The poker game lasted till the bar closed at 2 or 3, so I slept in quite a bit, then settled in for a day that was mostly driving, including most of it in the rain.
First week - 2243, State College, PA to Laurel, Montana
2005/06/12-
The poker game lasted till the bar closed at 2 or 3, so I slept in quite a bit, then settled in for a day that was mostly driving, including most of it in the rain.
2005/06/13-
Slept in a highway rest area past Sprague, Montana - yes, it's possible to put in a healthy, though not excessive, day of driving and not get through some of these western states. Made it to Seattle by the mid-afternoon.
I headed north and took this picture on the way between Seattle and Vancouver. My first border crossing of the trip was marked by the most hassle. I apparently set of the "shadiness" alarms, and they decided to let me have a seat in Customs while they searched my car. After that, no more problems. For my first bed in a few days, I stayed at the Hostelling International Hostel in Vancouver, BC.
2005/06/14-
So, the city of Vancouver itself looked kinda dreary. At least in the morning, when I was driving around aimlessly and took the first picture. I managed to stumble across Richard's on Richards (Yes, on Richards St.) which I recognized to be a venue that They Might Be Giants have frequented and even sort-of immortalized in song. For me, it's immortalized as the place where I got a parking ticket for going four minutes over a meter. The rest of the day was a huge improvement, though
From one musical touchstone to another. In college, Duff, Rich, Tom and I always used to talk about going on The Crawl. Well, I'm the only one who made it as far as The Troller, a bar on Vancouver's North Shore. I grabbed my table in the corner, but instead of starting a rowdy pub crawl, I ordered a blackened chicken sandwich, a beer, and continued reading Middlesex. But it was a huge thrill, especially for a Tuesday.
The North Shore and Horseshoe Bay are just incredibly beautiful.
I made the somewhat spurious decision to simply drive north from there, which was the more direct route, though the main roads were somewhat further inland. For neither the first nor last time, this sort of decision directly lead to equal parts pretty scenery and motion sickness. Highway 99 North is the aptly-named Sea to Sky Highway.
It passes through the winter ski destination Whistler, BC. I picked up a hitchhiker something like 20 minutes from here. Whistler doesn't shut down in the summer, there is plenty of hiking and other outdoor activities, plus they host conventions. The guy I picked up was French, and employed as a pastry chef for the convention business. The affordable places to live are all way south of town, and many of the kids working at the resort just hitchhike to and from work. Oh, and if pastries aren't your thing, set against all that natural beauty, the Golden Arches are of course present, albeit a location with an oddly old-school web page.
More of the Sea to Sky Highway. I feel like I missed a lot of great pictures due to my desire not to plunge off the road. It was a big day, and I finally slept in my car somewhere just off the highway south of 100 Mile House.
2005/06/15-
This day of driving was interrupted by my first car troubles of any on the trip. I stopped in Prince George, BC and sat around reading for a while, as was becoming my custom. When I returned to my car, I was startled to find it showing definite signs of having a dead battery. These signs, importantly, included an inability to start. I was lucky to have been "stranded" in a fairly major town, in fact, adjacent to an auto parts store. The guy there was happy to jump-start the Civic and I subsequently drove all over town to make sure the battery could hold a charge. Prince George is also home to the Treasure Cove Casino (Tuscan themed, no less), where I managed to win a bit playing roulette. The car's battery seemed to be holding up, but at night, I made sure I found a nice big hill that I could park on, facing downslope, in case the battery was dead again the next morning. It's a nice perk of the manual transmission.
2005/06/16-
Car gremlins did not return next day, and I more confidently set out to complete my (ferry departure-dependent) trip to Prince Rupert, B.C. On the way, I passed a fair number of small towns with names that reminded me of home for one reason or another, including Vanderhoof, BC and Hazelton, BC.
Somewhere between Prince George and Prince Rupert.
Of course, some things can both float and fly.
And it's a nice spot to catch some sunsets. That picture was taken around 10:30PM local time. I was getting close to that elusive midnight sun. Late that night, we arrived in Petersburg, Zieak met me with his girlfriend Cena, and I got some very, very good sleep at their house.
This is Zieak in front of his rock climbing wall. His official job, among his great many side-projects and interests, is Director of Parks and Recreation for the city. He was responsible for the creation of this wall, and when I visited, was getting things moving on building a swimming pool. I highly recommend spending some time on his blog.
