Seattle Exploration

Friday: (09/12) Up at 0700. Had breakfast at a restaurant in Chinatown, simple egg white mushroom omelet with a bun. I checked out of the hostel and headed to the train station. The Amtrak  train was actually a Cantrails bus. Excellent driver. Nice to be in US again where I can use my cell phone and it's data plan. I enjoyed some more dim sum in Seattle's Chinatown for lunch. I then got a little more away from downtown to a cheaper motel in the Fremont area. Time to relax and get out on the town tomorrow. Dinner at a nearby Mexican restaurant, Perabo Bueno.

Saturday: (09/13) I took a walk to the Blue Star Cafe & Pub for breakfast. I had some very nice corned beef hash and eggs with a scone. From there took a long walk throujgh the Fremont area neighborhood. I then we t downtown to the headquarters REI store for a look around. I managed to leave after only buying trekking poles!e point caps. Now I can stow my poles and not poke holes in everything. Then off to Pikes Marketplace for a look around. I had lunch/dinner there as well, fish and chips. On the way back to the motel I stopped in at a couple of stores and weighed myself and tried on pants. At 200 pounds, I lost 12 pounds and two pants sizes. That after nearly a week of eating out since I finished the hike.

On The Way To Vancouver

Wednesday: (09/10) Up at 0700. I couldn't resist a nice bath before heading over for breakfast. I had their summer hash, very good. I then checked out about 0910 and started my wait for the 1010 bus. While most people had bought their tickets online, I had been informed by reception that they were having trouble printing the tickets. There were about 15 people waiting for the bus, only two of us didn't have tickets. We all waited and waited. Finally a phone call confirmed the bus would be at least two hours late. I got a sandwich for lunch. The bus arrived at 1210. Our bags were thrown on. We two who needed tickets were told we'd get them two stops up the road in Chilliwack. I haven't ridden a Grayhound bus in a while. Quite nice, even has power outlets and WiFi.
When we got to town, another hiker, Snailtrainer, and I got a room at a hostel near the central transit station. He is from England and limes a beer or two so we stopped in to a British Pub a couple of blocks away where we also had fish and chips for dinner.

Thursday: (09/11) Snail and I walked clear downtown looking for a place for breakfast. We ended up at A&W where we had their Canadian combo. Surprising good for a fast food joint. Real eggs, bacon and sausage with pancakes, not factory reconstituted products. Snail took off to the airport to return to England. I headed out and bought a cheap little backpack to through the few things I really need from my big back pack then took the backpack to UPS to ship home. A tour around town followed. Lunch in Chinatown, some dim sum. Dinner in North Vancouver at Quay Marketplace after a ride there on the sea train. I bought a cheap now hiker looking shirt. Will be leaving tomorrow morning.

PCT Hike, MM 2660 - 2669, Manning Park, BC

Tuesday: (09/09) Up at 0630. On trail 0745 after a morning chat with my fellow campers. I was first on trail but was met by Snailtrainer about half way. We hiked together the rest of the way with me trying to keep up with someone who has hiked five times my 500 mile distance. I checked in to the lodge at 1130. After a nice shower I had lunch at the restaurant, their special of the day Ruben sandwich and turkey noodle soup. Not the chicken fried steak breakfast with a vanilla shake I'd been dreaming of but pretty good. Again, no cell signal here but there is wifi. Then time to do my wash arrange transportation to Vancouver, and update my blog. Dinner was a prime rib dip sandwich and a salad. The menu isn't broad and the prices are high but the food is good. Especially better than comes out of my pack. I threw out all my water bottles save one. I dried my tent, sleeping bag, and mat. I also moved everything from the pockets into the bag providing something easier to transport. When I get to Vancouver I ship the whole thing home and get a day pack with just what I need for city travel.

Surrey, BC

Saturday: (10/01) Lou made home fries with ham and eggs for breakfast. Lou did the laundry while I worked on the roof caulking the antenna and cable pass through. No obvious location of the leak, unfortunately. For lunch we had a nice salad with tomatoes, three beans, ham, peppers, grilled onions with a sesame sauce. We took a short drive around the Newton area of Surrey visited a thrift store and did a little shopping. But for the most part we hung around the RV today. For dinner we had chipolata sausage with mashed potatoes and corn.

Sunday: (10/02) Mushroom and cheese omelets with home fried potatoes for breakfast.
We bought our day passes and caught the bus to the Skytrain to downtown Vancouver, then another bus out to Stanley Park.


