Day 7: A Winery and Mt Hood

After breakfast we drove south from Salem to the Willamette Valley Winery so I could have a winery experience. The visitor/taste testing room is high up on a hill overlooking several fields of grape vines and neighboring fields of trees, and flowers.

I wasn't sure what to do but the place wasn't busy and they guy at the taste testing bar explained the drill. There were five wines being tasted for free that day and eight or ten more for sale by the glass. For tasting you get just enough to get the flavor of the wine. There was a container to slurp into but that seemed gross so I only poured any leftover wine into the container before the next round.

This winery mainly grows Chardonay, Pinot Gris, and Pinot Noir grapes so that's what we were tasting. There were two styles of Pinot Noir and, amazingly, we could tell the difference between them. We bought a bottle of the oaky Pinot Noir which I'll have to conceal in my suitcase so I can get a taxi home tomorrow.

We decided to drive north toward Mt. Hood. We didn't have a plan for what we'd like to do but it was clear and we were sure visibility would be good today. We took 214 off the I5 just so we could say we went to Boring, Oregon then cut west on 26. We drove west until we saw the Forest Service Headquarters in Sandy. We mulled over their list of possible hikes and decided on a hike to Mountain Lake which is on a ridge area south of Mt. Hood.

The Mt Lake trail rose steadily from the parking area through a number of switchbacks but the hike was not difficult. The Fir forest was cool, very pretty, and generally quiet even though a number of people were going up and down the trail while we were on it.

After about a mile and a half we came up to the lake. The lake was small, fairly shallow, surrounded by vegetation and towered over by several high ridges. I didn't test the water temperature but the happy screams of a group of younger people swimming in the lake for a few minutes assured me that it was very cold.

As we walked around the lake we realized we hadn't seen Mt. Hood yet. Then I looked up and there was Mt. Hood, looming over the lake. The mountain, about 20 miles away, was a bit hazy but we could see the south face and it's glaciers very clearly. So beautiful!

The trail continued up to the ridge near the top of Tom, Dick and Harry mountain but did not continue on.

We headed back down and drove to Portland. Our Comfort Inn here is about half as good as the one in McMinnville but it's only for one night. The funny part is a sign giving the price of everything in the room in case you want to purchase it instead of steal it. The thin worn washclothes are $10, the ugly quilt is $100 and the blanket that doesn't look like it's ever been washed is $75. We think that anything that doesn't have a price is free to take!

We drove over to the Reed neighborhood for dinner. We went to the Delta, a southern food place frequented by Reedies because of the large portions and the mint julips. I had one of those mint julips on another trip and I agree they're excellent.

After we ate we walked down Woodstock to Reed. During our quick walk through the campus we discovered a brand new Language House and a lot more water flow through the gorge. Reed really does have a nice campus.

Whenever I walk from the parking lot onto campus I remember my first visit to Reed with my prospective student in ????. The cool, green campus was a wonderful change from the So. CA smog we had spent three days in.

Back at the hotel I'm trying to figure out if we can get to downtown from the airport after we check in. We have to get our car returned early but we don't want to sit in the airport all day.

Day 7: Oregon Coast

First, a correction to a previous post. As Arah has correctly pointed out, the Salem Mall dowtown has a number of chain stores like Nordstoms, JC Penney, etc. I didn't even know there was a mall but I walked a little further north today and there it was. Also there are at least TWO Starbucks downtown.

Sally was in her conference all day so I took off by myself for the coast. I took Route 22 West through rolling hills then over the small coastal range mountains down to the coastal highway. I decided to turn north and head for the quiet little town of Pacific instead of turning south toward the tourist mecca of Lincoln.

My first view of the ocean was from an overlook just south of Pacific. Having grown up a few hours from the Atlantic, I've had a lot of ocean experiences which are nearly all good so seeing, hearing, and smelling the ocean again is like coming home. (Sorry, MN lakes including Lake Superior are not like the ocean.) Near Pacific I turned on the scenic highway that runs close to the shore.

I drove to the first access point for Pacific beach, about one quarter mile south of the main Pacific parking area. I struggled over a dune to get to the beach and was blasted by a very cold wind. I walked into the wind for a while, took a few pictures, then turned and ran back to the car to get warm.

I continued driving south looking for a good coastal place to explore. I decided to try Sand Lake Recreation Area. Not knowing the park, I turned into the East Day User Area which I discovered was a staging area for ATVs. BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ. Okay, I suppose there's a place for loud smelly vehicles on a beautiful beach but is there really space for hundreds of them? Ridiculous.

