The city of Jasper is a quintessential mountain town. Crawling with tourists, Bethany and I made our way around the visitor center enjoying the view of the beautiful mountains. We continued on out towards a campsite up in the mountains near a glacier. The drive, along the Ice Field Parkway, was stunning. Coming down out of the mountains, we made our way through a valley alongside mountains, amazed at the way they appeared to be massive scoops of earth lifted up and set at a 90 degree angle.
As
we arrived at our campsite, we settled in and admired the view of the
glacier from our campsite.
Bethany had been a
bit under the weather, so after setting up, she immediately crawled
under the blankets in the tent to nap. I naturally set up the hammock
and comforted her from there, beer in hand. Eventually, Bethany
decided my comfort wasn't going to be enough to get her feeling
better and asked me if I could call about getting her a doctor's
appointment. We had just left Jasper, which did have a medical
center and clinics, but hadn't stopped while we were there. The
number provided in our guidebook was off, but I was able to get
directory assistance to connect me. The nice woman that
answered the phone informed me that while they did indeed have a
walk-in clinic [first come, first serve] it was already closed for
the day. They did of course have an ER we could use, but it would
likely be 3x as much. Bethany said she could stick it out
overnight, and we decided to make our way back to Jasper first thing
in the morning.
The glacier view from near our campsite
As
red-blooded Americans, we've been warned time and time again about
the socialist hellhole that the Canadian health care system is. Lines
six hours long, waiting for months to get what you need done. If the
politicians are to be believed [hint: they are not], we might as well
become communists if we get socialized health care. With that in
mind, Bethany and I braced ourselves for a lost day to get her
feeling better. Since the clinic opened at 9, we were there at
8:40, ready for the line to be out the door. Seeing the
sidewalk pleasantly empty, we assumed they must not open their doors
until 9, at which point a mad rush would happen. Instead, we
walked right in. Bethany strode up to the counter, asked for an
appointment and told them what she was ill with. They asked for
her provincial health card. [cue bald eagles crying in agony] Bethany
said she didn't have one, as she was from America. [I may or may not
have started humming 'Battle Hymn of the Republic' at this point] The
registrar said, "No problem! It'll be $120. Are you free at
10am?" "Tomorrow?" "No, today." And
like that, we were done. In shock, we celebrated our one hour
reprieve by finally getting Tim Horton's for breakfast. After
the brief doctor's visit, we picked up the prescription for $25. The
whole thing cost under $150 without insurance.
Back
in camp, Bethany celebrated by sleeping and taking her meds, while I
read. The park had free wood, so I got a nice fire going in the
kitchen shelter [that lacked a door, so the heat was relative] and
drank tea. Later in the afternoon, I made my way back in to
begin making dinner and found a small group hanging out also prepping
dinner. Two of them, Linda
and Ronnie,
are a Dutch couple finishing up their Ushuaia -> Alaska trip
on bikes.
Averaging about 70 miles a day, we watched them devour enough
pasta for four [which makes sense].
The
weather remained cold that night, so Bethany begged for an audible to
Calgary for a hotel room. I agreed. The following morning, we
crossed the highway and hiked up to the glacier. To highlight the
effect climate change has had on the glacier, Parks Canada smartly
placed markers along the roadside showing the edge of the glacier
over time. Originally stretching to the highway when first recorded
back in 1880, we drove for over a mile making our way to the parking
lot, intermittently passing markers on our way. Once we parked, we
hiked another 15 minutes to get to the plateau overlooking the
glacier. Initially, I had hoped to do some light hiking on the
glacier, but signs starkly pointed out that it's a death wish. Signs
warned that “it takes several hours to get someone out of the ice,
which is typically longer than it takes for hypothermia to set in.
There have been 4 rescue attempts in the last decade, none of them
were successful.” All right then, Canada, thank you for not
pulling any punches. Far off in the distance, I could see the special
tour buses with old school irrigater truck wheels on them slowly
make their way over the glacier; at $60/ticket, I figured I'd try
walking on the glacier first.
grooves in the rock where the glacier pushed pebbles through
With Bethany under the weather, Calgary existed really to only catch up on errands. One of the things needed was an oil change. I swung by a Mr. Lube, my first time at a chain lube place. The line was significant, and I realized why; the gimmick of this place [and others like it] starts as soon as you pull up. I was immediately given a newspaper and asked if I wanted any coffee. Pulling in, I remained inside my vehicle as I got chatted up by the service tech. He was a nice guy, but I politely refused the $120 upsell of a carbon residue flush.
This flower is one of the first plants to grow after a wildfire.
The locals say that 6 weeks after it blooms will be the first snow.
Leaving Calgary, we made our way towards Banff national park, the first in Canada and one of the oldest in North America. Banff is a huge tourist draw, primarily for Lake Louise. Searching for a pass through the mountains in the latter 1800's, explorers found Lake Louise and it's turquoise waters nestled between mountains and immediately wrote back that they'd found paradise hidden in the mountain range. It was so beautiful it single-handedly sparked a cottage industry of wilderness tourism that led to the creation of Canada's national park system as wealthy socialites from out east vacationed in the rugged Rockies. The increased tourism led to the construction of a large resort hotel as was the fad at the time. Bethany and I decided that our vehicle would be just as comfortable.
