August 21, 2017 – Eclipse

When I was planning this vacation I went day by day figuring out what we would be doing and where we would stay. I got to the next to last day and decided that somewhere mid-Oregon along I-5 would be best. Only when I could not find a single hotel that had vacancy did I wonder why Oregon was all booked up. John and I pondered about this. Was there some big event happening? Were all the colleges going back to school on the same day? Finally John had an aha moment, the eclipse!

So I had planned the perfect vacation with its climax at the moment of total eclipse somewhere near Salem, Oregon. We were offered eclipse glasses early on at the Museum of Eastern Idaho so we were prepared.

We leave our hotel in Chehalis, Washington early hoping to avoid the Portland, Oregon rush hour travel. Strangely there is no traffic at all around 8 AM. Maybe all the Intel people have the day off to watch the eclipse. About twenty miles north of Salem we start running into some traffic and decide to take some back roads and camp out on the side of a country road to watch the eclipse. Our plan is working perfectly. The eclipse starts and I am ready with my iPhone to snap some pictures but the sun is too bright. So I take to putting my eclipse glasses over the lens. Here are the results –

About 1/4 eclipsed (the little mark to the left is just a reflection)
1/2 eclipsed
Nearly fully eclipsed
Total eclipse

So obviously I am not very successful with the picture taking. I guess you would need a much more sophisticated camera than an iPhone. Shucks. Here is a picture from NASA showing what it actually looks like from Madras, Oregon.

NASA photo of the total eclipse as seen from Oregon.

We do take some pictures of John and I looking comical in our cool eclipse glasses called “The Eclipsers.”

Here I am staring at the sun
Here’s John staring at the sun

Here are some of my impressions about seeing a total solar eclipse. First, it happens really slowly. It tkes a long time for the moon to move into position. As it approaches, the sky begins to get a twilight kind of appearance. Then you notice the wind pick up a little and it starts to feel cooler. Finally when the sun it is totally eclipsed, it is dark but not totally pitch dark. There is still enough light coming from the edge bits to make things seeable. It only last for a minute or two before the moon and sun begin to part and the light comes back really quickly.

This is an awesome experience and the perfect end to our vacation. And because it is so worthwhile and special I am not going to complain about the monumental traffic where it takes us 4 hours to go 60 miles!

August 20, 2017 – Traffic and bad food

Headed part way home today. The traffic was pretty bad. I guess because of the eclipse tomorrow. It takes over an hour to cross the border and after that we average about 40 mikes an hour. It will probably be much worse tomorrow we will just be patient. We have a lot of podcasts to listen to.

Welcome home!
Picture of a faint Mt. Rainier

Finally reaching Chehalis, WA we check-in around 3PM and take a rest and look through our mail and catch up on news. We find a place, Jeremy’s Farm to Table Restaurant, with fairly good ratings so we decide to give it a try. It is terrible. It starts out with a basket of bread you have to buy for $6! I figure it will be pretty special but it arrives and appears to be several slices of commercially cut bread. They serve a slicing knife with it. I have no idea what for.

$6 bread

We both order the Arctic char which comes with seasonal vegetables and the Chef’s “surprise” starch. The vegetables are cold, not even room temperature. The surprise starch is a surprise indeed. It is mashed potatoes with brown gravy. The potatoes and some kind of packet mystery gravy are not reasonable accompaniments to fish. The skin on my fish is flabby and I swallow a bone. What a terrible dinner!

Arctic char with flabby skin and the odd bone, mashed potatoes with brown gravy, and cold vegetables

 

August 19, 2017 – Impressionism

First, a very happy birthday to my sister, Peggy, who is a year older today!

On our last sightseeing day of our vacation we visit the Vancouver Art Gallery and revisit Maenam, our favorite Thai restaurant. Pretty nice way to wrap things up! I am not a big fan of the Impressionists although I do confess to a schoolgirl’s crush on Seurat’s Pointellism when I saw his paintings at the National Gallery on my eighth grade trip. Now I prefer the somewhat cartoonish 14th and 15th century saints carrying their attributes. But here in Vancouver there is a Monet exhibition and I am interested in seeing it.

I find that I like his earlier works that they have here. Such as Snow Effect: Sunset, 1875 and Train in the Snow, 1875. Some of the later pieces are less appealing.

