Vancouver Visit and Starting Back to Michigan

One of the key reasons for this trip was to spend a bit more time with this little fellow who has captured our hearts and those of all around him.

3 Generations of Greenfield Men

Once we completed our family visits and our time exploring the northwest corner of Washington State, we headed across the border once more into Canada, in order to take the Trans-Canada Highway across the lower provinces in order to experience what our map had marked as "scenic" all the way across the country.  Because internet access has been sporadic on this portion of our trip, blogging has become a catch-up game.  By the time I can report on an area, we are long since gone from there.

The Canadian Rockies, British Columbia, Canada
Coming, as we do, from Michigan, mountains are a breathtaking sight to us, so we planned our trip home so we could spend two nights camping in Golden, BC and spend one "true vacation" day driving  to Lake Louise and the Icefield Parkway in the rockies.  We have had remarkable weather on this trip 99% of the time, and this drive was no exception; the day driving to Golden was a bit damp and cloudy, allowing us to see the surrounding mountains shrouded in fog, relatively clear, low-lying valleys with rivers tumbling and foaming down steep rocky slopes, and bighorn sheep lying peacefully near the roadway, seemingly watching traffic rather than bounding in the rocky terrain above as we would have expected.

 

 

Note: This is Canada's 150th anniversary, and they are celebrating by providing FREE passage to all national parks in Canada to EVERY VISITOR, not just Canadians.  We were blown away by this display of generosity and welcome from Canada to it's foreign visitors.

At the suggestion of a park guide, we began our day at Lake Louise, Banff National Park, which was already packed with tourists fairly early in the morning, but the park service had people in place to guide visitors to the rapidly diminishing empty parking spots.  Once parked, we joined the throng heading toward the remarkable turquoise waters of the lake reflecting the mountains around it, and the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise Resort Hotel.  The scenery is incredible, and if you manage to pass, uninjured, the gauntlet of selfie-sticks being waved around indiscriminately, to wander just part of the path that surrounds the lake, you have the opportunity to see the lake and it's magnificent surroundings in all their glory.

Yes, those ARE kayakers out there in the (literally) icy water!

We left Lake Louise to spend the day driving part of the Icefield Parkway, making multiple stops to enjoy the spectacular scenery.  The day was clear and sunny, so unlike the previous day's drive, we could see each mountain peak clearly, and often see it nearly as clearly reflected in the surrounding waters.

One of our favorite stops was at Bow Lake, which had similar turquoise water to Lake Louise, a much more rustic resort, and far fewer people.  The reflections of the mountains here were broken up by the surprisingly large amount of ice and ice floes still on the lake, similar to what we experienced at Lake Louise, though the weather was sunny and summery, and vegetation along the lakeshore was already green and past spring bloom time.

The road is well maintained and wide, but has indisputably steep grades throughout, so we were surprised to see that there was what appeared to be a citizen bike race being held along the entire length of the Parkway that day.  When we asked about it at an information booth, we were told it was a relay race that is held annually and involves all levels of riders.  Altogether we have been quite surprised at the number of cyclists we have seen throughout our trip across Canada so far.  Many great bike paths along the Trans-Canada Highway, and many people of all ages using them, some obviously on day trips, others with bikes heavily loaded with gear, indicating they are riding for days or longer.  These are hardy folks!

2017 - Spring trip westward; catching up on where we've been

Much of this particular trip has revolved around touching base with family, both in Oregon, and in Vancouver, BC.  Because of that, our preferred destination campground this time was located in Bellingham, close enough to easily visit both locations.  Our "destination campgrounds" are normally state or national parks with beautiful scenery and few amenities.  This time, due to the length of our stay, we chose a Good Sam campground called Bellingham RV Park because it has provided full-hookup at our site (water, electric, and sewer), as well as immaculate restrooms and laundry facilities. The latter is important when spending a couple of weeks in one destination :)

As we explored this area, we spent some time in Fairhaven, a historic part of the city of Bellingham, situated on the water's edge and rich with interesting old buildings turned to new use, a very active biking and walking area, home to trendy shops, wonderful bookstores, varied restaurants. We had a delicious lunch and a good browse at Colophon Cafe and then walked around a bit just taking in the scenery.  I was so busy taking in the scenery that I neglected to take photos!  Fun area to explore; fair warning: STEEP streets in some sections.

We spoke with people we met about this area of Washington and learned that although it has not yet reached the outrageousness of Seattle in terms of traffic and real estate madness (people in Seattle reportedly receive multiple offers well over asking price within days of listing their homes), folks from Seattle are moving to this location  (Bellingham and surrounding area)  and commuting to work  (both real-time and virtual commuting).

We spent several days exploring the communities of Anacortes and La Conner, both seaside towns.  Coming from Michigan and appreciating the beauty of the Great Lakes, we are also always enthralled by oceans and ocean bays as saltier and larger versions of the water we have come to love - nay, feel bonded to - over the many years of living in the midwest. Some of the huge differences between this shoreline in Washington and what we are accustomed to in Michigan are: rocky shoreline vs sandy shoreline, 6-9 foot tides compared to negligible tides, varied marine life detritus on beaches vs the occasional dead fish on Lake Michigan beaches.  But the water - AH, the magic of the water, the power of the water, THAT is similar!  That makes us feel at home in an area far from home.

