Some New Terrain

The time has come to finally begin our journey home. We had every intention to head east through the Canadian Rockies and drop down into the Dakota's for more National Park sight seeing, but the heavy spring snows along that route forced us to make the spontaneous decision to head back south through Eastern Washington, Oregon, Idaho and into Utah to get to Moab where we will spend a few days hiking around Arches National Park.

The following photos will show some of the very dramatic scenery and weather we encountered along our journey. Some really beautiful stuff.

Washington
Hwy 90 through the Cascades to Hwy 82 through Yakima

Snoqualmie Pass

 

Entering the Yakima Valley

Kennewick, Washington looking south towards Eastern Oregon

We were just a little hesitant to drive into this storm, not knowing what havoc was being created by these very threatening clouds............luckily the highway took us in a direction that just skirted the very edges of the storm.

Eastern Oregon
Highway 84

Idaho
Highway 84

Utah
Highway 84

Just minutes after crossing the border into Utah, we came upon this cowboy on his horse. We noticed there were very few side roads or highway exits along this stretch of road making this the best way to get around in this place.

Southeast of Salt Lake City 

US Route 6/191 
We decided to take this shortcut/scenic route through the Wasatch Plateau to get down to Interstate 70 and WOW!.....this is where the scenery started to make a dramatic change.

 Helper, Utah

We couldn't resist stopping in this little town, mostly because of its name.

Helper is located about 110 miles southeast of Salt Lake City. It is known as the "Hub of Carbon County". The population is about 2,000. There used to be a thriving coal mining industry here and Helper is the home of the Western Mining and Railroad Museum, a tourist attraction that also contains household and commercial artifacts illustrating late 19th and early 20th-century living conditions. There is also a colorful Brothel history here: http://utahstories.com/2010/10/helper%E2%80%99s-brothel-mining-history-tino/  Who knew!
Go here for more about Helper: http://www.castlecountry.com/Helper-Utah

"Big John"

"Big John" is a towering coal miner entirely covered in glossy black paint. Custom-made by International Fiberglass in 1964. - See more at: http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/2468#sthash.PH9RfmVN.dpuf

"Big John" is a towering coal miner entirely covered in glossy black paint. Custom-made by International Fiberglass in 1964. - See more at: http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/2468#sthash.PH9RfmVN.dpuf√

"Big John" is a towering coal miner entirely covered in glossy black paint. Custom-made by International Fiberglass in 1964. - See more at: http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/2468#sthash.PH9RfmVN.dpuf

"Big John" is a towering coal miner covered in shiny black paint. He was custom-made by International Fiberglass in 1964. He stands in front of the Helper library on Main Street.

I don't recall seeing a brand new painted coca-cola ad on a building in a very long time. We found one here.

"Big John" is a towering coal miner entirely covered in glossy black paint. Custom-made by International Fiberglass in 1964. - See more at: http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/2468#sthash.PH9RfmVN.dpuf

And we thought we would never see a sign like this here. HA!

  Main Street in Helper, Utah

We reached Interstate 70 and then continued south on Highway 191 towards Moab.

We knew we were getting close to Moab when we spotted this Velociraptor trying to hide in the bushes. :o)

The red rock formations started to appear just a few miles outside of the Arches National Park/Moab area.

More coming from Moab and the park. Stay tuned.......

VANCOUVER, BC SCIENCE MARCH

Parental Discretion Advised

When in Canada, do as the Canadians do! :o)

http://www.straight.com/news/879891/march-science-planned-vancouver-support-work-scientific-community-face-trump-era

We jumped right into this with thousands of others. It's the least we could do for Earth Day on April 22 and for Science! You will see that the Canadians aren't too happy with our POTUS policies either. I will try to refrain from too much commentary on the grounds it might incriminate me :o) The photos speak for themselves.

Remember the Pussy Hats for the world women's march?

Meet the Cranium Brain Hat! Lovingly made by a cognitive scientist near you!

Employees from the Vancouver Aquarium with their jellyfish umbrellas

Elements from the periodic table arranged to reflect the latest discovery

The protest marched all through the downtown area

Our final destination - Science World British Columbia

Dragon Boat Racing

As we approached Science World we noticed this kick-ass dragon boat team out training in False Creek. Looks like their festival is about to happen. Go here for more about this great sport: http://vancouverdrag  onboatfestival.ca/information/information-2/   and        
http://www.racedragonboats.com/about-2/dragon-boat-racing-2/

Trans Am Totem: If I remember right the stack of cars goes like this........Mini, VW Rabbit, Honda Civic, BMW and Trans Am at the top. Artist- Marcus Bowcott  Go here for more info:
http://www.vancouverbiennale.com/artworks/trans-am-totem/ 

Solar Powered Motorcycle :o)

Catfe'
Our friend Kim was with us for the march and decided we needed to go to the Catfe' for lunch. We tried, but they were all booked up for lunch :o( We really wanted to go because you get to sit and have lunch in a roomful of adoptable cats. You can pick them up, pet and love them and then, if you'd like to,  adopt one right on the spot! What a fabulous idea!

