Thorp

Karen's aunt and uncle have been knocking themselves out to show us around their hometown area, which is a couple hours east of Seattle. This is kind of a bedroom community for Microsoft...there's a lot of money combined with an "old west" sensibility out here.

Elk, for huntin':



I think they heard us...or smelled us...so they ran away:



Rivers, for fishin':



Lots of canyons & tracks:







Geez...who's Dan?



Tomorrow, it's back to Seattle, reconnect with an old college buddy, check out the city that lives underneath Seattle...and figure out what we're doing with our next leg...

Nuclear Free Zone

OK, so everyone knows that Canada is more liberal than America, right? Well, try this on for size:



Now c'mon, that's a pretty darn cool picture. You gotta admit. :-)

I found a couple other pics that I thought you might like from our time in Vancouver...

A lighthouse off one of the points in Stanley Park:



And a couple more from our time in Victoria...

Guerilla filmmaking in Gastown:



Dual self-portrait:



One of the two fountains outside of the Parliament building in Victoria...notice how you can see every individual drop of water...that's because I took this photo with a very fast shutter speed. Heh. Cool.

Proud

Today, I'm feeling proud to be American.

Really.

I know that sounds a little trite, but I'm really happy that after all the horrible things that have happened over the last several years, the mixed motives, the lies, deceptions and various other vagaries of our government...that finally the Iraqis had a democratic election today.

I was watching the news coverage this morning, and was surprised at myself at how good it felt to see things going well over there, if only for a moment. I know we're far from out of the woods....but it sure was nice to have a break in the bad news.

And now, back to our regular programming...

:-)

Lucky, and Seattle

So, another travel day today. On to Seattle. Actually, Vashon Island to stay for a couple days with Melissa Burr, Karen's cousin.

But before we get there, a picture from my last night in Victoria:



And, here's one of the Seattle skyline taken from the ferry to Vashon Island.



And, one more for good measure. Spike!



OK, now it's time for bed. See y'all soon...OH, and if you want to comment, I've turned the sign-in thingy off. This means that you can leave a comment without any trouble at all. If that's what you want to do. [You must do what you feel is right, of course...]

OH, this is important: there are some new pictures inserted into the stories below which I think you'll like. :-)

Steamworks

One of the cool things about this trip is realizing that mass transit can actually be a good thing. We've had to take the bus, the train, ferrys and of course, "shank's mare". A lot. Mass transit here in Canada is relatively cheap, and it's easy. You see a lot of stuff that you miss when driving around...then when you get in a car, you see all the stuff from a different perspective. Like all the one way streets that don't matter when you are on foot. Hee.

So, we got in to Victoria yesterday afternoon. Bummed around a bit, took some of the pics you see below, and then sacked out for the evening. This morning, we got up and made our breakfast (a banana and half a humongous muffin for me). Karen wanted a shower, so I went off to Starbucks (one of our running jokes is "gee, look at that, a Starbucks!" "Yeah, hon, I didn't know they had those up here..." Seriously guys, they are everywhere. There were more then one intersection in Vancouver that had kittycorner Starbucks. I kid you not...) to get my morning coffee.

On my way back, I went down the street that runs parallel to our hostel's street. And, there was this funky little alleyway with a tattoo shop at the end. Tattoo shop in plain view...ok. But there was this sign for an establishment called "Steamworks" on the wall facing me.



And the hours...that was the weird part. 7pm to 9am. I mean, what would that be? So, curious me goes down the alleyway to this grimy little door next to the tattoo shop...



And it's ajar.



So, curious me looks up the staircase, and starts up the stairs. At the top, there's a giant condom behind a plate glass window, and pictures of very buff and nearly naked men. And I'm starting to get the picture, but the coffee has not quite taken hold. And there's this slightly built guy that comes into view as I come up the stairs...slightly built, slightly greying hair...looks damn tired. Big bags under his eyes.

Me: "Hi there. What kind of establishment is 'Steamworks'?"

Him: "It's a bath house....but we're just closing." [swish]

Oh.

That kind of steam.

I see.

Me: "Thank you!"

[Turns around and saunters casually back down the stairs...wondering how after all these 34 years he could still be so naive...]

Vancouver to Victoria

Hey there. Have gotten a bunch of feedback saying that folks are checking the blog on a regular basis. Now that's cool. :-)

So we wrapped up our time in Vancouver Monday, and got up Tuesday to head out to Victoria.

