My Canadian Adventure

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9 – Vancouver “Hi I’m Jody … I’m from Google”

It’s back to Vancouver. The car was dropped off without incident. We are staying for our (or rather my – Ed has another three weeks in Canada) last two nights in a hostel. To our shame this is the first hostel we have stayed in on the whole trip. Hotels in Vancouver are really very expensive and so this is a sensible option.

I have mixed feelings about Vancouver. I have been here once before, about ten years ago. I think that I quite liked it. But having thought about this, all I can actually remember is eating some nice Japanese food and seeing the gas clock in Gas Town, which isn’t a lot to base an opinion of a city on. The one day we spent here at the start of this holiday didn’t impress me. Other than bits of Gas Town, most of what we saw could have been any north american city. The signs of poverty and social problems are, in places, severe. Today was mixed. There are parts of the city that are really very nice and Stanley Park is great. There are parts of the city that feel very uncomfortable. Perhaps I’ve just gone soft. I have lived in Bradford and not the particularly good parts. I never worried about walking thorough the sketchy bits of town, and felt the same in Nottingham. But there are streets here where I feel very uncomfortable walking down.

After we dropped the car off and made our way through town we were at and then back out of the hostel by 2pm. We were out for about 7 hours and I reckon we walked for about 6 of those hours. This probably gets pretty close to to our hiking days in the national parks. My feet feel like it was the hardest day walking yet, probably because I wasn’t waring particularly sensible shoes. We went to Granville Island (which is not an island) and Stanley Park (which is actually a park, a very big one) and several places in between, including taking a short ferry ride. We finished in China Town for some cheap and very good food. One beer. Then Bed. Whale Watching tomorrow.

In general we have been really lucky with the weather. On days when we needed good weather we have basically had it. Today was one of those days. We were on an open boat on a whale watching tour. If it had rained like it did for parts of yesterday afternoon, it would probably have been a bit miserable. We had sun all day. Our trip was about 6 hours long. We saw whales … Orcas (or killer whales) … It was great. I’m not sure my pictures are though! We also saw bald eagles, seals and sea lions. It was a really nice trip. Oh, by the way it looks like I’ll be a feature on Google Maps!

We finished the evening eating sea food in a pirate teamed pub, sharing a pitcher of beer (the only way to drink beer in this country at anything like a reasonable price). We sat outside overlooking False Creek and Granville Island, the calamari was excellent! Inappropriately the evening, and thus my Canadian adventure, was finished drinking a pint of Guinness. We had called into the bar next to our hostel, which was an Irish pub and they really did only serve Irish beer and cider. As I was not going to have a pint of Magners, Guinness it was.

Animal Watch: Orca (killer whales) – 2, Harbour Seals – lots, California Sea Lions – lots, Bald Eagles – 4.

Things I’ve learnt:

• Beer is dear. The equivalent of £5 a pint is not uncommon, in fact you do well to get a pint for less, in fact you’re doing well if it is actually a pint.
• Food, as in food in a supermarket, is expensive. It has meant that other than a bit a fruit and a few snacks it has not been worth doing any supermarket shopping for things for lunch, breakfast etc.
• Eating out is, or can be, relatively cheap.
• Vancouver is probably the capital of the silly, small dog – hardly dogs at all!

I write this at the airport having just spent the last of my Canadian dollars almost down to the last penny* on a cup of coffee, an american newspaper and Time Magazine, which I probably won’t read, and a Dr. Seuss book, which I will read. So this really is the end of my Canadian adventure …. Good bye Canada.

* Very sensibly the Canadians don’t use pennies, the smallest coin is a 5 cent piece, I think it is about time we did the same … at least it would stop me throwing my change in the bin …

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8 – Banff and Hope “Banff’s historic pub … est 1985”

We return to Banff. Lake Louise is in Banff, which we have been to before, but now we are here to visit a different part of the National Park. Before we left the random town we spent last night in we had a proper american breakfast (pancakes, eggs, ham, butter, maple syrup and coffee). When we got to Banff we then did a half day walk to some small spring fed lakes named the Ink Pots. They are called this because the colour of them varies from greens to blues. I could tell you why this happens, but I won’t bore you with it. It was a nice little walk, although it started to rain just as we arrived and the ripples made by the rain distorted the appearance of the ponds and so my photos are disappointing. Nevertheless it was a nice half day walk.

