Snow In Yellowstone
Would you believe it. The minute we get to Yellowstone it starts to snow. Luckilly not heavy, all melted now and the sun is out - but it's still cold! Staying at the Stagecoach Inn on Madison right in the centre of town. All fairly quiet though as still very early season and several places closed till Monday. If you are looking for 'big game' here then you can do no better than the main lounge area in the Stagecoach Inn. It's all stuffed of course! 

As indeed we were when we visited the Bullwinkles Saloon Bar and Casino in the evening. Jan said she thought she could eat a horse but it was lucky she left the saddle! At least she was able to sit comfortably (not so sure about that!) whilst she tucked into a glass of Pinot.

Bullwinkles is quite a busy place and lots of atmosphere. Probably have to go there later today as well just to check that our initial impressions were correct!

After a good nights sleep (11 hours - not sure what came over us - this holidaying lark is very strenuous you know) we decided to head out on foot from our Inn on a trail to the river (a gentle 2.2 miles there and back). It snowed quite heavilly but stopped after about half an hour. It was a lovely trail

 
and whilst we did not see any bears, we did see bear sign, both in the form of footprints and scratches on a tree:

A quiet day then for the remainder of today. Probably pop down to the West Park Entrance later to see about tickets. And we will be better prepared for our next trail trip. The Inn receptionist has promised to bring her bear spray in tomorrow so we can borrow it - a really nice gesture on her part (thanks Pat).

Animal Magic
One of the reasons we chose this neck of the woods to visit was to see wildlife. And what wildlife we have seen including:
Bison (Buffalo), Elk, Moose, Bighorn Sheep, White Tailed Deer, Beaver, Chipmunck, Black Squirrel. 
Some example pics:

As for birds, our sightings include: Sandhill Crane, Belted Kingfisher, Northern Flicker (woodpecker), Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker (woodpecker), Osprey, Violet-Green Swallow, Bald Eagle, Stellar's Jay, Mountain Bluebird, House Finch. 
Some more example pics:

Anyway, although our sightings have involved some early starts (before 6am in some cases), we are having a great time. 

So I just had to ask Jan the other day 'what's with the long face?'!

Jackson has been a brilliant place to hold-up for 4 nights. It could be because it's slightly 'out of season' but the people round here have been so very friendly. The chap in the local Fly Fishing store and Elaine and Jeremy at a bar yesterday evening in Glenwood Street deserve a special mention. Thanks for the interesting chat folks and keep using the BBC News website to get a more balanced view of world news and politics!

I guess the only down-side for us has been that we feel a litle cheated by the way we have been dealt with in a couple of the bar establishments (e.g. no recognition yesterday that we were drinking during 'Happy Hour' and so charged double!). As if we didn't notice!! Not a good advertisment for tourism I would say.

On a lighter note, be careful where you park:

And whilst we are all used to home owners posting a 'Keep Off The Grass' sign, if you have a dog then be careful where you allow it to relieve itself or it could all end in tears very quickly.

Whilst here, we just had to indulge in the perfect Pizza. A full 18 inches!!

 Jan said she wasn't hungry - yah right!!

OK - I might have had a slice or two?!

Time for a song:
 
'Look for the bare necessities
The simple bare necessities 
Forget about your worries and your strife 
I mean the bare necessities 
Old Mother Nature's recipes 
That brings the bare necessities of life'





So we have to sign-off from Jackson and head to Yellowstone tomorrow - well I guess someone has to!

The Big Picture
This country is big. It's very big. In fact it's vast. It takes a long time to travel between two points on a map.  You can drive in a straight line at 70mph for about 20 minutes! The roads are wide though and with the old cruise control, it's a simple matter of staying awake at the wheel! Simple? Mmmm! Well I could go on but that's the country observation commentary over for now I'm afraid.

Our trip from Salmon down to Twin Falls was largely uneventful, albeit we drove a long way across a landscape akin to that which one finds in Lanzarote (very expansive flat areas comprising of volcanic rock and craters). The bridge we crossed to enter Twin Falls however deserved another look. It crosses a great canyon with the 'Snake River' meandering below and we ventured out very early next morning (for us!) ariving to take some photo's 'before' sun-up! You see - Jan 'can' get up early when she want's to!!

