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Twilight!

We woke up this morning quite early for the continental breakfast served in the little motel office. Andre went while I was in the shower, so the Korean lady sent Andre up to our room with a tray filled with muffins, danishes, fruit, granola bars and water (she fixed my breakfast for me). We ended up eating most of it for our lunch. Who says there's no such thing as a free lunch?

We headed out to Forks right away. It took about an hour and half of it was on a gravel road. We suspect that it was in the process of being paved. If not, then there is no way that Edward stormed down that road at 100 miles an hour! It's a windy road with mountain on one side and lake on the other side.

It was very strange to be travelling to the city that has the most number of overcast days in the continental US and there not be a cloud in the sky. It was 18 degrees and completely sunny. Not even a hit of cloudiness.

Forks is actually a very pretty little down. Actually, it's apparently a city according to the sign outside. Upon entering the town, we were bombarded with various Twilight-themed gift shops. Every store had something that was Twilight related in its window. As you go further into the town, it's not as crazy. I saw the High School. It was under construction but from what I could tell, it's exactly as described in the books. There are several different little buildings and an Administration building in the front.

We also stopped at the Hospital where "Carlisle" works, but it wasn't anything special. We couldn't find the police station, so we just continued on to "Luby Beechie". We were excited to spend the sunny afternoon at the beach. Once we got to the beach we saw the strangest sight... The beach (and only the beach) was shrouded in a very, very thick fog that made it look like the sky was overcast. It was very cold and very windy. The water was frigidly cold.

Regardless of the weather, it was still pretty cool wandering on the beach. We didn't find many treasures on the beach, but there was lots of really cool bone-white driftwood.

We decided to leave Luby beechie and go to Rialto Beach in La Push. I figured we had to go to La Push... complete the Twilight experience. We got back onto the road and it was full sun and much warmer. But again, once we got to the beach, it was really, really foggy and cold. We were going to go to First Beach (Twilight beach), but we figured it was the same deal. The Korean lady tried to explain something about "after 6pm until 9pm" something something. We're now wondering if she was talking about the fog.

So we left La Push and headed back to Port Angeles. We had dinner reservations for 6 and it as already 4:30 and it takes an hour to get back.

We had a lovely pasta dinner at La Bella Italia, which in the book, is where Bella and Edward have their first "date". I almost ordered the mushroom ravioli, but got the tortelini instead. It was quite tasty. We were able to walk there from our hotel, so we had some local wine with our dinner. Yum!

And now we're back at the motel watching HBO and relaxing. We have a long trip tomorrow! TTFN!

! On the way to Forks. Beautiful


At Ruby Beach.


The sign coming into Forks.




Upon entering La Push.

Andre at the beach in La Push. Look at that beard !!!

The island and Victoria

We got up nice and early on Thursday morning so that we could tidy up our area at Patty and Rachid's. The ferry was scheduled to leave at 10:40am and it was first come, first served so we had to get there early.

The ferry was a fun experience. I was shocked at how organized the loading was. We were on the boat and on the deck in about 5 minutes. It was fun to see the boat push off into the water. It got really cold and windy so we spent some more time underneath.

The drive down the island was pretty uneventful. It was town after town after town, but they were all quite pretty. At least from the highway.

Once we got into Victoria, we went for lunch at an Argentinian restaurant called Santiago's. It was right near the ferry so we could go right when we were done. I had a chicken dish with tomatoes and lemon and the most delicious potatoes. It was sooo tasty, but the service was awful.

We got to the ferry around 3:00pm, just as it was leaving. I remember checking the ferry times online and it appeared that they were every 30 minutes, but it appears I was looking at the wrong schedule for the wrong ferry. The next ferry was at 7:30... ugh. So we had several hours to kill in Victoria. We wandered around the harbour where there were lots of little artisan vendors (mostly native) selling their various crafts. I could have easily spent lots and lots of money but you will be happy to hear that I didn't spend any. Aside from a souvenir T-Shirt from the souvenir shop, we escaped Victoria relatively unscathed.

