Amazing Tofino, the cold North & Surprising Seatle
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Miriam
05 Maart 2015 | Canada, Yukon Crossing
It has been a while since I last wrote about my adventures in Vancouver. The main reason for not updating was the fact that I went on holiday too often (well maybe not too, but certainly often ;))
A few weeks ago we had Family day on Monday, which meant that we had time for a long weekend trip with our lovely family daddy Wouter-Jan, uncle Florian, our little nephew Martin, crazy niece Tonje and my little sister Petra. From Nanaimo (Vancouver Island) we rented a car for 7 people and drove our way up to Port Alberni, were we spend the night in a lovely hostel after playing some nice drinking games. The next day after a really efficient grocery shopping experience (go dinner team!) we drove our way all up to Tofino. Along the way we made some beautiful stops including lake views, rocky waterfalls and rainy beach walks. We spent the night in the best hostel I’ve ever stayed in, the kitchen was amazing and the hostel even had a sauna! “We” cooked some lovely dinner and started the night with some beers and meeting random people at drinking games. We especially enjoyed WJ’s lap dance and some girls kissing. At some point the hostel couldn’t handle all the fun we were having so we had to head out. After losing the group, we ended up at a crazy house party Tofino style.
The next day we continued our tradition: hangover hiking. This time, we did an amazing trail leading to a crashed airplane. The hike was amazing, not only did we stand in the mud that covered our legs up to our ankles. During the hike we had so much fun singing and we tried not to get ourselves too dirty. In the afternoon, we went to the beach and watched the sunset and the tide come in. In the evening, Florian cooked a lovely potato-oven dish and we finished all the remaining beers.
On Monday we hiked in the rainforest close to Tofino, saw some amazing waterfalls and spent a few hours driving on a trail that is known for its beautiful views.
The rest of the week, I spend working on my Matlab script which is increasingly becoming a pain in the ass. But luckily, I could go on a holiday again during reading week, to relax from all the stress I experienced during the few days I had to work (oh and I found a new room, yay).
Tuesday we flew with 6 of us to Whitehorse, a small city in Yukon, the northern part of Canada. There we met the rest of the group consisting of 9 to 13 other people (depending on the days). Whitehorse a cute little town with some really weird people in it, some of them were natives, others were just drunk. When the evening fell, we went up to a mountain close to Whitehorse, to try to see the northern lights. Covered in 3 layers of snow and water resistant clothing we made the hike up all to the top. There, after taking some pics we could see some stuff which looked like they were northern lights, and after staring for an hour, we could see some green and a bit of blue in the sky!
The next day, we decided to do a big hike all the way up to Grey Mountain. The hike was amazing, it took us almost the whole day, but the sun was shining and the snow was white so we didn’t really bother. When we reached the top we decided to go back on an unmaintained trail, which meant we had to make our own way through the snow. We stood all the way up in the snow until our knees, this was so intense and every step you took you had to carry an extra layer of 30cm snow on top! At some point (the sun was about to go down in 2hrs), we decided to go back, as the trail would take too long and the conditions were too heavy (and I didn’t even tell you about the lack of food/water). We hitchhiked our way back and had a really relaxing evening after this impressive and exhausting walk. The next day, as we couldn’t get a car, I hitchhiked together with Wouter-Jan, Eli and Claire to a location where they had huski dogs and sleds. The people who took us were all so nice and it didn’t even take us that long to get a ride. The dogs were so cute, we basically spend the whole morning petting them, drinking free tea and coffee (and even ate some free brownies) and seeing the sleds being prepared. In the afternoon, we went to the hot springs, which consisted of two pools with different temperatures. It was so relaxing and nice! We hitchhiked back and after dinner we went with the group to a local bar where we got surprised by the local hospitality of giving free condoms away, and the country style music they play in bars, in the night we tried to see the northern lights again, unfortunately without success.
The following day, together with the whole group, we went to a game reserve where we saw many amazing “local” animals. It was a lot of fun learning about the natural habitats and enjoying the beauty and weirdness of these to the snow adapted animals. In the afternoon, we did a short hike nearby and enjoyed the sun .
In the evening, on the advice of some local people, we climbed our way up to another mountain and after a 5km hike, we found a perfect spot to see the Northern Lights. In the beginning, you get really tricked by your eyes, your brain really wants you to see the colors, and you are easily fooled by clouds behaving like the northern lights. But our patience got rewarded, after spending 1,5hrs waiting for the lights, around 1:30 we could finally see some colours appearing. It was amazing, we saw green, blue and even a tiny bit of red! And sometimes, they were moving as well!
On Saturday, it was really cold, mostly because of the wind. We first wanted to hitchhike but then decided to rent a car to drive to Carcross, this was a very good decision. The drive to Carcross was pretty cool, we saw many snow covered mountains. Carcross however, was one big joke. The whole city was completely desolated, with shops only opening from the beginning of March. We walked around and went on the lake (1m thick ice). The rest of the day we spend going from viewpoint to viewpoint discovering all the great nature in Whitehorse.
