Hitch hikers, National parks, parkways and more!

Hallo Hallo Allen,

Ik ben dan wel alweer een weekje uit de VS vertrokken na mijn geweldigste jaar ooit maar ik heb toch besloten om verder te gaan met mijn blog omdat ik het eigenlijk stiekem wel heel leuk vind en ik bovendien toch ook wel leuke dingen doe.
Nadat ik mijn laatste dagen bij Jonny heb doorgebracht, was het dan uiteindelijk tijd om afscheid te nemen van het prachtige land, mijn beste vriend en mijn jaar in de states. Ik heb zoveel goede experiences opgedaan, heb zoveel nieuwe connecties opgedaan en ben zoveel geweldige vrienden rijker, dat ik toch wel kan zeggen dit een niet te vergeten jaar was waarin ik zoveel geleerd heb, heb uitgevonden wat ik belangrijk vind en waarin ik denk ik als persoon een hoop gegroeid ben. Ik ga dan wel terug volgend jaar, studeren aan University College Utrecht, ik heb een beetje in mijn hoofd dat ik ga kijken hoe ik het vind, en wie weet, als het mij toch minder bevalt dan de VS, is er altijd een kans dat ik daar weer terug keer. Maar voor nu CANADA!!

Met Canada was het ook weer de eerste keer dat ik mijn lieve ouders en zusje weer zag na 7 maanden en een beetje. Daar had ik toch ook wel heel veel zin in en dat verzachtte het afscheid met Jonny en het afscheid met de States. Ik had 3 grote tassen en mijn rugtas mee, het paste allemaal amper in de bus en ik zou eigenlijk nog 50 dollar moeten bij betalen om het allemaal mee te mogen nemen, maar met de vele reis ervaringen die ik al heb, dacht ik dat dat wel te omzeilen zou vallen, en dat lukte ook. Na 5.5 uur met de bus zag ik dan eindelijk de fam weer. Ik werd opgewacht met filmcamera´s en fotocamera´s. Het weerzien was hartelijk en samen zijn we naar ons appartement in zeer downtown Vancouver gelopen. Daar zouden we een paar dagen blijven waarna we naar Vancouver Island zouden gaan. Bij eiland moet je niet aan het nederlandse woord eiland (klein maar fijn), maar echt een eiland. In Vancouver hebben we wat in downtown rondgelopen en bij een heerlijk Sushi restaurant gegeten, met de beste sushi, beste bediening en beste tijd met de fam. Vancouver Island zijn we met de ferry opgegaan. Het is een stuk groter dan Nederland, het heeft zijn eigen bergen, rivieren, ontelbare meren en een stad die engelser dan Engeland schijnt te zijn (zijn we overigens niet geweest). While I am writing this, I am thinking about why I am not writing this in English, so here we go, now my blog is for my Americans too!

We stayed at a campsite near Tofino and Uclelet, 2 cute little towns, that are very focused on their surfing and the life style that comes with it. It also has an awesome national park which I forgot the name of. We went hiking in that national park, beautiful little hikes through the rainforest, over cliffs, on the beach with sun and clouds and with enough wildlife. We saw a black bear on the beach, Sea Lions, birds and (unfortunately) more than enough mosquitoes. We also hung out on the beach a couple times during which I went skimboarding, something Jonny (yep credits to Jonny) made me very excited for, definitely gonna buy one in Holland! We also went to the 2 little towns, but there was not a whole lot to do in both. After 3 days we left the Island and we went to another Island. While we were driving to get to the harbor where we were gonna take the ferry of Vancouver Island, we stopped at apparently, according to the signs, a point of interest. We hiked the little trail and ended up at a lake. I have noticed that Canada has an infinite number of all equally beautiful emerald blue, clear lakes with stunning views of the mountains in the background, and also this lake had all that. Since we didn’t bring any swimwear we decided to jump in anyway (yes we were wearing underwear), something we didn’t regret. The lake, just like all the other lakes, was not cold and very refreshing, which made it, just as all the others, a great lake to swim in! After we got to another Island we stayed at a campground at which the lady who owned it apparently had a very busy life, almost no time to help us out, but that didn’t take of anything of the location of the camping. Just near the ocean, just go down some stairs and youre there. We watched the sunset and I took some (tried to take some) picture of the sunset, because I am kind of really into photography and I finally had access to one again since I am traveling with my family again.

