Angela – Page 8 – Globitrotter

First part coming to an end

It is now time for us to leave main land America where we have spent almost 2 years. First 1.5 years in Phoenix and then 5 months on the road in the States and Canada. We are looking forward to our “vacation in the vacation” on Hawaii before going on to New Zealand for new adventures. It feels good to be on our way, the past weeks has been a bit just waiting to go on. We have spent time selling the car and giving things away that does not fit in our bags. This means leaving has been on our minds for a long time.

Our stay in the USA and Canada was the first part of our trip and the second part, New Zealand, is coming closer. We will be traveling with a different car, still one you can sleep in which is necessary for the budget to work, in a new country. We need to find out where it is ok to spend the night, where to shop and what food is good. It has been easy in America since, after living in Phoenix, we were very familiar with everything and knew what to look for and expect. We are looking forward to everything being new and exciting.

This was the last place we visited before returning the rental car. It is the boardwalk at Redondo Beach, LA. A very nice place I had never heard of before but really worth visiting. A nice pier with restaurants and shops and less touristy than Santa Monica.

West Coast America in pictures

It has taken us about a month to go from Vancouver to Santa Barbara where we are now. In just a few days we are leaving main land America and will fly to Hawaii for a few weeks. During this month we have done a lot of different things. We have visited cities, beaches, wineries and friends. I have collected photos for you to look at instead of text to read. Enjoy!

Vancouver to LA

Adjusting to the environment

A couple of weeks ago we realized something. We like hiking peaks, ridges and anything with a view really. Hiking through a lot of forest we usually do because we have to just to get above the tree line which is where it gets interesting (we think). We have avoided all trails that are completely in the forest and flat and it was easy to do so as long as we were in the mountains. Now we find ourselves more along beaches and rolling hills rather than steep mountains. This makes it harder for us to find something we want to do and we end up drinking a lot of coffee and tea instead of moving. We had to stop buying brie cheese, bread and chocolate because I was gaining weight. Something has to be done, obviously, because I really like those three things.

One day we hiked through a pretty nice forest in order to watch fish jump up a water fall. That was cool, but the hike was quite boring. We discussed though how nice it would be to run on a trail like that. Imagine instead of running on streets or on a treadmill, which we are used to, we could run on this soft and interesting trail with rocks, roots and steps. This is where we decided we needed some more gear.

Nice trail for running on Vancouver Island.

Since we had left our running shoes at home we had to go shopping. Our running shoes are made for pavement so they would not be very suitable anyway. We needed something that can handle water, mud, rocks and slippery roots. Off we went to our favorite store, REI, and bought shoes and backpacks. The backpacks we have are intended for hiking and a lot more weight so they did not work either. Out we came 500 dollars poorer but with equipment that will keep us busy and fit during our travels.

On the beach at Ozette.

We tried our new gear at Ozette in Olympic National Park. Here we found a loop, a 3 mile trail leading out to the beach, along the beach for 3 miles and then 3 miles back on another trail. We ran the first 3 miles, walked along the beach which was filled with drift wood and rocks, and ran back again. It was great! Hiking through the forest to get to the beach would have been boring but now it was fun! The trail was like a board walk through thick, lush, moist forest. Anyone who have played Temple Run knows what I am talking about. This was like the live version except minus the coins, power ups and monkeys chasing you (well, I did have Andy running behind me…)

Having a break before running back.

We have done a few more runs along the coast and it is really quite fun. I have noticed that my cardio fitness might not be the best but we have time to improve that…

Back in America

Yesterday we crossed the border and came back to the USA after spending about 6 weeks in Canada. We were both surprised that we got the feeling we were coming home. It seems that the 1.5 years we spent in Phoenix made us appreciate everything that we used to have around us. There was Olive Garden, Jack in the Box, Five Guys and other things we passed every day. Not that we liked or visited these places often or ever but just the sight of them made us feel just like home. Our home in Phoenix was the first one we had together which makes it special.

Testimonial after 100 days of travel

During our first 100 days on the road we have visited 14 national parks, climbed 29 mountain peaks, spotted 11 bears (no grizzly, only black bears), driven about 15000 km, taken 3 ferries, stayed 20 nights in hotels (the rest camping), visited 4 larger cities and a lot of more or less small towns. You can say we have seen and done quite a lot during this time. I do not have the feeling though that we have been busy, we have had a lot of lazy days in between driving, hiking and sightseeing. A few times I have felt that maybe we should have stayed longer because it was a great place and the chances that we will return is not so high. But USA and Canada are really big countries and even though we are only visiting parts of them we can still not see it all.