In the evening we went to a restaurant/pub called the Bear Street Tavern (on Bear Street as it happens). The Lonely Planet guide book, reckons the pizza here is great. As it turns out, it is. It is easily the best pizza I have had in North America, which actually isn’t hard to achieve, I have had unhappy pizza eating experiences in North America before now. While this is easily the best pizza I have had in North America, it would actually rank pretty highly in general. I think I will borrow the topping idea, it was great. They also recommended that you dip the pizza in a mixture of chilli oil and honey … odd sounding I know … but it really was delicious. Our waitress was very sweat as well and so all round a good meal.

On our first full day in Banff we go for quite a long walk to a place called Aylmer Pass. I think it was about a 23 km walk in all and quite steep. You walk along a lake (Lake Minnewanka) and then up a mountain. At the top the view of the lake was brilliant. The trail report said that this trail was “dry”. The last several kilometers were spent walking through freshly fallen snow midway up your calf. We were the seventh and eight people to walk that trail that day so the snow wasn’t compacted very much at all. It was a great walk. In the evening we had a very good and very thick (the thickest I’ve ever eaten) steak. Then it was early to bed.

The next day we take a gondola trip. Here a gondola is basically a ski lift used out of season. The point of these trips is to be taken quite high up a mountain with minimal effort. This whole thing was a bit of a disappointment, as I suppose it inevitably was going to be. I have never seen a ski resort in season. Neither am I likely to. I have never skied and I am fairly sure, with my lack of coordination and lack of ability to do almost every kind of sport, it is something best avoided for me. What I can report is that, out of season, a ski resort looks fairly horrid. It is quite dirty, with some drifts of dirty snow and some areas of muddy tracks. There is a lot of infrastructure required (muddy roads, vehicles, equipment, ski lifts, service buildings etc) as well as a lot of crap just left lying around. The landscape has been butchered too. With the ski runs (is that the correct term?) unnaturally cut into the mountain side. At the top, which in actual fact is by no means the top of the mountain, the view is not close to the best we have seen elsewhere by walking. Perhaps this is a good option if you are in-firmed, fat or lazy, otherwise it is a disappointment … I recommend that you go for a walk up a mountain. After the disappointing gondola trip there we went for a short, but quite steep, walk up Tunnel Mountain. Why it is called this I do not know … there are no tunnels. It is a short walk, just a few KM, so we take a small bottle of water, no bag, no rain coats, nothing else … Near the top it begins to rain, hail actually. we get very wet. I don’t quite understand how I can get more rain drops on the inside of my glasses than the outside, but I do!

We had had a buffet lunch as part of the whole gondola ride “experience” and so we didn’t go out for a meal, but went to the cinema instead. We saw the new Star Trek film, which, for what it was, I quite enjoyed. Afterwards we went out for a beer and a small snack (sweet potato fries). We frequented one of Banff’s historic pubs. Upsettingly I am older than this pub … Going here was perhaps a bit of a mistake, partly because I am getting a little fed up with paying £5 for a pint (yes pounds not dollars) but mainly because a large group of annoyingly loud people came in just after us and sat in the tables next to us ….

In all we stayed three nights in Banff, in two hotels. At the first one, where we stayed two nights, there was this odd man who was doing a “non-stop” 72 hour bike marathon on a turbo trainer in aid of some charity. Over the course of our stay his sign saying “72 hours” was changed to “84 hours”. The “non-stop” part of the sign was in inverted commas and it truly deserved to be. Over the whole course of our stay I saw him peddling once, often hanging around in the general area of his bike and sometimes totally absent …. strange!

