My Bloggable Day

The geysers at Yellowstone National Park

Posted on July 29, 2015 by Bec

We got up super early to beat the Yellowstone traffic to check out the bubbling geysers and hot springs. It was other wordly, walking among steaming aqua pools bubbling away next to the white earth.

A geyser is essentially a thermal pool, with a more complicated plumbing system that causes violent boiling and water to spew out (I think). Yellowstone has the largest collection of geysers in the world, the most famous of which is Old Faithful, erupting every hour and a half or so.

Old Faithful had last erupted about 50 minutes before we arrived, so we had some time to check out the smaller geysers and pools nearby.

If you want an authentic Yellowstone experience, go find some rotten eggs to smell as you scroll through these photos. The warm sulphuric smell was so intense. And gross.

We took prime position just before 9am and waited ~~patiently~~:

After a few small goes, Old Faithful blasted water upwards in an impressively powerful fashion:

After it died down we continued to walk around the stinky pools and geysers.

“Why do you smell so bad?”

The variety of pools and geysers was pretty interesting, from the colours to the sizes and shapes and muddiness.

I think this is my favourite

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A cone geyser

Pretty crazy to think we are just wandering around atop a super volcano. We drove on to find more ~~traffic~~ geysers and hot springs in the Lower Geyser Basin. The most impressive of which was the Grand Prismatic Spring:

Those colours

Photos don’t do it justice

I can’t remember what this one is called

After tiring slightly of the crowds and truly nuts driving we drove through other areas of the park, including where wildlife is commonly spotted.

Can you spot the uncomfortably close grizzly bear?

It’s the brown lump right in the middle

We kept driving to the calm shores of Yellowstone Lake. We were the only two down there, bliss.

We stopped in at the Lake Lodge to put up our feet by the fire and hook into some wifi.

Have promised myself I will go back there to stay one day.

Later in the evening we headed to Hayden Valley to do some more wildlife spotting.

Cool bus

We sidled up to people who had been set up there all day with telescopes and learnt that two grizzly bears had killed an elk, dragged it to the edge of the lake and buried its carcass. Now, there was a wolf trying to steal some dinner for itself.

We watched (from very far away I should add) as the wolf darted daringly to snap at where the carcass was while the grizzly got increasingly irate and eventually charged at the wolf. Pretty cool!

Watching nature happen

We weren’t the only ones stopping to have a look:

The sun then set on what was a fantastic day.

More tomorrow!

Posted in Travel | Tagged America, National Park, Road Trip, Travel, USA, Yellowstone | 9 Comments

Montana

Posted on July 28, 2015 by Bec

I really, really loved Montana. But for some reason I just didn’t take many photos. I think I was just burnt out from excessive photo taking from Glacier National Park. Most of these were taken on my phone. But first, the cockamamie route we took through the state of Montana:

Ok so not particularly cockamamie, I just like that word

After leaving East Glacier/St Mary, we went to check out West Glacier:

Which has an awesome bakery, observe here a S’mores cookie:

❤

On we drove to an adorable town called Whitefish. It had nice boutiques, independent coffee shops, bars and cool homewares stores.

If you say so…

We grabbed some frozen yoghurt, for it’s health benefits.

Lol

And settled in at our campground at Bigfork, near the shores of Flathead Lake.

Andrew bought this stubbie holder from one of those cool homewares stores in Whitefish.

That night after the rain we watched a truly amazing sunset over the lake.

Northern Montana seems to be known for huckleberries, so we tried some raspberry and huckleberry pie.

It was predictably amazing.

Cherries are everywhere around Flathead Lake too.

The next day we drove to Missoula, stopping at a National Bison Range along the way. Cue bison visuals:

Bison are hilariously front heavy. It’s an amazing gravitational feat that they can stay upright.

Fuzzy head

We also saw elk, deer and bighorn sheep:

Creepiest eyes ever.

Onto Missoula! A college town with plenty of character. In 1908 those rascally students at the University of Montana forged a zigzag path up Mt Sentinel carrying white stones to lay in an ‘M’ figure on the side of the mountain to celebrate their school. In 1968 a concrete ‘M’ was laid and still remains today. Hiking up the ‘M Trail’ is still a hugely popular activity today.

The view over Missoula was pretty great.

Can you tell its an ‘M’?