We walked the sea wall trail back to downtown. We shared a Vietnamese submarine sandwich for lunch. Another bus took us out to Broadway Street where we walked around visiting some of the shops. We stopped at a Greek bakery where we shared a cookie and some rice pudding. Then we caught another bus out to the University. We thought we might take a look at the Botanical Gardens but we arrived as they were closing for the day.  Another bus brought us back to the Skytrain where we caught a final bus home. Another day consumed. Lou served some of her home made chili and toast for dinner. This is our last night here. We return to the US tomorrow.

Victoria, BC

Thursday: (09/29) We wanted to get up early to catch the ferry to Victoria today. The ferry runs every two hours starting at 7am. In order for us to make the 7am ferry we would have had to getup before 5am. Lou wasn't interested in that. so i set it for 6am to make the 9am ferry, or so I thought. The alarm went off, we took our showers and were preparing to have breakfast when Lou noticed the RV clock said it was 6am. We had been up and hour already.  I had reset all our clocks after we left Alberta except for our traveling alarm clock. Oops! So if we hurried, we might make the 7am ferry after all. We hurried and were the next to the last car onto the 7am ferry . A minute later and we would have missed it. We enjoyed breakfast on the ferry. Eggs, bacon and toast. We were in downtown Victoria by 9am. We stopped at a few thrift shops, and other interesting stores. We checked in to Paul's Inn downtown.


Lunch was in China Town at the Fan Tan Cafe. Chow mien, sweet and sour pork and fried shrimp.


After lunch we walked around downtown. The whale topiary above was by the Empress Hotel. We took a tour of the Provincial Legislative Building.

We took a walk out at the park on the South end of Victoria overlooking the Olympic Peninsula. To our surprise, we learned that from that location we had good Verizon cell phone connection not a Canadian roaming  connection. Nice chance to call home. We met one of our friends daughters for dinner. Jessica is going to school here in Victoria. We enjoyed dinner at a deli downtown. Lou and I shared a shepherds pie with clam chowder. Jessica had macaroni and cheese. We all shared a slice of excellent apple pie for desert.


We all took a walk downtown and looked at the night lights on the Legislative building. Tomorrow we do Buchart's Gardens.

Unfortunately, in our hurry to catch the ferry, I managed to forget to bring my camera. My phones camera will have to for the photos here on the island.

Friday: (09/30) We enjoyed breakfast at Paul's Inn Restaurant. I had my favorite pancakes with peanut butter, jam and some bacon. Lou had a mushroom and cheese omelet with home fries and toast.


We entered Butchart's Gardens by 09:30 and finished our first rounds by 12:30.


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For lunch we enjoyed High Tea at the garden's dining room. We've never had high tea before.


After lunch we made another round of the garden in the opposite direction. It's amazing how different it looks from the opposite direction. We took advantage of several benches along the way for longer looks.

We left the garden about 16:10 and headed for the ferry. We made it onto the 17:00 ferry much like our previous crossing with only a couple of cars behind us. We decided against dining on board this trip. Dinner was leftovers at home. Spaghetti squash with beef stroganoff sauce for me. Leftover chicken for Lou.

Surrey, BC

Monday: (09/26) Corned beef hash and eggs for breakfast. I spent some time at McDonald's finishing some blog updates. Photos have been uploaded for 9/19-to 9/25 activities. It rained all night and was raining heavily all the way to Surrey. Added to the rain was all the construction on the highway. We ended up passing our exit. There were no signs on the freeway pointing to an exit for Surrey. Eventually we managed to return and park in a mall near our destination. We disconnected the Jeep, called a couple of RV parks and confirmed our choice of the Plaza RV park was the best. We then went into the mall for lunch of Chinese food. After lunch and a walk around the mall we took the Jeep out to scout where the best way to get to the RV park and avoid any more construction or dead end roads. We checked in to the RV Park. We'll be here at least a week. One reason for choosing the location was it's proximity to transit and the light rail train that takes us in to Vancouver. Lou picked up some nice veggies at the mall produce market and that was the base ofr dinner. It was turned in to a Chinese stir fry with chicken. Here at 5pm the rain has finally stopped, for a while at least. This evening I noticed some water on the dinette. We hadn't been using the table since this morning so why was there water there. I checked the cabinet above the table and it was wet inside. The cables for the satellite antenna go through the roof there. So, another task to take care of when the rain is gone. We did  our laundry at the park laundry tonight.
(GPS:49.15329472,-122.8452324)

Tuesday: (09/27) Pancakes and sausage for breakfast. We bought some day passes for Translink, the local bus system. We then caught a bus in front of the RV park to the Skytrain station, the local light rail system. That train took us in to downtown. We explored china town and enjoyed a baked pork bun for brunch.