Snow Effect: Sunset, 1875
Train in the Snow, 1875

To me his later paintings exhibited here from around 1918 seem wild and unfinished but maybe it is because the colors are so garish next to the earlier gauzy paintings. Monet was always trying to catch the effect of fleeting light so maybe this is what it looked like to him in the height of summer when his eyesight was failing. Or maybe he was trying to push the envelope of art a little further.

Japanese Bridge, 1918

Some of the water lily paintings and earlier garden pictures are on display as well. We attend a short movie of an art critic discussing Monet’s works at different points in his life. It is very interesting.

Water lilies
A series of pictures of wisteria
Taking a Walk in Argenteuil, 1875

So I come away with a better appreciation of Monet’s development and obsession with light.

We return to the hotel to get organized for our start home tomorrow and to spruce up for our dinner at Maenam which is at 6 PM tonight.

Our dinner is great, better than Thursday’s. We get a free glass of champagne to have with our amuse bouche because John tells them we are celebrating our anniversary which is only a sort of half truth. The guys sitting next to us give us their unfinished bottle of wine for our “celebration” and what with the wine that comes with the meal we are well supplied!

Amuse Boucher tonight is tamarind/shrimp/peanuts on pineapple and salmon/roe/chilis on cucumber
We have the delicious mussels again tonight served with East Generation Dry Riesling
Also with the Dry Riesling is a much better rendition of the octopus salad
Delicious sable hot and sour soup, spicy!
The next two dishes are served with a Tantalus Juveniles Pinot Noir. First is a green beef curry
The other is a really yummy eggplant and pork belly stir fry
Chocolate ganache served with an Italian Moscato is for dessert

This is a wonderful ending to a really super summer road trip!

August 18, 2017 – Van Dusen Botanical Gardens, Vancouver, BC

We spend a lovely afternoon at the Van Dusen Botanical Gardens. We were last here in 2008. Although things do not change too much in the plant world, this place is always beautiful to see.

We are greeted by a pond, fountain, and water lilies

We head off to the rose garden. Even though it is late in the season, there are still quite a few roses. I even like the spent blooms, dropping their petals listlessly.

Best rose picture I took
My favorite – yellow roses
Did I mention that I love yellow roses?

Departing the rose garden, there are beautiful plant landscapes everywhere.

Some plants and flowers
I love how these bright yellow daisies are highlighted by both their own foliage and the large barberry behind them

There are all sorts of gardens here from all over the world. I am having trouble with my back and cannot see as much as I would have liked. Here are a few more special ones.

Artichoke thistle
Tansy

John walks over to the vegetable gardens while I sit a while on a bench and commune with nature.  The tomatoes here are way behind Sarah’s. She reports that we are overrun with tomatoes at home. I guess the almost thousand mile difference in location makes a big difference in the lives of these plants.

Still green tomatoes in BC

The restaurant, Shaughnessy, here at the gardens is open for lunch until 3 PM so we decide to have a late lunch and let it count for both lunch and dinner. We split an appetizer and an entree.

Calamari with olives, onions, fried capers and yogurt/mint sauce
Steelhead trout with a shrimp and rice cake, grilled tomatoes, asparagus and carrot/ginger sauce.

We have had a lovely day and it makes us happy!

Happy us!

August 17, 2017 – Zoo news

Today we took the spectacular ride from Whistler to Vancouver. What scenery!! Here are a couple of pictures I took out the window of the car.

Canada 99, the Sea to Sky Highway, closely parallels the Strait of Georgia
The Strait of Georgia empties into the Strait of Juan de Fuca and then into the Pacific Ocean

It is too early to check in so we decide to head down to the zoo in Langley about a half and hour or so southeast of Vancouver. George has been saying that Jonathan has the best wildlife siting (a moose) on our respective vacations and we are ready to prove him wrong! After a quick lunch at Mc Donald’s we are off to the zoo.

This is not the world’s best zoo. There are a lot of attractions that are empty. Others have aninmals that are hiding somewhere. Unfortunately we never see a moose which was our main goal. However, John gets to participate in the raptor show by catching a hawk on his wrist and that makes the pretty steep fee all worth it.

John’s big moment and other moose related pictures –

John catching the hawk
John petting the hawk
Moose-ter and hen
Collared moose-ary
Nadal and family (capybaras)
Night-flying hooting moose
The flightless moose-trich
African striped moose
A rare Australian moose

We win!

We have a late dinner at Maenam which we have been looking forward to for a year. Once again we get the Chef’s Tasting Menu.