 

We ended up eating at a great Japanese place instead. Here is a video of the bonito flakes coming alive on top of Rowan's hot pot stickers. It was completely entertaining and delicious. We really tried not to get all excited about it and cause a scene. HA!

These last two photos get right to the point.............

Found this double mastectomy tattoo shocker in a storefront window. WOW!

I COULDN'T RESIST BECAUSE I MUST RESIST!  SILENCE = DEATH
The guy behind me in the red/black jacket told us that he had been watching people do this all day and that it happens all the time. We also learned that  this hotel just opened up a few weeks ago and the event was met with YUGE protest.

UGH! It is so hard to be an American right now! UGH! 

Our journey home starts in our next post.........should we go?

Our Friends to the North

(well, all reasonable Americans hope they are still our friends!)

Vancouver, BC 

With visions of tulips still dancing in our heads, we continued north through Washington on Interstate 5, crossing the Canadian border at Blaine. We passed through the Peace Arch crossing and made our way through the farmland of Delta (winter tomatoes anyone?) and into the city of Vancouver. We arrived at our friends Debbie and Chris's place, where we will stay while Rowan completes her sabbatical work with the University of British Columbia.

The view from our hosts home just south of downtown.

We wasted no time getting right to food shopping once we arrived. Our first stop was Granville Island - http://granvilleisland.com/  where we scoped out the art, food and entertainment we will come back to explore while we are staying here.

Instant public art greeted us around every turn. Here is a wonderful Inuit/Eskimo mural under a bridge. 

Cement Silo's? Hugh?

Yes, that is what they are. You can see the cement trucks in front. This cement company has their business right in the middle of the shopping district on the island, or, I guess I should say the shopping district was created in the industrial district out of the old warehouses. It's cool they made these things all artsy.

 The Public Market

This huge warehouse space offers every kind of food ingredient one can imagine. A foodies dream! My head was spinning.......especially when we approached the seafood counter vendors. "Lord help me" was all I could say!

Some of the other sites from the islands arts district

These mannequins are just FABULOUS! They are showing off the hand painted silk scarves in the artists studio window.

Wire sculpture atop the Art School entrance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Carr_University_of_Art_and_Design

Inuit totem pole (currently under restoration)

Looking west out towards the Straight of Georgia

Looking across the Burrard Inlet at downtown

The harbor

More Inuit Totem

 Can I get a hug?

 

 Going out on the town

 Our hosts wasted no time taking us out on the town for a night of fine dining at one of the most interesting restaurants I have ever been in. 55 Dunlevy has a brewery, winery and upscale kitchen all under one roof. It's like a collective. The brewery brews the beer on site. The winery makes the wine on site. The kitchen stirs up amazing pairings for all of the above. What a great idea!

All the fermenting going on as we entered the place.

The place sits in the old warehouse district and is housed in an old warehouse. Many of the old original beams and bones of the warehouse have been left to create a wonderful space.

OK, so I have never seen this many bar pull stations anywhere (and this is just one of the bars in the place!). I guess when you are making wine and beer on site you need this many. Wow!

Cheers!

So, I can't remember the exact names of everything we had to eat (it has been 6 weeks since we were there) I did find some of them on the on-line menu, but the menu changes weekly so here is my best recollection.......

A margarita style pizza with chorizo. YUM! That's a cheese and crostini plate with tomato and olive tapenade

Roasted Cauliflower: romesco sauce, crispy capers, toasted almonds, herbed breadcrumbs, grana padano, fresh lemon.
Candy Cane Beet Salad pickled ruby beets, cashew cheese, sunflower seed pesto, candied walnut soil, seasonal greens

Yam Gnocchi w/ Lamb Ragu: braised pork shoulder, brown sage butter, sweet peas.
Shrimp/cream risotto: with pea cream something-or-other. 

Chris and I each had a wine sampler. I mean how often does one get to drink Canadian wine?....unless of course you are in Canada. Not bad either :o)

One of the most excellent decorated neighborhood utility boxes I have ever seen!

Meet Ladybug

Our absolutely adorable King Charles Spaniel host dog, Ladybug, who met us every morning with licks of love and became our lap dog in the evening. What a joy! Here she is with her favorite ball in her mouth.

The Vancouver March For Science/Earth Day demonstration is next :o)