Yellowstone

After Seattle it was kind of a longish drive to Yellowstone. I had planned only one stop in Coeur D'Alene so that meant 2 seven hour drives. Not that I mind - driving a convertible through beautiful scenery is kind of why I take these trips - but still. When I left Seattle the weather was not all that good but I felt pretty sure once I cleared the first mountain range that would improve.



And so it did. The first 3 hours of the trip the scenery was very impressive with interesting driving to compliment it. Just like a road trip should be: a surprise after every turn.



After that the road became a little bit more boring. Three hours of almost straight driving tested my zen-ness to its breaking point. After a while the boredom itself became the interesting event.



Coeur D'Alene was a typical US town in beautiful scenery. I was however too tired to enjoy it. If only I had planned my trip a little differently. Quite frankly I was surprised I had planned it this way. I always like to keep some time to explore the couleur locale.

The next day came and I had settled in to the rhythm of the road. The six or so hours to Yellowstone flew past, no doubt helped by the views. You follow rivers almost all the way and it really was not bad. I entered the park wishing that I would have planned some more time here. It turned out you should be careful what you wish for.

When I checked in the guy who helped me looked at me a little disturbed. "Do you maybe have two reservations?" I inquired why he asked and it turned out I had indeed planned the drive to Yellowstone with a little more time. I was supposed to arrive a day later... I checked my planning and saw I had shifted some stuff around leading to a one day gap in my planning. I had meant to overnight between Coeur D'Alene and Yellowstone but had forgotten all about it and not booked a hotel. Almost all accommodation in and around Yellowstone is always sold out or sold at a huge premium. Trying to use the internet to get a good deal was out of the question....


This were to become the 3 quietest days of my life.

I went into Gardiner and found a new motel (only opened that week) and managed to get a favorable rate. Pretty good place too. Upside: I had the extra day in Yellowstone I wanted and - as it turned out - needed to see it properly. Yellowstone is amazing! I enjoyed it thoroughly and I can recommend it to everyone.









There are two many sights to explain everything here. What you get is the sense that you are spending a lot of time on top of an active volcano. There are geysers everywhere and every once in a while you turn a corner and the smell of sulphur penetrates your nose and sure enough, there is a pool of sorts there. You are warned not to wander off the roads unless you know what you are doing. For one you have the thermal activity everywhere and second of all, there is a lot of wild life...



Hikers are supposed to carry bear spray or so I was told. Never got to find out since my foot is pretty bad again and if I walk for more than 20 minutes (especially in terrain) I am in considerable pain. I am afraid I will need to have that fixed when I get back...







It is a particularly pretty place, even if you can't get out and criss cross the countryside. My hotel in the middle of the park was basic but I liked that. No internet, no telephone service, nothing. I had a friendly neighbor. Several dozen of them actually.


They are just cute rats, really. :)

Old Faithful - a well know geyser - is said to erupt every hour on the hour. That is untrue. It erupts every 90 minutes or so with a fault margin of 20 minutes. So that is why I - and several hundred other people - where anxiously waiting for the show to start at 3:20PM. It is funny to see al those people there...



As you can probably see by the look of the boy in the foreground Old Faithful was late. about 25 minutes late. Quite obviously not build in Japan. It had a number of false starts and the 'ooooooooohs' and 'aaaaaaaaahs' were almost laughable. Eventually it went leaving me largely underwhelmed.





One of the other things you don't realize is that the park is quite elevated. You are on top of a volcano and the edge of the caldera (crater) is about 7000 feet high. So you get this:



Still around 16C mind you. You can drive this with the top down. I will leave you with some random pictures.













All in all a memorable stay and well worth the drive. I am also glad I messed my reservations up so I got another day in the park. I would really love to go back some day and spend maybe a week there. Now it is back to Canada!

Slept very well in Seattle, thank you.

I will get back to my enjoyable stay at Vancouver Island at a later point. It wasn't half bad. Lovely hotel and beautiful scenery, albeit a bit like 100 other parts of the world. The last whole day I spend in Seattle. I arrived two days ago on the ferry (very Grey's Anatomy like) and immediately liked the city. The fact that is was 25C and sunny might have had something to do with that. My hotel was nice and I got a room on the 32nd floor overlooking the city and the Space Needle.



I arrived around 8PM so I decided on an Eeeeeat Fresssssh (Subway) sandwich for dinner. I watched a movie and fell asleep like a log. Slept for over 10 hours to narrowly make it for breakfast at 09:15. It was a dreary day so I decided that - since I liked flying around the world so much - I needed to visit the Seattle Museum of Flight. A perfectly fine museum with some interesting exhibits but I am not yet geeky enough for it.