On the last day in Whitehorse, we did a 2hr hike along a small river and had our first Time Hortons (real Canadian coffee) experience.
The weekend after, together with the happy family (minus WJ and plus Jarah, Florians GF) we went to Seattle. Seattle is only a 3hr drive from Vancouver, if you don’t count the waiting time at the USA border into account. Around 11:30 we arrived in our centrally located hostel, we had a room for the 6 of us which was perfect! We were really hungry and after experiencing the one direction streets in Seattle, we went on our mission to find food. As it was already pretty late, one of the only food places open was a bar. Unfortunately, the only food we could find was hotdogs. I made a mistake and ordered a veggie hotdog. This was the most disgusting food I’ve ever eaten in my life. OMG, the veggie hotdog was put in the microwave and it looked white. WHITE! Luckily the cheap beers could make up for it.
The next day we joined a tour organised by the hostel. This was such a great experience, the guy showed us all around the market place and there was so much food to try. Highlights included that we saw the first Starbucks (nipples!) and that I was chosen to threw a fish. The most amazing thing about the market was that it wasn’t touristy at all, the market stands were all owned by the farmers themselves and a special committee decided which stands should be in the market, based on uniqueness and originality. The rest of the tour was great, our guide showed us all the nice spots for happy hours, good food and details we would have never seen without him! We spend the afternoon eating some of the good food they sold at the market and enjoyed the sun at the park overlooking the bay. In the afternoon we took the ferry across the water, enjoyed some beers and went back for the sunset. Beautiful! We went for the best fish & chips in town, and were amazed by all the lovely flavors of the food. Back in the hostel we opened the gin and had some fun with rubbers. We met two American girls and they took us to a club in downtown Seattle. This club was fantastic, the music was great, the lights were amazing and the atmosphere was good. We had a lot of fun dancing and paying for our super overpriced drinks.
The next day started a bit rough, we saw the bubble gum wall again and planted our over chewed hubba bubba bubble gum on the wall and went to see the most famous viewpoint to see the Seattle skyline. Less impressed than we anticipated, we drove to the outlet stores an hour away from Seattle. We spend the whole afternoon trying to find the best Vans, Levi jeans and Gucci bags. I felt like a true consumer. Inspired by the documentary “SuperSizeMe” we went to McDonalds and we eat so much food OMG it was ridiculous, we felt so sick and fat afterwards. All in all it was a true American experience. After a 3hr ride we were back in Vancouver and went back to our normal lives.
A few weeks ago we had Family day on Monday, which meant that we had time for a long weekend trip with our lovely family daddy Wouter-Jan, uncle Florian, our little nephew Martin, crazy niece Tonje and my little sister Petra. From Nanaimo (Vancouver Island) we rented a car for 7 people and drove our way up to Port Alberni, were we spend the night in a lovely hostel after playing some nice drinking games. The next day after a really efficient grocery shopping experience (go dinner team!) we drove our way all up to Tofino. Along the way we made some beautiful stops including lake views, rocky waterfalls and rainy beach walks. We spent the night in the best hostel I’ve ever stayed in, the kitchen was amazing and the hostel even had a sauna! “We” cooked some lovely dinner and started the night with some beers and meeting random people at drinking games. We especially enjoyed WJ’s lap dance and some girls kissing. At some point the hostel couldn’t handle all the fun we were having so we had to head out. After losing the group, we ended up at a crazy house party Tofino style.
The next day we continued our tradition: hangover hiking. This time, we did an amazing trail leading to a crashed airplane. The hike was amazing, not only did we stand in the mud that covered our legs up to our ankles. During the hike we had so much fun singing and we tried not to get ourselves too dirty. In the afternoon, we went to the beach and watched the sunset and the tide come in. In the evening, Florian cooked a lovely potato-oven dish and we finished all the remaining beers.
On Monday we hiked in the rainforest close to Tofino, saw some amazing waterfalls and spent a few hours driving on a trail that is known for its beautiful views.
The rest of the week, I spend working on my Matlab script which is increasingly becoming a pain in the ass. But luckily, I could go on a holiday again during reading week, to relax from all the stress I experienced during the few days I had to work (oh and I found a new room, yay).
Tuesday we flew with 6 of us to Whitehorse, a small city in Yukon, the northern part of Canada. There we met the rest of the group consisting of 9 to 13 other people (depending on the days). Whitehorse a cute little town with some really weird people in it, some of them were natives, others were just drunk. When the evening fell, we went up to a mountain close to Whitehorse, to try to see the northern lights. Covered in 3 layers of snow and water resistant clothing we made the hike up all to the top. There, after taking some pics we could see some stuff which looked like they were northern lights, and after staring for an hour, we could see some green and a bit of blue in the sky!