After Banff it was long drive back towards Vancouver (around 800 km) in all. We stop at the little town, with a nice name, where we spent the first night of the road trip part of our holiday – Hope. As it happens we stay in the same Motel. As it happens we stay in the same room, number 55, although we may have switched beds. We stay here because there is a provincial park nearby (Manning Provincial Park) and we go to do some more walking. We go on what would have been about a 24km walk although we don’t do the last few km because the number of fallen trees blocking the trail makes it a bit annoying. We have already done a fair amount of climbing over and crawling under fallen trees on this walk … It basically drizzles all day, but we are walking in a forrest (which gives us quite a bit of cover) by four lakes called, Lighting, Flash, Strike and Thunder. Even with the rain it was a nice walk. On the way back to the motel we call into a place called Othello tunnels. These are a series tunnels blasted through the rock and bridges that once formed part of the railway network. The engineering operation is really quite impressive. As you may have guessed from the name the chief engineer had a bit of a bent towards Shakespeare and the tunnels, stations etc were all named after characters in Shakespeare’s plays. Part of “Rambo – First Blood” was filmed here, as I’m fairly sure I have never seen Rambo, I have no idea which scenes they were.

Last night we had some very nice Japanese food, in a surprisingly busy little restaurant. I have said it before, and I will say it again … if you ever happen to be in Hope, you really must go to the little restaurant called Joe’s Restaurant and Lounge. We ate here last time and we do again. It is lovely. It is really busy tonight – deservedly so. I have a nice, simple wild mushroom pasta and Ed has brisket. We have a great pudding and then another beer (a raspberry one for me – it reminds me of being in Belgium). It is strange to me that a small town like this can support a couple of really nice restaurants … but I’m so glad that it can.

As I write this Ed is watching the US version of master chef. This series has just started. Periodically we have seen the adverts for this show. It looks like a cattle market. Too many people cooking … too many jokers … perhaps the biggest of all is the host Gordon Ramsey. Thanks Gordon … you may have just ruined one of my favourite shows …

 

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7 – Dinosaur National Park and the Bad Lands “We can … put our heads together, maybe later on we can sleep on it, but right now girl all we need to do is just drink on it …”

Today was a dinosaur day. We are going to the Royal Tyrrell Dinosaur Museum and then onto Dinosaur Provincial Park. The dinosaur museum is further west that the park and so we will have to go back on ourselves. There was some logic to the decision to do things this way round, but it worked out very well for the weather. In the morning it was horrible, grey, rainy and cold. A perfect day for visiting a museum. The Museum was really great. Very interesting, lots of dinosaur skeletons (including T-Rexs). We also manage to avoid the swarms of kids on school trips for the most part. I think this is meant to be one of the best dinosaur museums in the world, and I can believe it.

In the afternoon the weather improved a little. We head out to the badlands. Actually technically we are already in the badlands, but there isn’t a great deal that can been seen near the museum as much of it seems to be private land. We make the two hour journey (back the same way we drove yesterday) to Dinosaur Provincial Park. This is a world heritage site, making this our second on this trip (Head-Smashed-In being the first).

The badlands are called bad lands because they are bad. The French trappers called them “les mauvaises terres a traverser” (the bad lands to cross). Basically it’s a lunar landscape. Little hillocks and canyons of sand and clay. Unbearably hot apparently, but we got there after it had been raining, so it didn’t feel hot at all. The fine clay made sticky mud and the sand and silt swelled up and blistered looking a bit like popcorn. A wired landscape and some where we wished we could spend more time. Going off the trails can only be done on special organised hikes, but because of the rain they aren’t doing them, shame.

I think Dinosaur Provincial Park is famous because it has something like the largest amount of dinosaur remains for its relatively small size. The fragile nature of the land is such that as the land erodes more remains are exposed. We also hoodoos. Sand/clay pillars with a little stone hat, another geological feature I learn’t about at school.

We saw some mule deers (I assume they are called this because they have long ears. If you happen upon one and only see its neck, face and ears, you would be forgiven for thinking you were looking at a kangaroo!

We leave Dinosaur Provincial Park, heading out on the same road for the third time. We entertain ourselves by listening to a country and western radio station, mocking the lyrics. The line quoted above was by no means the most ridiculous, but it was so repetitive I think I’ll remember it for the rest of my life.

Oh and last night when we had diner we asked for a pitcher of beer (I guess about three or four pints) our, very young, waitress brought us one each … Oh well.

