Date: 13 July 2001 (Friday)

Start: Canyon Alpine RV Park & CG, Boston Bar BC

End: Capilano RV Park, North Vancouver BC (147 miles)

The temperature was 65f when we arose (really warm for us). The skies were hazy but not cloudy.

We went next door to the restaurant and treated ourselves to a full-cholesterol breakfast, complete with good coffee and a screwy waitress.

Then we hooked up and got ourselves out of the site halfway up the hill to the goats with the help of the owner. The turn downhill was steep enough that the tailgate of the pickup wanted to get up into the trailer under the bed. When we made the turn angle flatter, we had to be guided past a small spruce on the inside of the curve or the trailer would have rolled it over.

Westward, then, continuing down TC-1 (the Trans-Canadian) and down the Fraser River. We saw more great, rough, western scenery, including Hell Gate where the river bangs its way through a narrows only 110 feet wide. We passed through six or seven tunnels going downstream, where the highway builders had no choice but to go through rock.

We got off at Abbotsford BC, thinking we’d put ourselves in touch with the person (Bill Kondolay) who made the goodies for the truck’s automatic transmission for this trip. But we got into heavy traffic in town and hopped back onto TC-1 to get out of it.

TC-1 enters Vancouver, then passes over the Fraser for the last time to run through North Vancouver and West Vancouver (wealthiest place in BC) and pass onward to where it can’t continue. We exited at Taylor Avenue and wended our way around and under the Lion’s Gate Bridge and entered the campground - Capilano RV Park.

From our site, we can see the Lion’s Gate Bridge, a suspension bridge over the strait where the harbor of Vancouver opens into the sound between the mainland and Vancouver Island. In 1995, when we took our Alaska cruise, we sailed under that bridge to go north.

We found the campground things, then walked over to the Park Royal Mall (how many campgrounds have you used that feature a full-bore mall with grocery two blocks away over a trout stream?). I bought a shirt, Dolores bought a purse, and we found the grocery store we’ll need tomorrow. On the way back we watched the local seagull colony cleaning themselves in the shallow water of this extremely clear stream. A heron was on the side, motionless, waiting.

We dressed up a little (shirt with collar, slacks) and went to dinner at Chez Michele, recommened by the campground. It turned out to be on the second floor with a good view of English Bay, just outside Lion’s Gate. I mentioned to Dolores that the cool, bright, day reminded me of the day we started our cruise. Within a minute, a big cruise ship came by outbound, just as we did years ago. We couldn’t believe the coincidence and enjoyed sharing our thoughts of that trip.

We both had salmon (different sauces and treatments) and the BC Chardonnay was nice. This difference between the US and Canadian dollars really helps in service oriented payments. In hard goods created outside either country, the costs are equivalent. But for campgrounds and meals, the dollar difference can be dramatic. This dinner was $CDN105 or USD70 with a good wine, which we find about right for the Manassas area. But we couldn’t get this salmon in Manassas (nor the BC Chardonnay), so it’s well spent.

Then back to the campground, work these notes at the outside picnic table, and then off to bed. Dolores is trying to sort out 64 channels of cable TV, after having at least once on the trip having only one and several times none. Ok, once she had two channels, CBC and the First Nation Station.

Anyway, we’re staying here for a few days to enjoy a metropolitan area with all that includes. We’ve made reservations Sunday night to ride the dinner train on BC Rail – a 3.5 hour trip north up the sound with 40 minutes at the other end to turn the train around in the middle. We’re told we’re sharing the table with another couple. Should be a lot of fun. Tomorrow, we’ll take the truck to Stanley Park and the aquarium and see what else we can get into.