A walk down Granville Ave brought us to the Granville Island Public Market.


Along the way we enjoyed some pizza, some berry cobbler and a slice of pork pie. We graze on our walks. The birds outside the market were quite ornate.

More bus rides exploring more city brought us back to the Skytrain and home. Lou made roast chicken with spaghetti squash and broccoli for dinner.

Wednesday: (09/28) Corned beef hash and eggs for breakfast. Another day on the bus today. We caught the bus in front of the RV park and took it up King George Avenue to the Surrey Center then caught the Skytrain hopping off a few times to explore neighborhoods. We transferred to the Millennium line to go through New Westminster and Burnaby on our way in to Vancouver. We shared a burrito at one of our stops for lunch. Then we took the Seatrain over to North Vancouver.


When we returned to Vancouver we had dinner at the Cottage Deli in the Gas Town area. We shared a roast beef sandwich and minestrone soup while watch the bay ship traffic.  The steam clock in Gas Town (above right) is a must see. Then it was time to catch the Skytrain home. Another interesting day in the city.

Thursday: (09/29) We're off to visit Vancouver Island and Victoria today  and tomorrow.

Chilliwack, BC

Sunday: (09/25) It's overcast this morning and we had some rain showers last night. We had oatmeal for breakfast. I worked on labeling photos all morning. We finally departed about 11:30. The campground was basically closed. no restrooms open, no trash cans available and the dump station was closed for the season. there were a couple of dozen campers like us who stayed over night. With no services, we didn't feel guilty about leaving without having paid. Especially since the signs said that an attendant would come to the campsite but noon ever did. It's too bad the campgrounds have to be closed so early and open so late! Britton Creek Rest Area for lunch. Grilled tuna and cheese with pepper soup. (GPS:49.65582865,-120.99965938).


We stopped for the night at Walmart in Chilliwack, BC.  For dinner we had roast chicken and McDonald's French fries. I spent some time at McDonald's using their wifi updating the blog and checking email.
(GPS:49.15159166,-121.97967174)

Lac Le Jeune Provincial Park Near Kamloops, BC

Saturday: (09/24) Lou made ham, cheese and red pepper panini sandwiches for lunch. After lunch we were back on the road. We stopped in Revelstoke for a farmers market that was closing up as we arrived.


We stopped again in Sicamous at "D" Dutchman Dairy for ice cream cones and a look at the farm animals. The Chinese Golden Chicken above was a beauty.

A few more miles and we stopped in Salmon Bar to get a few groceries. A few more miles and we stopped in Kamloops for gas and LPG.


Then just a very few more miles and we stopped for the night at Lac Le Jeune Provincial Park for the night. The day was really nice actually getting quite hot in Kamloops.
(GPS:50.48643433,-120.48145059)

Canada's Glacier National Park

Saturday: (09/24) We had granola and bananas for breakfast. I was out on a hike by 7:30.


The river that flows by our campsite.


Along the trail were many information placards that told the stories of the old Glacier House that used to be right near our campsite that was a world famous hotel back in the period 1893-1926. It was a mecca for alpine mountain climbers, in fact, it was the first such sport climbing site in North America.


Actually little remains, just a few foundation pieces and a couple of old boiler tanks and a rusted bathtub. In it's day, Glacier House was "the' place to go.


I hiked a portion of the old Canadian Pacific Railroad grade that used to take the trains over Rogers Pass. Now there is a tunnel that bypasses this section of the track and all the potential avalanches that had regularly occurred.


The trail is about 5 miles out and back. Above shows the old roadbed. The tree roots seemed to like to grow across where the old railroad ties had been.


I was surprised to find some flowers still blooming with the fall colors already coming on strong.


Red berries


With all the rain, mushrooms weren't a surprise.


Down at the other campground at the far end of the trail there are several old stone railroad bridge towers that made me think of Stonehenge. Nice hike.
(GPS:51.263824,-117.492922)