The next day, we decided to do a big hike all the way up to Grey Mountain. The hike was amazing, it took us almost the whole day, but the sun was shining and the snow was white so we didn’t really bother. When we reached the top we decided to go back on an unmaintained trail, which meant we had to make our own way through the snow. We stood all the way up in the snow until our knees, this was so intense and every step you took you had to carry an extra layer of 30cm snow on top! At some point (the sun was about to go down in 2hrs), we decided to go back, as the trail would take too long and the conditions were too heavy (and I didn’t even tell you about the lack of food/water). We hitchhiked our way back and had a really relaxing evening after this impressive and exhausting walk. The next day, as we couldn’t get a car, I hitchhiked together with Wouter-Jan, Eli and Claire to a location where they had huski dogs and sleds. The people who took us were all so nice and it didn’t even take us that long to get a ride. The dogs were so cute, we basically spend the whole morning petting them, drinking free tea and coffee (and even ate some free brownies) and seeing the sleds being prepared. In the afternoon, we went to the hot springs, which consisted of two pools with different temperatures. It was so relaxing and nice! We hitchhiked back and after dinner we went with the group to a local bar where we got surprised by the local hospitality of giving free condoms away, and the country style music they play in bars, in the night we tried to see the northern lights again, unfortunately without success.
The following day, together with the whole group, we went to a game reserve where we saw many amazing “local” animals. It was a lot of fun learning about the natural habitats and enjoying the beauty and weirdness of these to the snow adapted animals. In the afternoon, we did a short hike nearby and enjoyed the sun .
In the evening, on the advice of some local people, we climbed our way up to another mountain and after a 5km hike, we found a perfect spot to see the Northern Lights. In the beginning, you get really tricked by your eyes, your brain really wants you to see the colors, and you are easily fooled by clouds behaving like the northern lights. But our patience got rewarded, after spending 1,5hrs waiting for the lights, around 1:30 we could finally see some colours appearing. It was amazing, we saw green, blue and even a tiny bit of red! And sometimes, they were moving as well!
On Saturday, it was really cold, mostly because of the wind. We first wanted to hitchhike but then decided to rent a car to drive to Carcross, this was a very good decision. The drive to Carcross was pretty cool, we saw many snow covered mountains. Carcross however, was one big joke. The whole city was completely desolated, with shops only opening from the beginning of March. We walked around and went on the lake (1m thick ice). The rest of the day we spend going from viewpoint to viewpoint discovering all the great nature in Whitehorse.
On the last day in Whitehorse, we did a 2hr hike along a small river and had our first Time Hortons (real Canadian coffee) experience.
The weekend after, together with the happy family (minus WJ and plus Jarah, Florians GF) we went to Seattle. Seattle is only a 3hr drive from Vancouver, if you don’t count the waiting time at the USA border into account. Around 11:30 we arrived in our centrally located hostel, we had a room for the 6 of us which was perfect! We were really hungry and after experiencing the one direction streets in Seattle, we went on our mission to find food. As it was already pretty late, one of the only food places open was a bar. Unfortunately, the only food we could find was hotdogs. I made a mistake and ordered a veggie hotdog. This was the most disgusting food I’ve ever eaten in my life. OMG, the veggie hotdog was put in the microwave and it looked white. WHITE! Luckily the cheap beers could make up for it.
The next day we joined a tour organised by the hostel. This was such a great experience, the guy showed us all around the market place and there was so much food to try. Highlights included that we saw the first Starbucks (nipples!) and that I was chosen to threw a fish. The most amazing thing about the market was that it wasn’t touristy at all, the market stands were all owned by the farmers themselves and a special committee decided which stands should be in the market, based on uniqueness and originality. The rest of the tour was great, our guide showed us all the nice spots for happy hours, good food and details we would have never seen without him! We spend the afternoon eating some of the good food they sold at the market and enjoyed the sun at the park overlooking the bay. In the afternoon we took the ferry across the water, enjoyed some beers and went back for the sunset. Beautiful! We went for the best fish & chips in town, and were amazed by all the lovely flavors of the food. Back in the hostel we opened the gin and had some fun with rubbers. We met two American girls and they took us to a club in downtown Seattle. This club was fantastic, the music was great, the lights were amazing and the atmosphere was good. We had a lot of fun dancing and paying for our super overpriced drinks.
The next day started a bit rough, we saw the bubble gum wall again and planted our over chewed hubba bubba bubble gum on the wall and went to see the most famous viewpoint to see the Seattle skyline. Less impressed than we anticipated, we drove to the outlet stores an hour away from Seattle. We spend the whole afternoon trying to find the best Vans, Levi jeans and Gucci bags. I felt like a true consumer. Inspired by the documentary “SuperSizeMe” we went to McDonalds and we eat so much food OMG it was ridiculous, we felt so sick and fat afterwards. All in all it was a true American experience. After a 3hr ride we were back in Vancouver and went back to our normal lives.
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Je kunt nu ook Smileys gebruiken. Via de toolbar, toetsenbord of door eerst : te typen en dan een woord bijvoorbeeld :smiley
