What If...

Day 10-14: Friday to Monday, July 16-19, 2010

Sightseeing days: Victoria, BC, Canada

Features: Time with Uncle Young-il, Halmoni, and Halaboji; Victoria Butterfly Garden, The Butchart Gardens, Deuce Days (Antique Car Show), BC Parliament Building, The Empress Hotel, Downtown Victoria

Yesterday I expressed to my godfather, Young-il, my growing concern in regards to this trip. What if by the end, I become desensitized, and I become immune to the beauty in the everyday after seeing all these incredible sights around the States and Canada? What if after Rainier, after Butchart, Banff, Rushmore, everything else falls flat?

What can we realistically expect to take away from this trip?

And also, when is the next time we get to eat?

These are the deep thoughts ever looming in my mind.

As fascinating as the landscape and history have been (and don't forget the hours and hours of driving!), I think the people have intrigued me the most. From brief encounters, snippets of conversation, an exchange of words, we connect and we meet all kinds of people. This is the framework of communication: a deep, honest curiosity in the other.

Outside of Mt. St. Helens, we stopped for some homemade cobbler as a rare treat, and the two old men from whom we ordered were so spunky I could not help laughing with delight. Long story short, one of them tried to get me to "make a play" for his son and break him up from his girlfriend, one of the waitresses. He kept jutting his chin out at her when she walked by and grunting, "You can take her!" and winking. Of course, this was only after he listed off what classes his son was taking, how tall he was, how much he could bench, how much he would inherit when his father passed, and all sorts of strange tidbits. We were sorely tempted to stay for dinner, just for the conversation.

Side note: There is currently some sort of glitch with the SD card for one of the cameras and I am therefore currently unable to upload pictures.

Got to fly! Probably will not have computer access for a while, but keep reading and keep following!

In Which We Become Part of a Parade

Day 9: Thursday, July 15, 2010
Traveling day: Port Angeles, WA to Victoria, Canada
Feature of the Day: Dinner with Young-il and his parents

After a long night with rowdy neighbors at our campsite, we were up early the next morning and had packed everything and were ready to depart for the ferry by 8:30 AM. Impressive. Even though we showed up a good four hours early for the 12:40 PM ferry, we were already the third car in line, but at least we were on. The morning proved to be quite eventful, as one by one antique cars began pulling onto the dock to board the ferry with us to Victoria. Within the next couple hours, well over a hundred antique cars of all colors had congregated to cross with us. Their owners all wore letterman's jackets emblazoned with the name of their particular car club name, such as “Orange County Roadsters” or “LA Roadsters” (many were from California). It was the strangest thing. I had no idea these people organized themselves in such a manner, but I guess that makes sense. If you got it, flaunt it.

The ferry ride itself was uneventful, save for Cindy, Matthew, and I snacking on chili-cheese-covered popcorn, and then Matthew daring me to gulp down all the chili powder residue at the bottom of the bag. Well of course, I had to do it. No matter that we were in public, on a boat, and I was wearing a nice top and a white tank. I wound up with chili in my eye, powder all over my face, and a ten-year-old laughing in my face. Worth it.
Upside to riding the ferry with the antique cars? Getting to crash their parade through the city and wave at our adoring public.
Later in the day, we met up with Young-il, Cindy's husband, who flew up from the Bay. We also got to have dinner with his parents, whom I had never met before. All in all, a good day, if short on sleep. :)

[Insert Percy Jackson Comment Here]

Day 8: Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Sightseeing day: Olympic National Park

Night Accommodations: KOA in Port Angeles, WA

I woke up this morning and realized I was in Twilight country and promptly fought the urge to flee the state. Thankfully though, the weather has been unnaturally gorgeous—clear skies, warm days, lots of sun, and no rain thus far—so take that, Stephenie Meyer!

We did not do Olympic National Park justice at all. With next to no time, we were unable to explore all three of the park's distinct habitats—the rain forest, alpine glacial mountains, and the rugged coast. We did, however, traverse the alpine glacial mountains pretty well given our time frame.

