Vancouver, BC

The Lonsdale Quay Hotel occupies two stories above the Lonsdale Quay Market, which itself has two stories. The building seems old, but it looks like the interior of the hotel rooms have been renovated and decorated in a nautical theme. The underground parking is for both the hotel and the market and the hotel charges CA$7 for overnight parking even if you're a guest.



After checking out, I headed to David's Cafe at the Esplanade, which was recommended by the clerk at the front desk. Their special of the day was salmon and feta wrapped in phyllo dough with baby greens sprinkled with raspberry vinaigrette. And, wow! The phyllo was crispy, the salmon was rare but good, the greens were fresh, the raspberry vinaigrette was sweet. Unfortunately, it's not part of their standard menu, so as much as I'd recommend going there, they may not have it when you go.

My tummy was still achy when I got up (although not as bad as last night), so I also passed by a drugstore for Pepto-Bismol. After lunch, I went back to the Lonsdale Quay Market to explore the shops. The market is actually reminiscent of Pike's Place Market in Seattle, but much smaller and more mainstream. There were regular shops along the perimeter, and in the center area of the first floor were stalls that sold fresh fruits and vegetables, jewelry, and arts and crafts.

In one corner of the first floor, I found an open shop that offered shiatsu massage. Well, let me just say that it was the best CA$45 I ever spent in this entire trip. The massage therapist was very good and he even massaged my aching tummy for me. It has been two years since I've had a real live massage and, oh, it felt so good. Even with all my clothes on. ;-) I don't know when the tummy ache disappeared, but it was gone by the time I went on the cruise.

There were a lot of people waiting at Harbour Cruises and more kept coming. Then a large boat called Brittania arrived and so many pre-teens were crowded at its bow. It turned out that the people were parents and siblings who were meeting this group of kids. So, it was very crowded while the kids unloaded the boat. At 2:15, the paddleboat Constitution arrived and we had to make our way through the Brittania crowd to get to our boat. There was a nice cool breeze and I got lots of pictures. This was a lot more interesting than the Red River cruise just because there was a lot to see: the Canada Center with the five "sails" and the Princess Cruise ship parked alongside it; the Chevron gas station right in the middle of the water; a sulphur factory with two high bright yellow piles in front; Stanley Park and the Lion's Gate Bridge; interesting boats of different types and sizes. Along with the usual seagulls, I saw a seal swimming in the water, which the tour guide missed. There were probably only about 25 people on board and most of them went on the third deck or indoors, so I pretty much had the outside of the second deck to myself.

My third stop was in Chinatown, the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden. As I overheard one of the other guests say, it's one of those places you go to with a fancy camera. And, sure enough, I saw more and more people with fancy cameras. I'm glad I got mine with me. I spent a long time in there. As I was focusing on the water lilies, an older couple walked by and told me about the turtles in the center lake. The woman said, "With your [kind of] camera, you'll take very good pictures [of the turtles]."

My last stop was the Harbour Centre Tower. It wasn't very high but had a good view of the city. Not too many interesting pictures from above though. But I met a Filipino, named Tomas, who was working at the snack bar. And we chatted for a long while. I was looking for a light dinner but they only had (huge!) cookies and beverages. So, I got an oatmeal cranberry cookie and iced tea, and sat at a bar stool facing north. After returning the plate, I was headed towards the elevator but something caught my eye that I decided to take a picture of. As I did, Mang Tomas walked by (he must have started his break) and we chatted even longer. It turns out that his wife is an accountant both in the Philippines and in Canada. She never had her own practice but it sounds like she's a very good auditor. So I got their email addresses, in case I need her services.

It was already almost 8pm when I started out. There wasn't that much traffic in the city itself or at the border. And it seemed like the cars in line for the border heading south all had Washington plates. The border guard seemed in a hurry to get rid of me. She even interrupted me several times to ask the next question. And she didn't ask too many questions either. She asked me what I was doing in Canada, and she was satisfied when I said I was moving from Minneapolis and I was just taking the scenic route. Somehow, I was expecting it to be harder to get into the US than it is to get into Canada. In a couple of minutes (waiting for my turn took much longer), I was back on the road. It took me a while to get back to reading the large numbers in my speedometer though. As I was speeding up, I saw the speed limit sign saying 70, and had a brief shock when my speedometer said I was going 100. The shock was only for a brief moment (although long enough for my foot to get off the gas pedal), because I realized I was looking at the kilometer scale.

