Vancouver

Not wanting to subject Bessie to inner city stresses, we found an RV park in suburban Vancouver and took public transport to explore Canada's third largest city.

Indy and Dash enjoyed the ride on the Sky Train (or perhaps I should call them Joshua and Emmanuel because that's what a Bob Marley doppelganger on the train demanded we rename them to - 'Sure, no problems mate').

Taking a stroll through the Gas Lamp area through to Chinatown, we encountered a swap meet unlike any we'd ever seen before. All of the city's homeless people were trading their possessions back and forth and some of the items seemed out of place - like the expensive-looking mountain bike missing a wheel. And here it comes....   Locals say it's the HOTTEST place in town.  Aaaahaahaahhhh! I crack myself up!

Anyway, so we made a quick getaway and caught a bus straight to Stanley Park for some waterfront strolling and cityscape admiring.

For a city the same size as Brisbane, Vancouver certainly has a LOT of inner city residential - predominantly clean, modern looking highrises finished in green-tinged glass.

The blueness of the water is reminiscent of Sydney but Vancouver seems to devote a lot more of its waterfront to industrial activity.

Stanley Park was very impressive and if I was a resident of the inner city I would take advantage of it all the time.

We checked out the totem pole collection and enjoyed some sandwiches on the grass before visiting the water park, the miniature railway and two playgrounds (and still only saw a small section of this massive public space).

Mid-afternoon, a bus took us back to Waterfront Station where we connected with a Sea Bus (ferry) over to North Vancouver.

After some snacks on the north side, we began the long journey back to Bessie - ferry, train, bus, walk.

We agreed from our short visit that Vancouver was indeed a very liveable city, just as the marketing proclaims. Locals have quick access to fun stuff like skiing in winter and watersports (though probably too cold for swimming) in summer.

Cities aren't really our thing, but if they were, we could imagine this is one we'd be fairly happy to call home.

Snow Clearing on Mount Baker

The Mount Baker Scenic Byway is called a scenic byway for a reason. It quickly conveys you up to ski fields enjoying the highest snowfall of all of the lower 48 states and vistas of snow-capped mountains in every direction... and the views are even better if you can make it up to Artist Point... which you can't at the moment.

The locals we talked to said that authorities don't usually manage to clear the roads until late July/August. One year they said there was a record snowfall - 100 feet fell over the winter (about 30 metres)  - so they didn't get the road cleared at all that year.

So when we reached the Mount Baker Ski Fields and the final five kilometres to Artist Point was behind a "road closed" sign, we weren't surprised.

But after our experience at the Washington Pass we decided that perhaps going on foot past road closures might be a good approach any time we come across them.

So I set off on my own to check it out and about a kilometre into the walk, I realised I wasn't going to get any further in my little mesh running shoes. The snow-clearing bulldozers had done a great job to that point, but from there on in, it was slush followed by thick packed snow followed by powder snow and more snow and more snow.

But I'd never seen a snow clearing operation before and knowing my boys would find it equally cool, I made my way back to Bessie and then dragged the whole family back down the road for a look.

When we all made it back to where the bulldozers were working, one was in the process of pushing sections of snow over the switchback and large chunks of it were tumbling down the mountainside.

We spent about half an hour watching it operate and shouting "AVALANCHE!!!" every time the snow boulders went flying over the edge.

Then Nath decided it was time to don his Rocky IV persona and (in his running shoes) decided to hike up through the often knee-deep snow to Artist Point (another four kilometres on).

He swears to me that No, he wasn't playing 'Hearts on Fire' during the ascent, but I think we all know he's lying.

The kids and I climbed up an embankment to check out a parked bulldozer and played for a while in the snow before we took our time heading back to Bessie, continuing our snowball fights and writing our names in the walls enroute.

Nath arrived back about a minute after us, having drawn surprised looks from the two cross-country skiers who had made the same trek in more appropriate attire.

We camped the night at the Silver Fir Campground beside another beautiful creek and when we woke, set off to check out the Nooksack Falls, a triple-header of epic beauty (if you push your face up really close to the wire fence so you can look through unimpeded).

North Cascades National Park

After expressing our way north, we took the 530 towards the Cascades National Park, hoping to avoid traffic associated with detours around the area of the recent bridge collapse on Interstate 5.

Little did we know that the 530 was itself a very pretty path through quaint farming communities sitting at the base of alpine peaks.

