Canadian Rockies

We bade a fond farewell to the U S of A and flew up to the Rockies (Adrian!). We’re at Banff, after a brief orientation stop in Calgary. We’re now back to ordering two mains at restaurants instead of sharing one, as was the practice south of the border.

We’re staying at the Banff Springs resort, which is an immense stone mansion set above the Bow River, built around 100 years ago with incredible vision and what must have been an enormous investment. It’s meant to look like a Scottish castle, but actually looks eerily like Colditz just missing the barbed wire and machine gun sentry posts. The setting is spectacular with the icy mountains framing the brooding sky as white and grey clouds shoot past. The grey blue river below rumbles along at incredible speed including a very impressive rapids section that is confusingly called Bow Falls.

We’re on a quick fire coach tour, so after two nights in Banff, we were off again to Lake Louise. We arrived in the late afternoon and suddenly found that the rain had ceased so we rushed out to walk to the other end of this beautiful lake. After 20 minutes, the rain returned and we got thoroughly soaked but still managed to have fun. We have had all weathers since we arrived in Canada; drizzle, light rain, and heavy rain.

The longest part of our tour took us from Lake Louise to Jasper, and included the Columbia Ice Field Experience. We’ve heard the word ‘Awesome’ a lot on our travels, and here the scenery really merits the adjective. The colossal Rocky Mountains are framed by rushing rivers, cold still lakes and endless forests. The pine trees are surprisingly scraggy, with narrow trunks and short, stubby branches. Thus is apparently due to the poor soil, altitude and short growing season. They are packed incredibly tightly, like matches in a box, huddled together against the cold. The are very hardy though and manage to exist quite a long way up the stone cliffs of the giant mountains, sometimes turning them into enormous, stony old men with dark green beards. We were fortunate to see black and grizzly bears along the side of the road, rummaging around for food so best seen when inside the coach. Although we have learned the procedure for meeting a bear that includes making yourself look big and playing dead, and don’t put honey in your hair!

The ‘Ice Experience’ included a trip out onto the Athabasca Glacier in a purpose built snow coach with enormous tires. The permanent ice field sits on top of numerous mountains covering 325 square kilometers, which is larger than the whole of Vancouver. It is so deep in parts that the Eiffel tower could be buried in it standing up. Glaciers slide outwards into the valleys along its edges, and the melt water feeds three great rivers. The Snow Dome Mountain, standing 3,456m on the continental divide uniquely feeds its melt water into three oceans, the Pacific, Atlantic and Arctic.

Shortly after we arrived in Canada, the Stanley Cup Final took place for Ice Hockey. Vancouver lost to Boston and this sparked riots in the streets of Vancouver. A couple of cars were turned over and set alight. In the aftermath, the there has been much hand wringing and self-flagellation here with the shame of it all. Calm down Canada, it’s just a typical Saturday night out in any British town.

Magical Mystery Tour - Part 2

We found our way back to the coast to Cannon Beach, so named after a cannon that was found there in 1846. I’m assuming it was the military rather than the religious kind, but there was no more information. The Beach is spectacular, wide and very long, its 4 mile stretch punctuated by large rocks along the shoreline. Chief among the rocks is Giant Haystacks. Wasn’t there a wrestler in the 70’s called Giant Haystacks, along with Big (don’t call me Shirley) Daddy? This Haystacks is home to numerous seabirds including a colony of puffins from April until July. The beach is a great playground for walking, running, cycling, and flying kites which is particularly popular. The small adjoining town is entirely given over tourism with the usual array of gift shops, antiques, cafes, restaurants and motels. We arrived on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. (How can a day be a weekend?) The place was, if not exactly buzzing, then at least alive with holidaymakers. We walked over to Haystacks and sat on one of the washed up tree trunks to witness the sun dipping slowly over the horizon on its way to Australia. Refreshingly, there’s an absence of beach rules with no signs listing all the activities that are ‘not allowed’. Anything goes here, apparently, including lighting fires on the beach that illuminated our way back home.

The town’s population plunged after the holiday, and we found ourselves wandering the coast largely unaccompanied. We found a pretty coastal trek in the nearby Ecola state park that took us upwards through a dense forest of old growth Sitka spruce and western hemlock trees to a lookout point facing the Tillamook Rock lighthouse.