Amuse bouche – tamarind shrimp on pineapple and coconut custard and shrimp (yum) served with Wild Goose Pinot Blanc
Hot and sour shrimp soup with oyster mushrooms (still drinking Pinot blanc)
Braised octopus salad served with Kitsch Pinot noir rose
Steamed mussels with chilis, lemon grass, Thai basil, and kafir lime leaves plus nam jim sauce (Yum) Pinot noir rose also goes with this dish
Penang braised beef curry served with Tantalus Juveniles Pinot noir
Stir fry hanger steak with baby corn, Szechuan green long pepper, green beans, and bell pepper (Tantalus Juveniles Pinot noir)
Coconut ice cream with frozen raspberries (Yum)

I have noted three things with a special “yum” as being particularly outstanding. However, this year the food is not quite as wonderful as last year’s. I think maybe it is because there is too much beef. Maybe people were complaining that it was too seafood centric. We are going again on Saturday and we will have the Chef’s Tasting Menu again as it changes day to day. They also have a vegetarian tasting menu that we might try.

August 16, 2917 – Gondola time

We have a lazy morning and head out to the gondolas around 11:30 in the morning. It is a pretty 20 minute walk to the gondolas.

Hanging flowers in a shopping area. The farmers’ market will be here later in the day
Covered bridge
Rushing creek

When we get to the gondola area it is packed full with mountain bikers of all ages and tents selling all sorts of bike paraphernalia. There are many signs which say, walk your bike!, but not many are paying attention. We run the gauntlet to the gondola.

There’s a bit of a wait for the gondola as some gondola cars are for bikers only. They and their bikes have to get up the mountain too!

Bikes in a gondola car

The views out the windows are incredible. I take a lot of pictures. It takes quite a while to get to the top of the mountain. Then we will take another gondola from Whistler Mountain to Blackcomb Mountain.

We pass by part of the mountain biking route as we go up
Getting toward the top!

We get out and walk around for a bit. It is quite barren up here.

John meet bear
A look at nearby peaks

Now we get into the intimidating peak to peak gondola.

View down to Whistler and the lake
John looking out the gondola car window
Gondolas going by

Our plan is to take a look around, take some pictures, and have some lunch at the restaurant here at the top of the mountain.

John on Blackcomb Mountain with Whistler far below
Mary of the mountains

The restaurant includes a cafeteria style restaurant and one with table service. We choose Christine’s at Blackcomb Mountain and we are glad we did. We decide to share one appetizer and one entree. Both are great!

We start with hamachi with pickled grapes, olives, almonds, and grill shishito peppers
This burger is definitely big enough for two. It’s a Vietnamese pork burger with pickled vegetables. The bowl of root vegetable chips is really yummy.
After lunch we spot some wildlife – a hairy marmot

Then it’s back across and then down the Whistler Mountain again. After are walk back to the hotel we need some rest time. We decide against dinner and just have some snacks and wine and call it a night.

Great day in a beautiful place

August 15, 2017 – Through the burn to Whistler

It is still smoky in Kamloops in the morning. We ask at the desk and they say that the roads are open to Whistler. As we hit the highway there is a disturbing sign saying that the entrance to 99 from 97 is closed. That is the way we are going. Then there are no more signs so we take our chances and continue on. As it turns out we are allowed to proceed but only with a pilot car through the recently burned area.

I do not take any pictures until we are clear of the smoke. Everything is really hazy. Finally we get beyond the smoke area and we head to have some lunch in one of few towns that are on our route, Lillooet. Since we had such an abysmal experience trying local food yesterday we decide to go with generic fast food at A & W. One thing I can say about Canadians they are nice, polite, and helpful. (Maybe three things!) We tell the woman behind the counter what we want and she figures out how we can get it. Having an old time-y root beer is the frosting on the cake.

John enjoying an A & W root beer

The scenery on our rather long drive today is spectacular. There’s mountains, more turquoise lakes and rivers, and fast running creeks. We stop every once in a while to take pictures.

Beautiful Lake Seton
Waterfall
Mountain peaks
Rushing Cayoosh Creek

Finally after almost six hours we are getting closer to Whistler. The mountains are taller now and some are still snow covered.

Mountains with snow

After stopping for some iced coffee with about 30 minutes to go we reach Whistler. It is really busy! It seems that some big downhill mountain bike racing event is going on. We check into the Four Seasons Resort and are pleased with our room. It has room for sitting, blogging, and sleeping!

