Monday, October 2nd
Arieh here. We are now on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State, USA. We enjoyed four great days here with our good friends, Jan Nolan and Brian Yellin, transplants from Toronto. We also saw some other friends and, of course, relatives. Where DON’T we have these two types of people??
If you think Vancouver is nice, forget it! Victoria wins hands down with cleaner air, smaller population, less traffic and wonderful views (picture above)—most of the above changing rapidly. On the other hand, Victoria does seem to “fold up” well before midnight—sort of like all the flowers here. The three home-cooked meals were great—our friends and relatives split the duties. One night was wonderful Portuguese food cooked by my nephew-in-law, John DeMedeiros. The food was from fresh and organic local products from their stores (Ploughshare and Ambrosio in Victoria). The menu was Portuguese salt-cod with eggs, onions and olive oil; roasted potatoes, steak, fruit and home-made wine. Who needed dessert? Neice Jodi took care of the talking and beautiful baby Vianna. The next night pediatric specialist, Dr. Rafi Beck, handmade (from scratch) a very good quiche and bar-b-qued the salmon. Spouse, ESL specialist Dr. Dahlia Beck, engaged us during the afternoon and evening in lively and challenging conversation and up-dating of our 30-year old relationship. (Dahlia was my Hebrew language teacher in Jerusalem in 1973 and we have met over the years in Haifa, Toronto, Calgary, back in Israel and now in Victoria). The third meal was finally done by a woman--Jan Nolan. OK, Brian did some of the work (actually a fair chunk). Fresh halibut, stir-fry, special salad and raisin challah. Don't forget the wine at both second and third meals. The fourth meal was possible because we delayed our departure by one day (to Monday AM) and we were justly punished. Jodi cooked--fresh veggies, free-range chicken and a great Greek salad. I would be remiss if I forget to tell everyone of the two lunches cooked by Chuck and Claire Waldman. Homemade pear pie, omelettes, waffles, salads and garlic bread--yummy! I think I gained 3 KG in Victoria alone. Can't speak for Val.We finally left Victoria on Monday morning via a ferry to Port Angeles, Washington. We took Brian's sage advice ("don't worry--no need for a reservation") and missed the ferry by two cars. Had a wonderful day walking around downtown Victoria and Beacon Hill Park (see picture of Mile "Zero" of the Trans Canada Highway) and finally left at 4 PM. Goodbye Canada! See you in 11 months.
Wednesday, September 27th
Arieh here. We are now in Victoria, the capital of British Columbia, after spending 5 beautiful sunny days in Vancouver and another day on northern Vancouver Island. Our hosts, Phil and Corinne Yacht (my maternal cousins), could run a great B & B if they wanted to do so.
All these stories about rain in Vancouver—no evidence this trip (except for the night we arrived). Every day was progressively warmer and more pleasant. Val and I walked the beaches and seawall of Stanley park (pictures above), the different neighbourhoods that have changed so much since we lived there, visited friends and family and checked up on e-mails (although we did not respond to many of them). One of our young transplanted Toronto friends (AM) was sooooo enthusiastic every time she saw the mountain view. Her comments were humorous, but accurate.
In addition to the great walks in the city, Corinne and I went on a real hike at the tip of Grouse Mountain (named after the bird shot there by the “namer” of the mountain).
We skipped the Grouse Grind and took the gondola to the top. The “crazies” do the GG—many run it. Essentially, straight up stairs for one to 1 ½ hours with no view until you reach the top! Go figure Vancouverites. On the other hand, the gondola gets you to the top with not much effort and then we enjoyed our 4-hour return hike to the top of Goat Mountain (also named after an unfortunate victim). At the top of Goat Mountain we had a spectacular view of the other Coast mountains and a nice picnic lunch. (pictures above) The quiet of the hike and lunch was stunning—a Monday morning in late September doesn’t produce a lot of hikers and there is nothing else there but birds and small wildlife. No bears (or scat) on our trip, although there were cautionary postings. At the end of the hike, we had lattes with our feet up overlooking the view one gets from the top of Grouse Mountain. This sort of weather makes you want to move here…until you get to Victoria.