A brief stop at a town near Mount Baker for gas and DQ drive-through, and pretty soon, I was seeing familiar signs. It was almost 11pm when I arrived at Katia's Bed & Breakfast (& Lunch & Dinner), where the rates are the best I've seen in this entire trip. ;-)

And so ends the Canadian adventure. But there'll be another trip soon, down to the Bay Area.



More pics here.

From AB to BC

The trip was mostly a daze, a very painful uncomfortable long daze. The cold is progressing nicely with a fever thrown in as well. And the heat of the sun wasn't helping keep my body temperature down. Coughing makes my skull feel like it's splitting into two. Even though I regained my hearing in the morning, I was half-deaf again in the evening. I hadn't had much sleep the previous night because of a nauseating tummy ache and diarrhea. I thought I had food poisoning, but the diarrhea went away and left the tummy ache behind. And the tummy ache got worse as the day went on. On top of that, all my muscles had a vague low-level pain, a very distinct pain in my lower back. Even my earlobes ached.

The hour and a half it took to get to Revelstoke felt like it went on forever. There were a lot of slow-moving vehicles pulling trailers. And TCH 1 was a two-lane highway for the most part, so it was difficult to overtake anybody. And then it's mostly mountainous with changing speeds around curves, so I couldn't use cruise control much. Revelstoke is actually a nice small community. I had a chicken wrap and soup at a grill, and the soup made my tummy feel a little better -- for a short while anyway. After getting gas, I stopped at what seemed like a park-and-ride at the edge of town, but it was too hot to nap with no shade in sight. And no breeze to cool down the car either.

Halfway between Revelstoke and Kamloops was a nice big body of water on the right side of the road. And there was a nice big storm cloud overhead. I wished for the rain to fall to cool down the air. (I didn't have that much bug splats on my windshield.) And, again, I got my wish and it poured -- I mean, literally poured, that even the fastest setting on my wipers couldn't clear the windshield fast enough to let me see the road. And again, cars had to pull to the side of the road. Deja vu. At least it wasn't hail.

But it was cooler after that cloud. I was still tired and feverish and in pain. And Kamloops came and went. I had the GPS turned off (I was trying to save the battery for when I got into the city) and I didn't refer back to the AAA TripTiks. So, I kept following TCH 1 when I was supposed to take Hwy 5. I was following a small car with bikes in the back and they followed TCH 1 as well, but they realized their mistake sooner and turned around, while I kept going for 17 miles until I got to Savona. Well, the views were at least nice. So, I retraced my steps and got to Hwy 5.

There was a rest area just before the toll booths and I exited. The sun was lower in the sky so there was enough shade. I lifted my legs up to the dashboard (I couldn't lean my seat back because there were bags right behind me) and napped. All I remember is half-waking up when I snorted. Twice. It felt like it was just five minutes, but when I woke up and checked the time, it had been half an hour. I got up and used the bathroom. There was a roach coach type van serving hotdogs, smokies (a kind of sausage), and samosas. I asked the vendor if he had hot tea and he did. He even asked me if I wanted milk on my tea (how British!) and I said no. I also asked for a hotdog thinking that maybe I was hungry. (It was already 7pm Mountain Time after all.) I was very uncomfortable and still so much in pain that I must have sounded rude and cranky although I tried hard to be nice and polite. Well, I'm sure the nap and the hotdog contributed, but the tea made me feel so much better. I was awake again. When I headed out, I drove by the coach. When I slowed down, the vendor had a pained look on his face. I think I must have made him feel bad. But when I waved and smiled, he waved back and his face broke into a big smile. I wish I had told him what a savior he had been for being there at that rest stop.

Hwy 5 is very deceiving. AAA Triptiks said that Hwy 5 had steep grade, but it didn't look bad. I was able to make use of my cruise control. There were two lanes (sometimes three) in each direction. In fact, most of the time, I didn't think I was going uphill until the car starts revving up to maintain my speed. About 50 km to Vancouver, the traffic started backing up. There were two minor accidents -- one little red car that was being hooked up to a tow truck, and a motorcycle that lost its cargo, which was scattered on the road.

