Tokyo is a very high-tech and modern city. Technology and electronics are everywhere and in everything and no more so than in the Shinjuku ward near its highly-trafficked train station. We took the subway there Sunday morning and had breakfast at the Starbucks there, sitting next to a young couple from California here in Tokyo … Continue reading
From our hotel, there’s a nice view of the Sensō-ji Temple, and off in the distance, the tallest free-standing tower in the world, the Tokyo Sky Tree. From the moment we checked in, getting to the top of the Sky Tree was on my list of things to do in Tokyo. The rain we had … Continue reading
To get our bearings and learn how to use Tokyo’s public transit system, we decided to limit our travels on Friday to a simple ride on the Ginza Line to see the Tsukiji Fish Market and a Kabuki play. The Tokyo subway and train system can be a bit overwhelming, although they do a pretty … Continue reading
We’re off on another adventure, this time to Asia, our first visit. Departing Vancouver International Airport at 2:00 Tuesday afternoon, we flew for 10 hours and landed at Tokyo’s Narita Airport at 5:00 Wednesday afternoon, gaining 7 hours by time zone, but losing 24 hours crossing the International Date Line. I think. Here’s what it … Continue reading
Anything you read about Banff, Jasper or the Canadian Rockies will tell you that you have to visit Lake Louise. To which I say, “absolutely!” For us, it was the grand finale. Our last day and final hike of the trip. This is the view that greets you at the Lake Louise shoreline if you … Continue reading
After such a strenuous hike on Saturday, we decided to take the day off from outdoor activities and drive down to the hot springs in Banff to soak our weary legs and sore feet. The naturally heated spring water is maintained at 100ºF and has a very slight sulphur odor. Very refreshing – and in … Continue reading
On Friday, after making a detour into Jasper for fuel, we drove south on the scenic Icefields Parkway (Alberta Hwy 93) about 150 miles to the crossroads at Lake Louise. There’s not much in Lake Louise other than a campground, a 550-room, luxury resort hotel on the lake, a ski resort and some of the … Continue reading
On Wednesday, it snowed, as predicted. But, while we were expecting snow, we weren’t counting on this much – nearly a foot! Wednesday was definitely not a day for hiking, so we decided to drive out to the Miette Hot Springs, about an hour to the east on the road to Edmonton. The snowstorm intensified. … Continue reading
On our drive out to Jasper, the “low battery” light went on. Diagnostics on Tuesday showed that our chassis batteries needed to be replaced. Fortunately, there’s a NAPA auto parts store in Jasper where I was able to get the exact pair of batteries we needed, replacing the old ones in the RV without incident … Continue reading
We headed out for our last RV trip of the year in mid-September, bound for the Canadian Rocky Mountains – specifically, Jasper National Park in Alberta Province. Jasper National Park was founded in 1907 and named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984, together with the other Canadian national parks of the Rockies: Banff; Yoho; … Continue reading
After leaving Cluxewe following our Grizzly Bear excursion, we spent an entire day driving to the opposite end of Vancouver Island, just south of Victoria, the capital of British Columbia, to Pedder Bay. We wanted to be close enough to Victoria to make a day trip there, but far enough away to be out of … Continue reading
The day after we visited Alert Bay and Sointula, we went on an excursion in search of Grizzly Bears with Tide Rip Tours. Their boats leave from Telegraph Cove (which is just east of Port McNeill) and head up Knight Inlet in search of bears feeding along the littoral zone. The typical tour heads to … Continue reading
The ferry to Alert Bay leaves from Port McNeill on Vancouver Island several times each day. Its typical route is: Port McNeill to Alert Bay; return to Port McNeill; Port McNeill to Sointula; return to Port McNeill. Rinse, repeat. But if, like Dale, you do your research, you can buy a single round-trip ticket to … Continue reading
The Kwakwaka’wakw people, also known as the Kwakiutl, are the indigenous people of northern Vancouver Island. In the U.S.A., we would call these people “Indians” or “Native Americans,” but in Canada, they are collectively referred to as the people of the First Nations. The term Indian here (according to the Canadian Encyclopedia) is “considered outdated … Continue reading
The forecast for this Memorial Day weekend on Vancouver Island is warm and sunny, in the high 70s. Of course, Memorial Day finds its origins in the American Civil War, so it’s not an observed holiday here in Canada; lucky for us, since that means it won’t be a busy holiday weekend. With temperatures expected … Continue reading
We spent the day driving from Tofino on the Pacific coast, over the Vancouver Island Mountain Range to Parksville on the Strait of Georgia on the east coast, then north on BC19 to Campbell River. From Port Alberni to Campbell River, the road is mostly a modern 4-lane divided highway that looks like this: We … Continue reading
The wind died down slightly overnight, although the surf continued, due to the fact that the wave action along this coast is mostly from swells, rather than being generated by local winds. After lunch, we headed back down to Long Beach to walk its length. As soon as we walked out on the beach we … Continue reading
We scheduled our day so that we would end up back at the beach at low tide. Dale had discovered during her planning for this trip that there’s an offshore island that’s accessible from the Chesterman beaches via a sand spit that is high and dry when the tide is out. The island is called … Continue reading
After spending a couple hours watching the surfers, we decided to head back to the car for an off-road drive to the Norm Godfrey Nature Trail near the northwest end of Kennedy Lake, six miles on logging roads. This nature trail boardwalk through an old-growth forest is not in any of the guidebooks or tourist … Continue reading
I mentioned in my last post that this part of Vancouver Island is a surfer’s paradise. So much so that one of the tourist maps we picked up at the visitor’s center turned out to be a map of all the best surfing spots and beaches. There are several of them and most are within … Continue reading
Tuesday started off looking like a cold, windy, overcast day – perfect for a walk along the coast in search of a lighthouse. So, off we went, driving 25 miles south to the village of Ucluelet, settled in 1870 as a trading post catering to sealers. Ucluelet (pronounced, “you-clue-let”) sounded to me like an aboriginal … Continue reading
If you look closely at the map of Vancouver Island in my last post, you’ll see that most of the road network runs north-south along the eastern coast of the Island, from Victoria on the south, through Nanaimo, Courtenay and Campbell River, ending at Port Hardy in the north. There are no roads running the … Continue reading
Several months ago, Dale started planning an RV trip to Vancouver Island and I booked a reservation for Monday, May 23, on the ferry from Vancouver’s terminal at Tsawwassen to start the trip. The end of May is the beginning of the high tourist season on Vancouver Island and reservations were recommended. I chose the … Continue reading
Once the Peter and Paul Fortress was capable of defending the delta of the Neva River, Peter the Great began his grand project of the westernization of Russia by creating a European city on the banks of the Neva. It is said that over 200,000 Russian serfs – effectively, slaves – died while dredging, channelizing … Continue reading
St. Petersburg was founded in 1703 in a swampy area on the eastern shore of the Gulf of Finland by Peter Alexeyevich of the house of Romanov, Tsar of Russia, known to history as Peter the Great (1672-1725). To defend his new city from the Swedes, with whom he was at war from 1700 to … Continue reading
The Road Less Traveled 