Photos: 1-5) Glacier Natl Pk, 6) Vancouver from above, 7) eating at White Spot with Kevin, 8) Vancouver skyline
On Monday we went with Pat’s brother Kevin in Kevin’s car to the marketplace on Granville Island, Vancouver. Pat and Sara had to work. The marketplace was similar to the one at Pike Place market in Seattle. I bought some fudge and blueberries, then it started to rain. Enrique, Carmen and Theresa wanted to take bus passes into the city and walk around downtown, but I didn’t particularly wish to walk around in the rain without an umbrella. Kevin said he’d be happy to show me one of the places where he knew they filmed part of Twilight, so we left the o0thers and drove through downtown on our way to the boathouse where part of Twilight was filmed. It was a pretty downtown, but I was glad not to be walking in the rain. By the time we got to the part of town where the boathouse and harbor were, it was no longer raining and I took pictures of the place. I didn’t recognize it right off, but hopefully when I re-watch the movies I can see where it is.
From there we grabbed some lunch at a White Spot where I got a cardboard pirate ship with my food. After lunch we drove to a scenic overlook where I could get pictures of all of Vancouver. It was very beautiful. Our last stop was a big warehouse where they store tons of movie props (they film many movies in the Vancouver area). It was pretty cool - they had big dinosaurs, parrots, pirates, mannequins, phone booths, and pretty much any other thing you can imagines. Unfortunately they do not have labels on the things to tell you which movies they’ve been in. We made guesses instead - “That’s the raptor from Jurassic Park” or “This is one of the pirates from Pirates of the Caribbean.” Finally, we were tired and returned to the house and watched a bit of Star Wars until the others returned so we could leave by 6 pm in order to make it back to Seattle by 8:30 or 9.
After I dropped them off that night at Teresa’s in Seattle, I went back to Casey’s in Bellevue and stayed one more night with her. We chatted and then went to sleep, and it was sad to say goodbye to her in the morning. When I left, I went to Jiffy Lube and got an oil change before picking up the others for the long drive to Glacier National Park.
It was a very long drive indeed and we didn’t arrive in the park until around 10 pm. As we drove through, we saw very few other cars and then we passed a trooper. She turned around and followed us but we were fairly sure we were within the speed limit, believing it to be about 45, but not having actually noticed a sign. After several minutes of us going 40 with her behind us, she turned on her lights. We pulled over and the woman walked up and asked what we were doing. I told her we had a national park pass and were looking for a tent site. She informed us that they were all full, but there were some other sites outside the park that probably had some openings. She then said she’d clocked us going 50 in a 15 (btw, the speed limit was actually 40 which we realized the next day so I don’t know if I misheard her or what). I gave her my license and registration and when she returned she discussed more about where we could find to camp and then said she’d just issue me a warning and to slow down. I was starting to get teary, so I’m glad she just gave me a warning before I had an all out cry. We turned around and just outside the park we saw a sign pointing toward the left that said “camping.” We pulled in and the park office, whose lights had just been turned out, turned them back on and we went in. The woman was older and looked very tired. She was not exactly pleased to see us, but she gave us a tent site and it was the same price as a Nat’l Park site but also had outlets on the sites and showers nearby for free.
The next day we went to the national park and were informed that Logan’s Pass was the area with the best trails (according to the park information people). It was a long drive to Logan’s Pass, but it was beautiful driving high up into the mountains. Finally we parked and took the “highland trail.” We only went about two miles, taking in fabulously beautiful views. We saw mountain goats, rams, and ground squirrels as we walked. At one point, a mountain goat was walking down the trail right toward us. We thought when he saw us he would move, but when it was clear he would not, we stepped off the path into the brush and the goat trotted by, seemingly to pay us no mind. It was rather strange to see a wild animal so close. After a bit, dark clouds started to roll in which is why we made our way back to the parking lot, and by the time we got there, the scattered raindrops had intensified and we got in just before quite hard, cold rain pounded all around us.
We drove back down the mountain and spent a bit of time in the gift shop near the exit before returning to our campground. There we used the internet in the sitting room and got ready for bed.
On Thursday morning we left the campground at 10 am to start another long drive to Yellowstone. I might also note that on Wednesday there were 3 escaped convicts hiding in Yellowstone making their way north toward Glacier Nat’l Park heading for the Canadian boarder. They are believed now to be in Glacier and since we are headed for Yellowstone, there is no need to worry.
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