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Published: September 28th 2006
1st September to......... Who knows- I'm writing this before I leave!
A bit bitter-sweet this one;
Sweet for two reasons. Firstly, while I've been here I have been looked after by another branch of the family that, as with my Cousins on the other side of Canada, made me feel like part of their family. Anyone who knows me will tell you how close I am to my lot and I can pay this scion of the clan no bigger compliment than to say; I felt like I was at home.........
Thanks for putting me up (and putting up with me), for feeding me, taking me out, taking me around, for introducing me to all your family and friends, for all the beers and laughs but, most of all, thank you to each and every one of you for being you, I will miss you all.
Secondly, and for the second time on my travels, another super-sweet thing happened- Sarah came to see me (oh, and I suppose a bit of the country too). Only a sugar-coated bar of chocolate, dipped in honey could be sweeter and, even then, it would be a pretty close run thing!
As always, we had a great time. Although, I do think there was a shade of the green-eyed monster from Sarah towards Suzi. For the first couple of days all I heard from my girlfriend, whenever we took a break from the road, was moan, grizzle, moan, grizzle, moan! Why can't females just get along with eachother? And I get all the grief just because I love two beautiful things at the same time. The women in Utah have no such problems with things like this. Mind you, they are Mormons. I suppose Sarah's disgruntlement could have been more to do with the fact that she hasn't spent much time on two wheels before, the weather was less than kind to us and, Suzi's skinny little excuse for a passenger seat was even un-kinder to her back-side. My riding was, of course, exemplary and had nothing to do with the fact that she was terrified for half of the time we were on the road which, only added to her misery. Sorry Babe, I didn't mean to frighten you.
Despite these minor indescrections, Sarah really was an excellent passenger and we managed to get about quite a bit.
A couple of days after she arrived we rode up to Capilano Suspension Bridge and Grouse Mountain to the north of Vancouver. At the latter, they have a couple of orphaned Grizzly Bears living in a large compound at the summit. Normally, I have a thing about animals being kept in captivity but, in this case the creatures in question would have died in the wild so, I can live with it knowing that they, at least, have a life to live now. Albeit, a restricted one. And they seemed fairly happy (probably because they had known little else in their five years) as they tossed sticks about in their pond and followed it up with a play fight- trying to throw eachother around it instead. Great fun to watch but, it did leave me wondering what the chances of survival would be should we come across one of these magnificent mammals in the wild (if, of course, it decided to take offence to our presence). I had spent a lot of time on my journey through North America hoping to see Bears as I wandered through the areas they frequent but, now I'm not so sure. The power and
Porpoises But, no Whales
In The Straits of San Juanferocity they displayed during their friendly fight was truly awesome and I hate to think of the damage they could do to a Human Being if they took the notion.
In search of more wildlife wonderment, we took the ferry across to Vancouver Island and spent an afternoon on a Whale watching trip. Except, we didn't see any Whales. The resident pods of Killer Whales that make these waters their home for a large part of the year had decided to take a holiday and buggered off up the north-west coast of the island. This was too far for the offshore lifeboat-type craft we were in to manage in the time allowed for the tour so, we cruised around looking out for alternatives; Although, we had encounters with Sea Lions, Porpoises and Mountain Goats (bred on one of the islands by John Wayne when he owned it, purely so he could go out and shoot them- nice!), the highlight of the trip for me was bouncing across the ocean at some rediculous velocity. We seemed to spend more time in the air than we did in the water as we crashed along from one wave crest to another. Sarah
Brandywine Falls
A sunny spot on The Sea to Sky Highway kept laughing at me all the way out of port and all the way back because I just sat with an inane grin, giggling to myself like brainless fool.
I had another chance to fill my front teeth with flying things from smiling so much when we rode along The Sea to Sky Highway the next day. This runs from North Vancouver to Whistler and winds its way through Pine forests, beside mountain lakes and through areas where The X-Files was filmed. If that's not enough to have a brainless fool like me grinning again, I don't know what is. However, there weren't too many smiles to be had. Miss "I don't like it when you drive so fast" Cooney gave me an earfull for enjoying myself on the few occasions I got the chance to open Suzi up around the highways twisting turns (only playin' Babe- 'love yoooo!). The reason I didn't get many chances and why we had a long, arduous ride was that the road was being ripped to peices in preparation for the 2010 Winter Olympics. Why they're doing it now, I have no idea? They should do what we do in the UK- leave
Sunset After The Snow
In a cold and wet Whistler everything to the last minute or, as is more often the case, not get it done in time at all. Then, you just blame it on the weather (the wrong type of snow, the wind blew some leaves on the line etc) or, better still, on someone else entirely. We've been doing that for years whenever we couldn't get up off our arses and organise the proverbial! I do hope they prove me wrong and the 2012 games is a showpeice for London and the rest of the country but, I have a sneaking suspicion that it's all going to go the way of the Pear.