On the other side of the Rockies, we descended into British Columbia, and were keenly aware that despite having a much larger population of people, the population of bears was still plenty large. In fact, we saw more black bears in BC than we saw in the rest of Canada combined. We also had a close encounter with a moose, as we came around a corner and surprised each other, the moose bolting towards the brush and slipping on the concrete. [it was fine]
some of the tourists getting frisky at Lake Moraine, yes they crossed the logs
Residence Inns are our favorite Marriott's to stay at, as they are basically apartments, including dishwashers, which means we get to easily do our dishes! [They also have full size coffee makers, which means I get to go ham on my coffee strength] After settling in and stretching out, we prepped our bicycles for a ride across town out to the Anthropology Museum, a recommendation we got from Andy and Mandy from Letsridebikes.ca. Vancouver has excellent city bike lanes and public bike trails. We rode across a bridge and along the waterfront. The sky was beautiful, the skyline too, and we were ecstatic to be out and about.
The
museum of Anthropology is associated with the University of
Vancouver, and they had an interesting approach to displaying their
artifacts. With too many to have on true display, they set them in
display within drawers underneath the displays, allowing visitors to
open the drawers to see additional pieces. We saw numerous carved
wood pieces from First Nations people. Many family artists used
increased revenue from trading with European explorers to commission
family totem poles to show their increased status and wealth. Many
of these large pieces tower over you as your admire them, and the
museum had smartly placed them in a large antechamber with floor to
ceiling windows, light spilling in over the artwork to give you an
appreciation of how they may have looked originally.
SCIENCE!
When I lived in Japan and would speak with people about traveling, many I spoke with who either had or desired to travel abroad mentioned Vancouver as a destination. As it is fairly close to Japan [compared to many other North American cities], it seemed like a logical choice. We'd also heard great things about Asian cuisine options there, so naturally we opted to go get some Japanese food for dinner. Sneaking in close to closing time, we quickly ordered, and spent the next 15 minutes listening to our waitress and the chef bicker with each other. Ahh, ambiance. The mood was further enhanced later that evening while Bethany and I watched TV in our room, the curtains open to enjoy the city lights, when a green light began flitting through our room, a fine gentleman from one of the adjacent apartment buildings deciding to grace us with his laser pointer. Such decadence.
Victoria is the largest city on Vancouver Island. Requiring a ferry to get over to the island, we loaded up the following morning, happy that we were able to get on without a reservation. As we pulled into port, lush green hills with tiled roofs poking out greeted us. This felt very different from BC, and the first thing Bethany said was, “I can see why Katrina [my successor in JET] felt at home in Japan.” Driving down towards Victoria, we settled into a large provincial park that felt right out of Fern Gully. Setting up the Hammock, I felt right at home.
The Fern Gully camping experience
Victoria itself has a very laid-back vibe to it. Biking into the heart of the city after leaving Sweetcakes in a parking ramp, we couldn't help notice the large population of young people in addition to the regular commuters. We made our way through the Royal BC museum located right downtown, taking in a couple of documentary IMAX movies in addition to the museum experience. [I have come to realize that Benedict Cumberbatch can and should become the next Morgan Freeman when it comes to documentary narration.]
We grabbed lunch at the highly recommended Red Fish Blue Fish fish and chips place downtown. Our guidebook told us locals try hard not to divulge the secret of the place, but apparently that wasn't working; the line was over thirty minutes. Well worth the wait, though. Trying to get off the island ended up being more difficult than getting on. Ferries heading directly to the US were full up with the upcoming weekend, so we broke camp early and made our way to an alternate town on the island to take a ferry back up to Vancouver instead of into Seattle. As we waited in line to cross back into America, we had time to reflect on the last few months in Canada. The vast country had exceeded our expectations in many ways.
dat international friendship
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Canada Budget highlights:
We naively assumed that Canada would be comparable to the US in
terms of costs. Boy, were we wrong.Average price for gas: $5.10 US per gallon ($1.41 CAN per liter)
Highest price paid for gas: $7.10 US per gallon ($1.97 CAN per liter).
Absurd Food prices: chicken breasts for $15/lb and filet mignon for $35/lb (in the grocery store, not in a restaurant).
Daily budget: $96 per day
Actual expenses: $133 per day
Difference: +40% [primarily from gas, food, and extra driving]
Expected miles driven: 8300
Actual miles driven: 13100
Difference: +58%
Expected MPG: 17
Actual MPG: 20.29
Biggest Daily Expenses: [$/day]
#1: Gas - 50
#2: Food - 33
#3: Lodging - 31.71 [1st half;expensive maritimes]
16.72 [2nd half; cheap prairies]
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Things
we will and won't miss about Canada:Will miss:
- Poutine
- Seriously gravy on fries is just THE BEST
- President's Choice brand groceries
- I don't know who the President is, but he has my vote
- Metric system
- After acclimating to it, I didn't want to say goodbye. Also, it never stops being awesome seeing your speedometer go over 100
- Empty highways
- no road rage!
- Nice people
- The stereotype is true
- Saying “Eh”
- Much more versatile than what we have in American English
- loonie & toonie coins
- Despite extensive evidence showing coins are worse than bills, we still loved them.
- Parks Canada
- While they don't have the crazy hats the US Parks Service has, they were super friendly, helpful, and down to earth. The facilities were, on average, better than those in the US as well.
- Red squirrels
- We spent the entire summer, from Atlantic to Pacific, having red squirrels make their little angry machine gun chitter at us.
Won't miss:
- Rental R.V.s everywhere
- CanaDREAM!! Explore Canada! Lines of cars behind slow drivers scared of the big RV's they'd rented
- Dirty fingernails
- thank god I didn't have a microscope
- Having to remember to call restrooms “washrooms”
- dead giveaway you're from the states
- Gas prices
- woof
- Food & alcohol prices
- woof DUMPS
- Cold weather tenting
- wearing under armor, a fleece, a hat, socks, and gloves to bed isn't all that great.
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My dream is for people around the world to look up and to see Canada like a little jewel sitting at the top of the continent. - Tommy Douglas
Wow, what a wonderful read Bethany and Ike!
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