The Inside Passage

Getting ready to load up at zero dark thirty.

Well, we can see why people love cruises. Our 15 hour trip up the Inside Passage of Canada from Port Hardy to Prince Rupert was a real delight for both of us.

After an extremely early wake-up to make the 0530 show time for the ferry, we were loaded aboard and had checked into our little stateroom by 0630. Not surprisingly, the stateroom was a tad nicer than either of my living quarters aboard the Enterprise or Independence. Two single beds, bathroom, shower, work station, closets and even a wide screen TV. And the view outside the window was gorgeous - didn't really have to leave the room to see spectacular scenery drifting by. Mile after mile (250 miles actually) of the most pristine wilderness you can imagine - interrupted only occasionally by a small fishing village, lighthouse, or Nav station. Otherwise it was completely empty of people or any reminder of civilization.

Since the first few hours or so were thru open water enroute to the sheltered channel that defines the inside passage, we conducted a functional check of the bunks and logged some much-needed sleep to compensate for the early start. Later, went up on deck to explore the ship and were rewarded with world-class views around every bend. It was mesmerizing to just sit in a chair and watch the scenery unfold. The ship was rocking & rolling a bit in the north Pacific swell before we entered the channel, but once established in the passage it was as stable as a church.




On deck on the Northern Expedition - Note the crowds.


Pretty much had the run of the ship all to ourselves. Even the weather was cooperating.



One of the few signs of civilization along the route. This is a small lighthouse/nav station about half way up the channel. Guess the passing of the ferry every afternoon is the highlight of their day - everyone was out waving as we drifted by. In summer they do this as a day trip, rather than as an overnighter as is the case in winter. In August the sailing is north to south on the odd numbered days, and the reverse on the even numbered days...which was the case with us.




A look at our stateroom with the view thru the window.

They had both a cafe and a full service restaurant on board. We opted for a light lunch in the cafe and headed up to the restaurant as soon as they opened in the evening...still 4 hours from our destination at Prince Rupert. Had a terrific dinner while watching the coastline go by thru the large picture windows - it has to be one of the great settings for a meal on the planet.

Suffice to say we were impressed with the whole experience and have vowed to give this whole cruising thing a second look.

Prince Rupert


The end point of the cruise was Prince Rupert in NW British Columbia...about 100 miles or so from the southern border of Alaska. The intention was to stay a couple of nights to rest and recharge before heading out on Canada Highway 16 across BC to Jasper National Park in Alberta. Arrived at our B&B around 11:00 PM after debarking from the ferry, then spent our only full day here walking around the town and surrounding area - even found a pretty shoreline trail in a nearby Provincial Park to stretch our legs.



Prince Rupert is supposed to be one of the rainiest places in Canada. Was drizzling all morning until the sun came out around noon. Had a lot of low fog early-on as well. Made for nice hiking weather though.


Stopped near this lookout for lunch. When the tide turns the small channel becomes a raging torrent twice a day...in one direction when the tide comes in and in the other direction 12 hours later as the tide goes out.

Then it was back on the road for the 4 hour drive to Smithers.







Looking back along our wake during the passage to Prince Rupert.

Port Hardy

Arrived here yesterday after a pleasant drive up the spine of Vancouver Island. Port Hardy is at the northern tip, so we're well-positioned for catching the ferry tomorrow morning...early. Show time is 0530 with the sailing at 0730. I think we're going to get a lot of use out of our cabin, which is supposed to be quite nice: self-contained with a couple of beds, a shower, toilet, and outside with a view so we should be able to watch the scenery glide by in comfort - cruise ship style.