It was finally time to go through customs and get onto the ferry. We were boarding the ferry around sunset so that we got to see the sun set over the Straight of Juan de Fuca. The ferry itself wasn't nearly as nice as the BC Ferry. Getting on and off the boat took ages and it left about 30 minutes late so we got to Port Angeles quite late.

When we could finally see Washington on the other side, we were hit with a very strange sight. There was fog clouding the entire coast, making it look like an overcast. It was very sunny before.

We checked into our motel, and the desk was manned by a small Korean lady. I knew she was Korean because there was a bible in front of her that was in Korean.

She was very friendly in her broken Engrish. She gave us a bunch of comprimentary travel-sized deodorant, toothpaste and bottles of water. She immediately asked us our plans and started highlighting different places on a map of the Olympic peninsula. She told us there was lots of lovely "beachies". She said we should go to to the "Luby Beechie" (Ruby Beach).

So we went up to our room. The room, although furnished with ugly furniture was immaculately clean and had a huge bathroom. For the cheapest motel in Port Angeles, it was great!

We ended our day off at the only restaurant that was still open in Port Angeles. It was very cool and very delicious. It's called Michael's. It's in the basement of a shop and it's set up like someone's basement with exposed rafters, wood paneling, book cases, etc. Very very cool.

That's it for today!

On the ferry to Port Angeles.

Victoria Harbour

On the BC ferry to the island. It was windy!!

At the Argentinian restaurant. I loved the decor.

The sunset from the Port Angeles ferry. Beautiful!

Vancouver day 2

We woke up this morning nice and early (not as early as Rachid and Patty, they were already gone!). We decided to spend the day in Stanley park because we were told that is the #1 thing to do in Vancouver. That is also where their world-famous aquarium is. So we drove through the crazy Vancouver traffic, paid our $10 for parking and headed to the aquarium. There was a 20-minute lineup outside, but we finally got in. Upon entry, they snap your picture in front of a green screen where you can later purchase that picture for a mere $20... not today.

The aquarium had a special "4-D" Theatre in it where you watch BBC's Ocean movie. The movie itself is 3-D, so you have to wear those rediculous goggles. The 4th dimension is that it is interactive. Whenever there's a splash on the movie, you get sprayed with water. The seats vibrate according to what's on screen, wind blows and even bubbles blow in the theatre. It was pretty cool (and free with admission, so a bonus!).

We saw some dolphins doing some tricks and lots of fish. All n' all, it was reaaally worth the $27 it cost Andre and the $21 it cost me (I still have a student ID -- woop woop!), but I'm glad we did it.

After the aquarium, we wandered around Stanley Park and went to one of the little restaurants for lunch. Nothing spectacular, but acceptable. We then went to the totem pole park (within Stanley park) where they had tons of massive totem poles. They also had a fabulous native crafts gift store where I could have spent lots of money. I bought a couple of native art greeting cards.

We then went down to the water, and I was picking along the shoreline for treasures. I found a crab carcass... that was about the only cool thing. I didn't keep it... what would you do with a crab carcass?

We then left Stanley park and went to the pier near Rachid's place. The breeze off the ocean was very nice on a hot day. It was about 26 degrees and very sunny.

Our dinner was a sushi platter. You haven't had sushi until you've had Vancouver sushi. All of the fish is freshly-caught, and there are some decent sushi chefs around too. The sushi shop was just below Patty's studio. Patty is a wedding/fancy dress designer and she's been doing enough business to open up her own shop/studio. She still works her full-time day job and teaches a class at the Institute of Design on the weekends... I don't know when she finds time to do anything! But her dresses are very cool and they're all made with eco-friendly materials (again, how Vancouver!).

