Ladner, Vancouver Island and Elk

Crossing the border over to Canada was a simple, yet interesting affair. Our first experience with Greyhound buses gave us an insight into budget transport, with the bus itself being in as haggard of a state as the people riding it. I was unsuccessful in my attempts to sleep, in part due to the state of the bus and the air conditioning being a tad too high, but also in part due to my pre-bus reading consisting of news reports of an infamous "incident" that took part on a greyhound bus several years ago (Google it if you're daring). The blue collar journey was very helpful to our finances however, setting us back a mere $18.

Immigration interrogated us a bit more than we had predicted, but we had no issues getting across the border, before wandering up the highway for a good mile or so, away from the massive queues of traffic and waited for our lift. If three men carrying massive backpacks up a highway wasn't enough to attract weird looks from the masses of seniors heading along in their tour busses, three young men kicking an Australian Rules football in a carpark next to said backpacks probably would.   Our impromptu game of kick to kick ended shortly thereafter though, as we were picked up by Mark, a family friend of Harry's, and taken to his home in Ladner.

Our stay in Ladner, an old fishing village and now smaller rural town about 40 minutes out of Vancouver, would be short but sweet. After a guided tour through the farming and fishing sites of the town, we settled in for a couple of drinks at Speed's pub. A very homely establishment, we easily spent a few hours there chatting up a storm with Mark and his friends, before heading back to his house to sample some Elk burgers. Yes, Elk. Mark is an avid hunter and was as eager to get us to sample his catch as we were try to try it.  Tasting like a very lean beef, the burgers did not disappoint, even though we'd grown sick of anything resembling fast food. Appetite satisfied, we managed to fit in a premiere screening of Breaking Bad (it's not the same with ads) via one of the in excess of 900 channels on the cable system.

After resisting the temptation to watch copious amounts of trashy TV and instead sleep, we awoke and headed down to their Tsawwassen Port to catch a ferry to Vancouver Island, making it with minutes to spare. A bus ride from the port in Vancouver Island later, and we were riding our bikes along the shores of Victoria in Vancouver Island. The chilly Pacific Coast breeze was just as refreshing as our drinks on the wharf that accompanied our fish and chips in what was a relaxing end to a nice start to our exploration of Canada. 

Ladner

Elk Burgers

Vancouver Island Foreshore

Rock music and rock climbing in Seattle

After one of the shortest driving trips we encountered so far, a mere three hours from Portland to Seattle, we arrived early in the day with plenty of time to tick off a few sights around the place. Seattle Place was home to the grandiose, but slightly smaller than expected Space Needle (it's presence in the Seattle Skyline is much less prominent than I had previously thought), whilst also being home to the Experience Music Project, a striking and indescribable looking building the houses a plethora of rock music memorabilia, paying special attention to local rock icons Nirvana. Turns out they have more than one song.

A novel yet practical trip along the monorail (queue Simpsons reference) took us down to the waterfront to experience the Pike Place Market. It appeared to be winding down given our late afternoon arrival, but were still able to witness the fish catching antics and jovial personalities surrounding. A few stopoffs at some notable rock music venues and pubs were our final real agenda items before arriving with Justin, our couchsurfing host in the northwest of Seattle.

With two full days ahead of us in Seattle and a fair bit of time to kill, we joined Justin, an avid hiker, on what he described as a 1.5 hour "hike" up Mt Si. Needless to say, that 1.5 hours for a seasoned hiker is not quite the same for someone who decides to partake in said hike in $20 sneakers. About six hours and 14 kilometres later, and we wearily arrived back at Justin's car, muscles aching that we didn't know existed. Whilst the pain has lasted for a few days yet, the memory of the views from atop the 4000 feet summit above the clouds is something will hopefully last a bit longer.

We managed to hobble along the next day to Safeco Field to take in America's favourite past-time.  The journey was made even worse when the hostel we had booked refused to acknowledge our booking, despite having written confirmation, and left us to find our own accomodation elsewhere. With good luck, rather than good management, we managed to find a hostel that was even closer to the game, and closer to where we needed to be the next day. But back to the baseball. The Mariners had lost the night before to the Rangers, but a strong performance from Felix Hernandez and my new (first) cult hero Ichiro Suziki kept the Rangers scoreless in what was a well celebrated 7-0 victory to the home side, and a great finish to our time in Seattle.

Pike Place Fish Market

Space Needle

Space Needle and EMP Museum

EMP Museum

Justin looking out from Mt Si

Safeco Field

Oregon and glimpses of snow

After leaving the surprisingly cold weather of San Francisco, we headed further north to the greener pastures of Oregon. An 11 hour journey was ahead of us, and we'd heard of sunnier times further up north, so we were quite enthusiastic to venture into Portland, our first main stop in the Pacific North West.

Before we got there though, after a lengthy six hours of driving we spent the night in Klamath Falls which was probably our first real experience of a smaller town that would more commonly be described as well, backcountry. The town had its small pockets of extremely humble and quiet housing, yet still contained all the large shopping chains and a fairly built up highway throughout, most likely as it seemed to be some sort of regional hub, and also because of its proximity to Crater lake, which we would visit the next day.

San Francisco: A city of highs and lows.

After the memorable drive up the Pacific Coast Highway, our arrival into the city of San Francisco was slightly underwhelming. Some misinformation resulted in a taxi ride from our car rental drop-off to our hostel costing a little bit more than we had hoped, and our hopes to catch a quick glimpse of the Golden Gate Bridge were dashed by the ever present fog that swallows the city.

Pacific Coast Highway and The Big Sur

Normally I wouldn't dedicate an entire post to describing a drive, but the trip up the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH), or California 1, is undoubtedly one of the best drives I have ever done, and probably will ever do.

The Pacific Coast Highway, especially the section throughout the Big Sur is frequently named as one of America's iconic drives, and the rugged and tranquil route throughout the coastal mountains has inspired many artists, from writers to musicians over the years.

San Diego and American tradition

After the customary and enjoyable American later than usual check-out of 11:00am, we set off on the longest drive we had encountered thus far, a 326 mile (525km) leg from Vegas to the supposed sunny south and San Diego. After trekking back over much of the same interstate we had traversed a few days earlier, we picked up lunch in the very Greek and slightly tacky Mad Greek Restaurant that promotes itself as having the best Gyros in all of the USA. Good? Yes. Best? We'll see.

There was a distinct and welcome change in the landscape as we got closer to San Diego, as the dry desert plains were suddenly hilly outcrops, then green mountains further toward the coast. Expecting to arrive in a warm, sunny climate, we were slighty disappointed to find the weather cool and slightly overcast. Locally, it turns out this weather is known as Grey May/June Gloom and is apparently much worse this year than years gone by.