Butchart Gardens, Victoria, BC

For those of you not interested in flowers, read no further and wait for the next instalment!

Murray, Eric & Marie heading into Butchart Gardens

Sunken Gardens

Beautiful Tulips

Japanese Garden

Murray & Marie leaving Japanese Garden

Stunning

Looking out to Cove

Prettiest Colours

NOT Lewis & Clark

The real Lewis & Clark - intrepid adventurers

Numerous articles and personal recommendations insisted that if you only get to do one thing while visiting Vancouver, you should take the ferry across to Victoria Island and visit the world famous Butchart Gardens. Always one to do what I am told, that is just what we did...

We caught the 9am ferry ($15 pp one way) from West Vancouver with a sailing time of 1.5 hours. The ferry was amazing, 6 levels, although I believe only 2 for passengers. There was free wifi, a buffet restaurant, another café, a great gift shop, study cubicles & wide screen TVs. On arrival at Swartz Bay on Victoria Island, we hopped on a bus and for $2.50 pp, we meandered for about 40 mins through the little towns on the way. There is a 20 minute shuttle bus, but it can only take 20 passengers, and we missed out on the cut. By the time we reached the Gardens, it was lunchtime, so after stocking up on carbs, we began our garden tour. It really is a beautiful place to visit, but I would question the $30 entry fee. I particularly liked the ‘aura’ of the sunken garden and also the Japanese garden. Sadly the weather had been too cool for the roses to bloom, so we made do with stunning tulips instead.

Starting our Alaskan Adventure

Ferry from West Seattle to Vashon Island

Arriving in Vashon Island - just across from Seattle

View from our bedroom window

Eric, Jan, Marie & Murray - some of the vineyard in background

The Alaskan foursome - Eric, Marie, Murray & Trish

Bald Eagle

The wine produced at this vineyard

The journey begins...our first stop - free coffee to boot

Entering the Canada border crossing

The day had finally arrived. A trip that has been planned for 18 months was about to begin. On Saturday 28^th May, we caught the ferry from Seattle to Vashon Island to meet up with Marie & Eric, companions on our 2 month Alaska trek. Marie & her primary school friend Jan met us at the ferry (access to the island is only from air or ferry) and drove us to Jan & Bill's vineyard property where Bill produces the only local wine sold with the Vashon Island label. His Pinot Noir sells for $50 in local shops. Our bedroom and bathroom was downstairs, hosts Jan & Bill had their bedroom/bathroom on the main level, and Eric & Marie had their bedroom/bathroom upstairs. An amazing home, converted from a simple A frame, mainly designed by Bill himself and with beautiful views over Puget Sound and their winery backyard. Our hosts catered for a dinner feast that included neighbours Amy (aussie girl from Noosa area) and her American husband Sean and 3 sons, and 3 other school girlfriends of Eric & Marie – one of the friends had flown in from Rwanda where she works with USAid and another of the girlfriends had her son, daughter and their spouses & children with them. As we were taking photos in the back yard, a bald eagle was soaring overhead. Amy then told us how an eagle had picked up and carried off one of her laying hens the week before.

This morning, Sunday, is the first day of our journey. The 4 of us drove off in Marie & Eric’s truck pulling their caravan/trailer, and drove onto the 8.40am ferry. Then there was a 20 mins drive to our next stop - our RV park - where we jumped in our RV and followed our friends north towards the Canada border. Shortly after midday we were hooked up at our lovely Canadian RV Park in Vancouver.

All our careful research on preparations for the Canada border crossing were in vain – we had identified that potatoes were an issue so didn’t buy any in our last grocery shop, and we knew we could only bring in 1.1 litres of wine each, so we exhausted our stocks in time for the crossing. We had ensured that we had our RV ownership and registration papers handy, as well as the special insurance card we had to get from our US insurance company to cover us whilst in Canada. It doesn't cost anything, but you need the bit of paper, otherwise you might find your insurance may be null & void.

It turns out that after checking our passports and RV licence plate, we were asked the obligatory questions such as how long are you staying and are you carrying any items for defending yourself such as guns, pepper spray etc. We don't carry anything like that, so we were waved through. Darn - we could have bought in our cask of wine after all. We were only in the queue for about 5 mins.