This was taken on the ferry from a little town south of Vancouver to a little town north of Victoria:



Check out one of the streets near our hostel:



And, the historic Parliament building in downtown Victoria:

The Falls

At the moment, I cannot remember the name of this place, and I don't have my Lonely Planet book along to rescue me from my forgetfulness. When we got there, it was raining (imagine that!!) and when I got out of the car to put money in the parking thingy, I could hear a thunderous roar not far away. We got our gear together, got outta the car and took off for the noise. As good a photog as I am (ahem) these pics unfortunately do not do the place justice. The volume of water coming down off this mountain was absolutely astonishing.

Many times while we've been seeing the stuff we've been seeing I've wished that I could convey the sounds as well as the images. But that, my friends, costs "real" money.

When we first rounded the corner, I saw thundering rapids. Even my brother in law wouldn't dare take a kayak down this! There was a stairway to guide you along the way, and one of the first things we saw was this...



...and I still didn't even register how enormous this waterfall was...thinking it was just a bunch of rapids...(dummy me)...



...until we got up to the "viewing platform". Then I looked up, and up, and up......and way, way up there, Niagara Falls was cascading off the mountain. No kidding. It was like the Falls of Rauros in LOTR TT. (Lord of the Rings Two Towers...the second of three movies made about the famous trilogy.)



And, even yet more proof that Karen is here:



Hee. Enjoy!

Whistler

Argh.

The one time in my life (so far) that I get to Whistler, and it's doing the "Hawaiian Punch" thing. That's the phrase that the locals are using to describe the incessant and overwhelming deluge they've been dealing with this winter. (Same basic idea is what we were calling "El Nino" couple years back...) While we've been in Vancouver, we've had two of seven days of intermittent drizzle. The rest has been unremitting downpour. Wow.

Back to the Whistler thing. We actually rented a car for a day because that was cheaper (by far) than most of the other transportation options. Go figure. It was a 2 hour drive if you didn't stop, but we stopped. There were two things that we wanted to see along the way that taking a bus would not have allowed. One was a spectacular waterfall, and the other was an eagle habitat. Apparently eagles congregate somewhere just north of Squamish (which is a small town that's halfway between Vancouver and Whistler on the "Sea to Sky Highway" or BC 99) to pick off dead salmon from the river as they wash back out to sea. For those who don't know about salmon spawning, it's a huge deal around here (British Columbia), and the annual ordeal kills millions of salmon. Anyways, the upshot is that there are some 3500 bald eagles that make their home just north of Squamish for a few months during the winter to take advantage of this scavengers' banquet. It was so cool that we stopped on the way up and on the way back.

Here's what the place looked like:



Here's an eagle (apologies for the resolution...my whole kingdom and my right arm for Photoshop...):



In flight:




Oncoming!






When we actually made it to Whistler, it was kind of a letdown after seeing a bunch of beautiful bald eagles and the waterfall I mentioned before. The drive to Whistler has the potential to be awe-inspiring. Unfortunately in this case, because it was pouring rain and foggy, we were unable to see any of the terrain. I didn't even bother seriously considering skiing because the conditions were/are so bad. The place was still pretty busy though. And the one redeeming thing was that they had this rockin' Irish pub, and they served me a couple pints of the "other" beer that is owned by the Guiness company: Kilkenny. For whatever reason, this beer is not available in the states. Go figure. Word is they don't think there's a market for it. Morons. Now for those of you who are Guiness fans, imagine a pint of beer that acts a lot like Guiness (great big frothy head, looks real cool right after it's been poured) and tastes like a "bitter" version of Guiness. Now, I don't mean that the beer tastes bitter, but that it's like a "bitter" (name for a kind of ale) that you would find in an English (or Irish) pub. Anyways, bottom line is, it's great, and it's a good thing my wife was there, or I'd still be there drinking it. Heh.





So, midafternoon rolled around after our lunch at Whistler (you couldn't even see up the slopes...the lift lines vanished into the fog after about 50 meters) and we got on our way back down to Vancouver. Wouldn't you know, we got on the road and it pretty much stopped raining. Argh. The good news is, it was still light out and now on the way back we were able to check stuff out that we were unable to see on the way up due to fog. That night, we got back to our hostel in Vancouver, packed up our gear and got ready for another travel day (Vancouver to Victoria, which is the capital of British Columbia, on the georgeous Vancouver Island).

