He was comfortably resting by the porch when I showed up, then ambled up to the picket fence where he just wanted to be petted and get some attention. This was on the main street of Clinton, BC, which happens to be the highway. We stopped here for gas and it seemed so much less spoiled by strip malls and chain stores that we walked around. I'm going to do a whole photo portrait of Clinton. This is just a preview.
We began after breakfast at the Provincial campground at Lac La Hache. We're clearly getting into civilizations. The campground bathrooms had flush toilets and and granite counter tops.
Compared to three years ago, Thursday (Day 5) and Friday (Day 6) went much faster because there was less traffic and almost no interruption due to construction. And this last day was mostly sunny and warm - about 20˚C I would guess.
The landscape was getting more arid. We were passing what almost looked like semi-desert, with these bunches of yellow flowers topping gray-green foliage. I don't know what they are, but they were everywhere.
And then we got to the Fraser River and Canyon. We followed this passage for several hours. The train seemed endless and was there whenever we looked. One side of the canyon was dry and the other side lush with evergreens.
At this point we're closer to the water. We couldn't see the end of the train in either direction.
And there were lots of tunnels along this route. Most, so well lit up, I didn't need to take off my sunglasses.
Along this route we got to Devil's Gate, where we had lunch and took a short hike in the beautiful weather, which I'll do a separate post on.
Eventually we got out of the canyon and onto a freeway - Canada Highway 1. At Abbotsford we got off the freeway and headed south a couple of miles to the US border. I just checked now and found there's a cam at the border you can check online to see how crowded the customs line is.
Crossing into the US here was easier than when we crossed into Canada in the relatively remote Beaver Creek crossing into the Yukon. Then we were back on small rural road heading west and then south into Bellingham where we caught the I-5 to Seattle. It was here, in the middle of five lanes of southbound traffic, as it was getting dark, that it started pouring. But by the time we got to the ferry terminal, the rain had ended. Below is a view of some of the Seattle skyline as the ferry took off for Bainbridge Island.
This is a great road trip and I wish we had more time to poke around, hike, and just enjoy the beautiful country. Driving through Canada does require us to think differently - the signs are in kilometers and the gas comes in litres. The dollars are pretty close to equal so that's relatively easy. It's generally good when the things we take for granted get skewed a bit and we have to think about them and realize our world is not the only possible world. (Just not too much at once.)
Our grand daughter has grown a lot, is crawling and pulling herself up to a standing position, and picking up bits of food and stuffing them into her mouth. She's also a lot more cautious about straying far from Mama.
Been following your photographic postings for some time now: you have a real "eye". Very enjoyable! Your state is spectacular!
ReplyDeleteGood to hear from you again and thanks for the kind words. These pictures, of course, are British Columbia, part of your country. :)
ReplyDeleteI know. So much to see, so little time.
ReplyDeleteWe just got back from Nebraska where I interviewed 50 people for the second Volume of Nebraska by Dummies to see what they knew about Ottawa... (For Vol. One I asked Canadians what they knew about Nebraska - pretty much zip).
But what a surprising state -- not at ALL as flat as pee on a plate, as one Canadian knew. Rolling farmland. Lovely, as were the people.
But I'm afraid for most people Canada and America are joined by their common indifference. I found NE fascinating. As any subject can be if one simply attends...
Sounds like a great project. When I taught in Hong Kong, students would ask me what Americans thought of Hong Kong. I'd ask them what they thought about Uruguay. They'd look at me blankly. I'd say, "that's what Americans think about Hong Kong."
ReplyDeleteIs this going to be an art project or will it be available as a book on Amazon?
Neither. It is my fifth & sixth books. My husband and I publish our work ourselves in small editions. My last -- The Pocket Lint Chronicles -- was only a run of 400 with 350 sold. Nebraska By Dummies is only in retro paperback form. It does have, however, 15 colour plates of faux postcards "from" NE I made and 23 B&Ws.
ReplyDelete...."taught in Hong Kong..." You have the breadth of mind and energy of half a dozen thoughtful and lucky people, you do. :)
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to see that US cars seem to be much bigger than European one. I made this assumption from the last but one picture where the last car in the queue is a Volkswagen Passat which is slightly smaller than the Hungarian average, but in this photo it seems to be the smallest.
ReplyDeleteRather American in general as it was taken in Canada.
ReplyDeleteNo question US cars are bigger. Partly because our gas is cheaper and our public transportation is generally poorer. And I only see one SUV in line. And your follow up is a good one, though we were maybe 100 meters from being in the US, but most of the cars ahead of us seemed to have Canadian license plates.
ReplyDelete