We ate dinner at Rachid and Patty's friend's house. Their friends weren't there, they are actually supposed to be house-sitting for a few weeks, but since we've been here they haven't been staying there. Their house backs onto the river and the yard is beautiful. They have a huge deck with a hot tub and heat lamps if it's too cold, etc. etc. etc.

Right about when we were ready to finish the dishes, Rachid somehow locked his keys inside the house and we had to figure out a way to break into the house. Andre was using a camera and a large stick to try to break in the front door through their peep window (see picture). Finally, I found a ladder under the deck and there was a window open upstairs so Andre climbed into the window like a monkey (the screen came off easily). I had had this idea about 20 minutes before, but no one listens to me! Shortly thereafter, the father of one of the people who live there stopped by to see if everything is alright. I don't know if he saw us trying to break into the house or if it was just random and just wanted to make sure the cat was being fed.

After that, we headed home. Rachid and Patty headed back to their friend's house to spend the night, so we won't see them before we leave. But we said our good byes before they left.

So here we are. This concludes the Canadian leg of Ash and Andre's Awesome Adventure, tomorrow, we're in Port Angeles!

TTFN

Me being a Vancouver Tree Hugger. Look at the size of this tree!


Our sexy 3-D Goggles at the Aquarium Theatre.


Andre in the river at Rachid's friend's house (sorry, it's sideways)


Rachid and Patty


Andre and Patty trying to break into the house

Vancouver!

We left Auntie Gayle's house yesterday around 9am, our usual departure time. We had such a wonderful relaxing time and it was kind of sad to go.

The drive from Vernon to Vancouver is breathtaking. Going through the mountains is such an enjoyable drive. It was one of our shortest trips, and we had to make our 5-hour drive into 7 (because Rachid wouldn't be home from work yet) so we dilly-dallied and stopped many times along the way... including Wal-Mart in Kelowna. When we went to the grocery store in Vernon, I saw that they had Cherry flavoured Crush. I love all things cherry, so I was very excited to see this. Newfoundland is the only province with pineapple Crush, and I figured BC had their Cherry Crush. Why I didn't buy a whole case there and then is beyond me, but I didn't... and I'm cryin' over it! We've stopped at a number of grocery stores and gas stations looking for this Cherry Crush with no luck (like I said, we were dilly-dallying).

The best part of our dilly-dallying is that we stopped at a winery in the Oakanagan. Grey Monk (translation from "pinot gris" I found out) Estates winery is in Lake Country, which is about 40 mins outside of Vernon. We went on a tour of the winery, saw how they made their wine and then got to do a tasting afterwards. The best part about it all is that it was all free! We're so used to being nickeled and dimed as tourists and finally something was free! It was all because they wanted you to spend their money in their wine and gift shop... which we did. We bought some souvenirs for Andre's family, a T-shirt for my quilt and each a bottle of our favourite wine.

We got to Rachid and Patty's around 7pm and were welcomed into their lovely apartment in North Vancouver. They told us to hold off on eating so that we could have a BBQ when we got there.We had organic burgers along with a bottle of the wine from Grey Monk. How Vancouver!

It was very nice to catch up with them. We hadn't seen them since they were in Ottawa for their wedding.

We were set up nicely on their pull-out couch. It was actually quite warm in their place but we didn't seem to have any problems with sleeping. Andre seems to have almost gotten over his cold by now.

A little friend chillin' in the shade of the grape vines at Grey Monk Estates.


Our fabulous cheese platter that we ordered for lunch (it was the cheapest thing on the menu at $17! Needless to say we shared it!).


The barrel rooms at the winery. These ones contained Port-style wine.




A lovely view of the mountains outside of a rest stop.

Beautiful British Columbia

Our drive from Big Valley to Gayle's house was absolutely beautiful. There were gorgeous mountains, lakes that were insane colours (green, blue, purple). The roads were in the mountains and very windy.

