The Pacific Northwest

We took another ferry south from V.I, to Port Angeles on the northern coast of Washington state. It was a bit bumpy, with about a 2m swell - nothing to a seasoned Cook Strait traveller, eh? - but the two American ladies next to us complained and vowed never to set foot on a ferry again! Oh well.

The place we stayed in was in a small town out of Port Angeles, called Sequim. Apparently it is pronounced "Squim", according to the US Customs officer who greeted us at P.A....who knew?
After over-nighting there, we drove up into Olympic National Park. Another stunning park, but with LOTS of people.

Olympic NP, Washington.

Aahh, high again....

Olympic main range. Mt Olympia somewhere in the centre there.

I bought some trinkets from the gift shop, we went for a short stroll around the local tracks, then headed to our next stop: Ocean Shores, on the West coast.
This hotel condo was set right on the beach, with only some sand dunes between it and the sea. Great sunsets.

One of the great sunsets

 And very tame Blacktail deer..........

One more wafer-thin slice of apple, madame?

Mum and baby.

 
We went for a hike along one of the stunning beaches, even seeing a Bald Eagle!! Very Cool.

Hello Baldy....

Further up the beach.

Aaahh, again...

Split rock viewed through Hole-in-the-rock (original names, eh?)

 After a few days mostly relaxing (actually recovering from lots of travel - call it a tactical pause, if you will), we saddled up again and headed south to Oregon.
Oregon was great. We stayed a few days in Portland (another one), checked out the famous "Pearl district" - including breweries galore. I even got something the Americans call a "growler" - no, not the same thing in NZ; this was a draught beer you order, they can it right there and you take it away. All 1 pint of it. I loved it.

A large can of "Semper Fi" anyone?

While in Portland, we went for a hike near the Columbia river gorge, up part of the famous Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), which stretches from Canada to Mexico. Not feeling quite that energetic, we only did a couple of miles of it. Still a nice walk in the trees, again...
A bonus while here was being able to catch up with a good mate of mine and his family. They graciously hosted us for a couple of days and we had a jolly good catch-up, with lots of laughter and a few wines down-range. Oregon is home to a couple of well-known knife manufacturers; one being Leatherman multi-tools (which I love); and Benchmade knives. And yes, I did buy a couple of things from their factory shop, since their knives are my all-time favourite.

The factory floor as viewed from above.

Dry creek falls in Oregon. Not actually dry, is it?

Yes, we got to hike on part of the PCT...the bit that is the lowest part of the 5000km trail with an incorporated town (whatever that means).

New hat, new trail to hike on...

After bidding Dan, Jenny & family farewell, we headed further south, via the only National Park in Oregon - Crater lake. So named because of the lake formed from a massive volcanic eruption thousands of years ago. Not as big as Lake Taupo, but the colour of the water kicks Taupo's arse!
We didn't go for a hike here due to time constraints, but did get out and look around. As the photos show, it was absolutely stunning. Well worth coming back to, I reckon....

Stunning

Stunning, from another angle

And once more...

Says it all, really.

Can we stay here, pleeeeease?

Struggled with the camera on this one. Arms not long enough...

Just lovely, eh?

Crater lake park away from the lake. Elk (Wapiti) country....

 An overnight stop later that day, in a place called Mount Shasta, helped break up the journey.

A metric interlude, eh

A reasonable flight had us swapping the dry desert heat of LV, for the cooler North West. Lumberjack country. And bears....
We landed in Seattle and got a taxi to our hotel; right on the lakefront (Lake Washington), in an up-market suburb. By far the flashest place we had stayed in so far.

View of marina from our hotel room

We needed a rest, so stayed for a couple of days, just sight-seeing.

One of the many local breweries...

A Seattle landmark

The hotel complex had a marina, access to a gym (which we used) and a Starbucks on the corner! (since they make the only coffee in the US that I found came anywhere near close to Kiwi coffee, I have been planning our trips around Starbucks and their Cappucino's the whole time....).
If you don't know it, Starbucks actually started in Seattle. Their first store is a tourist attraction, with long lines of punters trying to get in. I hate queueing, so settled for a photo from outside on the street.

The original Starbucks in Seattle.

Margarita by the lake.....ahhhh, holidays....

We picked up a rental car in Seattle and made like a draft dodger in the 60's...heading north to Canada.

The border between imperial and metric...complete with two Mounties on the right.

The signs above the road are bi-lingual signs, even though we were heading into BRITISH Columbia??