Once we had settled into our campground, the weather was so glorious that we prepared our lunch and the 4 of us sat outside under the shade of the trees, ate our lunch and spent some time perusing the tourist brochures. We then spent some time wandering in the RV park gardens and admiring the beautiful flowers. There was a gazebo draped with flowering lilacs, and azaleas and rhododendrons were flowering spectacularly in all different colours.

We ended our first day by driving to the nearby seaside town of Crescent Beach, walking along the edge of the sand, dining on fresh fish & chips overlooking the water, and finishing with an icecream as we walked back along the beach. It was about 7.30pm and although the sun had not set, it was starting to get cold. Time to call it quits for our first day. I am conscious a few of my readers are planning to do this Alaskan trip next year, so I will endeavour to provide as much information as I can. So follow along with our trip, and I hope you enjoy the ride...

Pike Place Market, Seattle, Washington

REMEMBER YOU CAN DOUBLE CLICK ON ANY PHOTO TO ENLARGE

Lining up for lunch on the run

Pike Place Market

View from our lunch table over Puget Sound

King Salmon that Murray hopes to catch in Alaska

Jumbo Shrimp AND Jumbo Scampi

I have heard of Fiddleheads, now I have seen them

Bright, beautiful summer berries - the huge strawberries were $2.50 punnet

These bouquets were only $10

Bouquets made to order

This building reflected the clouds that moved across the sky

Oh my goodness. I have a few sisters, sister-in-law Yudian, and brothers-in-law Bill & Peter, who I am sure would have thoroughly enjoyed visiting the Pike Place Markets in Seattle with us today. I wish they were with us to share the pleasure! It was absolutely fabulous. Anyone who loves taste-testing and seeing fresh market food, seeing local crafts & appreciates beautiful flowers couldn't help but enjoy a visit to this place. We had a 25 min bus ride into the city for $2.50 apiece, and then enjoyed the plethora of sights & sounds of the market. What a busy and fun place to spend several hours. The sun was shining, the sky was blue, and we were ready to enjoy whatever was on offer.

We wandered around for awhile revelling in the market vibrancy, then found a great place in the market for lunch that overlooked Puget Sound. We watched the ferries in the harbour as we enjoyed clam chowder and a cheese philly steak burger. We then wandered for another hour just absorbing the atmosphere: listening to the various buskers and watching the merchants as they advertised their wares. Across the road I found a delightful French Patisserie which sold decadent French pastries, so we rounded off our outing by having afternoon tea (expresso coffee and chocolatine (like a croissant with chocolate inside and topped with flaked almonds)) before we caught the bus back to our RV park. The patisserie overlooked the market and provided a passing parade of people & police on horseback. As we meandered back to our bus stop, we noticed one of the horseback policeman going up and down each alleyway. One way to maintain security in the numerous allies in downtown Seattle.

The red route is where we were last week, smiley face is where we are now, and blue is next week

Some deer at our last campground

The pub frequented by us & film crew

Beautiful scenery as we drove along

And again...

Looking up to Mt Olympus

Picturesque Port Angeles - heading to the harbour

Our current campground overlooking the bay - Murray hearing about halibut fishing

It amazes me to note that the temperatures in Alaska are warmer than what we are having here in NW Washington. That aside, we are enjoying our time in this region. We spent a few days on the coast at Copalis Beach. Around from our RV park was a little pub, so we wandered up there for a meal one night. How did the LA film crew know I was in town? I just can't escape! So instead of having a quiet meal in the pub chatting to some locals, 40 movie crew personnel had booked dinner there and it was a noisy affair. Thankfully they had a late shoot, and after finishing their meal and with a few words in their earpieces from the Fat Controller, they vacated the pub en masse. They were filming some science fiction movie called 'Safety Not Guaranteed' or something like that. Should be out later this year. Continuing to the most NW point of Washington state, we rounded the peninsula and drove east to the pretty city of Port Angeles at the base of Mt Olympus. Across the bay is Vancouver Island, Canada, and the city of Victoria. You can take a ferry from here to there, but we are calling in there next week when we kick off our Alaska RV trip. The next town of Sequim is where we pulled into an RV park overlooking the John Wayne Marina. Across the bay to the north is Canada, and to the east is Seattle. We'll stay here for 4 days and enjoy the view.