 


After a hearty breakfast, we checked out of the hotel and headed for Jackson. The first 200 miles or so of this section to just beyond Idaho Falls is pretty dull it has to be said. 

Weather was pretty wet the whole way to Jackson yesterday but there was something special and rather appropriate about ariving in 'Rainey Creek' in the rain and we just had to indulge ourselves at the country store - the 'home of the square ice cream'. The maple and walnut in a waffle cone was amazing!

And just in case you were wondering - one of these was Jan's!



Then the scenery picked up and we found ourselves travelling alongside a river (and a massive man-made lake) back in mountain territory. Highlights for us were seeing a Beaver by the side of the road, and a well grown Osprey chic sitting in it's nest atop a telegraph pole.

So we are now in Jackson. Here for 4 nights and deserving of a rest. We will Probably wander out later to check-out the local countryside (which looks incredible as it is on the edge of the Teton National Park) and get some grub. We will put the microwave in our room to use  as prices are a little higher to eat out here than other places we have visited and we have to make the funds last!

Two Mile Hike!
Well, it would not be entirely correct to call it a two mile hike as we had to get there AND back again (as in Tolkein's Hobbit). Today's stroll in the wilds actually ran into four miles and perhaps more particularly we navigated an elevation of some 4,500 feet which is not too bad me-thinks for us two old timers! The trek was from just off Highway 93 at 'Elk Horn' to 'Goldbug Hot Springs'. Who would have thought that at some 6,200 feet you would find hot springs?

Anyway, we have the evidence that we not only made the trip but also had a dip while we were up there and here it is folks (those with a delicate disposition can turn away now!).

To be honest, the trip up was challenging enough but getting down again after our dip was even more so. but WE DID IT! And we deserve a pat on the back for that at least - so our treat was to go back to that great Mexican restaurant.

Our short stay in Salmon has been lovely and we have been well looked after by our Indian hosts at the Super 8 but it's off to Twin Falls tomorrow - a mere 247 miles for an overnight stay and then onto Jackson, Wyoming for four nights and a well earned rest. So no Blog tomorrow I'm afraid and we will catch-up again when we are in Wyoming. Au-revoir for now.

Chilling Out

Salmon is rather appropriately named as at certain times of the year it is a great place to fish for Salmon. None around at the moment though so time for Jan to catch a little more sleep after a spot of breakfast and a short walk to Downtown for me. Found a cap for me at Kings store to protect my delicate head from the sun - last night was not a boozy one but best be prepared eh!

Shopping trip over and it's back to the Motel to wake Jan up then a stroll for us across to a picnic
area between two cuts of the river to chill, try to identify some birds and take some pics. Easy to see why this is also a good white-water rafting spot!

On the way back to our base we were tempted (but only a very small amount) by this sign:
 
At least one of our readers might appreciate the will power involved in walking straight past this invitation rather than walking in to stretch muscles that quite frankly have probably not been stretched for at least 30 years!




We did though pop-into a Mexical restauant for a look at the menu (and a couple of drinks) to see if it was a good place for the evening. It turned out to be a great opportunity for Jan to practice the Spanish she learned in Lanzarote - 'Vino Blanco' and 'La Quenta Por Favor'. We did go back in the evenng and I must admit both the food and the beer were excelent (the Mexican 'Dos Equis Special Lager' was particularly refreshing).

Chatted to our indian (that's asian indian not native american indians) Motel hosts who were standing outside enjoying the warm evening and a couple of deer just sauntered along the grass bank to the rear about 20 feet away from us.

This is a lovely place to chill!

It's Been A While
 
Well, it's been a few days since I added to the travel blog and there is a fair bit to cover.

Car Hire (Day 1)
It would be lovely if everything were perfect. Well it was - almost!. We collected the hire car on Monday.  The Alamo/Enterprise/National representative was extremely helpful and being such nice people we were 'up-graded' to a Chevrolet Trax. Think it was more to do with the period of hire and look of indignation, when the prospect of having to take the car for an oil change at some point during our trip was mentioned, that swung it!