Sitting area of room

After a while of relaxing we opt not to eat at the fancy fine dining restaurant and opt for the bar where they have a smaller (and cheaper) menu. We order a charcouterie and cheese board and it is really good. Most of the sausages are made with duck or elk. One is flavored with juniper berries. It’s enough for dinner.

Cheese and charcouterie board

Tomorrow we will take the gondola up the mountain and then the peak to peak gondola to go near the top of Blackcomb Mountan. I am hoping I will not be freaked out by the heights.

August 14, 2017 – Turquoise Lake Louise

We get up early this morning because we have heard that if you are not at Lake Louise before 9 AM, you probably will not get a parking space. The Lake is about 45 minutes away so we leave shortly after 7AM.

Downtown Banff early in the morning
Departing Banff there are a lot of low clouds
The drive is lovely

I have a plan. I figure we should go directly to Lake Louise and see it first.  Everyone has heard of Lake Louise but how many people have heard of Moraine Lake. Turns out that Lake Moraine is on the back of one of the Canadian coins, I think. Plus it is Canada’s150th birthday and all their national parks are free and crowded. But first, Lake Louise which is named after the 4th child of Queen Victoria. The fabulous turquoise color comes from “rock flour carried into the lake by melt-water from the glaciers that overlook the lake.” Wikipedia

Lake Louise
John by Lake Louise
Mary by Lake Louise
Flowers by Lake Louise!

So far my plan has worked for avoiding crowds. Now we are heading to Moraine Lake. Ever since George showed us pictures of Moraine Lake I have looked forward to seeing it. What I had not planned on was the horde of people who were already there. The parking lot and street parking is full all the way to the point where you are no longer allowed to park on the street. We wander around the parking lot but there are no spaces. The sad picture is a tiny sliver of Lake Moraine taken from the parking lot. Many people in cars, RVs, and buses come and park and then go for extended hikes which makes it impossible for people, who can no longer hike great distances, without a place to park.

As close as I was going to get to Lake Moraine

We drive to a pullout as we travel back along the road to and from Lake Moraine for some memories of the misty mountains.

Misty mountains
More misty mountains

We still have five hours left to drive not counting the innumerable delays for road construction and lunch. Speaking of lunch, I had the worst lunch ever in Revelstoke. It consisted of a burnt-to-a-crisp hamburger and overcooked but soggy fries. It must be a sign that I need to stop eating these things. I thought it would be a safe order. I took no pictures.

As we finally approach Kamloops, BC the smoke is really thick. It is hard to see much of anything.

Kamloops is full of smoke from the nearby fires

We are staying at the Fairfield Inn and Suites which we have found to be the most consistent of the chain hotels. After some relaxing we go to dinner at Romeo’s Kitchen and Spirits. This is supposed to be run by the celebrity chef of Kamloops. He has appeared on Iron Chef and Chopped Canada. Once again John orders better than I do. I should just order whatever he is having.

My Penang Tofu Curry ( I substituted tofu for chicken)
John’s Laksa

Tomorrow we are going to Whistler, BC and hopefully out of all the smoke which makes me cough.

August 13, 2017 – Into the Canadian Rockies

After spending an inordinate amount of time finding gas and somewhere for breakfast, we were finally on the road around 10:30 AM. This was supposed to be an early departure day since we wanted to go past Banff and see Lake Louise and Moraine Lake today. However, we’ve decided to push them off until tomorrow so that we can view them with fewer people early in the morning.

We have been on the prairie since Idaho and I am excited that today will feature terrain. It is a hazy morning so we do not see the Canadian Rocky Mountains until we get quite close and, wow, are they impressive – craggy limestone piercing the sky. I take some pictures from the car as we approach.

Canadian Rockies!
Getting closer to Banff

We are staying at the Moose Hotel. We check in early and they upgrade us to a suite, sweet! They have a moose statue out front.

John and moose 3

We walk to the local IGA and get some snacks that will take the place of lunch and some bagels and cream cheese for breakfast tomorrow and settle in to watch the Federer/Zverev match. Somewhere during the match Federer must have hurt his back or something because in the second set he is hardly trying. He loses. Boo.

It’s raining so we decide to stay in and relax. We are getting up early tomorrow so we need our energy. Later we go downstairs and eat at the hotel restaurant, Pacini, and have an okay meal. John has lasagna and I have penne primavera. They have this weird grill arrangement where you toast your own bread. Afterwards we come back to the room and I am now fighting with the internet to try to get my pictures uploaded but at this point it doesn’t look good.

