Well, the back of the truck was about the
same size as our twin bed of the boat so it worked. We slept about 4 ½ hours until nature called. We headed back to the prior-mentioned gas
station, and then traveled down towards the Olympic Park. This was about 4 in the morning but we
thought we could drive through the park, after all the sun comes up early. But it was gated so we pulled to a side
parking lot to catch a few more Zzzzs.
Another smaller RV was already pulled in so we figured we weren’t out of
line for doing so. We actually got a few
more hours of sleep in.
The Olympic Park was where some of the
main events were held, like the ski jump, the bobsledding, etc. It turns out it is now private property and
is used for “training” and they didn’t open up until 10 AM regardless. Since we weren’t in need of training, nor did
we have an appointment, we just turned around and started back towards
Vancouver, Seattle, and Portland.
We stopped at Brandywine Falls to sneak a peek
but they were gated until later. So we
drove down the road and pulled over to Shannon Falls and they were open!! And GORGEOUS!
We could’ve done a hike UP to the top of the falls; it wouldn’t have
been quite as strenuous as the one the day before, but I stopped myself! And Andrew stopped me as well. We actually
aren’t that sore from the hike UP Grouse Mountain, but I am stiff from the walk
and then sitting in the truck and then sleeping in the truck, and my back gets
a bit funky sometimes where it gets numb.
A person could actually pull over and hike a trail here or there every
few miles all over Canada, or Alaska for that matter. We just picked a few to try.
We also discussed the day before that we should
stop and tour a mine that advertised a tour of a mine! We stopped today,
donning hardhats, and climbing into a mining car to learn how this mine
actually extracted copper from the surrounding hills. It was in operation from 1904 through 1974
and was once the largest producer of copper in the world. It was fascinating in that it was a gravity
mine, so the rocks were dumped from the top down (after being dynamited out of
the hills first, of course, and crushed at each level down until they were
basically “sand” at the bottom and then said sand was mixed with “soapy” water
and the mineral they needed stuck to the air in the bubbles and then they could
extract the copper from that mineral. It
made me wonder why anyone could look at rock and then decide that something
minute in that rock was something that could be extracted and used for water
pipes and electrical wiring!
We had an interesting experience crossing
customs. For one, we had to wait! Every time we’ve crossed into Canada, into Alaska,
into Canada, etc., they’ve asked the standard questions: What are you doing? We are on vacation. Where are you from? We are from Indiana. What are you going to in Canada? We are driving to Alaska. Do you have any firearms or anything else you’d
use to defend yourself? No. We’d have to explain why we have a temporary
license plate and show them the bill of sale. (The “real” plate didn’t arrive
in the mail in time and we had to get going.)
This time, they asked us to open our cooler, and ask what was in
it: five cuties (tangerines) and four
apples. He had to look at them and he
took the citrus! Apparently citrus can
NOT leave wherever it was purchased and cross country lines. That was news! And neither can apples unless they are grown
in the USA or Canada, even if we bought said fruit in Alaska and are taking it
back into the USA. One of our apples had
a sticker from New Zealand and the others had no stickers so all of them were
confiscated as well. He didn’t even ask
about firearms or notice our expired temporary plate or ask to see a bill of
sale! Fascinating!
We drove into Seattle and stop to pay
respects at the residence of Kurt Cobain.
The house has what looks like a pretty permanent gate across the drive
and the bushes and fence are pretty tall, but we could see the top story, and
the bench nearby where he sat the night before he died, thinking about
things. While we were there, several
other people also came by. We then paid
our respects to Jimi, though not his house, but his memorial gravesite. We have been to Jimi’s place of rest before, and,
just like last time, the purple petunias really added to the restfulness of the
place.
We tried and tried to find a tent camping
site but there are none to be had, so we called in some of Andrew’s travel
points and scored an Embassy Suites, downtown Portland. I thought perhaps they made a mistake when we
walked into the room and there is a conference table (“points” gets you nice
upgrades gratis once in a while). Turn
to the right, and up a few stairs was the “bedroom;” turn to the left and there
was a hot shower, and one floor up, a laundry facility! Everything we needed.
We got cleaned up and strolled down the
street; the last time we were in Portland was years ago for Andrea Scarbolo’s
and Erin’s wedding. We had flown into
Seattle and drove here for the wedding, and met John-Paul in Seattle as he was
here for a conference. That time we also
drove into Vancouver then just to have dinner (the customs guy thought that was
a little strange!). This time we ate at
a new restaurant called LeChon—Peruvian cuisine. They had an “after 9” menu which was sort of
nice as we could share some foods to try and not get so stuffed. They also had some great Afro-Peruvian music
(bought the CD as we talked to the band members)!
Back in our hotel, we are waiting on the
wash to be done so we can flip it into the dryer. We wanted to eat before it got too late so we
are just now getting to it.
And we get to upload days’ worth of
blogs!! Thanks for your patience!
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