We got to Gayle's house and met her new Korean students. They didn't know a word of English and they kept bowing for everything. They kept staring at me, and Gayle says it's because they don't see blonde hair in Korea and it looks very strange to them.

This morning, Gayle took us to some local hotspots for natural beauty. We saw Kal lake, a crystal hotel owned by Mr. Swarovski. Really, the only way to explain these places is to show pictures, which I haven't put on the computer yet, so you will see those later.

Andre unfortunately has developed a cold and is feeling a bit under the weather. As usual, he's been a great sport. But, here I am, typing on my computer and listening to an audiobook in the Oakanagan sun, I can smell the sweetness from the apricot trees and have a great view over the mountains. This place is great!

Tonight we're going to check out a resort that is popular for skiing. Gayle likes to take her exchange students there. I'm not sure if they will understand what is going on, but we will see.

Pictures to come!

Big Valley, Alberta

Our plan for Saturday was to drive up to Stettler, Alberta to ride the Alberta Prairie Steam train. It’s a neat old train where there’s entertainment, and they explain Alberta’s past to you through dramatic representations, etc . I was so stoked to go on it. So we got to the steam train, and apparently you needed to make reservations in advance and the train was all full so they couldn’t take us. I was devastated. We were in the middle of nowhere in Alberta now with nothing to do all day until we met up with my aunt and uncle. So I called Dayle and she said she’d meet us in Big Valley at 3:30. Jade works at the museum there (which really is just a room with a bunch of old stuff, it doesn’t look like a museum at all) so we popped in to say hi, and then Andre and I wandered around Big Valley. 5 o’clock rolls around, and still no sign of Dayle. There were a bunch of people displaying old steam engines in the little town square, so we saw all of those. We bought some fudge from the fudge shop. Finally around 6 o’clock, we see Dayle. Ed was working in the field and wanted her to wait for him. We visited the rest of the town with the Slootweg clan and went for ice cream. We left around 7 o’clock and drove to Dayle and Ed’s place. Ed showed us around his place. The house is so nice. Dayle is such a great decorator! Everything has a rustic theme to it, she has old wooden soda crates and country signs on the walls. The house itself is a log cabin. It’s huge, so I guess it’s not really a cabin. But very, very cool. The only thing is that it’s so picture perfect that it doesn’t look at all like a family of 6 lives there with 4 kids. It’s magazine perfect.

Ed showed us around the yard. They have lots of animals (Ed’s a farmer). They have a big cage outside with about 15 bunnies, a dog who also lives outside, a bunch of cats, and a horse for each kid plus a couple of extras, chickens, doves, etc. etc. They have a huge garage with 4-Wheeler ATV’s for everyone in the family, there’s a fancy Hummer in there too and huge faming equipment. Lots of really cool stuff. They have huge gardens, and even an extra house on their lot.

Once thing I was surprised about is how well the kids all get along with each other. They’re always playing with each other outside. Austin (my cousin) is an absolute monkey. He’s always climbing up walls, trees, barns. He can do crazy backflips on his trampoline. He jumps on his trampoline, and then grabs onto a branch in the tree, climbs up the tree, then jumps out onto the trampoline. It’s nuts! Brooklyn is very talkative and always has a cat or bunny in her arms. Brody keeps to himself, but he’s very pleasant. Jade is shy and kind of awkward, but a tomboy at the same time. She has a really fancy souped up car that she’s very proud of.

Dayle made us all dinner (local roast beef on buns..mmm!). It was about 9:30 by the time we ate, which appeared to be normal for them. After dinner, we went outside for a bonfire, which was nice. I was very tired from staying up late the night before, so I slept like a baby.

Now, we are on the road, en route to Gayle’s house, which is 8.5 hours away in Vernon BC. The terrain out here is really cool. Either it’s badland-y with sandy hills, or fields with animals.

Until next time!

The Tubmobile, which is a home made car made out of an old bathtub. It runs and everything.

The Alberta Prairie Train, the one we were supposed to go on.