Early Monday AM. – most people must still be asleep because I am able to upload the pictures.

John’s lasagna
My pasta primavera – more vegetables, less pasta, please!

 

 

August 12, 2017 – Drumheller, Alberta

We have based ourselves just northwest of Calgary which gives us flexibility in our sightseeing. Today we range about 130 kilometers to the northeast to learn about dinosaurs, mining, and the old Canadian West.

Yesterday I bought an app which gives us a tour of the area. We drive, we enjoy. We do not have to do anything. Our tour guide is synced with our GPS and just comes on with info when we need it. Seems to me my Trip-Tickle was supposed to work like this.

Here is what we are guided to –

Horseshoe Canyon. This is the type of banded rock we are going to see.
A typical rock full of inclusions

When we get to Drumheller we are directed to the Visitor’s Centre where we also see the world’s biggest dinosaur.

The world’s largest dinosaur evilly
stepping on someone’s pick-up truck

 

John and triceratops

From there we head out on the hoodoo trail. The places we go to either have s connection to mining or geology. Our first stop is at a suspension footbridge over the Red Deer River. This was used by miners who lived across the river from the mines.

Looking across the suspension bridge
View of the bridge from the side

Just like a Bryce Canyon NP there are hoodoos except that the colors tend to be the muted browns and cream of the surrounding countryside. We take a walk among the hoodoos.

Hoodoos!
Lone hoodoo
Hoodoo sentinels
Top of a hoodoo
OMG, an actual picture of me! (Unfortunately there is a big red blob over my face courtesy of the camera or the sun or something)

Then we drive along to the Atlas Coal Mine which is now a state historic site. It has a wooden tipple (coal sorter) and for $10 each we could go have a closer look but we decided we’ve seen enough coal mines during previous trips (which is why we know what a tipple is).

Banded hills as we ride along towards the Atlas Mine

 

Atlas Coal Mine

On the way back toward Drumheller we stop at the almost Ghost Town, Wayne. The only things in the town supposedly inhabited are the Rosedeer Hotel land the Last Chance Saloon. We walk through the saloon and the lobby of the hotel but find no ghosts so we continue on our way in search of lunch back in town.

Last Chance Saloon and Rosedeer Hotel in Wayne, Alberta

We understand that Tim Horton’s is the iconic lunch place in Canada. We’ve seen them everywhere. Much like poutine we have managed to avoid it so far but, seriously, it cannot be as bad as poutine (sounds). We thought it would be sort of like Denny’s but it is not. It is more like McDonald’s without hamburgers and fries. You order at a counter and pick up your food. I have a BLT on a untoasted French roll. John had a cold cut sandwich. The sandwiches are accompanied by soggy potato wedges. We won’t be going back.

 

Iconic Tim Horton’s

After lunch it is our plan to go to the Royal Tyrell Museum of Palaeontology. It seems half of Canada has the same plan so we decide to do the second half of our audio tour and come back later. This is the Dinosaur Loop but there was nothing about dinosaurs in the tour. First we went to Horsethief Canyon where, guess what, horse thieves used to hide their stolen horses, rebrand them, and then try to sell them. It is an overlook. We take some pictures.\

A view of Horsethief Canyon – I am standing on the edge here and the canyon is quite deep
View from the other side

Then we take a ferry (which the narrator keeps calling a fairy, annoyingly) that holds thirteen cars across the Red Deer River. The ferry is pulled across by a cable. It is named the Bleriot Ferry. The guy who it is named after is the brother of the more famous Bleriot who was the first person to fly solo across the English Channel. John remarked that he was wondering if they were related. I was more, “Bleriot, who?”

Our car getting on the ferry
Our car on the ferry. It was a very slow ride.

Our last stop is at the Orkney Viewpoint which is quite scenic and overlooks the canyon with the prairie stretching out beyond it.

Scenic look at the Red Deer River
Looking across the coulee to the prairie (the thin edge of yellow at the top of the picture)

We take another shot at the Tyrell Museum but there are no parking spaces. We give up and head back to the hotel where we watch some tennis and eat some dinner. Tomorrow we head to Banff. I am looking forward to terrain!

Our appetizer is drunken shrimp which is delicious. It is the best thing we have had here at the hotel restaurant
John has his old standby, Buffalo chicken wings and a salad
I have Chicken Tikka Masala with rice and naan (the naan is actually pita)