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Published: July 16th 2011
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Sea to Sky Highway
First Nations language signs Mother nature appears to have decided that our last month on the road in both Europe and North America will be rainy. The rain started with a few showers in Banff, steady rain in Whistler and intermittent rain, drizzle, mist and cloud as we made our way down the Sea to Sky Highway from Whistler, through a night in Squamish and down to Horseshoe bay. From there we caught the Ferry to Vancouver Island and have spent two rainy nights in Nanaimo. Consequently, I would have taken more photos, but how many photos of cloud and fog can you have? The road through to Whistler from Lake Louise passed through Marble Canyon. Very scenic and a bit of change from the mountains and forests. We also had our only up close encounter with a bear. Unfortunately it was a bear cub, dead on the side of the road after having been presumably, hit by a car. (I did take a photo but it might be a bit tasteless to post on here!) We spent a great night in Squamish, at an out of the way campsite called 'Paradise Valley' and it was aptly named. Although raining quite heavily, the thick canopy
of trees meant that only a few large drops would get through every now and again, so we were able to have a campfire and cook dinner with no problem. It was an enchanting place and we went for a bit of a wander around the trails that surrounded the campground and river that ran beside it. The rain does make this aspect of our trip a bit more challenging. We a have a small shade sail that can be attached to the side of the van, but it is quite flimsy and NOT strong enough to hold in anything other than a mild breeze which of course renders it pretty much useless as a shade or rain cover 80% of the time! However the last 2 days on Vancouver Island have been rainy and windless, so we have luckily had this option and been able to stay away from Irish Pubs and other such food establishments! The ferry service to and from the mainland is very good, inexpensive and with ferries running from many locations to the island frequently. A floating log in the water caused a bit of a stir on board as people rushed to see what
looked like a whale, but of course it wasn't. I had been puzzled by the native language that you see on the signs as as well as various macrons, the words include in some cases, the number '7'. I was not sure what this symbol meant but my questions were answered by a roadside information point which explained that the '7' in the word is a glottal point, and a pause in the word. Interesting.Still not sure how to say the word even with that explanation! Today we have headed down towards Victoria, stopping off in Malahat. Unfortunately we can't see what looks like to be some amazing scenery because of the thick fog/mist. So we have taken the opportunity to check into the campground early, do two loads of washing and get it all dry, and write blogs, read books and generally catch up with the world and catch our breath. I have included a few photos, such as they are, from this part of the trip. Love to all,
Shelley and Dean.
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