Vancouver, Canada

 
TD: We pick up Gaudia at the airport and spend a couple days in this wonderful City. Vancouver has a very positive vibe – people seem to be very happy here. There’s hardly any crime, graffiti, punks, gansta’s etc.. It’s very diverse, mainly with Asian cultures, and seems to be thriving. If I had to live in a big city, I would probably pick San Diego with Vancouver as option 2.

 
It’s raining flowers in BC. (Somehow Gaudia isn’t jetlagged so we start touring the area right away.

 

 

TD: We happened to be in town for the Vancouver Marathon going on right outside our hotel. Good time to test out the new camera which I was able to get it cheaper in Canada because it had been on the market here for >6mo. The camera is a PowerShot SX1iS. I figured given what we were doing, this trip, we needed a good camera. My friend Peter got the same camera and he described the quality somewhere between a good point and shoot digital and an SLR. The unique features of this camera are an extremely capable zoom lens (equivalent to 29-590mm in SLR terms) and it records in full 1080p HD at 30fps.

 
This marathon supporter cracked me up. He actually kinda looks like Rob Schneider.


Sunset from Stanley Park


 
Did I mention the camera has a killer zoom? Look how far away that ship was. I did take the zoomed up shot a bit earlier in more light.

A couple touristy things not to miss Vancouver area are the Capilano suspension bridge and the cable car up to Grouse Mountain. The suspension bridge is seriously scary – doesn’t seem that hard to fall off that thing. The cable car takes a huge vertical ascent to the top of Grouse Mountain, which is also a ski area. The people that live in N. Vancouver have a ski resort in their backyard. I had no idea.

Gaudia’s first snow and immediately she starts forming a snowball to throw at Himne. To get here you take the cable car up from N. Vancouver to Grouse mountain. Within 5 mins you are in a ski resort – how convenient for the Vancouverites.

 
Capilano suspension bridge is seriously scary.


 
Playing with the new camera; Stanley Park, Vancouver.

Seattle, WA

Himne: Stopping in Seattle to visit Steph (Tim’s sister), Steve and our nephew Jackson. Had a blast hanging out with them. Did a duck boat tour – by far the most fun way to learn about the city!

TD: Seattle is a unique place to live. With all the waterways and overcast weather it creates a relaxing atmosphere – yet industry thrives here, people aren’t lazy – they just seem to live more calmly than other big cities and have better work/life balance. With the exception of downtown, Seattle is made up of several small cities – each with their own personality. In general Seattle seems to have a lot more culture than most American cities. I could live here for a while but eventually I think the weather would catch up to me.

We spent our days fixing issues w/ the camper and nights with Steph, Steve and Jackson – the coolest kid in school.

Oregon: Bend and the Columbia River Gorge

Thursday, April 16th

Himne: On our way to Bend we stop at Crater Lake and hike just 20 feet from the parking lot to see the full view. Amazing!
We get to the Allreds’ place late afternoon and Scott meets us there.

Friday, April 17th

Himne: Today is Howard’s birthday and Ann takes us all out to Typhoon – a very hip Thai place with a delicious martini menu. Then back home for a round of Rat-a-tat-cat and a lot of laughs. We had a great time and I especially enjoyed catching up with Kirsten. Hope it won’t be too long before we see them again!

TD: Here to visit Howard, Kirsten and Ann and maybe get some boarding in. Spent a few days in Bend relaxing. I had been battling some type of bug for weeks so I figured I should see a Dr to get some antibiotics. I couldn’t believe how dramatically different my healthcare experience was in Bend. If you ever get sick, move to Bend. I had no appointment but found a local clinic, no waiting, friendly staff and the Dr spent 20 minutes with me (most of the time chit chatting about travel). I was in and out within 30 minutes.

Saturday, June 18th

Sharks in the Deschutes!!

TD: Scott happened to be working in Portland this weekend and came out to Bend to hang with his gnomies (gnomies defined in a later blog). We went for a quick paddle through a river that runs through Bend and we were viscously attacked.

Sunday - Tuesday, April 19-21

  
BLD: Horsetail Falls hike.  I did a gnome-check. All Clear!

TD: For our trip up to Washington everyone kept telling us to take this longer more picturesque route from Bend up to Washington. Everyone was right. Extremely beautiful area – the Gorge runs all the way from the Dalles to Portland and is beautiful all the way. Take the historic Columbia River Highway if you run through this area as there are several short waterfall hikes along the route.

Himne: Right across on the Washington side of the river we explored a cool ice cave. No gnomes here either.

Napa, Sonoma & Calistoga

Himne: We left Truckee around mid-day on Sunday. With the snow and pine trees back in the distance, we drive through green rolling hills and farmlands were happy cows and horses live.
Beautiful weather all the way to Sacramento and eventually Napa. The vineyards literally show up as soon as we enter into Napa county. Monday we take it easy as Tim’s flu bug seems to be back. Visit the Buena Vista winery (claimed to be the oldest “premium” winery in California, but we had a pretty disappointing experience) and then dinner at a little French place in charming downtown Sonoma.
Tuesday we visit Viansa winery - highly recommended by Scott, Karli, and MC respectively - and have lunch there. Fun & interesting wine tasting experience. Great Cabernet Franc and Cab Sauvignon Reserve.

Drive to Calistoga and hang out with the Ames’s. Can’t believe how big the kids are! Also too cute for words! It was great to see them.

Wednesday we leave Calistoga and stop at the petrified forest and Old Faithful geyser on the way out. Next time we might take a mud bath and go to Karli’s lunch recommendation – the culinary institute.

 

Buddy: I had a blast playing with Zoey in Calistoga! No pigging this time.

TD: Super picturesque region… I can’t believe how close it is to Oakland and yet so different. I am also surprised I haven’t been up in this area. So close to SF and so nice. Meet up with Susie, Chris, the kids and Zoe for dinner in Calistoga. Calistoga in particular has a very cool old town.

Tahoe, April 7-11 (posted by Buddy)

Drove up to Tahoe via Mono Lake. Saw these ‘tufa’ in and around the water, and deer crossing the road on our way out.

It snowed like crazy as we drove into Kirkwood (South Lake Tahoe) and I was happy to wear my fleece.

Two days later
we drove up to Truckee (North Lake Tahoe) and stayed with MC and Scott. We always have a great time with them! Little Max and Ava are adorable and provided endless entertainment! The peeps got some fun boarding in at Alpine & Squaw. With all the snow we had, my fleece got pretty wet during walks, so Himne got me a waterproof coat in Squaw Village. Will certainly come in handy in Seattle and in Canada...

Himne teaching Max yoga or break dancing?

TD: 

Perfect timing. A big storm rolls through Tahoe and dumps for about 4 days straight. We drove up to Kirkwood the night before and got to test out the snow chains in a light (perfect) snowstorm. It dumped about 6” at the base of the mountain and up to 18” up top. I was 2^nd in line at the lift and got killer freshies until about 11am when the place was chewed up. Then about noon they opened up the chair on the far east of the mountain and I was lucky to be in the right place. Continued freshies all day. I found some tree skiing spots that were empty – and opened up into open spaces that I got all to myself. After doing the sport for about 18 years, I finally have an epic snow day. Day 2 at Kirkwood was basically a repeat – it snowed all night again and got great powder on day 2. We camped free at the RV parking at Kirkwood. Pretty cold, probably wouldn’t do it again with a dog because of all the extra work making sure he’s reasonably happy and warm.

Tahoe is on our top 10 places I might want to live one day, Truckee I think might be the best spot within Tahoe to live permanently.