to walk around and take in the beautiful scenery and the time to talk with our fellow travelers.



Whistler to Vancouver

Eventually it was time to move on to Vancouver and again the engineering wonders of the Canadian road system unfolded as we progressed to the city. As a construction civil engineering feat it was a marvel. There were sheer walls that rose above the shoreline, breathtaking bridges with cascading streams spouting from under the roadway, there were cantilevers, buttresses, curves and arches and protective screens to ward off the dangers of avalanches. We were traveling at heights that allowed stunning views of the fiord like inlet that forged its way up stream from the Port of Vancouver as the flocks of sea birds wheeled around and above.

On arrival in Vancouver we made for the C N Backpackers where Joe the manager made us welcome and explained not only what he expected from us as guest of the hostel, but also what we would expect to encounter on our rounds of Vancouver. It was upsetting to see so many street people and witness the drug trafficking that unfolded on the street. Having said this the people were not aggressive but kept to themselves mostly, but on the odd occasion there were attempts to sell us some of their wares.


Sky Rail Entrance Vancouver Harbour Steam Clock Gastown Vancouver

To travel within the city of Vancouver we found the day ticket for seniors at $7-50 was the way to do it. This ticket allowed us to use ferry's, buses, trains and light rail systems. In two days we took the ferry twice to the North Vancouver, sky rail to the Amazing domestic and International Airport. We hopped on and off trains all over the city and walked for miles. The underground rail tunnels were also fascinating and the clever way that they were built.

The Famous steam clock in Gastown was one of the must sees for Wazza and on arrival it was a strange co-incident that we met a nice young lady from Adelaide, Australia and we have put her on the blog.

After a couple of fruitful days in Vancouver it was time to move toward our appointment with friends in Portland Oregon and the next stop over was to be Seattle, and to achieve this we needed to cross the border back into the USA. All went smoothly with only an half an hour wait and a very courteous officer ushered us through. It was great to be back in the US.

22 October Girl from Adelaide____

Vancouver (Canada) to Seattle USA

Seattle is a lovely city we were so glad that the new America Hotel/Hostel had opened in September of this year. The staff were great and the facilities were terrific. Even the bunks in the bedrooms were new and didn't squeak (a bonus).

Soon after we arrived and had settled in we paid the parking fees into the machine for the car and went off to walk through the town and down to the ferry terminal and by luck we were able to manage a round trip to Bainbridge Island arriving back in Seattle at dusk with the city starting to show its night lights. One of the highlights on the voyage back was to sit and watch the sea birds soaring on the lift of the wind created by the vessel. The birds were sitting on the bow rail when we docked and were obviously waiting to do it all again. When we disembarked we did a tour on foot to Pike's markets and then back to the hostel for dinner. After dinner we did a bit of a pub crawl and tried some of the local boutique beers. At a local called Collins we were treated to a tasting session by a lovely red headed bar person who had a terrific attitude to hoptitallity. Thanks for a nice session. The down side for the day was we received a parking ticket and it was top priority to pay this the next day.

The underground transport Seattle, buses, light rail







Seattle to Olympia

23 October

1o am we were on a course South for Olympia the capital of Washington State. This city is the capital of WA. We had a good trip down south of Seattle and navigated using our trusty Garmin Etrex Glogal Position System (GPS). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympia,_Washington. After lunch Frizzie went on a hike around the town and did some site seeing.

The Parking Meter that cost us a fine at the Left and tall building in Seattle.