Back to the Rockies now …

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6 – Head-Smashed-In and Grasslands National Park “Stay claim. Your life in not in danger”

If you see somewhere on a map called Head-Smashed-In, how can you not visit it? You have to and so we do. Head-Smashed-In is a buffalo jump. A buffalo jump is a cliff where the native people would drive buffalos over the cliff as an efficient means of hunting buffalo. At Head-Smashed-In the drop of the cliff has been reduced to less than half its original height due to the amount of bone deposits left at the bottom of the cliff from the many thousands of years the cliff was used as a buffalo jump. You would assume that Head-Smashed-In is called Head-Smashed-In because the buffalo had their heads smashed in as the fell over the cliff. You would be wrong. Head-Smashed-In is called Head-Smashed-In because legend has it that a young brave wanted to witness the buffalo jump from a cave in the cliff face. Apparently the hunt was so good that day that the pile of buffalo piled so high that the man was trapped in the cave and the weight of the buffalo smashed his head in. History lesson over.

Head-Smashed-In was very interesting, and it has a decent interruptive centre. There is a short trail that you can walk to see the jump from below. We see another snake today. At this point we have not been informed that we are in rattle snake country. After some googling later on I find out that the snake is a non-venomous plains garter snake.

From Head-Smashed-In we head to Grasslands National Park, or very nearly, we stay in a town about an hour away. In all it was a day of driving around 800km and we enter our third provence (Saskatchewan – which I still do not know how to pronounce). In the morning we head to Grasslands. We stay in a converted convent. It is a pretty cool old (actually not very old at all) building. We do a couple of short walks in the park in the morning. As its name suggests Grasslands National Park is prairie landscape. Buffalo have been reintroduced here in recent years. It is unbelievably windy whilst walking on the plains and also not very flat at all. The wind makes the walking amusing and taking photographs difficult. It is at this point we are actually informed that we are in rattle snake country and we have a leaflet explaining what to do and what not to do. Reassuringly the leaflet tells us that, if bitten, our lives are not in danger and most bites do not result in permanent damage. I would have loved to have seen a rattle snake (from a bit of a distance) but sadly we do not. There is also a driving tour around a larger portion of the park. We see two colonies of prairie dogs. Despite their name they do not look like, or act like dogs, they are quite like mere-cats, but they are fun to watch. And we do see wild buffalo. First a small group of five at quite a distance. Then a smaller group of three at an even greater distance. Then a larger group of about fifteen at a short distance (a little over 100m). This landscape is so interesting and so different to the Rocky Mountains.

Our convent/hotel (which still has the confessionals) is in a small town called Val Marie. The road to Val Marie is falling to pieces. Once you get into Val Marie there is not any proper roads. The main street (and all the others) are gravel/hardcore roads. We eat in a little cafe called the Harvest Moon Cafe. This really was an excellent little cafe, with great food. I am very tempted by the pasta special they have on offer … but they do bison burgers … I can have pasta at home … but I’ve never had bison before. The burger is great. We have home made pumpkin ice cream after wards. If you ever happen to be in Val Marie, you really ought to visit the Harvest Moon Cafe.

We spend a quite and very relaxed evening in the convent – we are the only guests. I sit out on the back porch and do some reading and writing – it was a great way to finish of a great day.

We have breakfast in the hotel and the owners and their other employee join us. What we were expecting to be a quick breakfast and then straight on the road turns out to be at least and hour and a half of eating and chatting. I learnt a lot of things in that hour or so, one of which was that Lake Louise (our last stop on our journey) is the STD capital of Canada, due to the large numbers of young people, away from home for the first time, who are working in the various hotels and tourist attractions over the summer. However I am pretty confident that I escaped Lake Louise without catching anything.

Animal watch: Marmot (several) , plains garter snake (1), bison (around 20), rattle snakes (0).

Getting my geography on: Erratics (1 massive one, loads of small ones).

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5 – Jasper to Lake Louise and Lake Louise “Distracted Driving Law In Effect“

Today was mainly about the Iceland’s Parkway. This is a scenic drive.

First we did a brief detour to a canon. Very deep … very thin … very clear water. Then it was onto the Iceland’s parkway. Lots of beautiful scenery. There are signs here that say “distracted driving law in effect”, do you think that includes being distracted by the mountains and the animals at the side of the road? There was lots of stopping for photos … oh and a trip onto (yes onto) a glacier. Despite being made to wait an inordinate amount of time to catch the coach that takes us to the special snocoach, the glacier was very cool. If yesterday was the beginning of me getting my geography back on today put me right back at school. Basically I did geography to degree level, but I can’t really remember a great deal about what I learnt in my degree. Today sent me right back to GCSE and A Level geography. After reading a few information boards, and hearing the tour guide/coach driver say a few words it all came flooding back.