Sightseeing at Lake Louise, Banff National Park.

It is extremely rewarding to be able to decide every day what we want to do. Being fully flexible and having the possibility to change plans as we please. But it is not always fun. When it is raining and is cold it is not so much fun to hang around a campground in the evening. This kind of trip requires good weather. Luckily we have had very little rain. Usually it was only showers and we could still cook and do the things we wanted outdoors. The times we have had to change plans due to rain we can easily count. Fortunately we can follow the good weather which it is time to do now. We will shortly be heading south in search of warmer temperatures.

Our camp at Movie Flats at the foot of Mt Whitney. This was a great camp. Free, calm, warm, bear free and easy access to Whitney Portal.

It is also hard to always be moving. Having to pack up all our stuff and find a new place to stay for the night. When we camp it is not so difficult because we have to pack up the car to be able to drive somewhere and then it is easy to move. But to always search for a new place to stay gets to you after a while. It has been great the few times we have stayed longer in one place. In Tuolumne we chose to pinch our tent so that we did not have to pack the car every day. In Vancouver we stayed in a hotel with a small kitchen and washing machine which was a real treat. Probably from now on we will try to stay longer in a few places rather than moving all the time.

In about a month we are going to Hawaii where we also have a hotel booked for a number of nights. We are looking forward to that and consider this to be our “vacation”. 🙂

Just the other day we left the city of Vancouver. We both loved it there and did extend our planned stay with a few days. We have both wanted to go there for a long time and it was just as good as we thought.

During our bike ride through Vancouver.

Being in a great city like this makes us both want to go back to a normal life. We suddenly miss having an apartment, a wardrobe, a kitchen and money to have dinner and drinks for. It is funny how we can spend weeks in the mountains without any problems but when in a city we start actually missing a home. Don´t get me wrong, we are not ending our trip. We just need to go back to what this trip is all about. This time it is more about having the luxury of time and no responsibilities rather than doing expensive stuff. Our budget does not allow us to spend too much time in cities because at the same time as it is fun it is also expensive. Not being able to spend money in a city makes it boring therefore we choose to spend less time there but more money. 🙂 We do like cities so we´ll see how it goes…

Vancouver Island

What we did not really think about when we booked our hotel in Vancouver, which also decided how long we were going to stay on Vancouver Island, was that this island is almost the size of Switzerland. Trying to see the entire country of Switzerland in 6 days is very optimistic and so was our time schedule for Vancouver Island.

We decided to skip hiking the mountains. Due to lack of time and a cold. Instead we were eager to walk on the beaches. We had after all not been on a beach in a very long time. The ferry had taken us to the northern part of the island and we drove down the east coast to were we could find a road that would take us to the west coast and the ocean. The small sleepy villages along the coast all looked cosy and I got the feeling I wanted to just stay longer in every place we visited.

Our camping spot

On the west coast we settled in to a campground in Ukluelet. This might have been my favorite campground so far, just next to the harbor. We tried to find some sort of beach in town but did not succeed. Here the coast line was rugged with dark uninviting rocks. A new sport we learnt about here is storm watching. To make people come here even in the winter time they make watching huge waves pounding on the coast from a warm and cosy hotel sound like a nice thing to do. And actually I am tempted. I could definitely sit with a good book, a cup of something hot and a blanket in a comfortable chair and look out a window for a few days.

Rugged coast line in Ukluelet

Eventually we did find the beach which happens to be the longest surfable beach in the country. It is an about 18 km long sandy beach which is situated in a national park and therefore also accessible to the public. The visitor center is right on the beach with a café that promises safe storm watching in the winter time.

The visitor center on Long Beach

Surfers on Long Beach

The south east coast of the island which is the most populated, is littered with cute villages along the water front. We did not visit them all but one favorite is Cowichan Bay which we passed by accident really in search of ice cream. A sleepy little town on stilts with a very high concentration of restaurants and cafés.

Cowichan Bay

Apart from the small towns, Victoria, the largest city, is also very charming and well worth a visit. We particularly liked Fisherman´s Wharf. Unlike the more famous version in San Francisco, this is a little community on the water. There are a few restaurants but most of the buildings are houses.

The harbor in Victoria

Fisherman´s Wharf

Vancouver Island is pretty much the perfect place for vacation. There is hiking, surfing, kayaking, fishing, biking, wine tasting, city sightseeing, whale and bear watching – you name it. I am very sure we will return to this area in a not distant future. 🙂

More images:

Vancouver Island