I quickly left the East Day Use Area and went back to the entrance to see if I had other options at that park. I decided to try the Fishermans Day Access Area. That area turned out to be a very pretty tidal area where I could walk around some pools and also go out to a no-ATV beach. This place was fairly sheltered from the wind and the sun was out now so it was much more comfortable than earlier.

I drove back to Pacific and had a salad and a Stout (average) at the brew pub. After I finished eating I went down to the beach and wandered, taking pictures. There was a good crowd in this area doing amusing things like playing volleyball with their legs buried in the sand or climbing an extremely large sand dune and then sliding down.

I headed back to Salem around five. I had a couple of slice of "New York style" pizza and then met Sally when she finished her meeting. We explored the riverside park and then looked through the historic Reed building and walked by some other historic spots.

We returned to the hotel room and discussed what do to on Friday. Mount Hood? Portland? Wineries? We haven't make a decision yet.

Day 6?: Salem, OR

We headed directly to Salem after breakfast since Sally wanted to be sure she was at the conference on time. We drove on a two lane highway that followed the Willamette River south, winding between vineyards and huge fields of trees and flowers. This is a really fertile area.

We arrived in downtown Salem about 11:00 and dropped our bags off at the hotel (very nice). We decided to walk a bit until it was time for Sally's conference to start.

We walked down Liberty Avenue, a main drag, and saw lots of interesting local stores and restaurants. In the middle of downtown we found the Tuesday Farmer's Market where there were stands with beautiful berries (Loganberries, Blueberries, Cherries, etc.) and lots of prepared food.

Then we walked over to the State Capital which was constructed in the 1930s by the WPA. The side of the building looks more like an office building than a traditional state capital but the front has imposing marble walls featuring pithy inscriptions about democracy. There are some huge statues in the front showing pioneers doing pioneer things. There are a number of huge murals inside the capital that show Oregonians working together (e.g., farmers and cowboys working together).

We wandered over to Willamette University where Sally conference is being held. It's a pretty campus. At that point I took off.

I wandered around downtown a bit more. Amazingly, there is only one chain store in the whole downtown. Yes, it's Starbucks. Luckily there are two coffee shops within a block of Starbucks and they're both busy.

I headed east intending to go to Silver Falls, a well-known state park in the area. After I had driven for a few minutes I decided to drive past the turn for the park and continue east into the Cascades to try to get a glimpse of Mount Jefferson, a pretty big volcanoe that is due east of Salem. I got the glimpse pretty quickly as Jefferson appeared above the foothills when I had gone about 20 miles.

Satisfied, I turned back and drove to Silver Falls. The park is really beautiful. It's a long wooded canyon with high waterfalls (170 ft, 211 ft) at either end. It's a rainforest area so it's very green, cool, and moist.

It is a very popular park so there are huge parking areas and very gentle trails to allow maximum access. There's no extreme hiking at this park.

I returned to Salem and had some Chinese food at a pretty good place. I hung out at the Coffee House Cafe until nine when I went back to the hotel to meet Sally.

Day 5: Back to the US

We got up sort of early, ate breakfast at the hotel, and packed up. Today was return to the US day.

First we took a cab to the airport. The cabbie was a very meticulous (he kept cleaning the car while he was driving) and careful driver. What a nice change from the first cab driver! I could actually let go of the door handle and look at the interesting mix of houses and businesses on Granville Ave.

The cabby took us right to Avis where I picked up our car. First I got an Eclipse which looked cool and seemed fine until we sat in it. The seats are very low. I turned it in for a Sonata which is very dull but runs okay.

We headed south for the border. We had been warned that there would be a long wait to cross but when we got within a couple km of the border we saw an elctronic sign that said there was no wait. Yay!

Soon we came to a line of cars doing the stop-and-go thing toward the border. We couldn't see the actual border station but I thought we were close since the sign said there was no wait. As we came around each turn I expected to see a smiling US custom officers waiting to check us through . Well we crawled along for at least thirty minutes before we actually saw the booth with the customs guy.

FYI, here's the questions that he asked while he scanned our passports:

Where are you from (in the US)?
Why were you in Canada?
What are your bringing into the US that you bought in Canada? (I said "nothing")
Nothing?

BTW, the Peace Arch on the Canadian side of the border is really an unimpressive large wooden gate. It sits on the grass in a little park on the Canadian side of the border. Maybe people used to walk through it and it had some use.

We drove for eight hours all together, only stopping to get coffee and then Mountain Dew (regular flavor). That got us to McMinnvile, OR about 7:30 p.m. McMinnville is the center of the Oregon vineyard country and the plan was to get there earlier than that so I could visit a vineyard before dinner.