Here are some of the scenes that have endeared this area of the country to us.:

Bridge from Anacortes to Whidbey Island

Harbor in Anacortes

Washington Park outside Anacortes 

Washington Park.  We ate lunch looking at this scene

Washington Park.  This pair of Bald Eagles was calmly perched just below where we were eating our lunch.

Semiahmoo Park, Blaine, WA

Scotch Broom - considered an invasive plant in this part of the U.S. - but what a beautiful nuisance !

Pacific City, Oregon

Landing again in Pacific City, Oregon several days ago for a two-day stay was a return to a place from which we have a number of fond memories with family and friends on past visits: walking the amazing beach; the view of surfers against the background of Haystack Rock; clamming (we watched several years ago in amazement as a friend found and dug the clams, we cooked them, then all joined in the eating); an home-made sushi feast a few years back; a "welcome here" salmon dinner just a few months ago prepared on the fly by son John; sharing beer and conversation at a local bar, and coffee and breakfast in a local eatery after a storm took out the electricity in most of the surrounding area.

Things are changing here, new buildings going up, new businesses sprouting; while it's good to see a small town be healthy and vibrant, I worry that the type of building and new businesses coming to Pacific City will make it forever lose its small beach town charm and personality.  In reviewing the photos I took while visiting here, I realized I stayed clear of documenting any of the incipient growth taking place around me; I turned my back to it all and just took photos of the places that made this town dear to my heart.

 

This trip we had the opportunity to experience a totally different aspect of this region - its rivers.  Our son took us on a brief rafting trip on the Wilson River, which we had seen briefly in passing by short sections of it on the road to Pacific City.  Experiencing it from the water, rather than the road, was amazing! I LOVE, love, love the forests of this area: the huge old trees hung heavily with mosses of various types, the underbrush heavy with ferns, the numerous small streams and waterfalls emptying into the river, bubbling over mossy rock beds. I cannot help but expect fairies and gnomes to appear at the riverside as we glide by.  But those fairytale figures eluded us, instead we passed a few fishermen who were experiencing a beautiful, sunny day with no fish to speak of.

Starting the launch down a steep bank

And....the raft is in the water!

I could live here..... 

Little streams rushing into the river...

Moss-covered rocks, small and (in this case) large....so beautiful!

HUGE, moss-covered, wind-formed old tree - SO beautiful (the photo does not do it justice).

Hard to see in the photo, but this tree spans the area where the water has washed away the sand between roots so that the tree is in effect sending down roots on each side of the rushing water; the tree bark is covered with mosses and ferns.

THANK YOU JOHN H. GREENFIELD for being our host, our guide and wonderful son!

Westward Ho!

We're on a westward trip this spring, and have seen such incredible natural scenery between Michigan and Idaho so far.  I will share some photos of those views below. While it is frustrating to find State and National park campgrounds full or nearly at capacity this early in the season it is also encouraging to see how many people visit these parks, stay at their campgrounds, and appreciate these natural resources. It is clearly confirmation that these nature reserves are used, revered, and valued.  These are always our "destination campgrounds" - the places we choose to call home for several days to two weeks when we travel, but they are also beautiful places to stop overnight as we have done on most of this trip.

My heartfelt hope is that the governmental agencies that oversee the managment of these resources and the elected officials who designate funding for these sacred places continue to recognize their irreplaceable value and fight for the funding and manpower needed to maintain them as the national treasures that they are.

First night of travel we spent at Cherry Glen Corps of Engineers campground in Iowa (detailed in previous blog entry.  The second night we had pushed through a long day of driving and just wanted to get off the highway, so stayed at a private campground, named - aptly enough - I-80 Lakeside Campground; while there were traffic noises from the nearby highway, overall it was a nice-enough little campground for on overnight stay.

Our third night on the road was spent at a Wyoming State Park, where the sky was magnificent and the park beautifully maintained; we could have easily remained here for a number of days just to relax and enjoy the scenery, but on this trip we are more destination-bound than most trips, so just one glorious evening it was.

On day four of our drive we entered Grand Teton National Park and were so blown away by the beauty that we decided to spend two nights and the day in between just savoring the scenery.  When we started our drive that day, the temperature was in the high 50's in the morning, by the time we had wound our way up into the still snow-covered mountains it had dropped to 37, then climbed again to high 40s and low 50's by the time we reached the Colter Village RV Campground in the valley of the park.

 

Cherry Glen Corps of Engineers Campground, IA

On the road again for our first extended trip in months!  We've lucked out with a beautiful first day of travel yesterday, starting at home (Richland, MI) and ending our day at Cherry Glen, a beautiful US Army Corps of Engineers campground on Saylorville Lake in Johnston, IA, located a bit north of Des Moines, IA.  As has been the case with most Corps of Engineers campgrounds we have visited in the past, this one is beautifully maintained and set up in a way to provide visual privacy and reasonable space between sites in a lovely, heavily treed park.  With our National Parks Senior Pass (cost of $10 once for a lifetime card), we pay half-price at all National Park campgrounds.  Last night's camping cost was $10 compared with $40-$50 for a private campground which would have much less privacy but include amenities such as pools and rec. rooms which we do not use. These National Parks are a bargain indeed, even when we only stay for the night when passing through the area while heading to our ultimate destination.