Been enjoying this area. We noted in one of the brochures from the Visitor's Center that Port Hardy is home to the highest Black Bear concentration in North America. Been too hot during the day for them to appear, but apparently they're usually all over the place according to our hosts at the B&B where we're staying. We previously noted that every town here has bear-proof trash containers in the downtown areas...something we had only seen before in Yellowstone & Glacier Parks in the US. Apparently it's SOP for cities & towns in Canada however. Saw one black bear crossing the road ahead of us earlier today as we drove to a local hiking spot. No chance for a photo op, however, since he came & went so quickly. Had a Bald Eagle fly right by us yesterday as we walked along the sea front. There's an active nest about a block from where we're staying - literally right downtown. Walked along the beach this morning at low tide. Guess the Humpback Whales are here feeding and you occasionally see them just a stone's throw offshore. Saw what appeared to be a couple of fledgling Bald Eagles feeding on some fish right on the beach as we walked by. It's that kind of place.


A couple of eagles having breakfast on the beach. There were humpback whales in the sound just beyond.



Our lunch spot at Bear Falls, a stop along Marble River. Can usually see the salmon jumping the falls as they proceed upstream to spawn...but a few weeks later in September.


Looking downriver at Bear Falls


A little further along on the hiking trail, at a point call Emerald Pools.

I only scheduled a few stopover days on the drive north to catch the ferry, but we've seen enough to know that we need to come back to this area for a longer stay, especially since it's relatively close to home. Lots of great Canadian scenery in and around the Provincial Parks.

General Thoughts So Far

There's not as much sticker shock in Canada as there was in Australia earlier this year. Prices are pretty similar to those in the US, with the exception of gasoline which goes for about US$4.00 per gallon...as opposed to about $2.90 when we left Vancouver. Things here used to be a bargain back when the Canadian dollar was only worth about 0.85 US. Now it's near parity however so it's similar to traveling in the US...and not many bargains to be had.

Cell phone coverage has been pretty sporadic. At first I didn't think our US cell phones were working, but I finally found a signal this morning, swapped the US chip back into my international phone, and it seems to work fine. I Googled the coverage map for British Columbia & Alberta and noted that there are some pretty wide areas that just have no coverage at all. Looks like we'll be in and out for most of the trip.

Driving has been pretty easy so far, especially with the light traffic we've experienced since we left the Victoria area. Road conditions are quite good considering the severity of the winters up here, and the drivers seem to be a friendly and relaxed lot.

Guess they've been having an unusually warm & dry summer. This particular area is usually rather showery this time of year, but they haven't had much rain to speak of for about 6 weeks. Pretty dry in the back country, which makes for nice hiking conditions but there are open fire restrictions in place all over for fear of forest fires.

Canada

The view from the front porch of our B&B in Port Townsend, looking out over the lower town and towards Puget Sound

We finally departed on our Autumn trip to Canada on August 11. Drove up to Port Townsend - a particularly pretty little town on the Strait of Juan de Fuca where we had spent a couple of days last year. It's about an hour's drive from there to the harbor at Port Angeles where we caught the ferry over to Victoria on Vancouver Island. From there we drove about half way up the island to another pretty little town called Qualicum Beach.



Another view.


We spent a couple of nights in Qualicum Beach - mainly to break up the drive - but have found it to be a neat destination in its own right. On our full day here (today) we got up early and drove to one of the Provincial Parks for a hike up into the surrounding hills. They do know something about parks here - all of them offer spectacular scenery and tidy grounds for camping or just an afternoon picnic.

After a shower we headed back down the road to Port Alberni where we had lunch and generally spent the afternoon. It's a fishing & logging town located on what is basically a Fjord - really deep water cutting thru the mountains down to the waters of the Pacific. The drive is supposed to be one of the prettiest in Canada - which is saying plenty - and it sure didn't disappoint. Couldn't have been a nicer day. Interestingly, the town was named for the skipper of a Spanish vessel that was exploring and mapping the coastline in 1771 - didn't know the Spanish made it this far north but they did. He missed British Captain Vancouver by about 20 years, and of course it was Vancouver's claim to the Pacific Northwest for Britain that stuck - the Spanish had to settle for California.