Mount St Helens Volcano, Washington

Mount St Helens volcano before 1980 eruption

Without its cap - post eruption

How we saw it yesterday, covered in snow

Dust (on rose petals) from explosion as far south as Portland, Oregon

This tells the story...

This tree stump is still standing to illustrate the story

Ash blackened landscape with tree remnant

Snow lined road

We loved the drive up

Finally: Murray locking the door of the RV at Johnston Ridge

In May 1980 (I was 6 months pregnant with my second child at the time) the awe inspiring Mount St Helen volcano, about 2 hrs drive south of Seattle, Washington exploded, precipitated by a series of earthquakes. Yesterday, Murray & I drove about 1.5 hrs from our campground to check out the area. The furthermost and closest accessible point, within the actual 'blast zone', only opened to traffic the day before we drove up. We weren't surprised either, as there was still several feet of snow in patches. The snow clearing machines would have had their work cut out clearing the roads in readiness. The winding, climbing drive up to Johnston's Ridge was beautiful - but stark at the same time where evidence of the blast zone was present. Despite it being the 31st anniversary of the eruption, many areas of blackened landscape remain. Burnt beyond repair. If you just drove up there and looked at what is left of the mountain (the top blew off and just a crater exists), that is one thing, but to see the videos and hear the story of what happened before, during and after that fateful day is really mind blowing. We called into 2 of the visitors centers, and watched 3 different videos. There were also great informative areas, showing a timeline and displaying memorabilia from the event. Scary really. We are now in a campground by the beach. We can see the Pacific Ocean from our RV, and the sun is shining - the landscape couldn't be more different!

Last Days in Oregon

Driving north on Oregon Coast...

Still driving...

A new vista at every turn (or tunnel)

Lewis & Clark - end of trail

Canoe docking location

Magnificent St Louis Arch (with Tina, Mike & Murray, 2007)

What a lovely coastal drive north to the aptly named & very popular town of Seaside, Oregon. While Murray was out on his walk, he met a local couple Kathleen & Bill who kindly invited us to a halibut (they fish in Alaska 3 weeks each year) dinner at their home, which was just across the road from our RV park. We walked over and arrived just in time to see a coyote slinking off into the woods and Bill hanging up his gun (hoping to scare it off). As well as coyotes, they often have elk in the back yard. While we were there horses were grazing happily, and a whole flock of wood ducks were waddling past the back door. The halibut was wonderful and the company was great. We really enjoy hearing about how the locals live - Bill is a builder and Kathleen is an accountant -their lively stories related to town politics and also Bill's hunting experiences. They have lived in the area all of their lives - and he tells of huge salmon (one was mounted on their wall) caught in the 'crick' not far from their property. All the big fish are gone from the rivers now...so they fly to Alaska instead. With their catch, they host a halibut dinner for 300 people each August at their home. It really is some house...Bill was hoping we would stay a few more days so that he could take Murray out Clam fishing, as a 'clam tide' was coming up in a few days, but the weather was cold and wet, so we decided to keep moving north. But not before Kathleen shared some tasty halibut recipes with me. Thanks Kathleen!

The next day we called into Fort Clatsop, Astoria (Oregon) which all Americans will know was the end of the journey for Lewis & Clark's (intrepid & most renowned adventurers who were first to do the western crossing to the Pacific Ocean, mapping the whole route). They crossed the Rocky Mountains and arrived in Oregon (it was just wilderness then) in November 1805. They built a winter fort, Fort Clatsop, and Murray & I checked it out under our umbrella - yes, it was a damp, cold day. We also saw the point where they docked their canoes at the mouth of the Columbia River. A truly amazing expedition that lasted just under 2.5 years and is remembered historically as the 'expansion of the west' and symbolised by the Gateway Arch in St Louis - the tallest man-made monument in the United States. Murray & I went up in the arch back in 2007 with St Louis friends Tina & Mike. That is when we first heard & learnt about Lewis & Clark. Now we have been to both Lewis & Clark winter camps - the other one being in Mandan, North Dakota.