Anyhow, we collected from the downstairs car park at Canada Place and all was good - it was a brand new car with only something like 600 miles (or kilometers?) on the clock. At the start of our journey, I noticed a clicking sound - the kind you get when you have a stone in a tyre. Too busy concentrating on getting used to the car and the roads, I decided to ignore it for a while. However, after about 15 minutes I was becomming really irritated and so  stopped the car. A simple stone - oh no! It was a nail right in the middle of the tyre tread. Well we just had to get it sorted before we hit the main highway. A call to the emergency number and we were off to find another Enterprise outlet. Not a simple task without a sat-nav. We bought a map at a garage but when the emergency contact lady on the end of the phone line started to say things like 'just go to diddly diddly dot com and the following page', I knew we were in for a difficult time! Bring back maps and instruct youngsters on how to use them!!

Eventually, we managed to navigate to the appointed place where they were very helpful. Tyre couldn't be fixed as the garage were too busy to look at it ill the end of the day (no good for us!). They offered a lower grade car (absolutely not - it had spots of rust!) or we could go somewhere else close by where they had another SUV. So that's what we did and ended up with a Jeep Patriot.

Happy days! We set off, some 3+ hours later than planned, for Osoyoos (just north of the USA border).






Problem sorted (we thought) and all was well - until the petrol light came on. I forgot it's a 2.4 ltr. We were litereally in the middle of nowhere. Some 60 kilometers from civilisation (the next town-Princeton) and we had travelled some 70 kilometers since we passed the last gas station. Don't Panic!!  Some chance - By this time, I was well into the emergency planning (how to keep warm and safe from bears etc.). I slowed down to get some more distance out of a pretty empty tank (about another 20 kilometers) and we were saved! We came across a holiday 'Resort' which was well used to being asked if they had any spare gas and had turned it into a litle side-line - they sold us a 'jerry can' of fuel which enabled us to get to Princeton (the local gas station on the way was of course closed)!

So, after an eventful and very tiring trip, we arived in Osoyoos at about 8.30pm - just in time to head straight off to a local chineese for take-away.

Time for a picture interlude:

Messey Motel & Changed Plans (Day 2)

Motel was OK and the town was quite scenic set on one side of a massive lake. After a spot of breakfast we headed to the boarder. It has to be said that my decision to try to drive straight across the boarder without stopping was not particularly welcomed by boarder control. However, on discovering they were just dealing with a couple of British idiots, they decided to let us through and we proceeded on the long drive to Wallace.

Wallace had a pretty good write-up and we were scheduled to stay for 2 nights, but for us it entirely failed to impress on any level. The motel was crap. We were allocated a room but they couldn't find the keys; allocated another that was under refurb and full of paint pots; allocated a third which we only just managed to get into because the door was jammed. When we pulled into the place, the sign said 'no vacancies' so I'm not sure how they managed to re-allocate rooms to such an extent?

Another Town, Another Motel (Day 3)
Wallace looked so tired and depressing that we cut short the stay after one night and 'pushed-on' toward a place called Salmon having quickly arranged a 3 night stay in a Super 8 motel.

A long drive again but we arived in good time to enjoy a late afternoon in a local bistro sampling the local wine & beer. A good nights sleep and we are reflecting on the last few days (1,239 kilometers).  Weather has been superb and scenery spectacular:

The town of Salmon is nestled as if in a bowl surrounded by snow-capped mountains. We think we will rest-up here very well indeed!

Cheesecake
I can think of no better way to end an exhausting day following a long and arduous trek than to tuck into a decent sized slice of Cheesecake.  And where better to get a slice of Cheesecake than 'The Trees Cafe' which serves the 'Best Cheesecake in Vancouver' (that's their slogan, not mine!).  True to say though that 'The Trees' does serve up a lovely cheesecake.  Jan went for the Raspberry and Chocholate whilst I tucked into the Maple and Walnut; both delivered with a large dollop of cream (Mmmm!). 
 
Well if that does'nt have you salivating, I guess nothing will!

We did the parks on our last day (for now) in Vancouver.  Started with one just across the road from where we are staying (Hastings Park) where there are a few beautiful set-piece arrangements.  This is where we get a bit arty:

 






Then onto Stanley Park. The bus only got as far as Canada Place before it was 'ham-strung' by traffic due to the staging of an earlier half-marathon.  Don't they know the impact this has on the tourist industry!! So we dissembarked and trusted to the old pins to walk the eight blocks or so to the entrance to the park. A quick stop to pick-up a park map and have a slurp of water and we were off to find Beaver Lake. No Beavers of course but some pretty ducks:

The park has some great trails and we decided to make our way to 'Prospect Point' where there are some lovely views over North Vancouver and towards the west.  

