Day One

Portland to Vancouver. Traffic was terrible getting out of Seattle where we stopped at Pikes Brewery for some good beer and fish 'n chips. They don't blink at the dog when we cross the border into Canada, in fact they don't even check our passports. We drop our stuff off at the hotel in Richmond and go into Vancouver where we stumble on Steamworks Brewing, a good place for dinner and beer. After dinner we explore Stanley Park until well after dark. The view of the city at dusk is quite attractive. On the way back to the hotel we take the wrong bridge and get completely lost.

Day Two

We have a pastry and latte for breakfast at a great funky coffee shop on west Broadway and then explore the west side residential area where we take Denali to a dog beach across from the west end and watch sailboats go by. We walk down Denman Street and have souvlaki for lunch then spend the afternoon walking around Robson Street. We want to find another brewery but don't know where anything is - it's interesting how payphones with phone books don't exist anymore. Google SMS to the rescue, which leads us to Yaletown Brewing. It's packed for $7 pizza night and the service is slow but the beer and pizza are good.

We get lost again but within sight of the hotel, we just can't get over the damn freeway. A sign leads us down a dead-end road and into suburbia. This isn't the last time that we follow misleading signs and I become increasingly frustrated with the incorrect/misleading/missing road signs throughout the trip.

Day Three

Starts with a walk through the VanDusen Botanical Garden. The garden is beautiful but we get really hungry and don't stay very long. Looking for maps we stop in International Travel Maps and Books, which seems to have every existing map of B.C. plus a good selection of international maps - I could spend all day in here. Exploring Gastown we stop in the Irish Heather for a black & tan and some really good food before heading out of town.

The population of the city of Vancouver( 560,000) and metro(2 million) are basically identical to the city/metro of Portland. However Vancouver seems to feel bigger, likely because of the greater diversity of cultures and international influences. The downtown area of tall buildings also appears several times larger from afar.

Under gray skies we drive along the Howe sound and stop for supplies in Squamish. I pay $25 for the only 12-pack of IPA at the "cold beer and wine" store. (grocery stores only sell NA beer!) We camp in an empty campground right on the river, just before Whistler.

Day Four

The sky is cloudy. We drive to Whistler and it starts to rain so we wander around the village for the afternoon. The mountains we came here to see are hidden and we head east. The campground our map shows at Joffre Provincial Park doesn't exist. Another 15 miles or so down the road at Duffy Lake should be another one — it doesn't exist either, but we find a nice campsite down by the lake.

Day Five

The weather is still pretty iffy but it seems if wait on the weather we'll never see or do anything. We drive back to the Joffre Lakes trailhead and pack up between showers. Its a 3.5 mile "hike" up, pretty much entirely boulder fields and staircases of slippery roots. The lakes are the most amazing azure blue, with glaciers hanging overhead. Even with the peaks in behind cloud it's one of the prettier places I've been. By early afternoon we make camp and then a steady rain begins so we settle in to the tent. Towards evening it lets up occasionally and I take pictures until it's dark and my camera gear is too soaked to function.

Day Six

It's not raining when we get up but it looks like it might start again any moment. We eat, pack up and even manage to dry everything out and the weather is still holding. I'd head up the mountain but we're out of food. The sun is out when we cross back over the inlet and I make a left up the canyon rather than heading back. We won't go far. I spot a bear print in the path thru the brush but I can't find any evidence it's new so we continue on cautiously and quickly break out above timberline. The clouds lift from the peaks and I figure we can make the pass up ahead so we drop our packs. Two climbers are on the glacier less than 1,000 feet above us. We make the ridge but it's not the pass - there's another ridge. The view keeps getting better but it's now afternoon and we're hungry. We have no food and the hike out still ahead of us so we turn back. The trip down is hard on the legs. We continue east to Lillooet were I have a terrible hamburger then down to Lyton and a hotel room with a shower.

Day Seven

It's already raining when we get up which isn't a good sign. The climate is much dryer on this side of the mountains (and the mountains are big) but we can't see them again. We stop and ride the aerial tram over the river at Hell's Gate. The river below is 150 feet deep! In the afternoon we drive the 35km gravel road to lake Chehalis - we intended to hike to Statlu lake. It's a dark rainy jungle today and we decide to turn around and head south. We stop at the border and buy a bottle of scotch at the duty free shop. I was slightly worried about crossing back into the U.S. with Denali but they check our passports and wave us through. We end up getting a cabin at the Glacier Creek Lodge since the campground was like a swamp. It's very cozy and we enjoy our evening out of the rain.

Day Eight

The weather isn't promising but we drive up towards Mt. Baker. Clouds are sitting on Mt. Shuksan and Baker but the views are spectacular. Just before the top I hit a rock and blow out a tire. Donut spare on, we continue up. We spend a couple hours wandering along the Fire and Ice trail and Artists ridge taking photos. The north Cascades are amazingly beautiful. However, we've got a flat tire to take care of so we head down to Bellingham. After trying every tire shop I can find we end up buy new tires. We have to wait a couple hours and we have a beer and a great sandwich at a restaurant called Coconut Ken's. Then it's a five hour drive home.