Jasper

Day 2

Jasper, Alberta to Edmonton, Alberta.

237 Miles.

Olivia:

Today was... different to say the least. More-so than any other day on our trips so far in my opinion. It all started off with my dad waking me up at 8, and me asking for 15 more minutes. Then being forced to find a coffee shop nearby, after realizing that there are no Starbucks in Jasper. So, we got coffee, money, and got on the road by 10. I fell asleep shortly after finding Starbucks in a later town for my dad. But not after the amazing scenery in Jasper National Park. If you haven't been there already, then do yourself a favor, and go there before you die. It's seriously breathtaking. The one word I found that was good enough to describe the whole thing, was "big". The forests are big, the lakes are big, the rivers are big, the animals are big, and above all. the mountains are enormous. Soooo we drove on. took pictures. and kept on driving. Dad did all of the driving today. because i'm still trying to adjust to this whole not working till 10, so i dont have to be nocturnal. and timezone change, and everything all together... i'm tired! the road today seemed to be a lot of straight, anddddd nothing. I do have to say, i think i'm a pretty great police watcher. anyways! Eventually, we got to the mall. We checked in to the hotel, which is in the mall. checked the car into valet (the driver was pretty adorable if i do say so myself) so dad said that if he wanted to he could go race it around for a little bit. an hour later, i ran into him, and he told us that he just got back from racing it. Such a good sense of humor :) we then ventured out into the mall. and my oh my what a mall it is! The first thing we were greeted with, was a full size spanish armada ship. (thank you APWH for letting me know this) we then wandered around, found food.. (2 huge food courts, and a restaurant 'street') then, as we were walking around.... we stumbled across a full NFL sized ice rink! as we walked around more, and then decided to head back to the room, we saw that a hockey game was going on on the rink. So we parked ourselves at the Starbucks, overhanging over the rink, and watched the whole thing. Afterwards, we finally headed back to the room.. and then went out to Bourbon street ( the restaurant street) and had some dinner. Now, we're back in the room, listening to the firetruck sirens race by, watching the sun set in one half of the sky, a storm in another part, the sun in another part, and day in another part... (pretty cool view) watching say yes to the dress, and thinking about ordering room service. Did i mention our room has a hot tub in it? needless to say. I think I love it here. Night!

Dad:

sleeping! :) zzzzzzzzzzzz

Day 1

Woodinville, Wa to Jasper, Alberta. 561 Miles.

Olivia:

Well, today was day one of the (unfortunately) 6 day long trip. Since I have a job now, we had to cut it short by a week. But on the bright side, I'm going to Spain next year with the money I save up! (If anyone feels like making donations. feel free?) Anyways! today was... long to say the least. We saw a few police officers, saw someone get pulled over, and realized that speed limits just don't really matter here. Being able to have my license and drive has given me a whole new perspective on these things (and how my dad drives...) Regardless, it was interesting comparing the reactions to police officers in the U.S. to reactions to the police officers here. In the U.S. everyone slows down to half of the speed limit... and just tries to go by all invisible like. Whereas up here in Canada, people just didn't even slow down, and continued to go 5 to 10 miles over the speed limit... if not 10 to 20. Another thing. why cant Canada just use MPH? Km/h is just sooo hard to figure out since dad cant see the little numbers on the dashboard, and no one follows the limits anyways.

Soooo some key parts of the day for me today:

Getting in free to Jasper National Park :)

Seeing someone get pulled over.

Finally getting to drive 80 Mph

Seeing some of the prettiest scenery, ever.

Finally getting out of the U.S.

Dads asleep right now, so he will fill ya'll in tomorrow. We're an hour ahead now so it's 11:06. on canada day. The fireworks are due to start in about 5 min. and it's still not dark yet. Only in Canada.. Eh?

Night!

Time flies, faster every year...

It's another summer, another road trip, and it starts ... tomorrow. This will be a quick one, because Olivia suddenly became old enough to drive and get a job and have a work schedule to adhere to. Sigh. Pretty soon, she'll be retiring and want to move in with me. This summer's road trip is probably headed north, to see some of Canada's natural wonders. Not sure we're headed north and west, or north and east, or north and north and north. But we have passports and a full tank of gas, and that's really all we need. I expect we'll go through the tunnel in the fraser river canyon that's on this mercedes video (AV-MercedesSLSRoll.wmv ), though I don't know if we'll go through the tunnel in quite the same way. We'll see. May depend on which of us is driving. Join us if you'd like...

it's all random...

