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We set out for Seattle, USA, using the Greyhound bus (Claudette's first experience of this) and arrived in Seattle just after lunch. We wandered found the city visiting Pike Place Market and Westlake Mall, where Claudette fell in love with Max Mallard, the singing and talking duck! We also visited the first ever Starbucks coffee bar (this will mean something to coffee lovers!)
We visited the second smallest National Park in the USA, The Klondike Gold Rush National Park where we had our own genuine forest ranger to show us around and show us a movie about the gold rush. From here we walked along the Seattle waterfront, past all the tacky souvenir shops including one called the'Old Curiosity shop' which as well as having souvenirs had things such as mummies, shrunken heads and freak animals such siamese calves.
We then took the waterfront tram (actually a tram of Australian
origin) back to downtown, where Max Mallard was purchased! From here it was down
into the trolley tunnel (something which has to be seen to be believed) to catch
a bus to Bellevue, a shopping centre in the Seattle suburbs. This involved
crossing a floating bridge over the lake. After successful shopping (thanks to J
C Penney and Comp USA we returned downtown.
Leaving early in the morning, we caught the Amtrak (American Railway) Cascade train to Vancouver. This is a modern (Spanish!) train which follows the coast most of the way. There was a lot of wildlife to be seen, Claudette was lucky enough to see a Sea Otter, which made Steve really envious as he was looking the other way. After being sniffed by both US and Canadian drug dogs we reached Vancouver and then Ladner.
Friday saw us visiting the Museum of Anthropology at UBC (University of Britsh Columbia) which contains a magnificent collection of Northwest First Nations art.
Unfortunately we had camera problems, so we don't have any photos, so we suggest you visit their web site.
Also on the campus is the Nitobe Memorial Gardens, built in Japanese style, a far better bet than Doctor Sun Yet-Sen Gardens (and these were free)
The University is situated at Point Grey, and we enjoyed a lovely drive around the coast to get back to Ladner.
On Saturday we visited another friend, Lesley, who lives in North Vancouver. Most of the time was spent chatting but she took us and her son Brett to Capilano Salmon hatchery where we were able to see salmon jumping up a man made salmon ladder.
From here we went on to Edgemont village which is said to:
"retain its old-fashioned charm as an alpine village with intriguing boutiques and unique shops".
Which effectively means that it has gone upmarket and now has a variety of expensive shops!
We drove home through central Vancouver (with Steve getting slightly lost!)
We drove to the border and visited Peace Arch park, a park which straddles the Canada/USA border. It was beautiful, Claudette collected a number of pretty leaves
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From here we drove on to White Rock, a seaside town near the border, the nearest thing to the British seaside, lots of tacky shops and food outlets. It also has the railway (the one we came back from Seattle on) between the promenade and the beach.
White Rock front. Note the railway, the pier and Mount Baker (in the USA) in the background.
We then drove along a country road running close to the border to Langley, where we looked around a number of shops.
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