This was a fitting entrance to the North Cascades National Park which is an incredibly beautiful collection of sharp (alpine style) peaks, the largest volume of glaciation in the lower 48 states, and lovely cascading falls that give it its name.

We overnighted at the Howard Miller Steelhead Park, an awesome Skagit County Park at Rockport where we camped beside the best playground yet! With views of the Skagit River to boot!

The next morning we took the 20 which partners with the Skagit River all the way into the park and were surprised (and a little bit disappointed) by all of the electricity infrastructure and the hydroelectric dams. 

Admittedly, the scheme here provides a third of Seattle's peak requirements. It's a balancing act - yes - but we were relieved when we drove on deeper into the eastern side of the park, leaving all of that behind and entering truly majestic territory.

The Washington Pass is the highest section of the road but the side road to its overlook was closed due to snow. So first Nath and then Dash and I took turns walking the kilometre or so in and out to see the 180-degree unimpeded view of Liberty Bell Mountain and its compatriots.

Then we had a great idea - tobogganing with plastic bags - big time giggles!

After a couple of hours we headed back through the park to the Colonial Creek campsite and set up in a site beside Thunder Creek.

The next morning, Nath did the 5.8km Thunder Knob Trail which left from our campground, before we headed back out to civilisation.

The National Park is strange in that, from the road at least, you never actually enter the National Park boundary. It's National Forest and National Recreation Area but not technically National Park.

We think that to really experience it you would probably need to hike the longer trails up through the passes - all of which are currently snowed in.

Another time perhaps?

Mount St Helens

The largest landslide in recorded history, devastating pyroclastic clouds, massive rivers of searing hot mud - the true story of the 1980 explosion of Mount St Helens has all the makings of a blockbuster but for the sobering reality that 57 real people lost their lives in the May eruption.

To see the lasting remnants of the devastation, the changes to the mountain and the surrounding landscape, and the emerging new life there is really amazing.

It's been an educational experience for all of us; one that still has us shaking our heads with wonder and awe.

We drove into the area from the south with intentions to drive to Windy Ridge viewpoint, but with several roads closed by snow, we instead drove as close as we could get to the end of the 83.

From here, Nath took a run beyond the road closure to the June Lake trailhead and out to the lake itself.

We then drove back to Ape Caves and donned our head torches to explore a bit of the biggest lava tubes in North America.

The beaver bay campground on Swift Reservoir offered us a great lakeside possie for the night and after a play in the playground and some rock skimming the next morning, we hightailed it west to the 5 and straight up to the 504 to access the northern side of the mountain which was the side that blew out in the 'lateral' explosion.

The Mount St Helens Visitor Centre at Silverlake, the Forest Learning Centre halfway along the 504 and the Johnston Ridge Observatory all offered us insights into what happened where and why - with videos focusing on differing aspects of the disaster. 

If I had to pick highlights I'd suggest the doco video was best at Johnston Ridge, the displays for the kids (including the helicopter cockpit) was awesome at the Forest Centre and the walk-through volcano model at the Silverlake Centre was really helpful in trying to explain the concept of magma. Speaking of which, it doesn't matter how serious something is - I still can't say magma now in any way other than Dr Evil style. Mag-ma. 

Looking up at the blown-out cone from Johnston Ridge, I tried to replay the videos I'd just seen in mind. I found it near impossible though to fathom how the entire valley (and miles of surrounding valleys) had been blanketed, in a matter of moments, by what used to be a massive chunk of mountainside and molten rock from deep underground. 

Towns, lakes, old-growth forests - wiped out. A massive lesson in how insignificant we humans and our endeavours are.

After snowball fights and a bit of dinner on Johnston Ridge we drove back down and nighted at the Seaquest State Park.

Columbia River Gorge

Cascade Locks, where we've stayed for a couple of nights, is a town on the Oregon side of the Columbia River where a lock system once helped boats through some particularly hairy rapids. 

We used it as our base to explore the Columbia Gorge.

After a play in the stern wheeler playground and a look at the locks at Marine Park we travelled along the Historic Columbia River Highway developed in the early 20th century.

This area is home to another impressive set of waterfalls, with the highlight being the Multnomah Falls. 

But after the quiet serenity of Silver Falls, these gorgeous falls felt a bit like a circus. So many people and buses! There's a reason places get popular though, right? It's because they're awesome and these double falls were indeed very impressive. 

I just wish you could snap your fingers and experience them alone.

Our favourite part of driving in this area was the Bridge of the Gods, a see-through steel construction with a 15mph limit which we crossed over to enter Washington.