Walking around Port Alberni


Plan is to drive up to Port Hardy on the northern tip of Vancouver Island tomorrow, where we'll stay in another B&B for a couple of nights before we catch the BC ferry for the trip up the inside passage to Prince Rupert on the BC mainland...just across the border from Alaska actually. It's a 15 hour ferry ride, but we have a private, outside cabin to enjoy the passing scenery in some comfort while we work our way north...and maybe take a nap at some point to compensate for the early wakeup required to make the sailing.

Calling it a ferry is almost a misnomer - from the photos it looks more like a small cruise ship that happens to take vehicles. Anyway, we're looking forward to it - it's the start of the real adventure on this 7 week trip thru BC and Alberta. From Prince Rupert we drive down thru northern BC towards Jasper, Lake Louise and Banff National Parks, then swing back around to the west to eventually finish up in Vancouver (BC) the last of September. We're essentially making a giant circle thru Western Canada and plan to be home on Sept. 28.

So...we're off.

One note for the Kevin & Mike: our US cell phones don't seem to be working up here, but I swapped the chip in mine to convert it to international mode and it seems to work OK. So our phone number is the international number we've used on trips before, which is 358 5317 5967. Remember to dial the international access code (011) before starting the sequence. Other than that the best way to connect is probably via email, since most of the places we're staying on the trip seem to have wireless internet.

Anniversary

After spending the night at the Navy base at Point Mugu, we meandered down the Pacific Coast Highway towards Los Angeles, where we spent our last night before catching the flight home on the 8th. As it happened it was our 41st anniversary so we decided to take a detour into the city to see.....the LaBrea Tar Pits! (who says I'm not a romantic at heart?).

Actually it was fun. It was a place we had both heard and read about and, surprisingly, I had never been there even though I lived in LA for many years - just never made it up here (the beach was in the other direction). So, when we noticed it on the map and realized how close we were going to pass by we decided to go for it.

The place is actually a quaint little county park located smack in the middle of the Miracle Mile section of Wilshire Blvd. in the heart of the city. In fact I noticed that the corporate headquarters for Variety - the show business weekly - was located in one of the high rises just across the street. That's the thing about the tar pits - they bubble up in the virtual center of one of the busiest and most exclusive parts of LA. Hollywood is just a few blocks away. Guess the place has been oozing for thousands of years, and trapping a variety of animals for millenia, including now extinct species like saber tooth cats, giant sloths and mammoths. Apparently they're still pulling bones out of the tar from several archeological digs, and there appears to be enough stuff to keep the folks who do this sort of thing busy for a few hundred years.

There were a few school groups on day trips but we worked around them pretty easily and actually spent a pretty nice afternoon wandering around the pits - which are now fenced off to keep the tourists from falling in I guess - and the museum, where they have some great displays of reconstructed skeletons and the like. The tar comes up thru cracks in the earth from miles below the surface - remember that the San Andreas fault runs right thru here - and you can see little puddles of the stuff all around the area. Guess it even spurts up around the cracks in the sidewalks in this part of town on hot summer days. We came across several spots about as big as the lid of a trash can as we walked around - gave the whole place an air of accidental discovery.

Anyway, here are a few photos:

One section of the pits with the museum in the background.


The displays of reconstructed creatures are really quite interesting since in most cases they had virtually the entire skeletons to work with.


After a late lunch we rejoined the crush of LA traffic and drove over to the airport hotel. Had time the next morning to work out at the gym, have a leisurely breakfast on the club floor, and then catch the hotel shuttle to the United terminal. Checking in and getting thru security weren't too much of an ordeal, and the flight passed quickly (thank goodness for I-pods).

Arrived in Portland around 3:15 where it was ....(drum roll please)....raining! Oh, well, at least we were home - having spent a couple of really enjoyable weeks getting our batteries recharged in the Southern California sun, seeing some old friends, and eating way too much good Mexican food. Looks like we can put the sunscreen away for a while as we get back to our exercise routines and generally try to lose all the weight we gained on the trip.

