First North America Adventure

[Gladstone Tim]

You seem to have covered the best of it. Missing Jasper wasn't much of a loss when you do the others.

What was there at Valemount and Blue River?

Valemount….very little. Seems to be a forestry town with maybe 1500 residents. We stopped there for dinner on the way to the Mike Wiegele helicopter ski resort. Valemount does hav3 @ cannabis retail outlet though. And no, we didn’t sample it.

Blue River also seemed to be a small village, where the ski helicopter resort was and also where we did the eco-safari canoe trip. We arrived in the dark and left the resort straight after a sumptuous breakfast so didn’t do any independent exploration.

 

[Deno]

Thanks, Deno. Happy to answer any questions.

Where did you do the wine & cheese tasting from. My wife is interested already, as I am of course.

 

[Gladstone Tim]

Where did you do the wine & cheese tasting from. My wife is interested already, as I am of course.

Deano, I remained sober but I can’t recall the exact name of the winery. It was out of Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley.

 

[RooFlyer]

It was out of Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley.

Some fabulous wineries there. Unfortunately its pretty much Merlot blended with everything.

 

[Gladstone Tim]

Some fabulous wineries there. Unfortunately its pretty much Merlot blended with everything.

I must admit, this was the first “group” activity on the first day so a focus was on getting to know our travelling companions more so than the wine. It was interesting hearing from the winemaker. The wines we tasted weren’t half-bad though, to an untrained palate.

 

[Gladstone Tim]

Heading home

Our Rockies adventure concluded in Vancouver about 7pm on the Friday night. My wife and I found a pizza restaurant for dinner and sat at a table on the sidewalk. Once again entertained and excited by more speeding, siren-sounding fire engines and police cars. We were flying out the next morning at 6am (schedule change from 7am) and, being cautious, wanted to abide by the recommended airport arrival time of 3 hours, having heard horrendous stories of American airport check-in experiences. To stay in a hotel would have cost US$600++ for what might have been 3, or 4 hours of sleep at best so we had decided prior to the day that we would sleep in the terminal. We caught the train, found a quiet spot in the terminal and napped. My beloved Brisbane Lions were playing the match against Geelong which would decide who went through to the grand final. I was streaming the match directly to my earbuds…every time the game was tight I had to control my excitement and exercise physical and vocal control particularly as I was surrounded by multiple snoozing people and on the adjacent, joined seat also. Praise the Lord they won and I was back in Australia at the MCG to see them hold the trophy of triumph up high.



Shortly after 3a.m. we were second in the queue to check-in for our 6am Alaskan Airline flight YVR-SEA. Bag was tagged and then we queued with it for bag drop and then queued again for security. This all took maybe 90 minutes. My wife and I were directed together to the same U.S. customs/immigration officer. My wife was approved to enter the U.S. (even though we were just in transit) whereas for my turn I was escorted (with my wife allowed to accompany me) to a secure location. Visions of Border Security flooded my thoughts. After about thirty minutes (watching every minute drawing closer to missing our flight-the one and only that would connect), I was interviewed. I was told I was free to go and when asked, the reply was, “Sometimes the system just picks someone.” So we were very happy to be on our Alaskan Airlines flight on an Embraer 175 operated by Horizon as an SQ codeshare. It was a low and slow scenic sunrise flight for 145 miles.

Sunrises like this make early rises worthwhile…and Brisbane Lions’ wins.



Farewell Vancouver. Good morning Seattle.



Our bird.



Our street-side, last Canadian dinner. Once again serenaded by fire truck sirens.



The view across the road.

 

[craven morehead]

We had an independently prearranged whole day mini-coach tour of Vancouver from the wharf using Grayline Westcoast Sightseeing. We visited Gastown, Chinatown, Granville Island market, some nice gardens and the Capilano suspension bridge attraction. It was a bit pricey but with only one day to see the sights of Vancouver it made it a necessity. We had the night at Days Inn Downtown at a horrendously priced very basic hotel. I think the room rate was quoted “plus taxes” which added close to a quarter to the bill. The fees and charges, in a Queensland equivalent were for…Brisbane Marketing, city accommodation levy, Brisbane Council levy, state tax and GST.



The next morning we wandered to Vancouver Place to join our Discover Canada Rockies Summer premium tour-a five day whistle-stop tour that covered 2 211 kms and had us sleeping in three different but interesting locations. I’d come across the Discover Canada brand during an Internet search. I contacted the Vancouver tourism authority to see if they were suss or legitimate. They advised they were highly reputable and a company they actually used. Phew, good choice by me.

Forest on Vancouver’s outskirts.

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Capilano suspension bridge

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Rambo…site of filming First Blood if my memory serves me correctly.

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Closest we came to a bear…The Boss

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Vancouver skyline

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Have to agree that The Capilano Suspension Bridge Park is way overpriced enjoying the TR, many thanks

 

[Gladstone Tim]

SQ27 was an A350-900 again with W seating. Sixteen hours seemed such a loooong flight….wouldn’t consider the QF Sunrise option. Catering seemed more sufficient than our inbound flight. For the second meal service the cabin manager and a FA approached my wife to advise that her gluten-free special meal had been “compromised” and they weren’t willing to serve it. Depending on who we listened to, either it had been burnt, the foil had lifted or a combination of the two. All the crew seemed to know about it and treated it really seriously. Lots of consultation with my wife led to her having a mixture of a meal drawn from different food choices across the cabins, and lots of snacks. My wife was offered an $80 in-flight duty-free purchase which she was more than satisfied with. The cabin manager must be compelled to report the incident and multiple staff were appropriately strident in seeking positive on-line responses, including being given a written copy of their names!



We stayed two nights in Singapore at the York Hotel just off Orchard Rd, but quieter. We arrived on the afternoon of the Singapore GP so some traffic diversions. We were upgraded to a deluxe family room which gave us an extra queen bed and 10 square metres. We did some more of the usual sights but the highlight was the York’s pool as an escape from the September humidity. We visited Jewel after checking in at Changi and had an uneventful final flight back to BNE in our extra legroom Y seats.



With both of us being teachers, our trips are based around school holidays and being old in the tooth, we add some long service leave to them. Holiday time is also when I do most of the research, planning and booking. In September we’ll be heading to Japan. I hope my line manager is happy to approve my leave



Thanks for reading. Let me know if you have any questions.

 

[Deno]

Great trip Tim, thanks for sharing. We are heading to Japan in September too.