We are staying in a very nice hotel .. The Lonely Planet describes this as one of the most upmarket places to stay at Lake Louise. We had thought about staying in a hostel to save a bit of money on accommodation. Doing that wouldn’t have been all that cheaper than staying here … so here we are staying … it is lovely and interesting. I write this while sitting in the games room – the lounge has a nice fire and very comfy chairs but no tables to type at – I am overhearing a old women with a very New York accent gently berating her male companion (who has an eastern European accent tainted by with a bit of an american accent) as they play cards. In the lounge, in my eye sight, are two older Chinese gentlemen, who have, in the hour or so I’ve been sat here, seen their way through most of a bottle of whiskey. Parts of this building date back to the 1920’s and in places it does have that rustic feel. We had a great meal tonight. I eat elk meatballs and herby pasta and some very good beer.

Today we did several walks, I guess 15 – 20 km in all. There are not all that many walking choices though as the higher trails are still impassable with snow or there is a risk of avalanche. We walked along Lake Louise which is nearly all frozen and looks very pretty (as long as you turn your back on the monstrous hotel at one end of the lake). We walk a little past the lake at the point where you are not really meant to go due to avalanche risk. There are several rock dwelling rodents hanging around. As we head back along the lake there is a strange cracking sound from high up and a little behind us. A few seconds later lumps of ice fall on the path we have just been walking on. It would be an exaggeration to say this was an avalanche but it was a small ice fall and pretty cool.

After this we take a higher walk to a place called mirror lake which sits below a mountain called honey comb. Guess what, it does look like a honey comb (or perhaps a walnut whip). The path up to this was mostly still covered in snow. If you stepped of the already compacted areas you went knee deep or so in snow. We walked a little higher to another lake and a tea house (closed unfortunately) and then headed back down. It was a really good and interesting walk with lovely scenery.

Dinner was caribou medallions followed by a nice pudding and with some nice beer and then a relaxing evening in the hotel reading a book and planning the next few days of the trip.

Animal watch: lots more white tail deers, least chipmunk (3 or 4), pica (other rock dwelling rodent that looks a bit like a guinea pig, but grey and much faster moving – 1), ground squirrel (3), ptarmigan (1), moose (0), bear (0), caribou (seen 0, eaten 1 or part of one).

Getting my geography on: glacial lake (2), terminal moraine (1), annual/push moraine (lots), lateral moraine (2), glaciers 2 (walked on 1), hanging glacier (1), glacial till (lots), kettle lakes (1).

Now it’s onto Head-Smashed-In!

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4 – Victoria to Jasper National Park “Happiness is the journey, not the destination”

 

Basically Thursday and Friday were spent traveling. Thursday was from Victoria via a ferry to Vancouver to pick up a car, and then eventually on the road traveling north east, vaguely towards Banff and Jasper National Parks. We don’t get too far on the road and end up in a place called Hope (nice name I know). There isn’t a great deal going on here but the motel we stay in is pleasant enough. We arrive about 19:30 and we are just in time to be served in a little restaurant. In a small town like this you don’t necessarily expect a great deal from the food and this place looked like the best option from a mediocre bunch. Ed ordered a DLT – for those not in the know a DLT is a Duck Lettuce and Tomato (wrap in this case). The duck is smoked duck bacon. It was delicious (I did try some). From what I could make out, very thin slices of duck breast had been smoked and then maybe fried or grilled. It was a great little dish. I had something of the specials menu. Which wasn’t really a specials menu but more a “we’re trying these things out and who knows, they may end up on the menu” menu. I had a pasta dish with a tomato sauce and fried chicken. The chef did this thing with the … no actually I’m not going to tell you because I’m going to steal his idea and pass it off as my own. What I would say is that this meal was an unexpected delight. This is the kind of town that you fear you will end up eating from some fast food restaurant like Burger King or, worse, McDonalds or Taco Bell (the latter is on my dirty list since mine and Ed’s last trip to North America). But it was a great little restaurant and a great meal. If you ever end up in Hope, British Columbia, then go to the little restaurant called Joe’s Restaurant and Lounge.