We saw another fantastic Montanan sunset, it’s no wonder why people are always banging on about the sky here:

We went to a downtown music/food festival held every week in summer and ate delicious bbq pork buns:

Followed by a huge Mexican dinner that almost saw both of us explode. It wasn’t pretty.

Convinced that we’d fallen in love with Missoula and wanted to move there asap we drove onto Bozeman, which turned out to be even better. From the retro architecture:

To the bars, boutqiues, cafes and shops. We ate at the bar of a fantastic diner called Western Cafe:

I experienced my first biscuits and gravy breakfast:

The brown mush is biscuits (scones) covered in sausage gravy with bacon and poached eggs on the side

We reluctantly left Bozeman and drove to Virginia City, yet another ye olde pioneer town. Gold was discovered there in May 1863 and within weeks a town sprung up. It’s now a National Historic Landmark and operates as an open air museum.

Vigilante HQ

Hey cowboy

As with most gold rush era towns, the place has an amazingly colourful history. In 1864 vigilantes rounded up 5 men whom they found guilty of crimes from murder to robbery to cannibalism and hanged them from a supporting beam in an unfinished building. The building is still there today, so too are the graves of the men atop Boot Hill.

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One of the men, named Clubfoot George, was dug up in 1907 when locals began to wonder who was buried where. They exhumed his body and his clubfoot is still on display at the museum… I’ll spare you a photo.

Curiously, just near the foot, is this on display at the museum:

Delicious

Don’t rotting feet and century-old cakes just make you hungry?! Luckily there is an ice cream shop just doors down from the hanging building.

We shared a sundae of traditionally churned ice cream with hot fudge.

Amazing

Which gave us the strength to drive to Wyoming to Yellowstone National Park.

Thanks for a great time Montana!

Posted in Travel | Tagged America, Montana, Road Trip, Travel, USA | 6 Comments

Calgary to Glacier National Park

Posted on July 23, 2015 by Bec

After the Stampede we took a few days slowly making our way south back to the States, relaxing after what had been a manic week of camping one place per night across the Rockies followed by the fun of Calgary.

Which reminds me I’m long overdue for a map update:

Our trip up until Calgary

Unfortunately it’s not very accurate as Google will only let me put in 8 destinations and I tried using MapQuest and failed miserably. But you get the idea!

After a free bacon and pancake breakfast in town we headed south, camped for a night at a lake and then drove further south the next day.

Saw this walking back from the pancake breakfast. Bye Calgary!

Because I have a super lame obsession with pioneer villages (as a child I was completely besotted with Sovereign Hill in Victoria) we stopped at the Bar U Ranch. Established in 1881, Bar U was one of the leading cattle and draft horse ranches in Canada for 70 years. It is still perfectly preserved.

And super cute.

Ye olde wagon

Ye olde tractor

Inside the homestead:

Want all of this

The cowboys’ sleeping quarters

the kitchen

I could look at photos of Bar U allllllll day. But I won’t bore you with them all.

A few days after wishing I lived in a romanticised version of a bygone era we drove over the border (stopped only briefly to be lectured on why our contraband red capsicum could bring down the entire US economy) into Montana.

I really appreciate a decent state border sign

We camped at St Mary’s on the east entrance to Glacier National Park (the American one this time).

The next day we did the 17km round trip hike to Iceberg Lake. For most of the hike this is what we could see:

And then we came upon this:

What.

Insane. I mean, it’s called Iceberg Lake, but seeing icebergs in America in July is kind of surprising. And amazing. Cue visuals!

It was cold, to say the least! The wind kind of whipped around the lake and into your face.

We stayed as long as we could stand the cold and I took many stupid photos, not releasing my GoPro was in ‘burst’ mode (meaning it takes 30 consecutive photos). Example:

What a masterpiece

The next day we set out to hike the 19km Highline Trail, as recommended by the friends we met at Mt Rainier. The weather was pretty bad, but seeing as the words “most favourite hike ever” had been bandied about we didn’t want to miss out.

This was a mistake.

For most of the hike this was the view:

Except for when the view was worse. We got soaked, essentially hiking through a rain cloud.

At the 12th kilometre we reached a chalet with a roaring fire. I never wanted to leave.

The view was still shrouded in cloud though.

Apart from maybe high school, I don’t have never been more relieved to finish anything in my life. We got the shuttle from the end of the hike back to our car and saw more impressive views from the window. Ugh. You win some, you lose some.

We got back to our car, took some photos from the parking lot and then drove back to camp to warm up.

These are some of the tour cars people use to get around, pretty cool!

