Sunday in Vancouver and more....

21 Aug - Lee went out for the day with a friend she met whilst in NZ so I just walked and walked and walked for 6 hours around downtown Vancouver and along the beach. Some nice young men playing volley ball in their DT's caught my eye and some others in Granville St doing break dancing..very clever stuff.  Caught up with Lee and Tracey later and as we were walking home we saw a skunk ....in the city!!!!  fercryingoutloud!!! I think he was lost.

22 Aug - We left Vancouver with the intention of driving to Calgary but we have had problems with money in Canada. We cant access the pre paid money on our travel cards as they are in US dollars and if you use a credit card you need a pin which Lee doesn't have. We are nearly out of  US and Canada cash so we have decided to forget Calgary and continue our US trip. Drove 371 miles (598 Km) to Kettle Falls  (Washington State) and stayed in and RV park. The van was running like a dream and then we kept hearing a weird noise and we got to thinking...NOOOO!!! NOT AGAIN!! We finally tracked down the problem...they painted the van in such a hurry they forgot to remove a long piece of masking tape on the roof of the van and it was flapping as it came loose. lol It had rained pretty heavily most of the day and as it got soggier it worked loose.  The RV park was next to a lake and we soon found out why it was so cheap....35 million mozzies lived there and they all came to visit.. we had to lock ourselves in and spray everywhere.

23 Aug - got up early and was on the road by 6.45 - big drive - 424.4 miles (683  kms) Doesn't sound a lot by Australian standards but  it's a bit different in the van. A lot of today's roads were excellent and the speed limit was 75 mph (120 kph) so we were hoofing along. Speed bunnies!! Tonight we are in an RV park in Butte Montana. We have been in 3 states today - Washington, Idaho & Montana. Montana is having problems with wild fires at the moment and we saw one and also a lot of burned grassy areas. Other than that it is dry and dusty and they could use some of the rain we had yesterday. Bugs #476

A day out in Vancouver

Went to Capilano Suspension Bridge and park . The park was wonderful. It was quite warm outside but in the park it was like a rain forest (in fact a 300 year old rain forest)  and nice and cool. We went across the suspension bridge - felt like I had my wobbly boots on lol There was also a cliff edgewalk GULP!  After lunch we booked into the YHA and went into Vancouver itself. It wasthe day of the Zombie walk and there were some hilarious costumes and a seriously good Jack Sparrow.

. After the Zombie walk we went to Granville St where they were doing street Karaoke. There were some really bad singers but the few good ones were well worth the wait. One young girl about the size of Tom Thumb was obviously an opera singer and had the most tremendous and powerful voice. She was so little I don't know where she kept it when she wasn't using it. lol.  We sat on the side of the road for over 2 hours in a nice balmy summer evening - was lovely. Went off food hunting after this and ended up over indulging in the beautiful food at a Japanese Restaurant. This is going to have to stop or I'll have a lot of excess baggage to account for  Bugs # 447

Vancouver or bust!

Vancouver is only 175 miles (281 kms)  from Seatlle but we managed to make it 200 miles and an 6 hour trip!! Went to put my glasses on at start of trip and screw had come out - drove around looking for optician to fix - found one and bought a screwdriver - back to car - lost the screw - back to optician who fixed it. Uneventful trip to to the border of Canada. It was a gorgeous day and the border area has beautiful gardens and scenery which was just as well as there was a half hour delay. Once we got into Canada it was most interesting....to add to the driving on the other side of the road dilemma we are now in a car that has a speedo in miles but Canada works on kilometers so brain is trying to do instant metric calculations. As it turns out there was no need - there was an enormous traffic hold up and it took us over an hour to do the last 20 miles - couldn't have speeded (?) if I wanted to.  The first view of Vancouver is quite awe inspiring...it's the biggest city we have seen yet and all the high rise buildings are bloody high and all look very similar. Lots of huge bridges and a beautiful harbor add to the spectacle By this time it was Friday evening peak hour and there was lots and lots and lots of cars. Our Satelite Navigator wouldn't work in Canada and we got a text from our US phone providers saying we were now on roaming and all calls would be very expensive - upshot is we couldn't use the navigators in the I Phones. Result - we got lost - very lost! Also we had no Canadian money (oversight). They won't take US $$$$'s and won't let us use our travel cards as they are loaded with $US only.  We drove around (now 4.30 pm Friday) looking for a bank. We finally found one and had to change our last cash US money into Canadian $$$'s. Not a good exchange rate. We finally found our RV park after going over the same bridge about 4 times lol. Pretty unforgiving roads here - you make a wrong turn you live with it for some time. It seems we were about 2 miles from the park originally but we turned that sucker into 20 miles mwahahaha. Once again the traffic was horrific and the drivers less accommodating than the Californian ones. We finally got settled and flaked. bugs # 431