Next excursion will be July 9 when we fly down to Valdosta to spend 10 days with the kids & grand kids.

Up the California Coast

San Simeon

After leaving Laguna Beach we drove up thru Los Angeles along the I-5 corridor before cutting over to the coast near Bakersfield. Lots of traffic passing thru LA (which is always a treat) and not much pretty scenery during the 5 hour drive until we hit the Pacific Coast Highway near the little town of Cambria...just south of San Simeon which was our destination for a couple of nights. We really lucked out with sunny, warm days and some truly spectacular scenery along the coast as you can see from the first couple of photos below. Took an exploratory drive around the back roads in the area and just generally enjoyed the place.




Our coastal walk the second day



The purpose of the visit was to see Hearst Castle - formerly the residence of newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst back in the 20's and 30's and now a California State Historical site. I'd never been up here despite living in the LA area for many years.

We thought it was very well done. The tours were enjoyable & informative and made for a pleasant interlude on a gorgeous day. As Kevin & Mike know, Hearst was the model for the title character in the Orson Wells movie Citizen Kane - one of the all time greats. Was interesting to see the real Xanadu as portrayed in the film. Say what you will about the man, he did spend a few bucks on this estate as you can see.


The Casa del Sol...one of the "minor" apartments next to the main house.



The pool would make a Roman emperor blush. One of the perks of the job for the local tour guides is that they're allowed to come up here for a dip in the evening after the last tours have departed. Not a bad deal. The sunset views must be other-worldly from up here.



And this is the main house...La Casa Grande. Hearst's private living area was the floor marked by the balcony above.



The indoor pool...located just below the tennis courts (of course).



Part of the estate once included the biggest private zoo in North America. Most of the animals were donated to California state zoos long ago, but part of the original zebra herd still remains and can be seen grazing the foothills near Highway 1...not exactly the sort of thing you expect to see driving by.


Hearst inherited a fortune from his Father, who struck it rich in silver after coming out to California in 1850 for the Gold Rush. They bought the land the castle sits on from the original Spanish land grant holders in 1865...all 390 square miles of it. Hearst began building the house around 1919 and lived in it (off and on) until the late 40's. He, of course, expanded the family fortune through his publishing enterprises until into the 1950's.


Solvang

We then drove down the Coast Highway to the picturesque little town of Solvang...which is where the movie Sideways was filmed a few years ago. We explored the Santa Ynez valley, which is where all of the Santa Barbara vineyards are located, stopped to visit another of the old missions, and spent part of one day walking around the Danish-themed town. What a pretty place it was.

As luck would have it, we stayed in the same hotel where the movie was set - located just up the street from the Hitching Post Restaurant which also features prominently in the story.



The courtyard of Mission Santa Ynez



The clock tower in Solvang



Guess the town was founded by a group of people from Scandinavia - principally Denmark - and so the town goes out of its way to reflect that heritage.




A last look at the Campo Santo (graveyard) in the mission. The grounds provided a cool and tranquil place to walk and escape the bustle of the town on a Saturday afternoon.

We'll be spending the night at the Navy base in Point Mugu, then driving to LAX for a final night before we fly home to the drizzles of the Pacific Northwest on Tuesday. Not sure what we're going to do for our 41st wedding anniversary tomorrow, but it probably won't be quite as memorable as our visit to Mackinac Island last year for our 40th.

The trip has been a relaxing escape for both of us - just what the Doctor ordered. It'll be back to reality on Tuesday however.

Laguna Beach

We just spent a very enjoyable week in Laguna Beach, which is about an hour south of Los Angeles. I used to come here on surf and dive trips with some of my high school buddies many years ago and, remembering how pretty it was, decided to show Rita this stretch of Mediterranean-style California coastline. As you can see from the photos above & below it really is a world away from LA. Didn't hurt that the weather cooperated too...lots of sunshine for the holiday weekend.