The sad part is it’s estimated that all of Glacier’s glaciers will be melted by 2030. So scary. So I urge you all to go there asap and see Iceberg Lake. It really is magical.

Posted in Travel | Tagged America, Calgary, Canada, Glacier National Park, Hiking, Road Trip, Travel | 1 Comment

Banff to the Calgary Stampede

Posted on July 22, 2015 by Bec

We were naively taken aback by how busy Banff was. Just walking along the main street was a struggle, finding a park was impossible and the service staff were all surly beyond belief. After a few failed attempts, we found a park next to this lake and ate our sandwiches in silence.

Pretty

After recovering from the (admittedly first world) nightmare that was parking and getting around, we hired a canoe and took off upstream.

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I had that ‘Land of the silver birch, home of the beaver…’ canoeing song stuck in my head. I’m not sure how well known it is among non-Canadians, but we pretty much sang it nonstop when we were here on a family holiday when I was about 10.

Actually being in this part of Canada took me right back to that holiday with my mum, aunt and cousins, driving around trying to find black bear (always at the dumpsters) and moose. We were north of Toronto, in Algonquin Park I think, so no where near Banff. But we canoed and went sight seeing and bought those ugly souvenir tshirts with the wolves on them. Good times.

The weather turned pretty ugly as we were canoeing. So we gave up and went to a bar.

The next morning we did our old trick of getting up at the crack of dawn to beat the crowds. It worked. Ours was one of the first cars parked at the bottom of Sulphur Mountain’s gondola. Yes I am gloating.

The gondola was absurdly expensive, except if you hiked up and got a lift down before 11am. So we had over three hours to hike 5km. We were laughing.

It was a very steep 5km hike with switchback after painful switchback.

Andrew about to take a photo

It got colder and colder the higher we went.

By the time we got to the top (which wasn’t long at all) I was that awful combination of sweaty and freezing. But the view was well worth it.

Using the trusty self timer

Banff from above

At the top of Sulphur Mountain

Taking the gondola down was a much faster way to travel.

Look at those hikers, we used to be them

We bade farewell to Banff and drove to Canmore for one thing.

Poutine.

I’d had fake poutine at a pub in Seattle, but that doesn’t count. Canadian poutine is a sophisticated mix of potato chips, gravy and cheese curds:

We shared a serve, very wise

Delicious. On we drove, Calgary bound, for an outdoor agricultural festival/rodeo known as the Calgary Stampede.

We hit the Stampede grounds the following day. We saw draft horses on show, prancing around a ring, horses with carts and went into a shed which stank, unsurprisingly, of horses.

Yes I stole Andrew’s hat

We also saw stall after stall of ridiculous junk food. Keen to get onboard we ordered some red velvet deep fried Oreos.

That is, Oreos dunked in red velvet cake batter, deep fried and dusted with sugar.

They were amusing

While perusing the agricultural stands we got talking to a woman from the International Ag Committee and utilising the fact that Andrew’s parents used to farm sheep, we talked our way into their clubroom.

There we sat away from the crowds, in the aircon and enjoyed complimentary drinks with all the bar snacks we could eat. We could barely finish a bowl of chips before a new one was brought over. We met ‘other farmers’ from Canada and America. I drew on my very vague knowledge of Nullarbor pastoral stations to talk about how wild dogs have decimated the sheep industry out there… I’m sure it sounded convincing!

Just reading agricultural magazines like the farmer I am

After our brief time as celebrity Australian farmers we headed over to the Indigenous side of the show grounds.

I do love a good teepee. These were a lot bigger and more structurally sound than the one I made.

We had tickets for the evening show, so we went to have dinner and some drinks beforehand. We sat right near the bucking bull and watched punters have a go.

We got giant hotdogs.

Almost as big as Andrew’s hat

The seedy guy controlling the bull had a method of keeping the women on for as long as possible and throwing the men off asap. I was not at all tempted to have a go!

We headed to the grandstand for the show and managed to catch the end of the chuck wagon racing, what the Stampede is known for.

With their wagons and four horses, drivers have to do a tight figure of 8 before racing around the track. It was pretty cool to watch.

Later on, as the rain bucketed down, we watched the most patriotic show I’ve ever seen. It was an outdoor stage musical/dance show that chronicled Canada’s achievements from music to inventions. It was amazing.

There was a bit with ballet, a traditional hoop dance and dancers hoisted up on wires representing the Northern Lights. All in the rain.