some bits and pieces from the trip:
-- miles driven: 3,964 (i thought it would be more) over 12 days (an average of 330 per day)
-- for the second year in a row, washington drivers get my vote as the worst in the country. folks everywhere else seem to be able to maintain some courtesy and respect -- and some of their sanity -- on the road, why not here?
-- the monterey bay aquarium is a must-do. while we were there, they had anamazing seahorse spectacular. it's pricy, though. $57 just for the two ofus to get in the door. our room at the MGM Grand on the strip in las vegas was only $30 more.
-- when my sister and i were kids, our mom took us on a road trip to southern cal and back. one day we took the 17-mile drive on the monterey peninsula, past some big-deal golf courses and stately, huge homes. i was 13 then, and that drive has always stuck with me, maybe because it was my first view of homes like that owned by people who had more money than i would have in a few hundred lifetimes. so i wanted to show olivia the homes along that drive. funny thing is, while the homes haven't changed, i guess my perspective has. there now are so many gargantuan, palatial, castlelike places everywhere that the ones along the 17-mile drive didn't seem out of the ordinary. i guess that speaks for itself as far as a statement about our culture.
-- what will we do differently next trip? have a destination. each day, we got up, got ready, packed and hit the road. next summer we'll plan to spend a few days in one place to get rid of the road grime and clear our heads --unless we go to paris.
-- the car, again, worked wonderfully. in the past year i've subjected it to two intensive road trips, 10,000 miles in 30 days last summer and nearly 4,000 miles in 12 days this summer. only downside was that the windows got sizzlingly hot when the temp outside was 105 or so, despite the air-conditioning being on. and, it was too hot on occasion to put the top down...

day 13

Long Beach, Washington, to Woodinville, Washington, via Port Townsend; 241 miles.
SCOTT: home. the day dawned appropriately for our first morning back in the state -- cloudy, rainy and cool. in a way, it felt good. in another way, it felt like we should drive as fast as possible to get back to the toastiness of the southwest. I wasn't feeling good, so Olivia did most of the driving. nothing really special to mention about the trip. it was what it always is along the coast and hood canal and port townsend -- very nice. went to port townsend so we could see friends birgitta, hanna and olof before they head to sweden next week. olof has been visiting here for about a month, and birgitta and hanna will be gone a month or so to the mother country. nice to be home and see that the lawn needs mowing, the plants need watering, blah blah blah. that part of life resumes. maybe some reflections on the trip and random rememberings later. goodnight everyone.
OLIVIA: Well, we're home. I drove basically the whole day except for a little bit early in the morning; my dad did that. Overall, it was a good day. We went through rain, and shine. Fog and no fog. Green and.. green. :) Port Townsend was great! I really missed it there. Andrews game was also fun to go to. It's good to be home, but I kind of miss the sun and heat... goodnighttttt

Day 12

Lincoln City, Oregon, to Long Beach, Washington!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 156 Miles
OLIVIA: well, we made it to Washington. and after about an hour of searching for a hotel, we finally found one. This has really been a trip of a lifetime and i would tell everyone who gets the chance to take it, take it. Today we went to cannon beach (a personal favorite) and we also went to the Lincoln City Outlet Mall. On our way up the coast we went to the most amazing beach ever. It was sand forever and as my dad said... "this beach is perfect! The water is just so blue, and when the waves crash, they're so... white!" I walked in the water for a little bit and got sand in my feet, so now our car is more like a sandbox than a mustang. I have found out today that my dad has a new obsession with car washes. He got very excited at one that we saw in Tillamook, and well, that's all I have to say about that. Overall, today was a pretty good day. Goodnight Andrew and mom and andrew's mom and dad and heather and Lauren and willy and sampson and chase and rose and rocky.
SCOTT: had to stop at bruce's candy kitchen in cannon beach. i think this may be the first time i've ever been through cannon beach and not spent at least one night. over the past 30-plus years, i've probably spent enough on lodging there to have purchased a nice waterfront place. over those years it has changed considerably, and i honestly can't say that i'd like it as much as i do if i was just getting to know it now. i think it's one of those places we all have that have evolved over the years but hold a special place somewhere inside us regardless of the changes. after cannon beach, it was north to astoria and the great bridge over the columbia into washington. it was nice to see the columbia again. made me smile. but as soon as we reached the washington side, i must admit i kind of started wishing the trip was lasting another 3-4 years or so. wonder if olivia would like to be home-schooled on the road. hmmm. good night barb (aka olivia's mom)...
Tomorrow: Long Beach to Woodinville. end of the trail...