All the effort was entirely justified as we were able to tick-off two ambitions in one go - pictures of us with a Grizzly and a Mounty!:

'Smarter than the average bear!'

So that's the Vancouver trip done (for now) and it's time today/tomorrow (18th April) to pick-up a car and head into the interior. Happy days!!

Across The Water
Just a brief posting today to record something of our 2nd full day in Vancouver. 

I guess we over-did the physical exercise on our first day and, fair to say, were feeling the old legs a little so decided on a more sedentry approach to the day to help the recovery processes along. A trip across to North Vancouver on the Sea Bus (ferry) was clearly the answer and having purchased our 'all-day' passes for CA$9.75 each we made the journey across from the Waterfront to Lonsdale Quay to take a look at the covered market where all sorts of foods & wears can be purchased. We just had to stop at this appropriately named establishment for a spot of lunch:

A really nourishing chicken korma soup which included cabbage, celery, sweet corn, carrott and just about any other vegetable they could find presumably (absolutely delicious!).

Well then it was bus time to Grouse Mountain just for curiosity sake which took us past the entrance to the Capillano Bridge. We were not however dressed for mountain pursuits (there was a suggestion we would need to hire snow shoes) so decided against a cable car ride to the top of Grouse Mountain which was still open for snow-boarding Etc. We did though see some interesting bird life (Stellar's Jay, Northern Flicker or Woodpecker and some kind of Hummingbird) and get some good views of the local snow-topped mountains (e.g. the Two Lions) so a rewarding trip overall. Perhaps we will do the full trip at the end of our holiday?

The 'all day' tickets came in very useful as they covered our return crossing and all our bus trips for the day (three in all). 

Our outing ended in a local 'Diner' and probably the largest bowl of Spaghetti and Meatballs I have ever seen. Yum!

Gastown / Downtown

Well, I think it's fair to say that, following a good breakfast, we 'did' quite a lot yesterday and walked for some miles. We took in 'Gastown', 'Canada Place', a lot of 'Downtown' and even ventured into Stanley Park towards the end of the day. To say we were pretty knackered at the close would be something of an understatement. So what did we see that was of interest (to us)?

First Off was the Bald (or Whte Tailed) Eagle circling over the high-rise blocks along the shore-line that surrounds Canada Place which is somewhat of a transport hub for Vancouver. We spent some time watching (and photographing) the sea planes that are the lifeline of the many islands around Vancouver. 

The panorama is really something and the mixture of modern high-rise, busy port operations against the backdrop of hills and mountains reminded me a lot of how I felt looking over towards the mainland from Hong Kong island!

 
 
Weather being on the chilly side, we trecked on towards the marina and a quick 'Subway' lunch before wandering East into Gastown where tourists suround the old gas clock waiting for it to play it's cheery tune (every quarter hour). On the way, we encountered a street decked-out as a film set replete with burned-out vehicles and paused a few moments
to ponder this danger sign:

A stop sign for an Australian or
'all bungee jumpers must wait before proceeding'?  


This little shop of horors also captured our attention - not certain either of us would want anything here!


 



















Anyway, we located The Old Spaghetti Factory where we paused for water & wine - well worth a visit if you are interested in colourful lampshades and the fact they have an old street-car inside that they have converted to house tables & chairs. 

 








And for those of us with some banking history, a reminder of where the term 'money-laundering' may have originated:

Late afternoon in some areas of Gastown are probably to be avoided. It's a sad comment on such a modern progressive society that is Vancouver, that it has it's share of vagrants and down-and-outs (we fitted right in!). It's the first time though that either of us had witnessed people openly injecting themselves and buying drugs on the street. Truth to tell, we felt a little sad and uncomfortable but not threatened by it all and boarded a bus into Stanley Park which is a bit of a greenery oasis. But after a sort while we were simply too worn-out to enjoy the trails fully and so decided to head back to base (by taxi) where Burger King served up it's usual something & chips - good enough for us though before reflecting on a very enjoyable, albeit mixed, day of experience.