For a park that I had never even heard of before, Olympic National Park is jaw-droppingly gorgeous. It embodies and conserves the most diverse portion of the Pacific Northwest, and harbors over twenty four distinct species of life that are not found anywhere else on Earth, including some endangered species such as the Roosevelt Elk.

At the Hurricane Ridge Visitor's Center, the deer are especially rampant and not at all afraid of people. We encountered one beautiful doe licking up anti-freeze that leaked out of a car in the parking lot, because the anti-freeze is sweet but is ultimately quite harmful to them. Matthew was particularly worried and tried scaring the deer away multiple times, but nothing could deter the deer from her prize. Finally, Cindy thought of rubbing dirt and asphalt into the fluid to smother the scent, so Matthew immediately ran over and began rubbing. Sure enough, the deer left the spot alone, but the damage was already done. That doe was left with a terrible stomachache.

We talked to the Ranger at the center, one Brian Doolittle, and he said deer licking up radiator fluid and the like was a daily occurrence. The deer come to these parts of the park because they have learned that proximity to people means food, either through direct feeding or careless leftovers. With people come cars, and the deer simply cannot help themselves. And deer are not the only species affected in such a way. Chipmunks, raccoons, and ravens are some of the others.

The subalpine region finally delivered the fields of wildflowers we were promised by our multiple guide books back near Mt. Rainier, which delighted Cindy. The blooms are so small and delicate, they reveal the fragility and endurance of life, even just below glacial levels. As we hiked, we were surrounded by more and more glacier-capped mountains, towering firs, and amazing vistas. At one point, we were able to have a 360-degree lookout and it was incredible.

The line between trees and grasses in such areas vacillates from season to season, depending on current conditions, so the landscape is always changing. Oftentimes trails are closed due to snow, even in July. Matthew and I indulged in a slush-ball fight on one large pile of snow. He won. I walked back to the car with wet pants. Bested by a ten-year-old. Again.

Sleep-Deprived in Seattle

Day 7: Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Driving and sightseeing day: Kent, WA to Seattle, WA to Port Angeles, WA

Features of the Day: Seattle Space Needle, Pike Place Market, downtown Seattle

Night Accommodations: KOA in Port Angeles, WA

The morning began with all-you-can-eat pancakes, where it was determined that I can cram at least six pancakes doused with blackberry and strawberry syrups and whipped cream in my mouth before being stopped for the sake of others' appetites. Typical. Good morning!

This is the part where I admit that when I hear Seattle, I think “Grace” after it; I have been known to watch snippets of Grey's Anatomy. I think this makes me female. And let me say that the aerial shots from that show greatly exaggerate the height of the Space Needle. It's not that tall. That being said, going up to the top was absolutely worth it. People at the Needle were speaking all different languages, and had come from every place you can imagine, to see what Seattle had built in 1962 for the World Fair.

Matthew and I met fellow East Coasters at the top—well, one from Philly, the other possibly German, but still—both of whom I immediately frightened away with my sheer unbridled enthusiasm. Turns out the guy from Philly grew up in Western Mass., which just goes to show that us Bay Staters are everywhere.

Unrelated but amusing: The man who ran me through security was from Montana and practically shook with excitement when he found out I was from Boston and knew Montana was a state. And then I let slip I even knew his state capitol—oh boy! (I rag on Montana a lot, but I am actually really excited to see her.)

Before we headed out of the city, we made a pilgrimage to the Mother of all REIs and she was so worth it. The store has its own forest, its own gorge with a stream, a realistic mountain bike test trail outdoors, a giant rock-climbing wall encased in a glass tower, a mammoth roaring fire in the middle of July, a fabulous play area for kids under 7 (explicitly labeled as such—darn!) reminiscent of The Jungle, and entire trees as the beams holding up the stairs. It was magical.

Unfortunately, we miscalculated how long a drive it was from Seattle to Port Angeles—for future reference, we now know it is four hours, not two—and I drove late at night, along windy roads, in unfamiliar terrain, at a ridiculously slow speed. We're not doing that again. Even better was the fact that our GPS whom I have loving christened Ramona went berserk and kept telling me to literally drive in circles around one section of the freeway after midnight. Oh, Ramona.