Day 18 - Vancouver, BC

Great day : lovely walk and drive round Stanley Park (OK the rain didn't wholly stop but we mainly dodged it) with its totem-poles (mostly copies but we saw the originals in the Museum of Anthropology in the afternoon) 

and trees with their Autumn colours. We were partially accompanied by a camera-shy raccoon and spotted what behaved for all the world like northern-hemisphere-Autumn hummingbirds, but which also eluded a decent shot.

After an excellent chicken pho lunch (Vancouver has a very sizeable Oriental population so there's a choice of any number of cuisines), we headed to the site of the University of British Columbia where the afore-mentioned MOA has apparently just had a hugely expensive refurb.  If I was being picky, I'd say the exhibits were a bit overcrowded and under-labelled, but overall it's varied and extremely good.

A bit pooped after all that, we headed south out of Vancouver and hopped the border in ten minutes flat. Whatever happened to that enormous queue?!  And amazingly, as we reentered the US, the sun came out (don't worry though... there's just been an enormous clap of thunder right overhead so looks like business as usual!

Day 17 - Vancouver, British Columbia

And it was still raining when we left - the San Juan Islands are at least consistent.  Sadly the atrocious weather has followed us up into Vancouver, so the pics from lovely Stanley Park are a bit soggy (so much for the sun motif at passport check!)  We're doing a sun-dance for a crisp bright day tomorrow but the forecast isn't with us.  Hopefully the park and skyline will look more inviting tomorrow.

So yes, into maple leaf territory.  It's bilingual by law so there were "Bienvenue au Canada" border signs too.  As well as (partially) changing linguistically, we've also swapped weights and measures too, with distances now in km and petrol in litres.

For a wet Autumn Sunday, Vancouver traffic was surprisingly heavy, and one thing that the city does not boast is easy parking. The meters assume you have a mobile phone to pay for your parking - not great for a visitor who's kept a pocketful of coins to feed them...!

We passed the 2000 milestone just as we entered Canada, and today or hereabouts is the halfway point on the US leg of the trip. The plan is for the return leg southward to hug the coastline.

Day 16 - sodden Friday Harbour, San Juan

Not the island's finest hour. According to the chap running the boat, the waves and wind were very high and, with the rain on top, visibility was negligible. So, the closest we got to an orca was either the skeleton in the Whale Museum or the statue by the "This way for whale watching!" sign in the National Park. Neither of which was wholly satisfactory...

Not that we're feeling victimised but we were amused by the forecast page which shows the US mainly clear of rain save for the itty-btty top left hand corner in green [rain] for us!

So, we headed to the southern and northern tips of the island where respectively were the US and British bases in the 1850s when we chaps were protecting Her Majesty's and the Hudson Bay Company's interests and trying to snaffle the best deal for management around the 49th parallel.  The Special Relationship was apparently nearly struck down in its infancy when a trigger-happy local took umbrage at a HBC pig foraging on "his" land (the Brits didn't restrain said porker : we reckoned it our territory to start with so he could root about where he liked) and, when the local shot the pig, he was threatened with the clink.  Governments got cross and battleships were massed, but diplomatic sense eventually prevailed...

Day 15 - Friday Harbour, San Juan Island

The San Juan Islands look to be Washington state's answer to the Channel Islands, and Friday Harbour is St Helier.  That's where we are tonight, having taken a ferry westwards from Anacortes, up the coast from Seattle.   Much further West and we'd be in Canada (the ferry's next stop, and the view from the National Park hill apparently, is Sidney on Vancouver Island).

As well as being a very pretty place, the primary reason to come here is tomorrow afternoon's orca sighting trip (fingers crossed for whales, and weather - it's poured here again today).  Note the little leaping chaps on the welcome sign at the port.

Fact of the day for you : we passed through the marvellously-named Lower Skagit River Valley (v flat landscape - populated mainly by 2nd and 3rd generation Dutch farmers), which apparently produces 100% of the US's Brussels sprouts and parsnips (can that really be right?! Your average Yank may not eat as many sprouts as I do, granted, but that's still a heck of a lot of sprouts out of one valley.)

Day 14 - Olympia and Seattle, WA

As promised by the forecasts all week, the sun finally shone today. Not that we thought so first thing, as we drove to the Capitol under grey skies and congratulated ourselves on catching it yesterday evening against a blue sky.

