kevinandbernice

[kevinandbernice]

This picture sums up our holiday. Sometimes, well no very often, you look at a view and think ‘Wow’. There are 2 sides to America, the Florida/California/ LasVegas types of place that are geared up mass tourism and taking you money, and then there is this. Vast areas of unspoilt natural mountains ranges, plains and deserts that go on for miles and miles. And glaciers, volcanoes, rivers, waterfalls, wildlife and more that never fail to impress. A different and more impressive landscape around every bend and just when you think you have seen everything, you realise you haven’t, cos there is more to see.

We hope you have enjoyed our this and our other blogs we have done over the last few years. I have now achieved my goal of visiting every State but we will be going to to revisit some of our favourites

[kevinandbernice]

[kevinandbernice]

[kevinandbernice]

Well folks this will be my final post. On Friday we drove down to Seattle to catch our plane. It didn’t leave till 3.40pm so we stopped off at IHOP for a final breakfast with pancakes only the way Americans seem to be able to cook them. Our flight took off and landed on time which was nice.

After only 3 days of rain in 6 weeks the skies opened up on the drive down to Seattle with spray and poor visibility. Still we were really fortunate, with the rain not stopping us doing anything over the holiday. We have driven around 3500 miles although driving in the US is easier than the UK with wider roads, normally dual carriageway , and away from the larger towns and Cities very quiet. At times we could go 15-20 mins without seeing another car coming in the opposite direction. Thanks to Bernice who has been my co-pilot and second pair of eyes whilst negotiating the roads. At times there has been a shortage of shops, but she has taken it well, and I tried to throw in the odd Walmart or similar to keep her sweet.

Our holiday has been everything we expected with some stunning scenery, never ending mountain ranges, high desert and some real old American towns with character. The people were friendly and welcoming, but I have to say the cost of things over there especially food in supermarkets has gone up a bit like here. For example a loaf of bread £4.50, 6 croissants £6, a can of antiperspirant £10 (yes you read the right). You can buy an Australian bottle of wine for $7 but a Californian bottle of wine will set you back minimum of $10-12? We were behind someone in the supermarket that bought 2 rib eye steaks costing $30, where you can go to a restaurant and get a similar steak for $25. It is almost cheaper to eat out than cook in. The exchange rate at the moment hasn’t helped but certainly more expensive than the UK.

As well as a view of our weather the last day I have posted some photos of memorable points of our holiday

[kevinandbernice]

Thursday Oct 20th

Well today is our last full day. Had a lazy start and caught up on washing etc. Then we drove into Blaine again (this time there was no mist so we could see across the bay to White Rock where we visited yesterday, quite close really) and had a bit of lunch followed by a Starbucks which we took to the Peace Arch State Park. The park straddles the US and Canadian border, and takes in the 2 Border Crossings. The arch was built in 1914 to mark 100 years of the instigation of the border between the US and Great Britain. It’s a bit weird as the boundary of the park runs up against a road that it in Canada and has houses on the other side which look into the US. There is no fence or any type of structure, just a ditch and a few signs the indicate it is the border. While we were there people were coming from both sides to meet and just sit on the grassed area. There were US and Canadian border security just sat in their cars watching. We had a wander round and then went back to start packing.

[kevinandbernice]

Wednesday 19th October cont’d

It was then off to Canada Oh Canada. It took all of 2 minutes to get there. It was literally to the end of the Main Street, up onto the Interstate highway and about a 1/4 mile to the Canadian border control. A very frosty border patrol lady asked me for our passports, to wind down my rear window and ask a load of questions. Where have we come from, where are we going, how long are we staying, blah blah blah, and eventually she let us into the Country. Thank you!!!!!!!

We headed for the town of White Rock, about 5 miles across the border, which is again a seaside resort, but thankfully a lot busier. First we drove to the downtown area, where our first stop was Tim Hortons for a coffee and donut, well I had a bagel. Then we looked around a nearby shopping centre. It was then down to the beach to have a walk along the pier. Not just any pier but the longest pier in Canada, ooooohhhhh I hear you say. The last couple of days have been misty and today is no different as you can see in some of the pictures. It’s weird because the mist is not too high so quite often the sun is still shining through. Also the trees are starting to change colour in what is a late autumn in this part of the country.

Then it was back to the border this time to be greeted by a less frosty faced border patrol man who asked us for our passports, where we have come from, where are we going, how long are we staying, have we bought anything blah blah blah, and he eventually let us into the US. Thank you!!!!!!!!

[kevinandbernice]

Wednesday 19th October

Had a chill day yesterday. Went out for a walk along the bay front, caught up on washing and read.