Friday is a driving day, something like 800km. We get to and pass through Jasper (in the National Park). There are no rooms here, at least not at a reasonable price and so it’s on to Hinton a town about an hour to the east. We eat in the motel restaurant – not a great deal of choice in this place. We both have steak. The steak is pretty good, the accompaniments poor, and the waitress is surly – she did not earn her tip.

 

Jasper National Park is great. It is beautiful and rugged. We take several small trails on Saturday – in all I think we walk a bit over 20km. The first trail is great – its called “Five Lakes Trail”. Guess what – we saw … six lakes. One was a dirty little lake and I don’t think that counted. The other five were pretty and varied in colour an unbelievable amount. The other two trails were less exciting. One was a trail to another lake. Now depending on whether you believe the map in the tourist magazine we were given or the trail signs it was either 4 or 5.5km away from the starting point. At what we guess is about 4 km we pass a rather disappointing lake (disappointing compared to the other five lakes we have just seen). This can’t be the lake … we push on. At what we take to be about another mile (so another 1.5 km) it isn’t looking like the lake is going to appear and at this point the trail is beginning to look a little neglected. We eat lunch and decided to head back, there are other walks we need to do. On returning to the car and consulting a proper map we realise we were just a few hundred metres from the actual lake … shame …

After our third walk we take a drive out to a glacial lake that is part frozen and part melted. It is beautiful and I think I have taken a few good photos. I took a walk right along the shore to the ice/ snow and you could actually hear it melting. It’s been ten years, but today I feel like I’ve begun to get my geography on again …

The day was ended in a Cantonese, restaurant. The food was good, but for today, much more importantly, quick. At the end of the meal we were given a fortune cookie each. I have eaten an awful lot of chinese food in my life, but some how I don’t think I’ve ever been given a fortune cookie before. Mine tells me that “happiness is the journey, not the destination”. Perhaps there is some truth in that … I’m not sure I always live my life believing it …

Animal watch: Elk (seen two and just eaten one – I doubt it was one of those I saw though), White tail deer (lots – they have no fear), Red squirrels (several), Snake (one – I think it was an adder), Big Horn Sheep (three), Goats (not mountain goats – several), Chipmunky looking thing (two), Ferret-like thing (one), Bears, moose, caribou (none 🙁 ).

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3 – Victoria ” … letting good taste be your guide … ”

We are now in Victoria this is on Vancouver Island and so we’re back in Canada. It was an early ferry here this morning and no bother getting through Canadian customs. I think we can safely say that the evil Kenneth Taylor has not spread his mischief in Canada.

We’re are staying in a hotel which is called the Union Club. It was a club (I assume a gentlemen’s club) and it seems it still is, the bar, restaurant, billiard room (yes billiards, not pool, not even snooker, billiards – I know, I want to play a life sized game of cludeo) is open to “guests and club members”. I’m pretty sure that this will easily be the nicest hotel we will stay in on this holiday, I write this whist sat in the roof garden … it’s cheaper than the hotel in Seattle and that was fairly horrid. When we arrive we are given a little pack. In that pack there are the usually things you might expect, but also a letter, yes a letter, welcoming us, personally to the hotel. It also points out that there is a dress code. No blue jeans or running trainers are allowed and the letter ends this section by saying ” … basically always let good taste be your guide”. Luckily I own neither blue jeans nor running trainers and I always let good taste be my guide … So I should be ok. I have just been served in the bar wearing my flip flops … (or should I use the American term, thongs, yes I should) … I have just been served in the bar wearing my thong(s) … and I will try out my red conserve later. Trainers they may be, but I do not run in them.

I have heard (and read) Victoria described as “having an English feel” and a place of the “newly wed and and almost dead”. Neither strike me as true. Other than a fleet of route master buses converted to tour busses and the odd union jack it doesn’t feel like England at all. Parts of it are a bit quaint, maybe, but not really very English. There is an Irish pub, but don’t they exist everywhere. Slightly more unusually there is a Scottish pub. They serve Innis and Gunn on tap. Innis and Gunn is one of my favourite beers, and I’ve never seen it on tap before. I break my rule of always trying to have a local beer and have a pint of it. I stick to just one because although I really like this beer, it does have the tendency to give me a bit of a headache in the morning if I drink even a moderate amount of it. We have been to the Royal British Columbia Museum, which, on the whole, is very good. We see lots of totem poles too.