Thursday, September 21st
Arieh here. We arrived in Vancouver last night amid a steady stream of rain—what else you ask? Fortunately, the weather improved after we left Calgary and only rained as we approached Vancouver. We left Calgary on Monday on a relatively warm (12 C) and sunny day. We stopped in Lake Louise, walked to the end of the lake and back (1 hour and flat—see pictures below) and had a wonderful lunch of Rye Vita crackers, Cheddar cheese, peanut butter, jam and grapefruit juice out of the back of our van. For dessert we had apples. 
As vast and unbroken the Prairies are, the Rockies are vast and very “broken”. The drive along the Trans Canada through Kicking Horse pass (elevation ????) is awesome. Every time I see those mountains I am still stuck by how high they are and how beautiful they look with snow on their tops. Most of the day was clear skies, but even with some cloud cover at the top, the mountains still look BIG.
One of the “human” stories of the Rockies is the building of the railroads. There are numerous points of interest along the way to Golden telling this story. One viewing area shows the idea of “spiral” tunnels (borrowed from the Europeans) where the engine of long trains can be seen exiting from the upper tunnel while the end of the train has not yet entered the lower tunnel. The track is literally “spirally” through the inside of the mountain.
Golden has a nice B & B (Country Comfort—877.644.6200) as it was too cold to sleep in the van. Golden is situated in a valley surrounded by towering mountains. Unfortunately, it was too cloudy to get a great view. On the other hand, we did see a covered wooden bridge made of local trees (some of them 1,000 years old) built and erected in 24 days (picture below).
The second day out of Calgary was spent driving to Shushwap Lake, just east of Kamloops, and walking around the Rogers Pass area of the Selkirk Mountains. A memorable short walk was along an abandoned railway path that is now interrupted by the lack of train tressles crossing one river two times. The supports made of quarried rock are still there but no wooden bridges. We spent the night at another great B & B (O’Reillys Place—250-675-3145) overlooking Shushwap Lake (picture above). Great food and interesting owners.
Our last day before Vancouver was divided up between walking (See Val and her Tilley hat) in a provincial park (watching the Sockey salmon return to spawn and die) and driving through the Fraser Canyon. Every 4 years the adult salmon travel from the Pacific Ocean up the Fraser River to Adams Lake. There they lay their eggs and die. Millions of these salmon are doing this. Unfortunately, we saw only about 30 of these fish as we were about one week too early. The good news was that we missed the crowds of people. The drive through the Fraser Canyon was planned, cancelled due to rain and clouds and then done as planned. What a treat—a little longer drive than the new highway through the Okanagan region of B.C., but definitely worth it and not to be missed. The weather cleared in Kamloops and just west of the city one is now looking at semi-arid brush land, cattle and hay country (picture above). The Thompson River has cut deeply through the land and winds along the way to its meeting place with the Fraser River. Where they meet, the land then turns into a mountainous canyon area created by the speed of the Fraser as it flows to the Pacific—the same river the salmon have to go up! The two Canadian transcontinental railways used this route to connect Canada back in the 1880s and 90s—one on each side of the river canyon. There ain’t a lot of room there, but it was created by a lot of pickaxes, shovels, dynamite and muscle. The weather was sunny and coolish in the canyon, but I know from experience the area can be like a furnace in the summer.
Monday, September 18th
Arieh here. We arrived in Calgary on Friday after 2 ½ days of crossing the southern Canadian Prairies. The first descriptive word that comes to mind about this last portion of the trip is “vast” (see picture). Canada is a big country and I think the Prairies prove it better than any other part of the country. In the south the unbrokeness of the terrain—its definitely not flat—is, at times, overwhelming in its scope. It truly is impressive.
The weather turned slightly cooler and cloudier as we drove westward on the Trans Canada Highway. The roads seemed emptier than north of Superior, and the sky was definitely unobstructed. We spend the first night in Indian Head, Sask. at a B & B run by a banker and a public school principal. For all you teachers and principals reading this, the principal supervised a school of 63 children from K – 12. As well she taught part-time in the high school. The next day we drove through the centre of Regina—many tree-lined streets in part of downtown, an impressive Legislature and grounds, and a very laid back attitude—and then on to Moose Jaw, Sask.