Sleepless in Seattle Part #2

Went on a bus trip around the scenic spots of Seattle and there were only two other people on the bus. Can you guess where they are from? Yup! Adelaide Australia lol. You travel across the oceans to discover new cities and end up with 4 people from Adelaide Australia on the same damn bus. Incredible. Saw Kurt Cobain's house - the one he died in :(  Have been to the Space Needle - very impressive and a magnificent view of Puget Sound. Also went on a Duck - one of those WW 2 vehicles that drive on the land and sea and had a very entertaining sight seeing trip. Saw the house Tom Hanks lived in in Sleepless in Seattle. Also saw Bill Gates house - from a great distance. He wasn't home for visitors. Pike Place markets was also great - they throw these huge fish around - all very entertaining. Went on a huge ferry ride out into Puget Sound and then walked for miles and rode the Monorail.   Fitted so much into two days. Lots of good food and great sights and the weather was absolutely amazing - Seattle has a lot going for it. Tomorrow it's an early start and we will hopefully be in Vancouver Canada by lunchtime-ish!! Bugs # 394

Sleepless in Seattle

Finally made it into Seattle. For some reason both Lee and I slept in till 10 am.....never do that. We have figured out why though...because we could!!!! We stayed last night in an RV park just in Washington State and hit the road pretty much as soon as we realised what time it was lol. We did 186.4 miles (300 kms) today. Washington state has great highways with speed limits of 70 mph (112 kph) and we took advantage of that lol. The Seattle skyline looked very familiar from all the TV shows and movies. Mount St Helen's forms a fantastic backdrop ...looks like a 2D movie set....quite imposing. You older folk will remember it's eruption in 1980 when 57 people died.  Love the "feel" of Seattle...will be going in tomorrow to check things out. The weather is phenomenal ...beautifully warm but not hot. Bugs #339  The new van is going like a dream :)

Seattle skyline - can just see the needle on the far left - think Frasier

Mt St Helen 1980

Mt St Helen now

YAY!!!! Replacement van has arrived

Shawn arrived today with our replacement van. It's much newer (2008) and better appointed than the old one and goes like the clappers. New tyres also. And it's got a great paint job based on the desert in Joshua National Park. Got the biggest bunny on the side lol. Drove from Myrtle Creek to Portland Oregon ...actually a bit further...this RV park is just inside Washington State. We did 206 miles in a much faster time than we would have in the old van and I'd tell you how fast we went but Larry our friendly CHPs officer might have friends in Oregon :)  Hi Larry!!!  Hopefully we will be able to make up some lost time now.   Got to speak to Karen (Omaha City) on the phone tonight, So nice to hear her voice after so many years of just internet contact lol. It was great!!   Seattle is about 150 miles away so with an early start we will be there mid morning.   Portland looks amazing but we don't have time to stay - will try to get back here in the last month after Lee has gone back.
Returned the Beetle today with much reluctance - just loved it. Bugs #316

A pleasant surprise :)

Shawn said to get a hire car whilst we were waiting the arrival of the new van and we rang up to arrange one and when we got there to pick it up it was a Beautiful bug!!! We have been all over the place in it and it drives like a dream. I want one...now!!! We have been to Eugene, Roseburg, Myrtle Creek, Canyonville (all in Oregon). Tomorrow Shawn should arrive with the new van and we will - once again - be on our way to Seattle. I have lost $150 on the pokies so it's time I leave Seven Feathers lol.  Bugs (including ours) #295