I would also say that it’s not a place that is too full of the nearly dead. Victoria seems to have more than its fair share of old people, which can make walking around a bit frustratingly slow. But there does seem to be a younger population and quite a few streets outside the touristy areas, with interesting shops, restaurants and a lampposts adorned with posters advertising gigs and things.

Wednesday is spent cycling, about 50km in all. It was quite a varied ride, partly along the coast, partly through a forest, partly though meandering suburban streets and partly through city traffic. The first three were great, the last a bit annoying.

We’ve had some pretty good food here too, quite a bit of sea food. We have breakfast included as part of the deal with the hotel (which is less common than you might think). This morning I had eggs benedict, one of my favourite breakfasts. Cutting into a perfectly poached egg and watching the runny yoke seep into your muffin is one of lives pleasures. There was a bit too much sauce and the fried potatoes that accompanied the eggs benedict was completely unnecessary. But a great breakfast.

Back to Vancouver now to pick up a car and then on to the Rocky Mountains …

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2 – Seattle “what are the chances?”

It was up early to get a train to Seattle. I have learnt a little more about the other Kenneth Taylor, who I will now refer to as Evil Kenneth. Which I guess means that by default that makes me the Good Kenneth. The run in with the US immigration services was less confrontational this time. The official takes my passport. Scans it and looks on the list on his computer. He declares that Taylor is a popular name. He asks my date of birth. After he taps this into his computer he mutters (in your best American accent please) “what are the chances”. It seems that Evil Kenneth shares the same birthday as me. I am then asked a series of questions … “how tall am I?” I have to guess at he answer, and this does not seem to satisfy the official. My guess is that Evil Kenneth is a similar height to my assumed height. I am eventually asked if I have any tattoos and when I confirm the negative I seem to have passed the test and I’m admitted entry into the US … or at least onto the train that will take me to the US.

I had made a prediction that we would eat well in Seattle. However I had not really taken into account the days activities and it was a day of eating poorly. The last time I was on an Amtrack train I remember the restaurant cars serving really very good food. Great dinners and good (tasty not good for you) breakfasts. I assume that service is reserved for the longer journeys. We had a small buffet car. It had one breakfast option. A “breakfast sandwich”. A bit of a misdescription as it was not a sandwich at all, although it did contain some breakfast items. It was a bagel and a very sweaty one at that. It had some fried egg and a recovered meat product, all warped up in a plastic bag, hence the sweatiness. The afternoons entertainment was baseball – the Seattle Mariners playing … someone. It was fun, I enjoyed it. I even bought a tee-shirt. It also did last as long as the college baseball game we saw last year which went on for something like 4 – 5 hours. They served a pretty decent beer at the game and we had a massive tray of sweet potato fries each, which was one of the healthier food choices on offer. I had forgotten that baseball is a relatively low scoring and sedate game. Watching it is just as much about enjoying the atmosphere, having a wander to get some food or some beer as it is about watching the actual game. I enjoyed it, my first, and probably last spectator sporting event of the year.

 

In the evening we went to a Mars Hill Church in Ballard – a district north of the down town area. This church has many venues across the city and some closer to us than the Ballard campus, but this one offers an evening service at a time that suits us. The church is in a dark ware house type building. Ed and I are very comfortably within the oldest 10% in that service. The worship music was provided by a hipster band. I enjoyed it and i’m glad I went, although no one really spoke to us … my church is much friendlier.

Then it was beer and then bed … dinner was not necessary.

Monday turned out to be a bit of a Seattle cliché. It was a bit a a cliche in that we did the tourist things that you would expect. A wander though Pike market where they throw fish to each other, a trip to (and up) the space needle, a trip on the mono rail etc. But a cliche also in that there was an almighty rain storm (for those who don’t know, Seattle is renowned for being rainy and it is nicknamed the emerald city – not that I noticed it was any greener than most cities). We also went to a museum that was both a rock music museum and horror/sci-fi/fantasy museum. Although the two genres are perhaps uncomfortable bed fellows, the museum was well worth a visit. The centre piece to the museum, the rock part, was a Nivarna exhibition. It’s funny that a band I listened to as a kid is now the centre pice of a museum … does this mean i’m getting old?