After we checked into the hotel we had a good dinner at one of the bistros on the main street. I had a nice glass of local wine but I've already forgotten the name of the vineyard.

Besides being a center of Oregon winemarking, McMinnville is the birthplace of Beverly Cleary, on of the best childrens' book writers ever. I have to admit I've only read a few of the Romona books (I think my daughter had read them all) but I think that she really captured how kids feel. Read one.

After dinner we took a walk down Third Street, the main street in town, which ends at the city park. The public library is on one side of the park entrance and the public pool is on the other side. Beyond the buildings was a two level park with a nice playground and some very big old trees on the top level and picnic grounds on the lower level.

We explored the library a bit. There is a small building which was the original Carnegie library built in 1912 and a newer building attached to it by some walkways. The first floor of the new building is a very comfy children's library. The teen area is upstairs along with the usual fiction/nonfiction. There is the usual assortment of Beverly Cleary books on the shelves but not more than the usual assortment. I wonder if they remember her as a local since she mainly grew up in nearby Portland.

Sally had to prep for her conference so we headed back to the hotel. I'm planning for my excursion tomorrow.

Day 4: UBC

We slept late this morning...nine o'clock. After eating breakfast at a nearby restaurant we caught an express bus to the University of British Columbia which is way over at the west end of Vancouver on a beautiful Grey Point.

The weather was perfect again (70s, partly cloudy) although I heard some Vancouver residents complaining about the heat.

I don't think the campus is pretty. It looks like they bulldozed a couple square miles near the point and filled it with buildings. Most of the current buildings are those ugly 60s and 70s concrete buildings you see on campuses but those buildings are surrounding by newer housing developments. We think those are private developments, areas where UBC sold their land for a profit.

The Anthropology Museum is near the point at the edge of the campus where the trees are mostly still intact. The museum is small but holds a stunning collection of items carved by members of BC coastal tribes. These tribes all did large scale carvings for construction (15 ft. high house posts that held up the roof beams or 20-30 ft. totems that were part of the frame of their houses), transportation, and entertaining (e.g., massive decorated "dishes" that are beautiful troughs). There's also two traditional Haida buildings behind the museum that were built by a famous Haida artist and craftsman. The museum also has books with pictures of the old coastal villages in the early 1900s with the old buildings and totems intact. I have some nice pictures of the carvings that I'll post soon.

We then walked down the street to the Nitobe Japanese Garden which they call one of the best Japanese gardens in the US. It was a very nice Japanese Garden although it didn't have a "dry" pool of stones like many other Japanese gardens. I like the Japanese Garden in Portland better.

When we left the garden we decided to go down to the beaches on Grey Point. We started walking not knowing how far down it really was. It was, in fact a journey of almost 400 wooden steps down to the sparsely populated clothing-optional beach.

The view is amazing from the beach. You can see Vancouver to the east, and the Olympic peninsula, the ocean, and Vancouver Island in the west. The beach was nice but we didn't stay long (or take our clothes off).

After we got back up the steps we split up. I walked to the Book Store to buy a hat--bald guys must have them and I forgot to bring one. I bought a cheap UBC hat then went over to the Student Union to wait for Sally.

Sally took the Campus bus around to the Botanical Garden where she hoped to learn about the plants that grow in this climate. When she made it back to the Student Union she told me that the gardens were pretty but nothing was marked and no one was around so it wasn't too satisfying.

We left campus about six, taking a crosstown bus to the West Broadway commercial area. We found a really nice stretch of street lined with small grocery and produce stores, independent bookstores, bakeries, coffee shops and small restaurants.

We took a short loop through the residential neighborhood while we walked. Many of the houses had a similar 2 story design, sort of a Northwest version of the 1920s bungalow. Unlike a lot of downtown, this looked like a place someone like me could afford a nice house in a nice area. Sally said no, it’ll still be expensive but I’ll have to check the listings to see if that’s true.

We chose a small, plain Malaysian place for dinner. I had a Tofu/Veggie Spicy Laksa Noodle Soup which was the best bowl of soup I've ever had but Sally didn't like hers that much (the opposite of Chinatown). Now I have to learn how to make spicy Laksa noodle soup.

We caught another bus across to Granville and then a bus down Granville to downtown. Home again.

People have been very nice here. Vancouver bus drivers have been extremely helpful--answering our questions, reminding us about stops, and recommending the best routes to take to wherever we were going. We’ve also met some very helpful residents who were happy to talk about topics like the buses, the Olympics, and the big storm that closed Stanley Park for a long time.