Took a bit of a drive around the city to find that it has some very nice and some not so nice neighborhoods. It is a small city (by American standards) and you can't help feeling like there are more firsts here than 'just' Starbucks and other little companies like Microsoft and Boeing.

After a nice Sushi dinner I went to bed early again, wanting to leave at dawn for my long drive to Coeur D'Alene. I decided to take the US-2 instead of the I-90. Still at my hotel room however since the weather was a bit bad this morning. It cleared up now so I am will be leaving shortly. Looking forward to it!

Vancouver Island

Yesterday I arrived at Vancouver Island after a 2 hour ferry ride from Vancouver. The ferry was not extremely busy and to be honest, it was rather chilly. Still managed to enjoy the 'mini-cruise' (or Tom Cruise for insiders) and talk to some interesting people. I get the impression that the recession has hit the US and Canada in a more profound way than in (Northern) Europe. The economy is much more opportunistic here so the effects of a setback cause much more bankruptcies, both personal and business. You see a lot of dilapidated towns and industrial sites.



Even my hotel - which looks astonishing from the outside - is in need of updating and repairs. You can't beat the location and since I got it at a deeply discounted rate you won't hear me complaining either.



After a short night's sleep (woke up at 06:00 again) I decided that today I do a tour of the island. My route was about 300 km long (you can find it here) and was supposed to take all day. Unfortunately the setback in the economy meant that a lot of the 'attractions' along the way were dead and deserted so I was home at 4PM. I did have lunch at a wonderful spot. Beautiful location so I was surprised there weren't many guests. That is that economy for ya...



I can't say Vancouver Island is very photogenic. Maybe you find the good places if you go hiking but with my foot injury that is a no go. It is very beautiful, mind you, just not photogenic. I was looking for unique sights and could not really find any. I guess I have to go to Namibia for that.


Best I could do...

I was really taken aback by the town called Honeymoon Bay. You could see this was once a thriving community with a lot of hotels and shops but now every other house/shop was for sale and 'reduced in price!'. At the town's square there was a charity event for a family who were recently evicted from their home. Although it was an excellent opportunity to take some good pictures I just couldn't. I paid C$20 for an ice cream to support the cause and that was it. A lot of towns look like that.

Back at the hotel now and I think I will take a short nap. My body clock is still not working right. Tomorrow I might go even further north, weather permitting.

Sightseeing in Vancouver

Today I divided into two parts. This morning I visited all the sights in the city of Vancouver by car, this afternoon I took a long walk through town to (window) shop. Neither was a particularly big success. To be honest, Vancouver is not a pretty city. It is a bit like the ugly, little, poor sister of San Francisco and Sydney. With no sights to speak of and a lot of poverty. The atmosphere of the city is quite relaxed, mind you, but you see a lot of hippies pushing shopping carts around and grunge is apparently still hip. There is no way to make it look attractive.



That being said, I kind of like it but not like the two aforementioned cities. Not much to see and do unfortunately. Tomorrow I will head out to Vancouver Island. Something I am really looking forward to. Unfortunately it will be raining but since I will be there for 3 days I am sure I will get to enjoy the laid back feel of Victoria.

I have one word left for Vancouver.



Nah, that is not fair. I am sure it could grow on me. Eventually. Just not this time.

Vancouver

Today I arrived in Vancouver. After a trip with some minor annoyances like getting picked for a security check and then missing several items (eventually recovered) and some delays on the inbound to London. The trip itself was nice. It is about a 9,5 hour flight and that is perfectly doable in business. (Yes, I am that spoiled!).



When arriving in Vancouver you immediately get the feeling this is a friendly city. It looks nice and driving around for a bit I found it quite pretty too. I got myself a nice, white Mustang Convertible and have settled into the Holiday Inn in Vancouver Centre. Not the most luxurious place in the world but much nicer than I thought. The view is not bad...



Going to find a place to have a bite to eat now. Need to try and stay awake for at least 3 more hours. Look forward to seeing more of this beautiful city.

PS: The bite to eat turned into room service. A bit too tired to go out. Chicken Quesadillas rule.

Another nice trip in the making

It is time. I need some peace and quiet and I want to tour beautiful scenery. I will get my chance. 16th of June I will leave for a road trip through British Columbia (Canada), Washington State and Yellowstone Natl Park. Finally a trip where I once again can take my cameras and go crazy. I even managed to get me a Ford Mustang convertible at the last moment for a very good price.



I will fly into Vancouver and stay there for 2 days followed by a 3 day stay in Victoria on Vancouver Island. Next I will cross into the USA and go to Seattle to play in the rain (most likely). In two days I will drive to Yellowstone where I will stay in the park for 3 days. It will take me another 3 days to drive to Kelowna where I will stay with a former colleague who has opened a B&B there. My last night will be in Whistler.

Only 10 more nights.