Today we are going international and are off to Canada! First we drove about 5 miles north to a town called Blaine. This whole area is a seaside resort and in Blaine, like in Birch Bay where we are staying, a lot of the shops, restaurants etc have closed for the season. Blaine was very quiet, almost like a ghost town, but it had the statutory Starbucks, gas station, small supermarket etc. It had a large marina which showed its holiday destination credentials and the usual depiction of a Sasquatch or Big Foot (not to be confused with the Abominal Snowman or Yeti which lives in the Himalayas) which took the form of a statue. On our travels we have seen numerous photos, posters or statues of said Sasquatch but never a. Real one thankfully.

Needless to say it didn’t take long to look around.

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As usual our route followed a glacial river which has its source on the slopes of Mt Baker. The river was fairly small but when you look at the width which is covered in boulders brought down by the river in the spring thaw period it must be pretty impressive at that time. Also in some areas the river bed was littered with dozens of large, and I mean LARGE, tree trunks which must have been carried down the river by flood waters. I couldn’t stop at such locations but you can see some in these pictures. Also at one point the river went from a wide flat river bed to a deep gorge with raging rapids. See last picture.

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Here are some pictures of the colourful alpines. There’s a ‘Where’s Bernice’ challenge in the last photo.

[kevinandbernice]

Monday 17th October

Today we are off to visit another volcano, this being Mt Baker which is the most northern volcano in the lower ‘48’ States. It stands at 10775 ft high and lays just 23 miles from the border with Canada. I chose today because the weather forecast was clear and sunny but Unfortunately the air quality was not great so it was quite hazy. It is believed that the current poor air quality is partly down to large forest fires that are burning in the far northwest. We came across one of these fires when we visited Mt Rainier, but other fires are still burning across the northern Cascade Mountain region. Thankfully we could still see the peak of Mt Baker, and the adjacent Mt Shuksan 9127 ft. In the pictures the nearest is Mt Shuksan, with Mt Baker just to the right. One thing we saw here that we hadn’t seen elsewhere were a large variety of colourful Alpine plants. This area is also a ski resort in the winter.

Here are some volcano facts. The US has 169 volcanoes that are considered active, and these can be found in 12 of the western states. Around 75% or 141 of these are in Alaska, 18 in California, 17 in Oregon, 7 in Washington and 5 in Hawaii. The largest active volcanoe in the Us is Maura Loa in Hawaii which rises 2.5 miles (4km) high. The US has 12.5% of the worlds 1351 active volcanoes.

[kevinandbernice]

Sat 15th & Sun 16th Oct

Have had a couple of chill days so nothing much to report. Yesterday caught up on our chores, washing et and went out for a couple of walks along the shore front. Today did a bit of Whatsapp’ing to family the went out for a late lunch at a restaurant nearby overlooking the bay. Fish and chips for both of us followed by upside down pineapple cake for Bern and Bourbon bread pudding for me - well it’s Sunday.

If we look west from the beach we are looking onto Vancouver Island BC, and looking north we can see the mountains of Canada. There’s also a lot of timber washed up on the shoreline.

[kevinandbernice]

Not much to report today. After checking out of the hotel we drove across the road to the Seattle Premium Factory Outlets for a spot of shopping and hopefully some bargains. Bern got a couple and so did I😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁

We then drove the 80 miles to our next destination, Birch Bay just south of the Candian border. We are staying here for the next week so no more living out of a suitcase thankfully. Birch Bay is a seaside resort and it looks like a lot of the homes are holiday homes. Our apartment is on the ocean front with some houses in front of us. I popped over to the beach to watch the sunset. Here are some pickles.

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After sitting in the sun in the gardens for a bit we drove to a town called Snohomish and stopped off in the downtown area. They had some quirky shops and restaurants in historical buildings. We had dinner in a places called ‘Pie DiveBar’ which only served savoury and sweet pies. We had steak pie and salad and apple and cherry pie after, very nice.

[kevinandbernice]

[kevinandbernice]

From there we went to an area just outside town where all the wineries were located and went to one of the larger ones, Chateau Ste Michelle. It had large grounds with a Winery building, tasting rooms , shop and mansion. Bern treated us to a couple of bottles of wine for when we are at our Timeshare. It also had a few unusual trees.

[kevinandbernice]

This morning we went to a town called Woodinville, which is an area with a number of wineries in the area. First we went to the town and had a look around. We found a delelopment just off the Main Street which seemed to have a number of wine tasting bars and eateries, and a few skeletons as well. We the stopped off at a shopping centre for Bern to look in a couple f shops and there was a supermarket there. As you can see they are ramping up for Halloween.