The tour by knowledgeable volunteer Joan was jolly informative. She romped through original 1889 flags, constitutions and texts, and displayed a healthy enthusiasm for the various types of marble and Tiffany light fitments. 

Apologising that the brass seal of 42nd state of the union Washington was roped off, she tut-tutted that ne'er-do-well visitors, lacking due respect, had walked on George's face and squashed his nose so that he now looks less president, more prize fighter.

Onward to Seattle and bright sunshine. Clearly a day for the Space Needle then. 

And lo, finally in the distance that glimpse of Mt Rainier!

The downtown Seattle traffic was not however to our liking so I fear that will be it for Seattle (it's not somewhere to have a car, even one as small as the roller-skate).

PS Just catching CNN : Piers Morgan interviewing Bill Clinton. Taking bets on who will out-smarm whom...

Day 13 - Mount Rainier and on to Olympia, WA

While the early rain lasted, we dallied in the Hotel Packwood and passed the time of day with a hardcore group, nearing the end (350 miles to go) of a 6 month, 2600 mile, Mexico->Canada hike.  One chap, cheerfully downing his fourth vanilla ice-cream wafer sandwich (chasing a microwaved beef stroganoff), cast his mind back to breakfasting on kale and apple smoothies back in Connecticut.  The rain carried on and he was opening another ice-cream as we left.

Only a few glimpses of outcrops of Mt Rainier, I'm afraid, 

but several lovely waterfalls, some pretty forest, and a quick sighting of a fox in its Autumn coat.

And then onward to Olympia, pretty little capital of Washington.  Population 43k !  Hopefully a visit to the Capitol tomorrow morning but meanwhile below in the afternoon sun.

Day 12 - Mount St Helens

Top news to start : we saw a bear! He didn't hang around, sadly, but there he was : large, heavy-built, black and fast-moving up the hill away from the road.

That was at the tail-end of crossing over the Columbia into Washington ("The Evergreen State") to visit Mount St Helens volcanic park, which started with drizzle but ended with very decent views of the volcano.  A daunting reminder of how small we are :  trees ripped down or left bare and petrified, whole areas laid waste, rivers and streams clogged with tree trunks and vast boulders. To give you an idea, the eruption started at 08.32 on 18 May 1980 and cities miles away were dark with airborne ash at 3pm. Spare a thought too for Harry Truman who ran a lake-side bar close by; his wife Eddy had died some years before, and Harry was warned but refused to leave the bar - it's now 200 feet below surface level where the mudslide engulfed the lake and tree-trunks still clog the banks (and this isn't sand on the edge).

Anyway, back to today.  We worried Helena was going to stay under cloud cover but, bit by bit, the clouds shifted and eventually (very cold - not Windy Point for nothing) we got our best glimpse.  

And then the bear ambled by.

Overnight now we're in Packwood near Ohanapecosh (aka Middle of Nowhere, on the edge of Hicksville - there's a lumberjack statue outside and I don't think they're into irony) but we're halfway to Mt Rainier, tomorrow's destination. 

Allegedly, elk wander through the garden on occasion - we're hopeful...

Day 11 - Columbia River Gorge and the elusive Mt Hood

Today has been about waterfalls [6], 

gorgeous views of the Columbia River Gorge and the Washington State hills on the far bank [innumerable], any view, however small, of Mt Hood [zero - dreadful cloud cover so not even a glimpse despite our best efforts] and fruit [also lots; the "Fruit Loop" drive covers 30-odd miles of orchards and farms with outlets offering seasonal fruit and veg - we bought pears but look at those magnificent squashes!]

We've dodged the rain between Portland and a small place called The Dalles on the banks of the mighty Columbia; tonight is our last night in Oregon for a while as we'll cross the river tomorrow for Washington State and Mount St Helens National Park (possibly cue no more internet for a day or two - we'll see).

Day 10 - Portland, OR

Day 10 already? Surely can't be.

Today's weather hasn't been kind but, after a wander by the Willamette and downtown, 

we ran away from the rain into the Portland Art Museum for some very fine Native American artefacts, especially the below feast-boat. 