Ballet in the rain

CANADA!

The show made it all worth it, in my opinion. It made me feel somewhat patriotic (my Mum grew up in Canada and I still have relatives here). Oh Canada indeed!

Posted in Travel | Tagged Canada, Road Trip, Travel | 6 Comments

America, Canada & Australia: 8 observations

Posted on July 17, 2015 by Bec

Glacier National Park, Montana

Tomorrow marks 9 weeks since we left Australia! Here are some things that have surprised, interested and confounded me over the last two months, from the mundane to the more profound. I want to emphasise that these are observations, not criticisms! As a teacher or parent would say “it’s not bad or good, just different” 😉

1. Milk

Since we are mostly camping and making our own meals, it would make sense for us to buy long life milk, keep a few cartons in the car and not have to go to a store every couple of days. But Americans (and Canadians, I imagine) don’t do long life milk! You will not find milk on a shelf here. I was really confused at first but then I found this article which basically explains that Americans couldn’t get used to the idea of buying milk off a shelf, so much so that some soy milk companies whose product does not require refrigeration, pay supermarkets to store their milk in the fridge to please consumers. Bizarre!

While we are on the subject of dairy, we’ve found it really hard to get full fat milk and yoghurt here. It’s all low to no fat. Which is a shame because low fat dairy is chock full of sugar and tastes awful.

2. Americans are far more outdoorsy than Australians

I don’t know where Australians got a name for being buff, tanned outdoorsy types, but it’s such a lie! I’ve never seen so many hiking trails (and not just in the national parks) packed with families, young professionals, elderly people and everyone in between than in America. The city, suburban and national parks are busy at the weekends with people barbecuing, playing sports and just soaking up the outdoors.

Before we got here I had probably done two hikes in the past 3 years (here and here) and on those occasions half our party stayed home to sit on the couch! People love to be outside here and if you head to an REI (Recreation Equipment Inc) store in any location it will be packed with people buying hiking/climbing gear, kayaks and tents.

3. Australian accents are undetectable and indecipherable

The only person who has correctly guessed our Australian accents was a child on the shore of Flathead Lake, Montanta, two days ago. Clearly Ruby Rose’s appearance on Orange is the New Black has done nothing for Aussie accent awareness. So we’ve been South African, New Zealanders and English. But not Australian.

We’ve often found it hard to be understood here, some examples:

Andrew: “Which is the best way to get to Glacier National Park?”
American: … blank stare… “Oh you mean Glayy-sherr?”

Me, trying to spell out my last name: “B, R, E..”
American: “A?”
Me: “No, E”
American: “A?”

Also we have stopped saying esky, boot and thongs in favour of cooler, trunk and flip flops. When we first got here Andrew kept asking where the ‘toilet’ was and I literally kept seeing people wince. Say ‘restroom’ ‘washroom’ or ‘bathroom’, anything other than what it actually is!

4. Canada has been invaded by Australians

I kind of already knew this, but I thought most of the Australians were in Whistler. I was wrong. Australians are everywhere and while being Aussie in America will be met with smiles, interest and polite questioning, Canadians couldn’t care less (I mean that in the nicest possible way). Pretty much every second person from Vancouver to Banff to Calgary is from Australia. We heard Australian music on the radio, The Temper Trap and weirdly, Hilltop Hoods.

Also because there are so many long term travelling Aussies in Canada, they are used to the concept. Whereas when we tell Americans we quit our jobs and packed up to travel indefinitely they are floored/impressed/incredulous and tell us we should write a book.

5. People still use cheques in America

Or checks, I should say. I don’t think I know anyone in Australia who has used a cheque to pay for something since before 2000. In America there are places everywhere (often along highways) that have big signs out front saying “We cash checks!” and in shops there are lists of rules next to the cash register for people paying with checks. It’s just like on The Simpsons. Usually they say ‘local checks only’. I have no idea what that means.

6. People really don’t want to talk about gun control

I was reluctant to put this in, because I don’t know a whole lot on the topic of gun control other than the NRA is really powerful here. I don’t want to pretend I know a lot or upset anyone. But Andrew and I were both interested to observe the discussion after the Charleston church shooting in June was entirely centred around the Confederate Flag and its modern relevance. Listening mostly to NPR (National Public Radio), we heard politicians speak about whether the controversial flag should fly over state buildings or not. But no one brought up gun control. Obviously I think it’s hugely important that a flag, which for so many people symbolises racism and slavery, has been removed from the South Carolina State House and flag related merchandise has been removed from many of the major retailers. But didn’t guns play a role too?