Moose Jaw is now known for a hot springs spa (didn’t see them), tunnels under the city and, for many years, the home of my mother’s family! The tunnels have become quite a tourist thing. They have two different tours—one showing the influence of bootlegging gangsters during Prohibition; the other demonstrating the lives of Chinese immigrants in the early part of the 20th Century. We participated in the latter. The tunnels seemed to have been created as a result of the underground spaces that housed the heating pipes for each building connected by holes in the walls. These holes and spaces were eventually expanded to become “secret” tunnels. The ticket office used to be the location of my uncle Roy Yacht’s newspaper and variety store, the Globe News.
Moose Jaw is also known for being 100 KM north of Assiniboia, the birthplace of yours truly! We drove there after the Moose Jaw tour, had lunch and spoke to a couple of old-timers in the restaurant. I found one person who actually remembered the Waldman Brothers Hardware store, started by my grandfather and run by 3 of his 5 sons—one being my father. We left Assiniboia (for Vancouver) when I was 5, but I correctly identified the building that used to be the store. It’s quite amazing what one retains from childhood.
Instead of returning to the Trans Canada at Moose Jaw we drove along the Prairie backroad highways. More vastness going through small towns that used to be populated by quite a few Jews. Most of them moved to the larger cities in B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba back in the 1950s and 60s. We spent the night in a motel in Medicine Hat, Alberta as it was pouring rain and went on to Drumheller the next day (Friday). Drumheller is slightly N.E. of Calgary and has a fantastic dinosaur museum. Drumheller is located in the “Badlands” of Alberta (picture--not yet) and many of the artifacts are from the area itself.
We arrived in Calgary in time for Shabbat dinner with our good friends (who wish to remain anonymous) and zero degree temperatures that night. Needless to say, we did not sleep in the van, although Val wanted to do so. :) Sat. was a quiet day and Sunday was an eating, walking along the river, and visiting day. All quite enjoyable.
Tuesday, September 12, 2006Arieh here. We made it to Winterpeg after travelling "North of Superior". (See the picture above). The weather is beautiful here so I shouldn't disparage this grand old city. The trip north from Toronto was fantastic and I am simply amazed at my own brilliance. I refer to our "sleeping arrangements". We bought a battery-powered inflatable air mattress to be used in our Previan van. It worked perfectly. Inflated in less than 3 minutes and allowed us to camp in 3 Ontario provinical parks on lakes or rivers in Northern Ontario. The parks were virtually deserted except for a few hearty northerners squeezing out the last few camping nights of the season. The only downside to this mode of camping is that we go to bed at 8PM and get up pretty early. Takes about 10 minutes to set up for sleeping and prepare for departure. Showers are a luxury when it is not very warm!Kudos to Robbie Rotin for telling us to walk around Cypress Lake in Bruce Pennisula National Park, Rhonda Wilansky for sending us to the best Finnish food in Thunder Bay (the pancakes were VERY good at Haito Restaurant), and Benita Friedlander for giving us a little picnic kit that has proved useful (sorry for "poopoo"ing it).Val Writes:
We are in Winnipeg – and what a beautiful trip we’ve had so far! Manitoulin Island was very pleasant – but it was cold and rainy. Saw the beautiful First Nations round church that my friend Bea Wilson recommended. It was enhanced with colourful native paintings and sculptures – and the silence took your breath away. It is built like a bunker – into the earth and the sound quality was exquisite for its absence!
Tobermory and the Bruce Peninsula were lovely – had a wonderful dinner and lunch at Craigie’s famous for its whitefish – delish!
The national and provincial parks north of Lake Superior were even better than I remember! Lovely lakeside campsites and sandy beaches – almost empty at this time of year. To my great surprise sleeping in the van has been comfortable and an adventure. Arieh’s right again – but don’t tell him I said so.
Now, in Winnipeg good home cooking – great company and enjoyment of family and friends. And so the adventure continues…..
Have been using – Benita’s picnic packet, Vicki’s Kleenex, my Tilley hat, Sue and Yaron’s pillow, Avidan’s cosmetic bag, etc. You are all here with us in some way! Miss you all – but the world beckons!