We left Cannon Beach and Oregon for Washington, entering the green state via a scenic drive North East, crossing the mighty Columbia River at Astoria over an impressive road bridge. So we’re finally in Washington, our last stop in the US before Canada. We were both looking forward to seeing Capitol Hill and the Whitehouse, but decided first to stay on the Hood Canal near the tiny town of Brinnon. The canal looks more like a mighty river at least a mile wide. In fact, its neither river or canal, but a narrow sea inlet. We splashed out and stayed at a cottage right on the water with private beach loaded with oysters and clams.

I hired us a couple of Kayaks in a moment of madness and soon we were cruising the ‘canal’ like Steve Redgrave. The water is mostly very calm here resembling a giant sheet of cling film. Needless to say, after 5 minutes on the water, the wind picked up from nowhere creating white crested waves, and we were soon swallowing sea water and frantically bailing out water with the handily supplied ‘absorbent’ sponge.

We were more fortunate on our next outing and had a wonderful hour among the spectacular scenery and wildlife. We had an inquisitive sea otter check us out, and watched as a pair of eagles fished the water nearby. We reluctantly headed back in when I noticed a strange burning sensation in my arms. Took me a while to realize that it was my muscles complaining – not been used in a while.

I had a round of golf in Oregon at the Gearhart links. I took a chance on the weather and lost, rain from start to finish so I ended up cold and soaked through which meant by the next day I’d completely seized up. You know you’re getting old when to get dressed in the morning you have to lay your undies carefully on the floor, get both feet into the two holes, and then carefully pull them up without bending. Ouch!

Magical Mystery Tour - Part 1

We drifted north up the coast and stayed in Mendocino for 2 nights, a small town more reminiscent of New England in its buildings than California. Miss Marple was filmed here (well, Murder She Wrote actually.....). There’s a beautiful coastal walk skirting the cliffs through meadows of coastal wild flowers.

We continued north and stayed for a night in Requa Inn. On the way, we travelled through the Avenue of the Giants, which is a 33 mile road running through numerous groves of giant redwoods, which are the tallest trees in the word, over 300 feet (100 metres). The Inn is a little gem hidden away on the bank of the serene Klamath River, with mountain and forest views. We spent a leisurely afternoon in the garden reading in the swing seat, sipping Californian Pinot.

We finally left California for Oregon, the centre of herbs or, as the Americans like to say “urbs”. Our first stop was a small motel in Yachats which is a beautiful small town overlooking the river Yachats and the Ocean. There’s a great small fish restaurant run by a fisherman who supplies the produce from his own boat. Our motel had a panoramic view of yet another pristine beach. All the beaches we’ve seen have been beautifully preserved. There’s never any litter, or in the streets for that matter. And people actually pick up the mess from their dogs which is just as well, as there are just as many dogs as people.

We moved on and inland to Portland, Oregon’s largest city, although not the state capital, which is Salem. We walked into Pearl, which is nearby to our apartment and the adjoining Downtown district, to get the vibe of the city, but there was something missing – the streets were largely deserted. Where have all the people gone? It turns out that half of them are in Deschutes microbrewery and the other half are perpetually jogging, cycling or walking along the riverfront walkways boarding the Willamette. The natives do love their beer, so there are several microbreweries to choose from, all offering a large selection of ale. Lots of variety and all served ice cold and gassy, so almost a blend between Aussie and English beer.

It rained almost constantly during our stay, we may have been unlucky, but given that every store and restaurant has complimentary umbrella bags, I doubt it.

We’ve had occasion to visit a few supermarkets staying as we are in mostly self-catering accommodation. All the staff are just so friendly, polite and helpful. Quite a change from the surly UK check out chick. If you look slightly confused wandering the aisles, a member of staff is always there with a cheerful “How are you today? Is there anything I can help you with?” I usually reply with a panicked “No, I’m fine thanks” while thinking “Can’t you see I’m English. Please leave me alone.” At the checkout, while several staff pack your groceries and polish your shoes, the person ringing up the bill engages you in some uplifting conversation before sending you off with “Have a nice day!” Yesterday, I was asked how I was enjoying my stay in Oregon. After I’d said that we could do with a little bit more sunshine, I was cheerfully told that the locals didn’t bother checking the forecast here. Just expect rain every day and, if the sun shines, then it’s a nice surprise.