Proof

Karen has said a couple of times that she wanted proof that we're both on this trip. Heh. So, here are a couple items that should settle that score. :-)

You can actually buy Cuban cigars here in Canada. Legally. And for those who care about such things, yes, it really, really does make a difference. Wow.




Karen with her hand in the cookie...er...bag:



There is a neighborhood in Vancouver called "Gastown". I know, I know, it wouldn't have been my first choice either, but it was named for a guy they called "Gassy Jack". Hehehe. Yeah, it gets better. He was called "Gassy" for the other reason men might be called such a thing: he had a habit of talking a lot. He was the first alcohol salesman in Vancouver. This picture is an experiment with me doing a handheld time-lapse exposure in Gastown. My kingdom for a tripod...



This cool item is called a Steam Clock. It runs on steam, and insead of chiming with bells as most old fashioned clocks might be expected to do, it "chimes" using steam whistles, kind of like you might expect to hear on a coal-fired steam locomotive.

Coincidence? You decide...

OK, so our first lunch here?

Best. Sushi. Ever.

The fish here is SO fresh...and the tuna they use for sushi is the white kind not the red kind. It literally melts in your mouth. No stringiness, lovely, delicate flavor... *sigh* ... we should all be so lucky to eat like this ONCE in our lives. And, it was cheep. SO cool.

So, I'm actually telling this story for a different reason. As Karen and I were sitting at the sushi counter (place was packed even in midafternoon...with Japanese folk...definitely a good sign...) this guy sidles up and sits in the chair next to us, and before you know it we are yakking away. (We've found Vancouverites to be quite friendly...) Guess what? He's an independent film maker. He's making a DVD for the now defunct band Jesus Lizard, and so off we go to the races. He's a little down on the local scene for being competitive but it's an interesting conversation. He even uses the same editing program (Final Cut Pro) as Karen. Go God...gotta love those "coincidences"...

[UPDATE] So today (Sunday January 23) we decided to go back to Samurai Sushi for lunch once again to get another helping of that wonderful white tuna. We had no sooner sat down (in a booth this time) and ordered our sashimi when who should show up but Kemal (the film/video guy from the above story...)?! He didn't notice us at first, so I leaned over and said "what, are you following us or something?" We had a good laugh at that...and then chatted for a little while until his food came. Kemal is probably about the coolest person we've met here in Vancouver. Thanks for being friendly Kemal! :-)

Hit by a bus...

Wednesday night Karen and I ate at a restaurant called "The Boathouse", which overlooks the English Bay. We split an order of their fish and chips. My comment to Karen was: if I walk out of here tonight and get hit by a bus I can die a happy man.

Best. Fish. And. Chips. Ever.

Wow.

Something about rainy weather makes you crave English food. Funny how that works, huh?

So, as we were walking down Denman Street after getting lost in Stanley Park (which is awesome, and yes I have pics, and yes I will post them...but not tonight...) [edit: new pics posted below! 1/22/05] on our way to said fish and chips dinner, we passed AT LEAST a dozen restaurants that I want to try. I guess that seals it. We HAVE to move here now.

Stanley park pics (resembles the forest moon of Endor for a very good reason...they shot Return of the Jedi in a similar kind of forest in N. Cal):




And now the fun part. The restaurant at which we experienced this transcendant English cuisine? Recommended to us by an Air Canada pilot on a shuttle bus from plane to plane in Toronto Airport. (Frickin' 4 degrees F in Toronto...blech...) Way to go Air Canada, eh? Heh. :-)

...and the rain stopped

Wednesday was spent at the Vancouver Aquarium. I have some pics, and yes I will post them...but not tonight. [edit: here they are! 1/22/05]

Thursday morning, thinking that it would be raining (again), we went off to a museum called "Historyeum", which is a multimedia presentation of Vancouver's history. It didn't rain. All. Day. Which was cool, cuz we got some more cool pics of the area in Vancouver called "Gastown" and had a chance to ride mass transit here on our way to meet with Andy Park. More on that later...

We met this guy at the aquarium. His name is Tag. For some reason, as I was thinking of him, I was registering his name as the first part of that famous watch maker, Tag Heuer...not as the kid's game. Go figger! What a personality on this guy! Karen and I both enjoyed the animal shows very much. AND we got a discount for being Hostel members. How cool. :-)



Here's a closeup of Tag's head. I got the sense that he really liked posing for pics...:



Cutest little sea otters you'd ever wanna meet:



Now THIS is cool. Check it out: Jellyfish in action!





And, another angle on the Vancouver skyline for good measure. :)