The next day we went to a lake rather early because we had to catch another ferry later on the day. The lake we went to (forgot the name) was pretty nice (equally nice as all the others) and we hiked all the 13000 meters of the trail around it. On the way we had views of mountains, we passed some nice little beaches, one at which we stopped and went swimming at, we saw normal sized frogs, literally hundreds of little tiny baby frogs and about a dozen of meter long snakes. After we got back from the lake we went on another ferry to another placed, Sechelt. We left early again the next morning, pretty much the usual on our vacation, because we wanted to go rafting before we had to catch our final ferry back to the mainland of Canada. We went to Pedals & Peddles where we rented 2 kayaks. It was a fun trip along the rocky and mountainous coast. We saw a group of 9-10 seals not even 15 meters (45 feet) away from us. They were looking at us with their wide open, baby looking eyes where after they dove under water and swam a little further away. On the way back we saw an eagle, it was sitting in a tree close to the shore. We kayaked a little closer and looked at it through our binoculars. They are already majestic and big, but through binoculars they looked even more majestic. We probably also saw some sort of whale 150 m (450 feet) away from us. Twice did we see a fountain of water coming out of the water and one time we saw something big jumping out of the water, but I guess we will never know for sure. After we got back we drove to the ferry. Unfortunately, it was way too busy which meant that we missed it. The next one went a couple hours later so there was nothing to do, but to wait. After we got back to the mainland, we planned to drive to Whistler, but part of traveling is the continuous changing of plans. We drove through a little place called Brackendale, to apparently a remote park where normally (in the winter) enormous amounts of eagles are spotted (with a world record in 1997 with 3000 something eagles). Unfortunately, also part of traveling, we didn’t see what we wanted to see (eagles in this case). It was already late so we decided to look for a campground. On the way we passed a rafting company and we decided to inform about rafting, just because we could. There was a trip the next day and we said that we were gonna let them know. We were not planning on doing it there, but yeah why not, so we changed plans again to not go to Whistler the next day and we went rafting.

It turned out well and the rafting was awesome. It was all day long, we rafted on mostly class 3-4 rapids, which was pretty fun. The water was just around 5 Celsius (middle 40’s) which meant that it was rather cold. We did some cliff jumping, and we got wet when we went rafting (of course). With stunning views of glaciers, rock formations, snow and high mountains all around the river valley we were rafting in, there was never a dull moment. The water was pretty fun with some nice rapids, and we even got salmon for lunch which made it all even better. After the rafting trip, we drove half an hour back to the company’s basis. They also owned some sort of cabins and a restaurant, and best of all a hot tub! So right after our cold adventures, it was time for the hot tub. After that we went back to the camp ground where after I decided to go on another hike. It was supposed to be a little shorter, but I made a nice little 2 kilometer detour (not so nice in the end), but the trail itself was awesome. It started steep when I went up a mountain. After that I hiked to a lake, where it was time for some swimming. Since I was alone, and didn’t have any swimwear or towel or whatever, I decided to go skinny dipping. It was the best idea of the day, it got hot, no one there, so why not skinny dipping in a lake. After that I went on to a vista where I saw the surrounding (mostly snowy) peaks. I saw a snake again and some small lizards too. On the way back it was time for another turn skinny dipping. When I hiked down the mountain again and when I was almost there, I saw some Canadians. And right when was trying to pass them I heard a 7 year old boy asking if his dad could tell him the story of when he was in Holland, a crazy coincidence right! I said out loud, shall I tell you something, I am from Holland! The little boy was immediately sold and the night I became his friend. The next morning, while his father was still sleeping (as he told me), he woke up to say hi/goodbye to me because we were, finally then, leaving for Whistler!

This morning, unless the last morning, was quite clear so it made sense to buy Gondola tickets, for the highest Gondola in the world. There were great amounts of tourists, something we not particularly like, but on top of the gondola we had a stunning 360 view of Whistler, where the 2010 Olympics were held (along with Vancouver), the mountain peaks all around us, snowboarders that were at another part of the mountain, meadows and cool lakes.
There were a couple of different Gondola’s, to different parts, and even one we took that went to another mountain peak. The view was amazing, indescribable, so I am not even gonna try it, just believe it! We walked around for a couple of hours where after it was time for our 400 kilometer trip to Wells Gray, the hidden treasure of Canada (I will write more about it when I have actually seen it). With our 10 meter RV (30 feet), it took waay longer than with a normal car, so in the end we didn’t make it that far. We drove through mountain ranges, high cliffs in a desert like area, along lakes, waterfalls, continuously that, and all that in a couple hours. We stopped somewhere near a place called the 100 mile point (god may know why) and we decided to look for a campground there.

This was my first blog in Canada, I hope that you liked it, I am going to keep writing in English, and up to blog two!

Take care!