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I have never really defined myself as "American", just a person, nothing more or less. i guess I would say Scottish if asked (and when not asked!!) I didn't really think I had any stand out defining "American" traits or qualities. I WAS WRONG. I realize I am getting a little ahead of myself here, but as I'm sitting in a parking lot of Whistler writing this, I'm feeling more than home sick and out of sorts. It all started with the price of gas, then not being able to figure out how fast I was going on the highway, or how far away things were! Never mind the whole exchanging money thing! Once I first realized how much of my own little American world I lived in I had to keep reminding myself to close my mouth, as i was walking around bug eyed and mouth wide open... at the end of the day, I an American Girl... and proud of that. (Let me qualify that... I'm an American Girl with my ways, but as I’m Scots through and through and I’ll always give a Rebel Yell)
i'll back track now to the past few days....
June 1st. Thursday.
Drove from Lakeside, WA north east(ish) to the North Cascades National Park. Now, this is another place that despite all the pictures I took the beauty of this area will ever be able to transcend and show what it really is, more than beautiful. North Cascades NP is a lot different from other NP's we have been to. The National Park service has gone more out of it's way than usual to keep this area extremely remote and backcountry. The nice (ehhh..) ranger laughed at me many times when I inquired about such things as showers, electricity, a wireless internet connection in the area. And then he so helpfully pointed out that my "pink flip-flops" might not be the best choice of hiking boots!!! I very appropriately, yet with my best "oh no you didn't voice", inform him that since I have been camping for 25 days, and have traveled from MA to here, I was aware that pink flip-flops are not the hiking boot of choice! He got the message, or the death stare I was giving him, and changed his song and dance to one of "wow.. That is impressive!!!". (Another small victory for flip-flop
loving, toe nails painting, girly girls everywhere!)
Anyway... The park is divided into two sections, north and south, by Rt. 20 and Diablo Lake. We investigated the north part first. We drove along the scenic byway where waterfalls, glaciers and rugged mountain peaks in every direction where the norm. The water color of Diablo Lake is a emerald green color due to the silt, which is the sand and minerals that melt of the glaciers and flow down into the lake. The mountains were not as high as the Rockies, or even close, as the highest in the range is somewhere in the 8,000 feet range. However, the jagged peaks create a completely different look to them. I felt like I was in a smaller version of the Swiss Alps, rather than in northern Washington. Laura and I did some hiking; we really excited to go on one hike that offered views of the mountains, meadows and the glaciers. We got all our stuff together, changed out of my pink flip-flops, and started off! Well, true to what the less than lovely Ranger said, it was a very rugged place in deed, NO SIGNS to denote the trail heads
or paths. We ventured around for about an hour, unable to successfully make any sort of progress! However, we did find our selves next to the lake, on an off beaten pass which required us to cross raging (gently flowing) rivers to get back to the car! Feeling very proud of our "back country" adventure, we returned to the car and continued on our road more traveled journey, where a girl can feel all cozy and warm in here stellar pink flip flops!!
That night we stayed in Concrete, WA about 20 miles outside of the park. Upon paying for the site and setting up our tent we were informed how this area is considered the last real wilderness in the continuous 48 states, and over 25,000 black bears call this area home! Lovely! Needless to say, a restless night was had!
June 2nd. Friday.
After making it through the night and not being eaten by bears or attacked by the odd people in the town, we went back to North Cascade NP. We went on an off road adventure, 20 some odd miles of unpaved roads through the forest and down into a spectacular view of mountains
and glaciers, Boston Peak and Boston Glacier to be exact! We had wanted to drive further down into the mountains but the road was closed less than half way in, apparently their was snow still covering the road, making it not drivable, BUT hikeable! However, no hiking was done as we were more than aware of how desolate and isolated we were, as we were sure that NO ONE in a 50 miles radius was going to hear our whistle or see our flare if we were to encounter an furry sharp clawed creatures! Scenery from the car, or a short distance from the car!
We drove from Washington, crossed the Boarder and spent the night in some town that I can't spell or pronounce, all I really know is that it is a little outside of Vancouver. We wanted to make mingle the locals, so we found our way to one of the finer drinking establishments in town. To our dismay, it was actually a very crowded and good bar. The bad news is that the people were more than rude to us, and the only note worthy interactions I had were with a 61 year old man
from England, who was torn between debating with us on American politics and being in love with the sound of our "cool" accents! I did get some free drinks out of it, so I guess in the end you just cut your loses!
June 3rd. Saturday.
We had planned on getting an early start to the day because we were trying to make it through BC in a decent amount of time. SO, after waking up at around 10:45, we were off to a great start! We somehow ended up taking the scenic drive up through BC, it was called the Sea to Sky Highway, a very fitting name! However, it only allowed for a max speed of 30... ALL DAY! Add that to the hairpin turns, the one lane bridges and the frequent stops to photograph the more than beautiful scenery, and you can see how far we didn't make it! Our end destination was in Clinton, BC. We tried many times throughout the day to find (steal) a wireless signal, but we were very unsuccessful. I true night of camping was had. We actually made a campfire and sat in front of it! (And then when the
computer was done charging we went in the tent and watched House of DVD!!
June 4th. Sunday.
Now, today we did wake up early, 7 am! That is the earliest I have been up in about a month! We drove from Clinton BC up to Smithers. I’m not sure how many miles or kilometers that is, all I know is that I spent about 11 hours in the car, only one of which was spent trying to hunt down a wireless connection! Our camp site is at the base of Seven Sisters Mountains. I have a view of the snowcapped peaks and the glaciers on them. Once again we are in bear country. Across the street from out campground there is an advertisement that says, “Come see the grizzlies!”!
Another anomaly we have discovered is a place called “Boston Pizza”. They are everywhere out here. We checked one out tonight, and let me jus say there is nothing Boston about this place! According to them we are famous for our Chicken Wings and Boston Cheese Steaks! The pizza wasn’t bad, but not amazing. Feeling we had to do our part, we informed the people there of this misnomer.
So.. The plan for tomorrow, DRIVE, DRIVE, DRIVE! Oh and by the way, it’s over $4.00 a gallon for gas here! I would report the actual amount but as they sell it in liters, I can’t be bothered to figure it out.
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Laura G
Laura
I heart Cuz
Cuz, i heart reading your travel journals. They make my heart sing and my soul shine.