On the cliff walk looking back up towards our rental villa



A view of the main beach at Laguna at the height of the holiday crush. It's not intimate but boy is it pretty on a sunny day.

We drove up to Disneyland the day after we arrived...about a 25 minute drive away, hoping to beat the crowds by going mid-week before the LA schools let out for the summer. Well, we almost timed it right. Wasn't too bad in the morning but it got really crowded by the time we bailed around 5 PM (it was open till 9 that night). It was a fun day, but the admission price of $72 a pop means we probably won't be going back any time soon. I can't imagine how a young family with a couple of kids can afford the place.

We were able to get together with a couple of old high school friends of mine and their wives - Frank and Maureen Davis and Dan and Joanne Ashbrook. I go back a long way with these two, and we spent very enjoyable evenings with each...relaxing, getting re-acquainted and generally enjoying each others company.

On Monday Dan's son John hosted all of us for a short cruise around Huntington Harbor to see how the rich folks live. The photo below is a glimpse of the expensive boats and homes that line the waterway.




On our last day we walked around the harbor at Dana Point...another pretty area just south of Laguna and just north of Doheny...names that our surfer sons should recognize quite well. Dana Point is named for Richard Henry Dana, who came here in 1835 and who later wrote about his experiences (and the area) in his book Two Years Before The Mast. Saw this little schooner beating back into the harbor to its berth at the local Maritime Museum and got a quick photo.




Later we drove a couple of miles inland and revisited the little town of San Juan Capistrano. Didn't go to the mission this time, but wandered around the old city which is historic in its own right. The "Los Rios" historic district down by the railroad station was a relaxing place to meander, so that's just what we did for a couple of hours. Many of the well-known California cities trace their origins to one of the missions that the Spanish established back in the 18th century. Pueblos grew up around them, and later cities. San Juan Capistrano is pretty typical in that regard. Only difference is that it retains its small-town, colonial charm while some of the larger cities have swallowed up most of the original settlement. Some have been preserved - Old Town San Diego comes to mind - but others have been sacrificed to progress and development.




The Rios adobe - the oldest continuously occupied home in California. Built in 1784, the current occupant represents the 10th generation of the same family to live here.

Leaving today for a drive up the coast to San Simeon...planning to visit Hearst Castle tomorrow.

California Missions

During our drive up the Pacific Coast Highway we stopped off at two of the California missions which formed the basis of the Spanish settlements that later became cities like San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco. The first was Mission San Luis Rey shown in the photo above. It was founded by Dominican friars in 1798 as part of a string of 21 missions the Spanish established to cement its claim to California against the encroachments of Russian (and later American) fur traders. Although Spanish explorers had originally claimed the region as early as 1554, the government in Mexico City had never really done much of anything to settle the area due to it's remoteness from the Capitol. These settlements were intended to correct that situation.

The missions were linked along a road called El Camino Real (The Royal Highway) and were about one day's travel apart...so a traveler on foot or donkey could count on having a place to stay in the evening. The history of the missions, and treatment of the indigenous people by the Spanish, is a decidedly mixed bag historically, but the places they've left behind are evocative of the history of the early "Californios" that settled the region. Make for a nice walking break on a pretty day too.






The photos below are of San Juan Capistrano. Apparently the swallows are coming less and less these days - preferring the more remote and rural areas to the hustle & bustle of the city. Lots of California history here, and as you can see it was an especially pretty place in its own regard.






Capistrano is only about 20 miles from where we're staying in Laguna Beach. Laguna is where I used to come with friends when I was in high school on our early dive trips. Froze our butts off in the cold (58 deg.) waters offshore...the kind of water that would make a Hawaiian scream.

Laguna started out as an artist colony near LA and still retains much of that quirky charm. Rather upscale though, ie it isn't a cheap place to live (or stay). It is a nice central location for exploring some of the local attractions. Disneyland for example of about 20 minutes away...heading there tomorrow.