I didn’t grow up in a country where guns are a constitutional right though. Australia hasn’t witnessed a mass shooting since introducing strict laws in response to an incident in 1996 when 35 people were killed in Tasmania.

7. Convenience is king

I can’t think of many shops in Australia that offer you free wifi, toilets and water fountains. Malls yes, but not stand alone shops. It’s really nice that you can head into a Walmart, Best Buy, REI or whatever and be ultra comfortable while you shop! There are also Starbucks stores inside Safeway supermarkets, so you can get your coffee hit as you peruse the aisles. Aisles which include alcohol, which is super convenient, you don’t have to go to another store. Also the pharmacies sell beer, amazing!

8. People take their dogs everywhere

Dogs aren’t allowed in national parks in Australia, so it always surprises me to see dogs there as well as in camping grounds. Especially where there are bears and other wildlife around. Yesterday I did a double take when I saw paws sticking out underneath a bathroom stall door instead of human feet, someone had taken their dog in with them! It’s also not uncommon to see dogs in supermarkets and other shops.

I’m sure there are many other things that have surprised me over the last little while, but these are the ones I can think of off the top of my head. Got any to add? Or have you visited Australia and been surprised by something there? Would love to hear your thoughts.

Posted in Misc, Social Commentary, Travel | Tagged America, Australia, Canada, Travel | 8 Comments

Lake Louise, Banff National Park

Posted on July 14, 2015 by Bec

I’d particularly been looking forward to getting to Banff National Park, it’s the ‘stunningly beautiful’ place Australians rave about ad nauseam upon their return home. And for good reason.

We arrived at Lake Louise in the late afternoon and battled ginormous buses groaning with tourists for a parking spot. We dodged errant selfie sticks, flailing in the air, as we jostled for a view of the famous lake beneath an angry grey sky.

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Meanwhile armies of people in bright red canoes cut their way across the lake.

The crowds were kind of overwhelming, but in no way quelled the beauty of the lake. I’m not a smug ‘traveller’ who thinks herself a cut above the much maligned ‘tourist’ and I understand that places are busy because there is something spectacular about them. It probably doesn’t help that there’s a massive hotel, sorry, chateau on the shore. So the crowds I get, but we had a plan.

Love the contrast of the lake water with the red canoes

The next morning I literally jumped out of bed (which is no easy feat on an air mattress) at 6:45am and we were down by the lake by 7:15am with just a handful of other people. Bliss.

The moon was also out enjoying the early morning calm.

That reflection

The pastel water is caused by silt or ‘rock flour’ from the glacier that feeds the lake and becomes suspended in the water. It’s so damn pretty.

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We got in on a bit of selfie stick action with my GoPro

We took a walk around the side of the lake, snapping stupid amounts of photos along the way.

There’s the chateau on the left

We ducked inside the chateau to grab some coffees, it was pretty nice.

These two

We drove over the Moraine Lake, the other nearby glacial lake, whose water was an even more spectacular blue. By this time parking the car was again a nightmare but we got lucky.

How is this real?!

On our way out we noticed they had closed off the road because it was so busy, so we made it there just in time. My advice for anything in Banff National Park? Go early. And yes, it is worth it.

Posted in Travel | Tagged Canada, Road Trip, Travel | 11 Comments

Oh Canada

Posted on July 10, 2015 by Bec

When we lived in Kalgoorlie I would have given my right arm for a lake to swim in. A body of water to jump into, relax near and cool off in. Canadians are so spoilt with their lakes.

After Vancouver we drove to Kamloops, our first stop on the drive across the Rockies to Calgary. When we got there we were hit by an epic hail storm (you can see a video on my facebook). So intense that the roads flooded and the fields turned white. We couldn’t camp that night, so we got a motel. Punishment for leaving Vancouver no doubt.

The next day the skies had cleared and it was Canada Day, so we pitched our tent near Paul Lake and went to the shore to soak up some sun.

The hail storm a distant memory

The worst job

Celebrating with Canadian themed headwear

There is pretty much nothing more relaxing than floating and splashing about on a lake. Except for when a bit of seaweed brushes against your leg.

We saw a bald eagle!