For dinner we had a bucket of sea food. literally a bucket. Well at least it came in a bucket … a bucket that was then emptied on the table in front of us. For this meal I was given a bib. I’m fairly sure I have not had to wear a bib whilst eating since I was a very small child. Nevertheless I wore it, I did not want to be the odd one out in a restaurant, full of bib wearing diners and so I tied it round my neck. The meal was a bucket … now a pile on the table … of a couple of crabs broken into several different pieces, mussels, clams, shrimp, potatoes and corn on the cob. The eating implements was a bread board, a hammer and a small fork. It may have been an unconventional means of serving food, but it did taste good. I am also pleased to report that the bib was an unnecessary adornment.

After dinner it was back to Ballard to see a band. Given that this holiday is going to be quite different to the last one (in that it won’t be all that city focused) I think that Seattle will offer us the best chance of seeing some live music. So its The Black Angels tonight. It’s in a converted theatre. I like those kind of venues … the floors are tiered … which means I actually get to see the band but not have to stand at the front. The Black Angels were supported by a pretentious French band, followed by a pretty good … just … rock band … I don’t know who they were. The Black Angels were pretty good too, a little intense for me, but good.

Seattle, done. Now Victoria. Which is meant to be some kind of homage to England. The part of the trip where we have gone to places I’ve been to before is over and now its on to places I’ve never been before … exciting.

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1 – There “Are you a member of our priority club sir?” – Friday 09 May – Saturday 10 May

Friday night and it’s a trip to Gatwick. At the hotel i’m asked if i’m a Priority Member. Of course I say i’m not. This is not the type of thing I would sign up for. I don’t sign up for anything. I don’t have a Tesco Club card, I don’t have a nectar card or a coop dividend card, despite spending far more than is reasonable in all three of these places. However, it turns out that I am in fact a Priority Member of the Holiday Inn. How I became elevated to this status is a mystery to me. However what priority a Priority Member receives is even more mysterious to me. I paid for a room and I slept in a room. There was nothing more or less remarkable than that. Nevertheless when I was first told I was a Priority Member, it felt nice.

The flight was uneventful. Actually really quite boring. I don’t fly all that often, and when I do I always get a bit excited. I always feel like a kid again. To be honest I get a bit excited when I get on a train as well. Not today however. It really was quite boring.

It wasn’t without some trepidation that I approached the immigration desk. My incident with the customs officials entering the US at Chicago airport last year, has me worried. However it seems that the other Kenneth Taylor. The one from Camden, has not been up to any mischief in Canada. I hope I will be let into the US tomorrow for our trip to Seattle.

In the first minute of stepping of the underground that took us from the Airport to Vancouver, I witnessed a drug deal. I know this happens n Somerset, it’s just that I don’t see it happening. I think I prefer it that way. Also, from the more than occasional wafts, more than a little bit of weed is smoked in his city.

In the first part of this trip (Vancouver, Seattle, Victoria) I hope that we should eat really well, with the large asian population and abundance of sea food. I have my doubts about the food as we begin to head west. I doubt the quality or variety will remain as high. It was off to a good start with lunch or dinner depending on which time zone you work with, being some nice Japanese food.

As I write this it is nearly 1 in the morning UK time I feel surprisingly ok and ready to go out for a late afternoon stroll.

I always forget that the signs poverty are much more appearance in north America than back home. It always takes a bit of getting used to. The posh hipster shops and restaurants that sit along side the down and outs pushing trollies full of cans and bottles.

It was a coupe of very nice pints of pale ale in a sports bar, whilst trying to reacquaint ourselves with the rues of baseball, in readiness for tomorrow. Followed by a small amount of tapas (sardines on toast in my case). Followed by a coffee. Followed by bed. It’s now a little after half 8 here making it 4:30 at home, which is still less than 24 hours of being awake, which is pretty reserved for a first day of holiday.

Good night.

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Canada, here I come ….