Oh Canada

This is going to be a long one – I have tried to sum up my month back in North America; here is the condensed version:

• First few days in Van visiting with friends
• Day trip to Washington State to see a friend
• Vancouver for Thanksgiving I
• Squamish for Thanksgiving II
• Road trip with Jodie
• Down Oregon Coast
• Sand Dunes / Redwood Forest
• San Francisco / Berkeley
• Yosemite National Park
• Reno
• Portland / Vancouver

• Weekend in Squamish visiting with friends and family
• Week in Vancouver with friends

My surprise visit home worked out perfectly – I took my Mom completely off guard. It seemed like I was on the go from the moment that I got back, but at least I didn’t have time to settle in to traveler’s depression. My first few days back I stayed in Vancouver and had a chance to meet up with friends from University (many who have just recently graduated). One day I took a trip down to Washington State to drop a friend off at the airport, do a bit of shopping at the outlet malls and see another friend that I haven’t seen in a few years. The next night I was back to Vancouver for Thanksgiving with the Burton family and friends, then on my way to Squamish for Turkey Day II. I was lucky enough that a few of our family friends came out to celebrate with us, so I got to catch up with everyone.

Two days in Squamish was just about enough for me at that point, but luckily Jodie and I were set to be off on our road trip. We got an early start and drove straight through to Astoria, Oregon to check out some of the locations in the theatrical masterpiece, The Goonies. Aside from getting caught out on Haystack Rock by the tide and getting soaked (the rain and wind didn’t help either), it was a good start to the trip. We even met 2 guys from Pennsylvania that seemed to be doing the same Goonies Sightseeing that we were – we saw them at all the major spots.

We didn’t have any reservations for places to stay, but had a few addresses in the area. With a bit of backtracking and searching street to street we found our first hostel in Seaside – only $11/night (pretty much on par with prices in Eastern Europe and WAY cheaper than what I had been paying the previous months in Western Europe). At this point we started the daily routine of eating random fast food that we can’t get in Canada (eg. Jack in the Box) and finishing off a bottle or two of cheap wine from the local vineyards.

Day two took us to Tillamook which is famous for having TWO cheese factories. The Tillamook Cheese Factory was much better as far as actual food goes – they had sample testers and the best ice cream I have ever tasted), but The Blue Herron Cheese Factory had a petting zoo. Overall it was pretty much a toss-up between the two. However, at the first place it was a little unsettling to see one of the workers wipe his face with his gloved hand, then proceed to handle the unpackaged cheese. Moving on down the highway we had a few viewpoint stops where I jumped off some sand dunes and Jodie ran through the tide. Then we went to a lighthouse at Cape Mearres and saw their famous “Octopus Tree”. The last stop was to see the Worlds Shortest River. It was just as impressive as it sounds. We tried to get a room in a hostel that night but the place turned out to be just about the sketchiest place I have ever seen. After a brief consultation we decided to grab some pizza buffet and look for a motel instead – a much better decision. Again, I was shocked at how cheap it was to stay at places – private rooms with TV and internet for the same price I was paying for the privilege of staying in a bunk bed in a room with 19 other people.

Reviewing my notes here it looks like on day 3 we went to the Aquarium where I was dared to drink water from a stream and eat a 3-day old Arby’s sandwich that had been in the backseat the whole time. I survived.

The aquarium was pretty cool – definitely better than the ones in London and Paris, but maybe only slightly better than Vancouver.

The next stops were a bit of a bust. We were going to check out the Sea Lion Caves, but were told that we could check it out for $8, but that there were no Lions around at all… pass. We were going to stay in either Coos Bay or North Bend that night, but decided to keep driving when we saw the fabulous amenities they had to offer (read: slum towns).

Day 4 – went to a Wildlife Game Park which was a bit depressing. The animals were in tiny cages and the two guys walking around tending to the cages incited fear in all the animals. Leaving the park and heading into the next town, Port Orford I spotted a Sheriff parked on the side of the road, but it was too late. We figure we were doing about 50mph, but as we were entering a 30 zone. The guy clocked us at 43mph, but Jodie batted her eye-lashes and I showed a bit of leg, so he let us off with a warning, haha.

We decided to drive all the way through to San Francisco that day, making our way through the Redwood Forrest. It was 10:30pm when we crossed the Golden Gate Bridge, but after spending 2 hours looking for a place to stay in the city we gave up and headed south to Redwood City and found a brutal motel, but we were desperate. We were dead on our feet by the time we got into the place, so we ate the only food we had left in the car – wine and chips.

In the morning we weren’t in the greatest of moods, but went into San Francisco for the day. I was keen on checking out Alcatraz, but just like the last time I was there, the tickets for the ferry were all sold out. We took in the typical sights like The Fisherman’s Warf, China Town and Lombard St. then moved on across the bridge through Oakland to Berkeley. We had booked a room at a “Guest House” just of the Cal-Berkeley campus which turned out to be a former frat house. We didn’t know when we first arrived, but it was Homecoming Weekend and Berkeley was hosting the football game against Oregon State. Jodie decided that we needed University shirts to fit in so we grabbed a couple, had dinner and pulled up a seat at one of the bars just off campus to catch the end of the game. Unfortunately, Berkeley lost at the last minute and it didn’t seem like there was much going on afterwards aside from the marching band moving from frat house to frat house to play on the front lawns.

The next days stop was Yosemite National Park. This place was huge. We drove past El Capitan and the Half-Dome, but the waterfalls were all dried up. Passing through to the other side of the park took us to an altitude of about 8200 feet (there were kids throwing snowballs at each other) and ended up being about a 4 hour drive to get through. I would love to get back to the park to spend a week camping and fishing at some point in the future.

In a spur of the moment decision we took off to Reno the next day. Jodie’s grandparents apparently frequent the casinos there every once in a while, so we thought we would check it out. Not that was a let-down, but we were probably the two youngest people in the whole city and it was a bit sad to see all the old-folks waste away their pensions one nickel at a time in the slot machines. In the end we found a microbrewery/restaurant and in the Eldorado Casino that was pretty good. I tried my hand at a Chicken-Fried Steak and was pleasantly surprised (although I am sure my arteries weren’t thanking me for it).

Our last day we powered through Portland, straight up to Vancouver where the rain was coming down so heavy we decided not to carry on back to Squamish.

After another weekend in Squamish with the family and a night out at the Grizz I went back to Vancouver and started meeting up with anyone I hadn’t seen yet. I caught a UBC basketball game and had a few nights out at the pub as well as a big dinner with a few of my old flat mates from University. All-in-all it was a great trip, but as expected, I wish I would have had a bit more time.

Sunday I fly back to Glasgow and am here for the next 3 days. I am just checking out the city before moving on to Edinburgh where I will most likely look for work and a place to live for the next few months. I will try to keep my blog updated a bit more frequently, but don’t really know when I will have internet access again for a while.

Trev