Page 41 of MrsMac Travel Blog Posts


North America » United States » Washington » Auburn July 22nd 2008

Geo: 47.3075, -122.23We have had an interesting couple of days. Yesterday we drove into Vancouver and first visited the Capilano Suspension Bridge. This is one of the best examples of a suspension bridge in the world. It was originally built in 1889 and has only had minimal upgrades since then. It is now in a park which has a number of attractions. The Douglas firs are huge and the other species of plants there are abundant. It is a temperate rainforest. There is a Treetops walk and another boardwalk which hugs the cliffs. Well worth a hour or two spent. After a pleasant lunch at the small restaurant opposite the park we went into the city. We drove through Stanley Park on the end of the peninsula. This has some good beaches and is obviously the ... read more
Steam Clock in Gastown, Vancouver
The Treetops walk at  Capilano Suspension Bridge

North America » Canada » British Columbia » Richmond July 20th 2008

Geo: 49.1632, -123.137This morning left Lytton about 9-30am. Not in a hurry to ever visit there again! Set out to drive to Vancouver. The road ran along side the mighty Fraser River and the scenery was fine, the river and the pine-covered mountains along the way. Went through the town of Hope which led to inevitable puns about living in Hope and the town which springs eternal!!.Once on the Freeway it was an easy but boring drive into Vancouver. With the help of my magnificent map reading Fletcher navigated his way into downtown Vancouver. However, there was not a motel to be seen. We drove on towards the Seattle road and after much fruitless searching arrived in Richmond where near the airport we found the motels in a cluster!!. We have booked into the Travelodge for ... read more
Confluence orf the Fraser and Thompson rivers
My Boat at Steveston Harbour
Prawns for sale at Steveston Harbour

North America » Canada » British Columbia July 19th 2008

Geo: 50.2338, -121.577Today was a travelling day. We set out from Jasper late after a late breakfast and going to the Post Office to send Lucy and Sam presents for their birthdays. We then drove towards Kamploops. We stopped for lunch at a small town called Blue River. We had a great lunch there at Saddlelodge restaurant. We continued to drive along the Thompson River. One of the observations we have made is of the huge freight trains that run through here. Today as we were driving there were at least 12 trains which each stretched at least a kilometre in length. I managed to count the number of carriages and it was 100!!We drove through Kamploops and on to Highway 1. We decided to stop at a small town called Lytton. It is a very ... read more
Lake Kamploops
The Icefields

North America » Canada » Alberta » Jasper July 18th 2008

Geo: 52.8736, -118.083Wow!! What a great day!! We started in Lake Louise where we went to the Gondola ride up the hillside behind Lake Louise. It cost $25 for the ride but only an extra $2-50 for breakfast which was a huge bonus!! After we had filled ourselves with cereal and bacon, sausages, toast etc we headed to the Chairlift. It is amazing how many young Australians are working here. There were two or three Aussies operating the chairlift and more at the top. We rode on the T-Bar rather than the enclosed gondolas. We were told there was a chance to see Grizzly bears so we kept a keen lookout. We were rewarded when half way up we saw 2 large bears out in the grassy areas foraging for food and another on the other ... read more
Lake Louise
Mother and cubs
On the icefields

North America » Canada » Alberta » Lake Louise July 17th 2008

Geo: 51.4262, -116.178Today we spent discovering the delights of the Rockies. We began this morning by going to Lake Louise. This lake is stunningly beautiful. At one end is Mount Victoria with the Victoria glacier evident on its slopes.At the other is a huge resort hotel called Chateau Lake Louise. To stay and visit here we had to buy a pass from the Parks and Wildlife department which covers all this area. There were many people at Lake Louise. We walked from one end of the lake to another. One way took about 40 minutes. We stopped for many photos which I will include in this entry. The walk was fairly easy with few uphill spots. After we walked back we then moved on to Moraine Lake. This is in the Valley of the Ten Peaks. ... read more
Johnson's Canyon
Lake Louise
Moraine lake

North America » Canada » Alberta » Lake Louise July 16th 2008

Geo: 51.4262, -116.178We were without internet last night so this is an update of the last couple of days. We spent this time doing what we really enjoy the most. We trawled the wineries of the Okanagan Valley. We set out by driving towards Naramata on the shores of Lake Okanagan. Our first stop was at La Frenz which was owned by an Australian. However, the best part of this was the stunning view of the lake from the tasting room. We then made a poor choice of stopping at Elephant Island winery. This proved to be a fruit winery!! They had wine made from apricots, cherries, black currants and pears. Not our taste at all !! We were driving to Lake Breeze, ( had to go there with the obvious Langhorne Creek connections) when a ... read more
Kelowna
Lake Okanagan beach at Penticton
Okanagan lake

North America » Canada » British Columbia » Penticton July 13th 2008

Geo: 49.5002, -119.594Today we left Yakima about 9am and started driving north along Highway 97. The scenery consisted of lakes and mountains and we saw a fire with a helicopter scooping water from the lake to dump on the smouldering brush. It was a fairly uneventual drive, we listened to CDs of Kerry Greenwood novels and Yes Minister radio plays. We stopped for a very ordinary lunch in Okanogan in Washington but then arrived at the Canadian border about 2-30pm. Once through there we were in the Okanagan valley,(yes the variation in spelling is right) and we had the prospect of myriad wineries within a few kilometres. We stopped first at the Burrowing Owl winery. There, a very nice guy called Larry, took us through a tasting of 4 wines and then he recommended some other ... read more
Cannery Row
Drive through tree
John Steinbeck and me

North America » United States » Oregon » Garibaldi July 13th 2008

Geo: 45.56, -123.912We are now in Garibaldi, a small seaside town on the coast of Oregon. We started today by going to the Athletics Track in Eugene. This was Fletcher's reason for stopping here. This is one of the more famous venues for Athletics in the USA and the US Olympic trials were just held here. It is a unique track with all the throws up one end. We also strolled through the campus of the University of Oregon. This is a lovely campus. We then set out to drive up along the coast. First we went to Veneta and visited one of the wineries around here. The King Estate was a great place with very well made wines. A little touristy but the host was very professional. We bought a Pinot Gris and a Shiraz ... read more

North America » United States » Washington » Yakima July 13th 2008

Geo: 46.6041, -120.507We are now in Yakima (stress on the first syllable). We had an interesting day in getting here. Started from Garibaldi and our first stop was at Cannon Beach. Our friend peter Thompson had highly recommended this to us. The coast line along here is very attractive. Cannon Beach is a holiday town , set up for visitors and well developed. It is a bit touristy but very tastefully done. The beach is very attractive. Long, sandy and safe for kids with great rock formations just off the coast to add to the scenery. We found an excellent bookshop and bought some books!! They are so cheap here it is hard to resist. We then drove to Astoria. this is at the mouth of the Columbia River. This is a huge river, they call ... read more

North America » United States » Oregon » Eugene July 11th 2008

Geo: 44.0499, -123.089We are now in Eugene having spent five enjoyable but frustrating days in the USA. We landed in San Francisco with great expectations. Our Hotel, the Carlton was great and was within easy walking and Cable Car distance of all. The one drawback was that we did not have our luggage. We reported this through American Airlines and expected that it would arrive at any moment. However, we were determined it would not spoil our time here. On the first day we went to Fisherman's wharf. The original areas here were great but the new Pier 39 was much too touristy and over the top for us. We had a great lunch at Fisherman's Grotto, the original restaurant there where I had Dungeness Crab which is a specialty. The huge piles of them outside ... read more




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