Red and white corn chips, for Canada Day obviously

We drove on to Revelstoke, officially in the Rockies! And were welcomed, somewhat ominously, by this guy:

Revelstoke is an adorable little town framed by snow capped mountains.

We drove up to Revelstoke National Park.

One of the amazing views from Revelstoke National Park

The Columbia River

Still reppin’ Canada with my hat

The rugged Columbia Mountains… and Andrew

That afternoon we again pitched our tent, which was in stumbling distance of a river in which to frolic.

Andrew gracefully mounting his li-lo

This swim was even better thanks to the snowy mountain view.

The next day we drove to the Canadian Glacier National Park (not the American one, confusing) to do the Great Glacier Trail. In terms of scenery, it was the most varied of the hikes we’ve done. We walked past waterfalls, raging rivers, snow capped peaks, glaciers and plenty of pine trees.

That waterfall

Going in for a closer view

Those switchbacks

I demand a pretty fruitful payoff when I hike, in the form of excellent views and I wasn’t disappointed.

It was 360 degrees of magic.

On the drive out

We were pretty blown away by the views, but we had no idea what was to come!

Posted in Travel | Tagged Canada, Road Trip, The Rockies, Travel | Leave a comment

Reading on the road

Posted on July 7, 2015 by Bec

Remember last year, when I forgot how to read? Those were trying times. Fortunately, not having a job or an internet connection for most of the day has enabled me to get back in touch with reading, which I am overjoyed about. So overjoyed, in fact, that I demolished 6 books in the first 6 weeks of this trip. That is a massive achievement for me considering last year I struggled to focus attention for long enough to read a single page. My best time for finishing a novel is 24 hours, a record I’m not sure I can or want to beat.

The first two books I read were The Woman Who Stole My Life by Marian Keyes and Courting Trouble by Kathy Lette. The Marian Keyes book was predictably farfetched but an easy and enjoyable read. I admire Kathy Lette hugely for her intelligence, wit and contributions to feminism but her prose just makes me cringe.

The next book I read was Wild by Cheryl Strayed. Like reading The Quiet American in Vietnam or The Beach in Thailand, reading Wild while practically driving the Pacific Crest Trail was delightful. I even insisted we visit the Ashland Co-op in Oregon because it was in the book. I also appreciated the frequent references to REI and the detail of her struggle to hike in the beginning.

I picked up The Girls’ Guide to Hunting and Fishing from the book exchange at our hostel in Eugene and finished it in two days. It was the exact kind of novel I love about ~~slightly mundane~~ everyday existence and coming of age written so perfectly and eloquently.

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins was a thriller recommended from someone online (if it was you, thanks!) and was completely unlike what I would usually read and completely un-put-down-able. Read it before they make the movie version!

When we were in Portland, Andrew and I decided to read as many books from this list of 50 you should read before you die. So we bought 7 of the books from the list secondhand from Powell’s, a well known and loved bookstore in the city. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon was the book I polished off in 24 hours. I think this book would be pretty moving if you had never read a book from the point of view of a person living on the autism spectrum, but I have, so it reminded me a lot of The Rosie Project just with a younger protagonist.

At the moment I am reading Judy Blume’s In the Unlikely Event. And although reading about aviation disasters while travelling may be unwise, I am loving it. I devoured pretty much all of Blume’s back catalogue as a kid, so I’m really enjoying reading her work again.

Over to you now, what are you reading at the moment? What’s on your list? Do you have any recommendations for me?

Posted in Misc | Tagged Books, Reading | 6 Comments

Vancouver

Posted on July 6, 2015 by Bec

A sense of relief washed over me as soon as we crossed the American-Canadian border and saw road signs that featured kilometres and not miles. No more pretending to understand when someone said something was “just 1000 feet that way!” or 5 miles up the road.

Anyway, we got into Vancouver late on Sunday evening after no trouble at the border and made it to our hostel. Unfortunately the hostel was located in a rather dodgy enclave of town and we had a couple of unpleasant encounters on our search for dinner. Also our hostel appeared to be not so much a hostel as short stay rental accommodation for the profoundly drug affected. I booked it, whoops!

Like Seattle it was extremely hot and balmy, so after a restless night we got up early and were on the streets by about 8:30am, keen to avoid the heat. We ended up walking 28km (or 55,000 steps according the pedometer on Andrew’s phone) around the city that day.

We walked along the water, past the science museum:

To Granville Island, which was ok. I didn’t take any photos though so that’s kind of telling. Maybe we were there too early.

