Our travels have taken a different path. As most of you know I am driving as many miles as I can in a day to get myself home. The days are long and exhausting, but I am not complaining... I just need to get home to be with my family! These photos were taken as we were driving through Montana and North Dakota.
Today we went to the Capilano Suspension Bridge & Lighthouse Park in North Vancouver. First off this bridge is over 140 meters long and rocks like a small dingy on the Atlantic Ocean. If one gets sea-sick quick this is not the place to be. The more people that got on the thing, the more it rocked. J seemed OK with it and strutted as she always does, but me and Kath had a little bit more difficulty with it. The rest of the park was a series of canopy bridges that suspend from tree to tree. Next we went to Lighthouse Island. We had to walk a while and up big rocks to the viewing point, but the views were so worth it. You could see the city of Vancouver on the horizon and a huge snow covered mountain (Calgary) silhouettes behind it. Breathtaking.. Next we drove through Stanley Park and dropped Jaimie off with her bike as we toured. Tomorrow- Calgary
Today we took public transport (bus, water taxi, etc) to spend the day in the city. The city is beautiful. We walked to the famous Canada Place on the harbor where the docs have been built to replicate a cruise ship/cool. A few blocks west were the 2010 Olympic Games Caldron. As I stood in front of this now quiet and visibly lifeless structure I could still feel the excitement that goes along with the games. Clearly an awe-inspiring experience. .. Afterward we picked up a water taxi to Granville Island. It is nestled under the Granville Street Bridge and offers much for such a small place. The island’s anchor is the Granville Island Public Market, where locals shop for fresh produce, baked goods, seafood, cheeses, meats and more: you get the idea. It was very similar to Pikes Place in Seattle. We also visited the Granville Island Brewery for a sample of the local brew before heading towards the beaches. Vancouver offers a great deal of culture and diversity. We will spend the day tomorrow at Stanley Park.
Today we met up with Jaimie, Tal and Shannon in Seattle city proper. The agenda for the day was to visit the Zombie Parade where thousands of Zombies were marching down the streets. Oh, the sights.... These people spent much time and $$$ to make themselves up like this. Even the dogs had fake blood all over them. Scary yet amazing. We also saw a huge Troll under the bridge of a highway. Seattle has an ordinance where a certain percentage of road projects have to include art of some form. In this case it was a Troll under the bridge. A visit to the famous Space Needle was also in order. The day was clear and the time was just as the sun was beginning to go down. The reflections on the water along with the phenomenal views made the perfect end to a perfect day.
Today we visited the underground-original city of Seattle before the big fire of 1889 that destroyed the lower half of the city. All in 12 hours. The tour offers a vague view of the cities history past and present. The tour is offered by a private tour company that pays the businesses above to tour below each business. It some areas it is a dumping ground for some of the remains of the fire before rebuilding to the next level (which they found was not successful either as it too was at or below sea level and the tides did what water does...) Anyways, there is said to be a ghost in the bank vault there, yet I didn't feel any creepier than usual in there. 
Olympic National Park is where you will find Pacific Ocean beaches, rain forest valleys and glacier-capped peaks. We, however did not see much of this. The fog was so thick at one point that we couldn't see in front of us more than 10 feet. I am sure you will agree that this is a very dangerous situation when you don't know the roads. We drove as high as we could and turned around. In the photos you can see the density of the fog. All was not lost however as we were able to see some black tailed deer which are common to this mountain and got a cool shot of the fog at the opposite end of the mountain tunnel. When we got to the base of the mountain we drove through the ocean front town of Port Angelis. This reminded me of an ocean side drive on the Cape in off-season. Quaint and old.
