West Coast Trip 1 - Canadian Bramble Crumble and Doris Day

Outside of Tinseltown which is nearly all fictional anyway We have finally found a city substantiating the claim that America is the country that never sleeps - Seattle. Nowhere else have we emerged from an airport at 11.30 of an evening trying to shoehorn the car into 6 full lanes of warp factor traffic that is the Interstate 5. Being required to concentrate so intently was a tad unfortunate because we had been upgraded to first class because cattle class was entirely full and American Airlines had run out of cattle prods. Uncharacteristically having already eaten before we got to the departure lounge P was gutted that he had absolutely no room to accommodate a blue cheese steak and had to content himself imbibing 4 hours worth of flight away. He emerged relaxed and chilled whereas I was approaching the colour of a Florida orange since I couldn't bear the crestfallen look of the first class trolley dolly when I asked for water each time. Actually given the demands of first class passengers other than P and I she was beginning to look more like a rag doll.

There are two things you need to know about this holiday and the blog:

1 You need to enlarge the scenery pictures in order to get some real perspective and even then I don't think I have managed that successfully

2 We unconsciously set ourselves a target of staying in motels of ever decreasing price in towns of decreasing population.

Night one Seattle - $68 population 602,000 (ok we have to work on the population side)...our receptionist had brown buck teeth but a helpful manner. And it's off to



Then on to Vancouver $65 a night population 578,041 lemon bonbon capital of the world



Stanley Park





And at last I have my camera to catch my favourite burglar.



And my next favourite who specialises in brambles



We pinched enough to make a crumble but had to eat them all.....

Vancouver is a cool place with a San Francisco west coast feel to it. Old Gastown steam powered clock



and modern architectural backdrop



Botticelli or Vermicelli or RowntreesVodkaJelli



This image is included because P managed his famous knee trembling camera shot...as a defiant male flying in the face of that well known fact that men CANNOT multi task...he decided to clench the "Canada - A Polar bear in snowstorm" mug which I had found amusing between his knees whilst taking ths hot s0

- Pose
- Press button
- Open knees
- falling mug.

- "Hey that was lucky it isn't bro"...
- handle gently releases itself from the container bit
- "KEN!!!!!!".



Time to mooch down to the harbour to watch the sea planes.........

That's not a sea plane



Those are trees on a roof...



I thought the French were across the other side



Out of Vancouver heading for Horseshoe Bay, Lion's bay hugging Howe Sound the biggest fjord in the continent of North American:




Canada or tropics?



And so to Squamish - home to wait for it I kid you not

The first White woman baby born in West Africa?????

And other assorted nutters who we met and saw while we stopped for coffee in the coffee shop that had no milk.



Strange landscapes



And more beautiful scenery





And so here beginneth our big adventure it was on this day that S and P watched the back of the train disappear up the track



and headed off into back country fully equipped with camera and erm...plenty of battery in the camera....two kleenex tissues and much enthusisasm



Having taken numerous photos of my painstaking descent to sell to famous mountaineering publications such as "Abseil Antics" and "My father was an Alpine Goat" P switched to his other photographic interest which I have encouraged....And so we have a passing viper

And by the time I joined him we have 6



And a re-enactment of that local tribes peoples' ritual dance "OOHBLOODYHELLITSANEST" in which the snakes perform a rear up manouever accompanied by darting vivid red forked tongues.

Here endeth P and S journey into the wild unknown of unmarked paths, taking stock in a place of peace and tranquility hoping to find some digitalis which might slow the old ticker down



Back to the car and the first glimpse of our first planned objective:



$95 a night, population 9,965




Question: What do skiers do in a ski resort when there's no snow!
Answer: They don plastic body armour temporarily having a six pack in the place where a rice krispie pack normally resides and do this:



and this



With a backdrop of this:



Apparently the Winter Olympics is happening there next year...wonder where the PMI (Pointless Memorabilia Industry) will turn it's tacky eye next.

Back the way have come now...there is only one major road in and out and of course there is the border control to get back in to the US.



Note the text on the arch.....and if we are then why does it take 2 and half sodding hours to get back in??? And my irritation and descent into profanity has nothing to do with the fact that I was trying to smuggle a Cuban cigar back across the border for P to smoke at his leeeeeezure.

Tantrum over on to our second planned objective..."Billam's Desire"



Seattle's Space Needle actually.

The skyline from the top



And the sunset




and then from the bottom again



and a mystically lit neighbour



Now you may not have me down as an old romantic..well at least not old but here it is the house I want to live in though I have to say without Tom Hanks ...Know the film yet???



Well at least maybe a mailbox like this and a neighbourhood to match







P agreed to the deal provided he can go shopping in one of these



And go down to the seafront to try Ivar's fish and chips.

Whacker's of Scarborough need not be worried. But we have discovered that seagulls get their holiday maker harrassment technique and expectations built up by dimwits in Seattle where we witnessed a woman gving bread to her granddaughet to feed to seagulls who were about the same size as her. And in case that was low on buzz factor she was putting bread in her (own) mouth for the seagulls to collect mid-flight! Half the seagull population could have sat on my lap and helped themselves to both our portions and we wouldn't have noticed.

Off to



before I smack Seagull Sally for being stupid ...to witness grown men chucking large halibut at each other for the entertainment of the tourists.








Enough of the city life off to




Now this next pic is not good but what you have to know is that Mount Rainier is that big, it is that big that you don't look high enough to spot it on a cloudy day but where on the right you have the break in the clouds and what looks like a slighty pointy cloud...that forms almost the same dome shape as the trees below......that is Mount Rainier from about 30 miles away. Click on it to double check.



This is the country side you travel to get to it.





This is a glimpse of it through the clouds as you round a corner



From the car park



From where you then walk away to start to climb



Then you look back







Then you arrive at a particular vantage point and the cloud rolls in



This is a 1000 ft drop behind P.



And this is it by the time I got down to the same spot...



As we leave:



And time to look for vittles, all together now... queue Doris Day and the Deadwood stage. Well actually Packwood $65, population 1,010

We stayed here:



In the Presidential Suite



And had school dinners watching these



With this watching over us



On such a view we endeth the first instalment and you can take pity on the fact that the Presidential suite had 70's green shag pile carpet and I had Barry White finally "Getting it Together" in my head but lest you be panicking this is not "My First My Last My Everything" ...