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In the past week, we drove through the Yukon again, took the Stewart-Cassiar highway and drove from Watson Lake in the Yukon to Prince George in British Columbia, spent three days in Vancouver, BC, one night in Seattle, a hike in the Mount Rainier National Park and we are now in Portland, OR for a couple of nights. It seems like the stop in Banff and Jasper was a vacation we took a couple of years ago instead of where we were just a couple of weeks ago.

The trip through the Yukon on the way back from Alaska was even prettier than the first trip through, if that is possible. We had barely entered back into Canada when a moose walked up out of a lake and stood majestically glowing in the morning sun right by the side of the road. That pretty much summed up the rest of our Yukon experience from there. We saw amazing snowed-capped mountains above the most colorful fall foliage I have ever seen.

After passing through Whitehorse and heading toward Watson Lake, the setting sun hit the rainy clouds perfectly and we saw the most beautiful rainbow ever! It was huge and marvelous and arched across the road, like a huge gate welcoming us into the land of milk and honey. How can this site not make you deliriously happy??

We were rather worried about taking the Stewart-Cassiar because we had heard that it was rough in some places and gas stations were always a concern as well but we also heard it was a beautiful drive with the ability to see wildlife and other wonderful scenery. We decided to take the chance and I’m glad we did. Not only did we see three black bears along different parts of the road, we also saw beautiful lakes, mountains and more. I actually preferred parts of it to the historic Alaska Highway and it turns out that there were more gas stations on this road compared to the alternate route.

Prince George was just a place to sleep before we headed on to Vancouver and I didn’t see anything there that I would have wanted to stay for anyway. It was pretty much a medium size town with lots of hotels and places to eat but I didn’t see much more.

Our next stop, Vancouver, was home for three nights and we really enjoyed it. It is such a neat, diverse town with so many things to see and do. We started downtown in the Gastown, Chinatown and Stanley Park area the first day.

My favorite part was Stanley Park and the Vancouver Aquarium. If you haven’t got the theme yet, I like critters and there were plenty to view there. We met friendly ducks, swans and, the coolest of all, raccoon at the park. They would just walk up and say hello. It was a little unnerving at first.

I had visited the aquarium several years ago when I got to spend an afternoon in Vancouver and I remembered that I loved it then and it didn’t disappointment me again this time. It is one of my favorite aquariums.

The second day in Vancouver, we started out eating breakfast at a neat little diner called The Templeton that has a lot of vegetarian alternatives. It has not always been easy finding vegetarians choices that are great on this trip, especially since the places we have visited have been big on seafood, caribou sausage and other meaty fares. The Templeton’s interior design has been preserved and much of the furnishings/soda fountain booths, stools, and jukeboxes at tables are original, since at least the 50’s.

Next we hopped on the great Canada line train and headed to the Punjabi Market area also known as “Little India”. Here we found great Indian shops with everything from Saris and silk materials to stores with trinkets and other goodies from India. We had a wonderful Indian lunch at a place called Best Quality Sweet & Restaurant that was recommended to up by one of the other shop owners. We ended the lunch with some Masala Chai… Yum! We walked until we had blisters on our feet but it was worth it.

The next morning we left Vancouver and drove to Seattle were we spent a few hours at the Public Market, checked out the Andrew Wyeth and other great exhibits at the Seattle Art Museum, visited the Space Needle and wrapped it up with some dinner downtown before we found a cheap little room on the outskirts of town. We definitely want to come back for another visit when we have more time. It seems like a great place. As a side note, I saw Kate Hudson shopping at the Public Market.

Yesterday we stopped in the Mount Rainier National Park on the way to Portland and did a small day hike near Paradise and the visitor center. I have some photos for the day but have not had time to download and process them yet so those will come later. One of the coolest things we saw on the hike was a mother deer and her baby walked into a clearing just a few yards from us and stood eating and then looked at us and slowly made their way across the path and up through the mountain on the other side. It was so peaceful and lovely. It made my day.

We are now in Portland and are finishing some laundry in the hotel before we head downtown to see what this city is all about. We have today here and then we leave tomorrow and head toward Idaho and then on to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.

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