We then walked through the city, stopping at a few shops along the way, to Denman Street which we had been told had all kinds of great international food. So we grabbed lunch at a Middle Eastern place near English Bay Beach, it was fab.

Ate it all

From there we walked along the water towards the highly recommended Stanley Park.

I really regret not taking my bathers, we were sweltering.

We walked down a trail through the park, which was delightfully secluded and quiet. Less like Central Park and more like we were suddenly in the middle of nowhere.

We came out the other end of the park near the rowing club, which has great views of the city.

We opted not to visit the aquarium, but managed to see some local wildlife:

A mama racoon washing her hands and her baby

We checked out the amazing totem pole collection.

We then walked back into the city. By this time it was 4:30pm and we had already walked about 20km and were tired and sweaty but in no way eager to return to our crack den accommodation. So we went and saw a movie. I know, not the best way to see a place, but it was nice to sit down in air conditioning for a few hours. We saw Inside Out, which was excellent and funny and sad in the way that Pixar movies are. I highly recommend seeing it.

We emerged from the cinema reenergised and walked back to English Bay Beach for dinner and the sunset. Cue copious visuals:

We grabbed a couple of hotdogs from a street stand, two drinks and a packet of chips for $10. Bargain!

We loaded our dogs up with sauces and sides.

Delicious

And then settled in with a few thousand others to watch the sun go down.

The hotdog was seriously good, so it deserves another photo:

action shot

Our side

I would apologise for overdoing the sunset photos, but if you’ve read this blog for any length of time you would know I always do this. Sorrynotsorry.

When the sun disappeared behind the mountains we began the walk home along the water.

Unfortunately along the way we witnessed a suicide attempt from one of the city bridges (not the one above). The splash was so loud we actually thought a car must have crashed up on the bridge. It was pretty horrific and something I will probably never forget. So sad.

The next day we left Vancouver, a night early. I felt bad, but we were just done. It didn’t help that we were extremely uncomfortable in our accommodation. I did really enjoy our time there though.

Posted in Travel | Tagged Canada, Road Trip, Travel, Vancouver | 2 Comments

Seattle

Posted on July 6, 2015 by Bec

Well, it seems I’ve fallen a tad behind with blogging. A combination of many nights camping and weak wifi connections and not lack of enthusiasm, I assure you.

We got to Seattle on a Friday afternoon and that evening, having been convinced that seeing local live music was a must, we went with a few of our hostel mates to a bar in Fremont called Nectar. It was really fun, the band was interesting and we had a few drinks before walking home at a reasonable hour. I had exactly four drinks (all the same thing) and the next day I was very sick. Now, I have previously been guilty of swearing I didn’t drink that much and insisting that a hangover was unjustified, but in this case it really was!

Anyway, I’ll spare you the rest of the details but the way I was feeling sort of explains the lack of photos in this post. I hardly took any because I was feeling so average. We spent Saturday walking around the city seeing the major sights of Seattle.

First stop was Pike’s Market. It was really cool, especially considering it was unfathomably hot, packed with tourists and I was feeling under the weather.

Pike’s is mostly a food market and is famous for its seafood stalls where the men pack the fish and then throw them across the counter to be weighed.

Again, a fish market and a hangover; not a match made in heaven.

Across from Pike’s was the original Starbucks and a ginormous line out the front. I didn’t take a photo.

Next stop, the Space Needle:

After taking that photo we headed to REI (Recreation Equipment Inc) so I could swap over some hiking pants. Americans are obsessed with REI and we unknowingly went to the national HQ, the Mecca. It was huge, a few stories high and had a restaurant, a rock climbing wall and a mountain bike testing range.

After that we headed back to our neighbourhood, Fremont.

Fremont is kind of an artsy, fun, quirky district with lots of bars and restaurants.

We headed to nearby Green Lake to cool off, having walked about 18km that day.

It wasn’t green. But it was nice. I ate a peach and struggled to get into Kerouac’s On The Road.

Under the George Washington Memorial Bridge in Fremont is a giant troll:

Creepy

The troll was the winner of an art competition back in 1990. Here’s a photo of us with the troll to prove we actually went to Seattle:

Gotta love a self timer

The next day Andrew’s aunt and a friend of hers joined us for breakfast in Capitol Hill. We went to the Deluxe Bar & Grill. Andrew ordered the waffles and fried chicken, but they were out of waffle batter. So he settled for pancakes instead: