Pacific Time Zone

Last fall, we adapted to four different time zones within 30 days.  Eastern, Central, Mountain, and then Pacific.  But now that we've been on the west coast for 6 months, I'm not sure how easy its going to be going back.  Especially because we have been taken hostage by an attention demanding time-thief - our new TV.

 It used to be so easy to go to bed at my usual early time and get up with the sun, but throw in a little electronic entertainment and suddenly I'm staying up later and sleeping in.  Kinda like I'm retired.


Granted, there are rules.  No television during the day.  Daylight hours are reserved for exploring the area around us, or for more mundane things like maintenance and cleaning.

That's why last week we were outside and able to bike a few of the local bike paths, and enjoy several ethnic restaurants. We even hiked some of Lynn Canyon and my family managed to get me out onto the suspension bridge. Notice how tight I'm holding on!


But now evenings are spent renewing our acquaintance with channels, old and new. Sports, reality, comedy, sports, drama. (Guess who holds the remote?)


So it's probably a good thing we are packing up to go even further west. Vancouver Island beckons with its new vistas and undiscovered delights.  So the trailer - and tv - are staying with our extended family here on the mainland to reduce the cost of taking the ferries.

Yup, for two weeks we will be roughing it again. Back to books and campfires.  Sleeping in the truck and worrying about bears.  Maybe going to bed at my normal time of "early".

After we return from the Island, we will be heading east and crossing those time zones again the hard way and losing a precious hour with each one.

I need to catch up on my sleep.

W

In The Lap of Luxury

The appointment to repair the trailer never happened. We showed up, but they did not have the parts required and it would have taken a couple of days to finish repairs. So, on a spur of the moment decision, we headed for the border. We were a day earlier than planned and so had to make the necessary preparations on the last rest stop before Canada. List of declarations, check. Receipt for the bicycles and police report for the stolen bikes, check. Passports and Canadian money at the ready, check. After all that, the crossing was a breeze. The Canadian official was very friendly, and reviewed the bike receipt and the report. It was a little surprising to me that we cleared customs without even the usual question about alcohol. Little did I know that hubby had stuck the postit note with the full list of declarations onto the front of the police report. Just to keep it handy, you know. We got a smile and a "Welcome home".

The directions to the RV park we had reserved in Vancouver were very clear. We could have easily made it to the site within an hour of the border crossing if it wasn't for the Canadian summer "season": Construction. As it was, we sat in bumper to bumper traffic on Hwy 1 for quite a time before we got to our exit. Watching the directions carefully, we were only 2 blocks from the park when, immediately after a left turn on a green light, a police car flipped his siren on for us. There wasn't much room for the full 51' of us to pull over on this slight downhill leading into a turn, but we edged over just as far as we could. We turned puzzled eyes to the cop as he came up to the door, standing dangerously on the driver's side beside the traffic. He started into a spiel about "here in BC we have a law about breakaway cables"...etc. Oh good, we hadn't done anything wrong. He just needed to test our trailer brakes, and liked to do it on a downhill as an added test. No problem, we tested just fine. Good thing to know they work, though. We were glad to get to our park just around the corner and get settled in. Our best welcome into canada was the weather. From clouds and steady rain in the northern states, we finally found sunshine and warm days.

This park has all the perks. WiFi, pool, fitness room, hot tub. Each site has surrounding hedges for privacy. It has convenient access to the buses and the Skytrain. What a change from what we have experienced so far. City living at its finest. Of course, you pay for the privilege, but here, close to the attractions of Vancouver, it is worth it. Vancouver City is delightful. No wonder so many people want to live here. It is bicycle friendly, pedestrian friendly, and the transit is amazing. We spent one day on Granville Island - and could have stayed longer. This "island" is just outside of downtown and is full of boutiques, restaurants and a huge market with fresh seafood, produce and other goodies.

On another day we took public transit into downtown Vancouver and Chinatown. Every city should have a "skytrain". Instead of dark tunnels, the windows showcased the Rockies behind the city.

Stanley Park almost deserves a blog of its own. It is a greenspace peninsula on the edge of the city's downtown, surrounded on the three sides by a seawall. This seawall is paved with two lanes: one for walking and the other for bicycles and inline skates. These lanes can get so busy that the bike lane is only one way to prevent collisions. The first time we rode the bike lane, it took us 4 hours. Of course, the first time around there are things to look at, like totem poles and information panels and sculptures...and the view! Not to mention places to stop for lunch. Once we got all the way around, we smiled at each other and said, "Let's do it again!". The second time was for exercise and it only took us 35 minutes. But the first one was so much more fun. We still have more to see in the park. There are sandy beaches we breezed by on the bikes, and we intend to go back to see the aquarium. W

Uh-oh

We left Ontario almost 6 months ago, drove down to the Gulf of Mexico then straight west to California. We followed the Pacific Coast all the way from San Francisco to the Olympic Mountains in the State of Washington. 27,000 km in all. That entire trip was relatively trouble-free. Front wheel bearings on the truck had to be replaced unexpectedly in Death Valley, an issue resolved within 24 hours. But otherwise, we have sailed along without any problems on our travels. We were on our way to our final stop in the USA. We left our campground in the morning with only 3 hours to drive and expected to be in a new campsite for lunch. A rest stop came up offering free coffee, and we decided to pull in. On the way back to the truck, coffee in hand, was a penny on the ground. I have never been able to pass this up. So I bent over and picked up my lucky penny, and continued on to the vehicles.

Walking around the trailer, the last tire was very flat. Not seeing or hearing any obvious puncture, hubby removed the tire to be put on the compressor for pumping. I was asked to lower the back leveler to help stabilize the trailer while on the jack. It didn't take long to find the metal object sticking in through the treads, the air hissing out angrily around it. So be it. The tire was put back on, and a tire shop located up ahead. We had only just pulled out of the rest stop when cars going by us were honking and pointing at our rear. Yeah, yeah, we know about the tire, thanks anyway. But then a sharp scraping had us pulling over fast. Turns out that I had put down two levelers, and only one had been raised. The air was a little blue as temporary repairs were done. As we sat at the tire shop having a 5" scissors blade removed from the tire, I took out the "lucky" penny and dropped it back on the ground. Now, I am not a superstitious person, but I was not taking any chances. Not this close to Canada. We had already stretched our US trip to the max, and if we were going to be stranded for any length of time, I'd rather it was in a country we couldn't be kicked out of.

After that, we got to our intended campgrounds with no further issues. We were even able to lower the leveler, although it was bent and missing a few bolts. We missed lunch altogether, and it was definitely time for wine before our dinner. We have repairs scheduled at a place a few miles north of here, and I can guarantee that we are out more than the one cent. So if you happen to be outside a tire shop in Washington, don't pick up any pennies.

Into the Woods

The scenery along the coasts of Oregon and Washington State is wonderful, marred only by their policy of forest clear-cutting. This is a picture of the "mohawk cut" on the hills beside Nehalem Beach State Park. Bare hills are seen all along the highways. They do reforestation as well, and the signs along the road indicate when the area was forested. But reforestation only replants the trees they intend to cut later, and so the trees along the roads tend to be all the same.

So its a good thing they set aside areas like the Olympic National Park, where old growth forests are allowed to stand. Unlike the clear cut areas, these woods have an amazing diversity. We took a two day drive around the perimeter of the park, venturing into park roads and short trails, "just scouting" as my hubby says, "for a future visit". The scouting trip was great. You can see me looking up at a very large Sitka Spruce.

We walked trails of huge trees, into rain forests full of moss and ferns, and drove up along a ridge with view of the Olympic Mountains. It was amazing the difference all within 2 hours of driving from one area to the next. The lower western side of the mountains was damp rainforest. In driving to the mountains, we started out in the ever-present rain of the coast, then moved up into the fog and mist of clouds where wildlife appeared on the edge of the road, mere inches from the abyss behind them. A mile or two later we broke through into the sunlight above the clouds.

There was snow several feet high at the top of the ridge, and snowplows still stood waiting. We enjoyed the views of the valleys and peaks of the mountain range at several stops along the road. We might have taken the time to go snowshoeing near the top, but many months ago I had taken the stand that we were going "south" and therefore had no need to bring such accessories with us. So instead, we completed our circuit of the park by driving the western side - Puget Sound area. It was also in the rainshadow of the mountains, which means we were rain-free for a couple of hours, anyway.

A Cape or Two

The difference between a headland and a cape is the difference in elevation to the surrounding area. A headland is an extenuation of the land around it, it just stops abruptly at a cliff over the sea. A cape, however, soars up like a mountain that appears to have been cut in half by the waves. Either way, they both end in high cliffs.

We hiked a few capes in northern Oregon and Washington State. Our first cape trail was listed as "easy to moderate", so we started off in our running shoes and sandals. Less than 50 meters down the trail we came to the mud. It was bad enough that we turned around and put on our serious hiking boots. Good thing. The 3 mile trail was as much mud as it was trail. It took the most time trying to pick a route through that would keep the water below our laces.

The trails generally start out low, in among the ferns and mossy trees. As it winds higher, the dropoffs get steeper so that you are looking more into the tops of trees growing up from the ravines. You can always tell when the cliffs of the cape are getting close from the sharpness of the wind. It is felt long before the break in the trees appear.

But the cliffs are never the end of the trail. Somehow they expect you to totter along the edge, looking down at the ocean waves some 500 feet or so below you. My biggest fear is clumsiness. I have this image of me tripping, right at an inappropriate time. And of course, being nervous just makes me more clumsy.

The end doesn't come until there are cliffs on both sides. At least the ocean "breeze" is not likely to blow you off the top, as it is coming straight at you from the sea. The end of the cape trail is always a spectacular view of ocean, sky, and rocks. And then we get to retrace our route through the mud.