Disneyland, here we come!

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Hi there,
Today, we flew from Vancouver to L.A. They even swabbed my computer for drugs, just like they do on Border security. I purchased a bottle of maple syrup in Canada and knowing that I had to declare it, decided to put it in my hand luggage, so I knew exactly where it was in case they wanted to check it. Of course I didn't think about the fact that you cannot carry more than 100ml of liquid in your hand luggage. So naturally their x-ray machines picked it up and they wanted to check it and while they were at it they decided to do the drug swab. Naturally, it came out negative and they just reminded me about the 100ml liquid maximum, so it all ended well.

Backtracking a little, lets go back to our last 5 or 6 days in Canada, since I last wrote in Jasper. We then drove to Clearwater, which is located minutes from the Wells Gray Provincial Park. I thought that having left the Rockies behind, we may have also left behind the beautiful scenery. Not the case however. The WGPP was just as lovely, with loads of waterfalls and walking tracks through the forest. Lovely spot for a holiday shack in fact!! Following a couple of days in Clearwater, we continued further down to a town called Lillooet, which is Mile 0 of the wagon trail. Like Australia, Canada can also be a land of extremes. Only a couple of hours from the lush, mountain greenery of Clearwater, we were driving through a totally different landscape. Still mountainous, but now much dryer and more barren. Almost desolate. Still somewhat beautiful in its' own way, but quite different. A lot of this area suffered horrific wildfires in Summer 2003 and despite it being 5 years ago, it just hasn't re-generated and the mountains are covered with dead trees. Speaking of dead trees, many are caused by the mountain pine beetle, which is causing widespread devastation to the forests in some particular areas. They have discovered that too much fire suppression is one of the reasons why the beetle is thriving, so now they have embarked on a controlled burning scheme. You can imagine the devastation to a country that it so heavily treed, if they don't manage to control this pest.

Anyway, back to Lillooet, the RV park was quite literally on the side of the hill and having managed to get our RV down, I was somewhat concerned we would struggle to get it back up. It is a 32 foot RV, so very big and not easily manoeverable around corners. Its location, right on the bank of the Fraser Canyon, did make up somewhat for sleeping downhill!! It was rather nice sleeping with the sound of rushing water, after you scrambled your way to the top of the bed!!! The kids enjoyed playing on the shale beach and wading in the water. They actually fish for sturgeon here, which are massive fish about the size of marlin, and the day we left, they were having a sturgeon derby, which is strictly catch and release. We then drove back to Vancouver, via Kamloops, Whistler and Squamish. Whistler was beautiful, but absolutely packed. Our last day in Vancouver, was spent cleaning the RV, packing and a little relaxing.

So, here we are in L.A . As I write, I'm listening to the fireworks at Disneyland. It's rattling our windows, that's how close it is. Tomorrow, we hit Disneyland, which should be fun, though I imagine the queues will be horrendous. It will be interesting to see how it matches my 9 year old memories.

Till next time,
Fiona.
P.S: Carole and Marrie, thinking of you back at work!! Make sure you work hard!!!

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Photos

Moose Lake
On the way to Lillooet

Dawson Falls
Wells Gray Provincial Park

Helmcken Falls
Wells Gray Provincial Park

Fraser Canyon, Lillooet
This was taken from the RV park