Anyhoo, back to Whistler, where it is stunning and any number of other superlatives you wish to add. Except, of course, for when it's peeing down with rain! Following a feast of a lunch in town upon our arrival, we got drowned in a downpour that we only rode through for fifteen minutes. Then, we spent the rest of the day warming up at the hostel whilst watching the wet stuff fall as snow on the mountain tops all around us. It all would have been quite romantic really- sitting cuddled up on
Smoke on The Water
Alta Lake, Whistler a sofa, in a cozy cabin, on the shore of a lake while the ski slopes up above us got whiter and whiter as the hours passed. But, it's hard to be romantic when your far-too-clever girlfriend trounces you at Trivial Persuit and is "Too tired" for a rematch. Yeah right!! Too afraid more like (not that I'm a bad loser or anything, you understand). There was no let up in the wet weather the next morning so, we braved the battering the elements were going to give us until we dropped back down to warmer altitudes, and set off back for Vancouver.
Feeling we deserved a reward for our heroism in percevering to town through the precipitation, we dried ourselves off outside and went to get wet inside. A late lunchtime pint turned in to a few more and before we knew it, it was passed both our bedtimes. Being slightly the worse for wear, we panicked slightly when we realised we must have left a bag of recently bought goodies in one of the drinking establishments we had visited. However, after hassling the staff in at least two different bars to have a look for our lost
property, I realised that we hadn't mislaid it at all. It suddenly dawned on me that we'd dropped it off at the hostel earlier in the day in case we got drunk and lost it! "What a pair of numptys" as my gorgeous girlfriend would say.
In town, we got around on the buses, water taxis, Skytrain (Vancouver's mono-rail) and by Shanksy's Pony. Over our few days of playing pure tourists, we visited Stanley Park, Granville Island, English bay, The Canada Centre and China Town's formal gardens amongst others. Vancouver is a large, modern, vibrant city but, still retains some of it's old charm and character. From the top of the Harbour Centre you can take it all in; The skycrapers of Dowtown, the quaint streets of Gastown, the thousands of containers awaiting ships from who knows where in the docks and the unfeasibly large cruise ships taking tourists off to who knows where from the harbour, The Fraser River, The Pacific Ocean, Stanley Park and Grouse Mountain. It's all about location, location, location and it has to be one of the best locations for a city on the planet.
It was at the top of The Harbour
Centre's tower that I'd managed to arrange a surprise early-birthday dinner in the revolving restaurant (at sunset, of course) on Sarah's last night in the city. I think I may have earned a few Brownie points for that one. It was a lot of hassle to keep concealed but, Sarah is worth the effort and, besides, she's nearly thirty now and deserves to be treated to some of the finer things in life!
NOTE TO SELF: Brownie points probably reduced to zero again for ill-thought-out remark about girlfriend's age- DOH!
The sweetness of Sarah's visit turned to sour the next night when she flew away from me again. In these situations I am learning to live by one of my own little proverbs; When life hands you a goodbye, look forward to the next hello. I am so looking forward to my next hello with Sarah and I have been ever since the second we parted.
And, then, worser than worse, I had to make another emotional adeui before I left Canada. The love affair is over. As has happened so often with the great romances in history, forces beyond our control have ripped asunder a love
Suzi and The Open Road
Two loves too fast to last like no other. Like a shooting star streaking across the purple-black of night, burning so brightly but, too intensely to last for all but a brief period of time, I have loved and lost my Suzi. My constant companion, my trusted transporter, my sexy, speed-fun-fullfiller, my friend, my confidant (yes, of course I talked to her) and, more than anything else, my maker of dreams come true. Farewell and thank you, Suzi, I will never forget you.
And so, on that solemn note, I leave The Americas. In a few days I head for "The land of the Long White Cloud," New Zealand....... New horizons and new adventures, new landscapes and new cultures, new "Hellos" and, who knows, maybe even a new Ian.
I'll bore you all with another blog when I get over the jetlag and once I have figured out what bleedin' day it is, having crossed the international date line!
Cheerioothanoo
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lotta
non-member comment
wow
amazing travel you´re doing.. want to do the same some day.enjoy it, it all seems ..wow! //c u lotta bolivia-peru