On Sunday, August 2nd, twelve passengers and I left Seattle and spent the day in Vancouver. I had a few free hours so I went and watched the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Parade. There were many interesting floats, participants, and spectators. I learned that there is a gay campground near Vancouver that is not listed in the notes I get from Trek America. I wonder how a group would react to camping there.
The next day we drove to the Buffalo Ranch near Wells Grey Provincial Park and looked at a big waterfall. On Tuesday we zipped over to Jasper and saw a few waterfalls on the way. Jasper was disgustingly over crowded and only a preview of Banff. We swam in the town pool and I worked on my diving ability a little more. We also took a nice hike up to an area I had been to in early June. The snow was all melted, so we had to walk down instead of slide down.
On Thursday, we took a five hour guided hike up the Athabasca Glacier and learned a great deal. The next day we went white water rafting on the Kicking Horse River. After a few more water falls we went over to Lake Louise and I finally got to see it on a clear sunny day. It looks just like the post cards.
Then we went down to Banff and used that as a base for two days of hot pools, helicopter flights, hikes and shopping. This is the busy season and I had trouble driving through town and not hitting anybody. The good part, though, is that many of my tour leader friends were also around. Since we left Banff, we have not seen a single other Trek group.
The next day we drove for 520 miles and slept in a couple of rented trailers. The next day we drove for 420 miles and looked at the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Museum. The next day we drove 460 miles and looked at Kakabeka Falls. The next day we went to Old Fort William. After looking at the reconstruction and re-enactment of Frontier Canadian life, we drove 350 miles. That was over 1800 miles in four days. I had a lot of un-used energy left over by the time we got to Wawa, so I hung from the roof and stayed up late.
In Wawa we were supposed to go canoeing, but the lightning made us change our minds. I went puddle stomping instead and eventually a few passengers joined me for a rainy water gun fight. At two in the afternoon we decided to move on and drove for the rest of the afternoon.
We spent the night in Blind River. I was all ready to go to bed early and then the neighbor struck up a conversation. I ended up talking to her until one thirty in the morning. I did not get enough sleep again, but I did learn a lot about being a sixteen year old party girl.
We hoped to catch a one pm ferry, but when we got to South Baymouth, the holiday traffic had already filled the Georgian Bay Ferry. We took the six o clock ferry and arrived at Niagara Falls at one thirty in the morning.
At Niagara, we rode the Maid of the Mist boat and got pretty wet. After lunch, we went to Toronto. My friends Mark and Ingrid live in Toronto. Angela was also visiting Mark and Ingrid and so the four of us hung out for the evening. I met the three of them on the ten week trip I took in Africa a few years ago. They are putting together a newsletter for all twenty people on that trip so we can all get updated on each others lives. They are also trying to plan a re-union. That would be great.
So, the next day, after another late night, we hung out in Toronto for the day and I went to the camping store. The Canadian currency is so weak right now that camping gear, and most other things, are incredibly cheap to someone thinking in US dollars. I bought some fleece pants and a water bottle, for my upcoming Asian trip.
After Toronto, we went to Kingston. I fell asleep at nine thirty in the evening and caught up on some sleep. Ottowa, the capital of Canada was on the agenda for the next day. I checked out the Supreme Court, ate lunch at an Egyptian place, read about President Clinton's sex life, and did some paperwork.
After Ottowa we went to Quebec and ate Pizza. The next day, for the first time in well over a week, I did not drive at least four hours in one day. This concluded a nine day and over 3000 mile portion of the trip.
For the free day in Quebec, I wandered around the town with Fiona, one of my passengers. We walked along the walls of the city and watched one of my fellow country men make a big scene in a restaurant over the poor quality food he received. Mostly we just talked and waited for the city day to end. That night all thirteen of us went out on the town.
I put on the nicest clothes I have and we went to the cool part of town. There I received one of the best compliments of all time. I went up to the door of a club to see if we could come in and dance. The door man told me something in French and I was confused. Then he translated himself for me. He told me that it was a dance club, but it was classy and I could not enter. Here I am wearing my Sunday best and still being looked down upon by a quasi-French snob. I had a smile on my face for the rest of the evening. We went across the street to a bar with pool tables and did bar things until one or so.
This morning we came over here to Montreal and are hanging out in town until we go see a baseball game.
This trip is three weeks long and covers well over 5000 miles. Also, people had different expectations of the trip and the group has never really gelled properly. They are pretty nice people, but this has been a bit of a rough trip for me, trying to please all their different wishes and still drive what seemed like all day, every day. Oh well, such is life.
I never realized how French, French-Canada really is. In Quebec, 96 percent of the people speak French as their first language. Also, all of the street signs and writing is in French in the whole province.
No more for today, time to go watch Baseball.