 
This would be my second time in British Columbia, and Carmen's first. I was here 8 years ago hunting, so it was good to be back in the land of big mountains. We stayed a night in Vancouver - at the Uni of BC Vancouver, in fact; a very nice, new student flat (helps pay the bills while all the scarfies are on holiday, I s'pose).
Canada is obviously metric, but still drives on the right-hand-side, in left-hand-drive cars....so we had to use the little dial on the speedo (the one marked km/h), not the big one (marked mp/h), to avoid any unwanted attention by Mr Plod.
Next day we headed further north, driving up the coast and inland, past Whistler (a ski-resort town not unlike Queenstown, without the lake), and overnighted in a tiny Indian town called Lillooet. Typical of most small towns in the mountains - closed down shops, one petrol station, 3 pubs and 6 hotels. Our hotel was small, old, but clean and cheap.
After our low-end escape, we got on the road again, this time headed for Prince George - BC's second biggest city and a real hub about half-way up the province.

One of the many signs warning of this and that...

And, another..

The mission was to show Carmen the real BC, and also to meet up with my mate, Ken, who guided me 8 years ago. We over-nighted in the same hotel I stayed in back then - complete with attached Denny's!
We caught up with Ken over a nice dinner and great chat, and then he drove 2 hours back home & we retired to our hotel next door.

Ken the guide and some random bloke in Prince George.

The next day we made the long haul (8.5 hrs) back to Vancouver.

Scenery on the way back to Vancouver. Not unlike Central Otago, eh?

This train was about 1km long...

Interior of V.I. Mountains and trees..

But we weren't done yet - we added another mode of transport to our "planes, trains and automobiles" marathon - a ferry!
Specifically, a ferry to Vancouver Island. (V.I. is a large island just off Vancouver, and is around 12,000 square miles in size - that's almost as large as Canterbury at 17,000 sq mi. So it's quite big, eh)
A couple of ex-pat Kiwi's I also met 8 years ago had offered to put us up for a few days, so we jumped at the chance. I  was really looking forward to catching up with them. Long story short, we had an awesome stay of 4 days, going for a hike in the hills with a local hiking club; driving to some awesome beaches, lakes etc, and generally just chilling out with an awesome couple of down-to-earth and wet-your-pants-funny Kiwi's. We didn't really want to leave, but had to complete the mission.

A water taxi in Victoria (capital of BC, but on V.I.). Don't they look like a toy?

Another hike, another location. Happy.

Love the rocky coastlines, we do...

Oh, and lighthouses....

On a beach in Victoria, looking South to the mainland. Pretty eh?

 It was time to convert back to imperial and use the big dial on the speedo again.

"Vivaaaa Las Vegas"

We left the humid east for the dry desert heat again. After a flight via Nashville, we landed in Las Vegas, Nevada. Ironically, it was overcast, cooler than Palm Springs at only 95F, with thunder and lightning storms passing through.
We checked into our hotel. Like eveything in Vegas, it had its own casino. Hell, even the LV airport had slot machines, as did the rental car pickup place, so those bitten with the gambling bug could feed their addiction coming or going!
We had a wee recce excursion to see the nightlife, but I didn't like it much. Too many people, some of them definitely dodgy, some just sightseeing like us. Lots of neon, lots of noise. Food everywhere, including in the casinos, so you didn't have to leave to eat - just keep on gambling while you dine....

The other sights included multiple Elvis impersonators (including fat Elvis and skinny Elvis), a Wookie & a Jawa; all handing out flyers for their casino or show.

I tried out one of the local shooting ranges to shoot a machine gun. Why? Just because I could. Nothing more. It was fun, too!! We even got picked up and dropped off in a real HUMMVEE. Carmen's first time in one! Eeeeeeveryone got out of the way of that beast, I can tell you.

Our taxi....

Just because I could, I did. $200 for 1.3 seconds of FUN.

The next day, Carmen and I drove a hundred or so miles north to Zion national park, Utah. In doing so, we ended up being in 3 states (leaving from Nevada, driving through Arizona to get to Utah, as LV is near the junction of these three).

I liked Utah! I drove at 80 MPH - thats 140 KPH - legally! And I still got passed by others going much faster (including big-rigs and Police cars). Exhilarating, but just ever so slightly unnerving when an 18 wheeler passes close by at warp factor 8! I almost needed a change of pants.....

After a 2.5 hour drive, we arrived at the top end of Zion park. We did a 5 mile (return) hike up Kolob canyon. It was absolutely stunning. Not too hot, either. Another stroke of brilliance visiting somewhere higher up (about 2000m ASL) to be cooler. None of the crowds of other parts of Zion, either.

 

From the top lookout

Stunning, eh?

Wild thing, I think I love you...

One of two old cabins from the 1930's

The double arches at the end of the canyon. A massive ampi-theatre.

All in all, Las Vegas was an interesting place to visit, but the city itself was much too glitzy and busy for my liking. At least I got to see the Eiffel tower, the Statue of Liberty, Venice and other places from the comfort of my own car.....

New York, Nevada-style.