Curiously, the date attributed to many of them was a vague and rather dismissive "pre-contact", although equally some satchels, moccasins and cradles (some alarmingly attached to skis, and apparently the hapless baby's home for its first year!) looked so pristine that they could've been made yesterday.

Later, we braved the drizzle at the Audubon Wildlife Sanctuary for a squelchy but pretty walk, and an up-close-and-personal encounter with Ruby the rescued turkey vulture (much prettier than she sounds and with impeccable grooming manners).

Day 9 - McMinnville and the Willamette wine region, OR

Sure enough, the rain came down periodically but did it stop us (well, me at least) from popping into one or two wineries to check out their wares... what do you think?  Speciality of the region is pinot noir; apparently it's been a good year so far and, touring the area afterwards in a rare burst of sunshine, there looked to be a lot of grapes still to be picked. We've invested in a couple of bottles for sampling in due course (let's hope they let us import them into Canada!).

Day 8 - Salem, OR

So much for yesterday's blue skies; by lunchtime in Corvallis (pleasant, laid-back, affluent home to the State Uni), it was trying to drizzle and, by teatime, it was tipping it down. Autumn looks to have started.

Just before it closed, we raced into The State Capitol building in Salem, not looking its very best in the rain but still very impressive both inside and out (shame we were too late for a tour but I can tell you from tiles on the pavement outside that Oregon's state bird is the meadowlark, the state fish the Chinook salmon and the state animal of course the beaver...)

Tomorrow it's McMinnville and the Oregon wineries. So who cares if it rains.

Day 7 - Crater Lake

The photos really speak for themselves so just a few stats : 12000ft volcanic peak, Mt Mazama, collapsed into itself 7700 years ago, forming a cauldera with a 33 mile rim around a lake fed by snow and rain, 1943ft deep. Lots of stopping points for oodles of shots...

Day 6 - Klamath Fort (belatedly; middle of nowhere = no wifi!)

Turns out that lots of glorious views and rolling hills doesn't translate to good internet cover.  Last night's hotel apparently downloaded from a satellite and paid by the megabyte - their allowance had been all but gobbled up by the time we wanted it! And there I was expecting wall-to-wall cover in the US...

Good to see though that recycling is going strong in Klamath

Anyway, top spot was Klamath Lake for visiting wildfowl 

I'm guessing the below is a grebe) although the nesting bald eagles were less obliging at posing for pics so you'll have to take our word for it.

Day 5 - Ashland, Oregon (though I'd expected a bit more of a welcome to a new State!)

Truly piffling little sign welcoming us to Oregon (in fact, I almost missed it - California spent nearly as much energy entreating us to hurry back).

But Ashland, OR is a mighty pretty little town, home to the (apparently world-famous) Oregon Shakespeare Festival. So this afternoon's entertainment was an in-the-round King Lear. And jolly good it was too - the usual blood, guts, eyeballs, attempted patricide but with Edgar speaking with a Kentucky twang.

Sadly the good weather deserted us today so the scenery was a bit damp. 

Due to be improve though - 90 by the weekend allegedly.  Hmmm...

PS Not to be pious and I don't know why I'm so shocked but we had our first diner ("Black Bear") breakfast today and you could feed an army on the leftovers which are idly thrown away.  And add to that a visit to Walmart for picnic provisions to bring excess to new heights; I thought I'd check out the cereal options in my ongoing quest for something for bfast with no added sugar but aborted as I worried I'd die of old age before I reached the end of the aisle...

PPS On a lighter note, a man to me this morning upon hearing me speak : "You're from Europe, right?"

Day 4 - Lassen Volcanic National Park

Another very fine outing, to the (currently inactive) volcanic peaks around Mount Lassen, though the sulphurous boiling water springs (I swear the wind kept changing direction on me) certainly give an idea of the potential power below ground. 

Despite the wardens' tantalising references to black bears, the only sightings were the odd ground-squirrel.  But, as you see, we had to leave our gun in the car...

Day 3 - Lassen National Forest, CA

A day of contrasting landscapes (but still great weather). Started out with yellowing grasslands, through fields of green-leaf crops, row upon uniform row of fruit trees, acres of blackening sunflowers ready for harvest and finally towering pines and waterfalls in Lassen National Forest.  View from tonight's motel below...