Wells Grey Provincial Park

Clearwater BC borders the Wells Grey Provincial Park.  Beautiful area.  Ancient volcanoes and slow-moving glaciers carved the rivers and lakes that fuel the Park’s waterfalls. You’ll hear the roar of the Falls, long before you can see cascading water tumbling over lichen-drenched boulders, making its way downstream. Almost half the named Falls are found near here.  We visited three:  Spahats Creek Falls, Dawson Falls and Helmcken Falls.  Dawson is called the Niagara Falls of BC and you can see why from the photo.  Helmcken reminded us of Bridal Veil Falls in Yosemite except it pours out of the cavern at the top.

view of Clearwater River from Helmcken Falls

Dawson Falls is called Alberta's Niagara Falls

Helmcken Falls shoots out of a cavern

close up of the cavern

the "mush pot" descends from Dawson Falls

Shapats Falls

hiking up Trophy Mountain to see the wild flowers

So we're in Canada, eh!

So we're in Canada, eh!  The Fonz used to end a sentence with "eh" and so do Canadians :) They also say "aboot" instead of "about."  Most of our Canadian knowledge comes from watching Cheech & Chong in the 70's so here's some history for those of you who like history.

Our campsite in Clearwater was really nice and private

They only gained partial independence from England in 1931.  With the Constitution of 1982 they officially separated from the British Parliament obtaining full independence.  They do still consider Elizabeth II of England as their monarch and she is on the dollar and quarter coins as we have seen so far—using mostly plastic here to pay and only needed “lunes” to do the laundry.  Most things look like the US here – cars, stores, & restaurants (subway, pizza hut—the usual chains).  Gas is about $5.00 a gallon however, since our dollar value is higher by 20 cents that computes to $4.00/gallon so still higher than US.  There are 10 provinces in Canada:  British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Newfoundland, Labrador, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.  Also there are three “territories” which don’t have political importance:  Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut—seems to be mostly frozen up in those areas—burrrr! English and French are the primary languages and in BC we only saw signs with English but now in Alberta, road signs and information are in both languages.

Mt Robson as we entered Wells Gray Provincial Park to came

 

Cooking when you travel in a trailer

I have been systematically turning Clark Griswold's trailer into the "girly" home.  I don't like to spend a lot on the extras but found a mixer at Goodwill in Lincoln City for $4.99 and some DVDs.  Some of our campsites have electricity but if not, our batteries work the lights, propane works the stove, oven and refrig and if we don't have an electrical hookup and I want to use the mixer, Clark can fire up the generator.

We are in transit on our way to Jasper, Alberta.  We made if over the border into Canada with no problem.  We expected they would search the trailer with drug dogs :) but they did not.  Clark had gone to Bend in June with his bow, gun and gear for the elk hunt and rented a small storage because we knew he could not bring the bow or a gun across.

The drive from Seattle on the Mt. Baker Scenic Byway was really beautiful and we stayed last night in Merritt, BC.  Today we move up farther north and will stay in Clearwater, BC.  That will be a KOA campground where we can also do laundry so we'll relax there for 2 days since we had a 269 mile drive yesterday and about 160 today.

I have some home made frozen "entrees" in our freezer that I made before we left and store in ziplocks so I can easily defrost and cook on stops like these.

Also made some GF blueberry muffins with fresh blueberries from our Seattle friends backyard.

Love to get something for a good price!

Chicken Maribella over mashed potatoes

Entering Canada...took only about 5 minutes

Campsite at Dash Point--we were with friends during our stay so didn't explore the campground there

Port Townsend

Port Townsend is a darling town filled with shops, eateries, victorian buildings and homes.  Worth a visit.  The ferry operates here to/from Seattle

I thought this coffee shop has a cool name: Better Living Through Coffee

Beautiful victorian building 

harbor view

Lavender Festival in Sequim

Many of the lavender farms open up for tours so we went to a few of them as well as the festival which is mainly a street fair.  Sequim, Port Townsend and Port Angeles fill with 30,000 people for this event.  You can get lavender ice cream -- mint, lemon, chocolate; lavender laced cookies and other baked goods; fish crusted with lavender; lavender lemonade etc.

This is the George Washington Inn located in Port Angeles. It's a replica of Mt. Vernon and is a working inn.  We didn't go here but I saw it advertised and thought I'd share in case anyone wants to stay in a beautiful place some summer

Sequim WA

We arrived in Sequim last Thursday.  It's the lavender capital of North America and the third weekend of July is the lavender festival.  We are staying with Clark's cousins, Earl and Diane Bergmen.  They don't live here year around because the winters are pretty dreary.  Summers are beautiful.  Their house is on the Strait of Juan de Fuca.  View to the north are the San Juan Islands, heading east is Mt. Baker and Port Townsend. Cruise ships pass through here to Seattle--3 came through Friday night and went back out Sunday night.  Lots of wild life here.  We saw families of quail, ferrets, deer, and bald eagles.  I could sit on their back deck all summer. At night with the windows open the sea air filters in and I could listen to the water slap the shore.

back of the house from beach

looking toward Pacific Ocean from their beach

Astoria, OR - July 19

Astoria is located on the Columbia River that separates Oregon and Washington.  Once again we had beautiful weather for the day.  On the highest hill there is the Astoria Column which has 163 steps to the top.  I walked it and Clark took a photo from below.  Once on the top, you can see farther down the Columbia then move around to the Lewis & Clark River and Young's Bay.  We had a great seafood lunch along the river.

Donna's Yacht

I wanted to get a yacht and live minimally.  Clark took this picture while we were at Ft. Stevens Beach and says this is what would happen if I had a yacht!

Ft. Clapsop - Lewis & Clark National Park

Lewis and Clark National Park and Fort Stevens are located in Hammond/Warrenton, OR.  We spent three days here exploring the history of this area.  The original Clark Griswold was heading to Wally World but my Clark Griswold had to follow me to every historic thing here!  This section of the Lewis and Clark National Park is home to the wintering ground of the expedition in 1805-06, Fort Clapsop.  Lewis and Clark, aided by Sacagawea as their Indian interpreter, wintered here. Their fort has been replicated based on diaries written.  Docents dressed in period clothing recount the history of the fort and the people who lived here. It sits on the Lewis and Clark River.