It was after 9pm when I finally got to the hotel. I was beyond exhaustion, but room service closed at 9pm, so I had to go downstairs to the restaurant to eat. I had flash-fried calamari (which melted in your mouth but I like the chewiness of calamari) and salmon (which was mediocre). Or maybe, as I've told the server, I'm more tired than hungry.

By this time, the tummy ache was so severe that it takes all of my energy just to stand up straight. Getting ready for bed was sheer torture. And I still kept waking up almost every hour because of the pain. I woke up this morning at around 7:30am. I could hear better now, and the tummy is less severe, although I could still feel it. I thought it might be a bad case of PMS, but the pain is above the belly button. I think it's probably the phlegm that drips down from my throat. And to think I had just recovered from a cold a month ago!

Anyway, it's overcast today in Vancouver. I think I'll swing by the pharmacy downstairs and see if I can find something for this tummy ache.

Banff, AB

I'm half-deaf, and I don't know if it's the cold or the altitude or both. But I had a great day -- a morning tour around Banff, a free lunch at Old Spaghetti Factory, and an afternoon tour to two lakes.

I had to get up at 6:30am to finish packing, check out, and drive an hour to Banff. I made it to the pickup point and I thought I was 15 minutes early, so I went looking for a washroom (that's what they call bathrooms) and found one at the Information building a block and a half down. When I walked back, I saw a blue "Discover Banff Tours" van pulling away from the curb and thought I missed it, but there were still people standing there. Then, to my relief, another blue van pulled up and I hopped on with the rest of the people. Then we went to the Banff Springs Hotel where we picked up more people and the driver counted passengers and asked if any of us were going to the "Discover Banff" tour. I raised my hand; I was the only one. Apparently, that bus was going to Glacier Trail. I asked if I was on the wrong bus and the bus driver said, "No, you're on the right bus. I pick up some of Terry's passengers and he picks up some of mine." Well, it turned out that Terry just pulled up right next to us and so the bus driver told me to follow him and he handed me over to Terry who knew my name.

And I became his pet passenger that day. It turned out that I was the only one signed up for both the morning and the afternoon, and he was the driver for both tours I'm signed up for. Or, more accurately, I became his point of reference; i.e.: he said that the place where they picked me up was Banff Springs Hotel. In the afternoon, when he repeated something he said in the morning, he mentioned me again. It's kinda nice when the tour bus driver remembers you, because you know you'll never get left behind. And he's very nice.

In the morning tour, there was me, Bill from Connecticut, three ladies from Switzerland, and a Canadian couple. We briefly stopped by Bow Falls, where people usually do some rafting. Then we went to the Cave and Basin, where you're not allowed to touch the water because it is the only home of an endangered species of escargot. Then we went to an area that used to be a mine (I think it's called the Bow Valley), but it just looks like a regular valley now. Then we stopped at Hoodoos Viewpoint where a group of about 30 or so vacationers are gathered around a real live Mountie with his red tunic, red boots, britches, and all! Terry snapped my picture as I snuggled up with the Mountie. Of course, I asked for permission first; he is, after all, a police officer. And an active one! Terry said that they are paid to show up at tourist spots on their days off to interact with the tourists. Finally, we went to Lake Minnewanka where we saw a group of divers getting ready to dive into the town that sits at the bottom of the lake (about 40 feet from the surface). It used to be a regular valley until it got flooded -- twice!

Bill from Connecticut started chatting with me after the Mountie. When I asked Terry if my car would be okay behind the Mount Royal Hotel lot (which said 3-hour parking), Bill gave me directions to where he parked, where they had free 12-hour parking. Terry gave me directions to the Old Spaghetti Factory (where I would get my free lunch because I purchased both tours).



The restaurant was only a couple of blocks from the garage, and I got a nice seat by the window. And it's an open-air window! The window panes folded up accordion-style to one side and they had flower boxes by the windows sill. The food was so-so, however. But then, I've never really been a fan of Old Spaghetti Factory. I only paid for the clam chowder which deviated from their standard free fare. And the tip, of course.

