Entering Canada
We’re in Abbotsford, British Columbia today. Tim tried to call work, seeing as it’s a Friday and we’ve stopped for a moment, but he forgot it’s the Fourth of July in the U.S. and everyone’s out eating BBQ. Time and date tend to drift away when you travel.
Last post was from Fairmont Hot Springs near Butte, MT. We had a long drive through the rest of Montana, the top smokestack of Idaho and into Washginton in the direction of N. Cascades National Park. The terrain for a good bit of the way was picturesque open green valleys dotted with cattle and sheep surrounded by hills or mountains. Then it became wave upon wave of green hills with nothing to break it up — striking in its on way.
Finally we got to the desert, passing by the Grand Coulee Dam while listhening to the audio of “Alex and the Ironic Gentleman,” a bizarre but very entertaining book. I recommend the audio version because of the great voices by the person who read it.
Grand Coulee Dam
We didn’t quite make it all the way to the park, stopping instead at Pearrygin Lake State Park — clearly a summer hangout for local families. We watched a raucous game of miniature marshmallow war (blown through plastic pipes), swam in the lake, and woke to the marmots outside our tent.
Yesterday, we got coffee at a great little town called Winthrop on the outskirts of the North Cascades National Park — a little tourist town with a great western personality. I liked it. Then on to more breathtaking vistas (OMG! as Graham would say), stopping for a little hike through the moss- and fern-filled forest and to eat a picnic. I would have gladly stayed in the campground there which is the loveliest one I think I’ve ever seen, but we had promised the kids a hotel night and actually it was raining. Plus a bed didn’t sound so bad. So … on to Canada.
Overlooking Ross Lake in the Cascades
Entering Canada was no big deal but there appeared to be a long line to get back in the U.S. Perhaps we will stay here, eh? We stopped in Abbotsford, just over the border. Tim says it is the Richmond, KY, of Canada, which is to say — not much to write home about, like I am doing at this moment — but it is a central location to some interesting sites, which we plan to explore today. Plus it has a very cool water slide in the pool.
– Liz