Tomorrow is return to the US day. I have to say that most of the time I have felt like I'm in the US. Okay, when I'm digging in my pockets for "loonies" (one dollar coins) I remember and when I read the paper I remember. I guess four days isn't enough to find out what makes this city distinctly Canadian. Maybe I can come back and find out.

Day 3: Stanley Park and Grouse Mountain

Our family tradition is to plan about two days of activity for every calendar day. We carried on the tradition today.

We headed out fairly early to Stanley Park, the gigantic city park on the northwest end of downtown. Stanley Park has beaches, pools, acres and acres of woods, an aquarium, six miles of seawall for walking and biking and much more.

Our plan was to walk part way to the park and then to catch the 19 bus right into the park. Unfortunately, the first 19 bus we saw was full and drove by the crowded bus stop.

An aside about public transportation in Vancouver. It's great and well used which means the buses are often packed. It's also expensive.

So we wound up walking all the way into the park. We wanted to ride the free park shuttle bus to the Ravine Trail which is about one-third of the way around the park. It turns out that thousands of tourists and half the population of Vancouver were in the park today.The first shuttle bus we saw was full, of course, and drove by our stop. Luckily the second bus had room for us and we got to the trail fairly quickly.

Once we walked into the woods we were almost alone. The forests are old Fir and Cedar and very cool and quiet considering the crowds nearby. We walked to Beaver Lake then north to Prospect Point where we ran into the tour bus crowd. We dodged the picture takers and saw the views, then picknicked nearby on the food we got on Granville Island. We took the shuttle to Third Beach and walked the seawall back to the edge of the park.

We found a bus stop and waited for a 19, hoping that the bus would be empty when it left the park. Instead a 9 drove up so we asked the driver whether this bus would get us to the Seabus terminal. He said "I'll take you to the Seabus terminal." Great!

In fact all sorts of people got on the bus as we went down the street and when they asked if the bus went to a certan place the bus driver replied "I'll take you there." I realized at that point that we were on the Night Bus from Harry Potter and this was a much older Stan Shunpike.

We crossed English Bay on the Seabus (part of the public transportation system) and took a bus up to Grouse Mountain. My spouse, who is scared of precipices had agreed to take the Skyride, a big cable car that goes about 1000 feet straight up. The view of Vancouver is spectacular from the car. This was a pricey experience so we were hoping for interesting things at the top.

When we got up to the top we saw what the exta value entertainment was...a lumberjack show, a bird show, and a caged bear. Lame. We wandered a little until Sally pointed in a different direction and said "Is that Ranier?" From that place we had an incredible view of the chain of volcanoes in WA and OR. There was, of course, a layer of haze that obscured anything below a few thousand feet but the mountains were clear. We could see Mount Saint Helens and (we thought) Mt. Adams beyond Ranier. We were disappointed that we couldn't see Mt. Hood so we started up a steep ski train to try to get a better view. We got close to the summit of Grouse Mt. but still didn't see Mt. Hood so we gave up and headed down.

We went down the mountain, took the bus and the ferry and wound up back in Vancouver. We decided to eat somewhere on the walk back to the hotel so we took the busy Burrell street across town. About halfway back we crossed Robson St, the main shopping district. It was 8 p.m. on a Sunday night but the street was packed with people who I think were all shopping. They were probably all tourists since the city is crammed with them. We found a sushi place, wandered home and that's it.

Day 2 - Granville Island, Chinatown, Gastown and Hastings Street

We got up fairly early on Saturday. We were exhausted, starving and caffeine-deprived so we divised a plan to got to Granville Island and have breakfast, then look over the public market there and the crafty places.

It was a pretty quick walk to the dock where Hornby Street ended at False Creek, a wide creek that winds into the city from English Bay. Even though Granville Island, a reclaimed dumping ground, is just across the creek from there, the 3 minutes water taxi rides cost $3 each way (round trip for $5).

The weather was perfect--sunny and about 70 with a little breeze.

We found and consumed some basic breakfast foods and then started to look through the market, eventually buying coffee, smoked salmon, cherries (local), and cheese...and coffee. We also went through some of the craft places and saw some beautiful stuff (especially at the wood coop) but we didn't buy anything.

We took the water ferry back around noon. On the way back we walked through the neighborhood around the hotel to see where all the noise was coming from in the middle of the night last night. We discovered that a bunch of rock/punk/? clubs and really cheap restaurants are located on Granville Avenue, a block or two from our hotel.