It was only 12:30pm when I got done, so I looked around at the shops a little bit until 1:15pm. There were already three passengers in the van when Terry pulled up. I said, "Hi again!" and I saw one of the women smile. There were eight of us and we picked up a couple near Lake Louise. The three who were picked up first were from Scotland -- a daughter (who's probably about my age) and her parents. The daughter said that she now lives in Vancouver and we started chatting about that. (Everybody in both tours learned that I'm in transit from Minneapolis to Seattle because Terry asks everybody where they're from.) There was a father and son from Australia. The couple we picked up near Lake Louise are from Central California. I don't remember where the other couple was from.

The afternoon tour really only went to two major places -- Lake Louise and Moraine Lake. And both are incredible. Even before we got to Lake Louise, we could already see rivers that run by the freeway that are a strange aquamarine color, that's almost like a fake color. Think 1960s or 1970s aqua; that's how funky the color was. You have to see it to believe that it naturally occurs in nature. Terry said that it's caused by "glacier rock flour". I guess it's very fine rock particles that the glacier scrapes from the rocks and when the glacier melts into the lake, the particles remain suspended in the water.

There were too many tourists at Lake Louise, so we only stayed for a half hour. Then we headed up to Moraine Lake, which most tourists don't bother to go to. And that's too bad, because Moraine Lake is a deeper shade, but just as surreal. It's teal! There's trail that went up a pile of rocks called "Rockpile Trail" (what'd you expect it'd be called???) and the color of the lake from up there is absolutely shocking. The color is so vivid that the water looks almost like plastic. Again, you have to see it to believe that a color like that occurs in nature. My pictures don't do it justice, and, all afternoon, I was wishing I had a polarizing lens filter. We were there for almost an hour and I spent most of it at the top of the rock pile, although the trail was only a ten-minute walk (according to Terry, anyway), but it was steep.

Both to and from the lakes, Terry pointed out some mountains and their names were pretty straightforward -- the Ten-Peak Mountains whose names were the numbers 1 to 10 in the Cree(?) language. A mountain with four peaks is called Quadra. A mountain that looks like a temple is called Temple Mountain. A mountain that looks like a castle is called Castle Mountain, and the column next to it is Castle Tower. A mountain with a unique peak was used by some cartographer as a point of reference and is called Pilot Mountain.

There's a story about Castle Mountain. When Eisenhower was the president of the US, he went on a tour of Western Canada. The Canadians wanted to honor him by renaming Castle Mountain to Eisenhower Mountain. They even had a ceremony all planned for the renaming. Well, you know that expression that sometimes you just have to show up and you get credit? Well, it also applies in reverse. Apparently, Eisenhower dissed the ceremony and went golfing instead. So, after being snubbed, the Canadians went back to calling the mountain by its old name.



We also saw some wildlife, a few elk (four total) and a couple of osprey nests (one on a bridge and another on a telephone pole). And they even have overpasses and underpasses for wildlife, and I thought that was funny. Did the park officials put up signs to tell the wildlife where to go? Did they distribute brochures that taught them how to cross the highway? Why did the elk cross the road? Because the park ranger built an overpass for them. :-) Well, okay, there are fences along the highway so they're forced to cross at the designated trails. Apparently, they also track whether the overpasses and underpasses are being used by the animals. Some have sand, which is raked every morning and some expert reads the tracks. Others have cameras that are sensor-triggered.



Anyway, the tour ended with the dispatcher informing Terry that there was an accident on TCH 1 and they closed the highway. But he didn't know if it was on the westbound traffic or the eastbound traffic. He suggested taking Hwy 1A, which we took on our way back from Lake Louise. But I decided to have dinner at Banff before getting back on the road. I found an Asian restaurant that served Vietnamese and Japanese fare, and as soon as I put in my order, the lights went out. It was out all over town. But they were able to cook for me.

I took TCH 1 anyway. I figured the accident would have been cleared already. It turned out that it was on the westbound lanes just before the Lake Louise exit, but the police had already coned off a lane borrowed from the eastbound traffic. There were steep climbs and dips and tight twisting curves. I passed a point of interest called "Spiral Tunnel", but it was already 7:30pm and I didn't want to drive down the mountains in the dark.

French quiz for the day: Match the French words/phrases in List A with their English translations in List B.

List A
1. lac
2. mont
3. escargot
4. sortie du secours
5. parc
6. eau
7. bienvenue

List B
a. park
b. water
c. snails
d. emergency exit
e. welcome
f. lake
g. mountain

Who said learning French was hard?

More pics here.