At that point we heard some live music being played. We followed the sound to a Drop In center just off Granville that was having a fundraiser. They were selling a cheap dinner and there was a line of people waiting for food. They were mostly young guys, dressed in worn black clothes and looking like they really needed that food. We walked into the doorway of the center where there was a sign that said anyone was welcome as long as they didn't bring syringes, booze, drugs and weren't under the influence. Sally gave the center people a donation. I figured some of these people are Hasting Street regulars.

We took a break in the hotel room for a while (btw, the room is fine but not exciting), then took off for Chinatown. We walked east from the hotel on Howe, then walked south on Pender, not on Hastings Street, the skid row of Vancouver and maybe of Canada.

Pretty soon after got into Chinatown we ran into a celebration of music around the world and saw Taiko drumming, a fantastic set by a man and a woman playing Afro-Caribbean music, and then a Korean women's drumming group. Fun.

We then went to the Sun Yat Sen gardens which was built by Chinese artist and craftsman with materials brought from China. The buildings and gardens were very nice.

Next we wandered through Chinatown, looking through the interesting bins of things in the stores. I think the dehydrated squid and the Geckos on a stick were my favorites. We ate at a not-fancy place that I saw recommended. The potstickers were good and Sally LOVED her soup but my dinner was sort of sweet and bland.

After dinner we went to the Chinatown Night Market. We browsed a while and bought a few small, very cheap things. I got a Guanyin hanging to replace my Guanyin poster that I gave away when I left my last job. We left after we watched some goonyangs do a typical little Chinese kid dance under the close supervision of their teacher.

At some point Sally couldn't stand it and she walked down to Hastings Street just to see if it was bad as everyone said but promised she would only go a block. When she came back she told me it WAS as bad as everyone said. She said there were some street people roaming the street but there were dozens of people crammed into each alley doing who know what. The police seem to have somehow contained this underclass onto one downtown street for the moment.

If you walk a block east of Hastings you're in Chinatown or further north you're in Gastown and there are yuppies and people with big money and million dollar condos going up all over. Does this mean that Canada can now help this population that they've stockaded onto Hasting Street or will these people just be left to rot while being joined by the next generation of drug users and outcasts. I expected more from the Canadian government. Oh well.

We checked the property listings on the way back from Gastown. It looks like a small one bedroom condo can run from $350K up to almost a million dollars (US dollar = Canadian dollar) depending on the location. Who has all this money?

Sally is asleep and I'm almost done here. Stanly Park tomorrow after a breakfast of sweet red bean and winter melon cakes. Good night!

First Day - On to Vancouver

I hate the US air travel system.

Friday we had a one hour flight to Chicago and a 4.5 hour flight to Vancouver. So we would leave MN at 2:25 CT and arrive in Vancouver at 8 something PT. Long but no problem. I even hurried out of work to get to the airport to make sure I got seat assignments. I was sure that getting to Vancouver was going to go smoothly although getting there early meant we did have to sit for 1.5 hours in the MSP airport before the plane was scheduled to leave.

At around 1:45 they announced that the plane coming from Chicago that we would take back to Chicago didn't take off on schedule because of thunderstorms. They told us it would be there pretty soon so we would only leave MN thirty minutes late. That was okay, we would still have an hour in OHare to get to our flight to Vancouver.

When we landed in Chicago and I first checked the monitors, I saw that the departure of the flight to Vancouver was delayed from 5:15 to 5:53. Okay, that would give us time to eat something in the Chicago airport. When we got to the gate from the food court (Nicoise salad) the monitor said the departure time was now 6:05. Okay, no big deal....until minutes later it changed to 6:13.

They finally got us on a plane around 6:30. We taxied out onto the runway...and waited. After about ten minutes of waiting the pilot came on and said there were some storms nearby so all westbound takeoffs were suspended. He also told us that when takeoffs started again we would have to wait until the ten planes in front of us took off before we could leave.

"We're going to shut down the engines folks so we don't have to go back for more gas. In the meantime (starting a smile in his voice) you can go ahead and use your cell phones until we get started again." Oh boy.

We sat for a while. I stopped worrying about the time and concentrated on reading "The Commitments" which is a lot of fun. When we finally took off some 30+ minutes later the guy sitting behind me said "we coulda been in Hawaii by now." So true.

We landed in Vancouver around 11:15, about three hours later than scheduled. Exhaused we managed to get to a cab. The cab driver took us across the city to Downtown at approximate 100 miles an hour, the second most frightening cab ride of my life (our cab ride after arriving in Luoyang, China will always be tops).

We got to sleep at midnight PT which was 2 a.m. CT. I had no sense of the city whatsoever.