Bromptoneering or bust

Elk: 2. One was on the corner of a road on our way out of Jasper. Thankfully we didn’t have to give way to him, as he was not indicating. These are very large creatures and apparently it is “rut” season and people should not go near them! :)

Moose: 3. One was sitting in someone’s backyard – we saw this from the train. The other two were eating – also from our view from the train. Sorry no photo.

Bald Eagle: 1. Again this was viewed from the train. Pretty impressive take-off!

Mountain goats: 2. On the road from Jasper to the Icefield Parkway (we actually managed to take a photo of these – but given the limitations placed on patrons in the Banff Public Library it is unlikely that you will be able to see them for a couple of days).

Squirrels: lots more! They are too fast for me to get a photo.

Ravens: lots.

So far so good… will collect a total towards the end.

We’ve been wined and dined to within an inch of our existence. The Rocky Mountainer was truly outstanding and certainly a vast improvement on the Spirit of Washington.

We have picked up our car, and are at the Crossing Motel tonight, halfway through the Rockies. It has been a beautiful day (upto 17, most blue skies with some clodes) niether words nor photos can do justice to the natural beauty in the Jasper and Banff national parks. We will try an upload some shortly from the Bowmanville Internet Cafe.

Of to Banff tomorrow, via a Helicopter tour. Hopefully the weather is a good as it is today.

Gotta go, running out of time on this machine.

.. via the Rocky Mountaineer!

For the last day we were in Vancouver – it rained again.

The day started well with a coffee + chai latte (in a real cup I might add – although it did have to be asked for – the third place we have had real crockery!) at Blenz. Which apparently is a Canadian Coffee company. After looking in Virgin we went on a full lap of the Millennium line SkyTrain – which was great. Got to see lots of houses and fall colour!

After which we ended up at Lonsdale Quay market – which wasn’t too bad (not as good as the Granville Island Market). It was still raining so of course we went to Grouse Mountain where it was wetter and foggier still.

The weather is suppose to be improving….

If you are interested in reading our lighthouse adventures, then scroll down HMK has posted one but it appears further down the page —- so read on down.

Victoria, I don’t recall if I have told you, is a very pretty city. It has about 400k people living there and has adopted a distinctly anti-hi-rise-development view of the world. They have instituted a 12 story limit on all buildings. Its small downtown is easy to get around and its parliament and other key buildings over look a gorgeous harbour. The trip to Vancouver on the ferry, passes truly picturesque scenery. The service is frequent and cheap.

Vancouver is now on the pre-olympics development binge, hi-rise apartments are being built everywhere. Nevertheless, especially in fall, Vancouver is pretty. I suspect it would be more stunning if it weren’t for the clouds that are partially obscuring the mountains. We will persist in the rain and visit Grouse Mountain today, and perhaps Richmond which is said to be one of the largest asian communities in North America.

Victory! At last I have Sting and Annie Lennox tickets for tonight! So, don’t worry I will be having fun! Even better, our Hotel is a short walk from the stadium.

KDT

Current Status:

Squirrel = lots. In Stanley Park in Vancouver they were everywhere! Okay I know they are probably a pest – but they do look cute.

Black bear = 1

Elk = 5 at least. On the side of road from Crescent City to Bodega Bay – yes I was driving again.

Seal Lions = lots (too many along the West Coast – wait until I upload the photos!)

Elephant Seals = lots!

Deer = 10

Apparently the coast is also the place to see Orcas – however it is the wrong time of the year. As long as I get to see a Moose I think I will be happy. But please not while I am driving!

It certainly is an impressive structure. The building itself is located on one whole square block, and looks like a large Roman colosseum from the outside. The building itself reminds me of a snail shell. One you enter the large foyer (will attach pictures as soon as we can get to a computer that will let us!!) in addition to access into the library there are a number of shops (coffee, florists, magazine shops) which make the place feel very alive.

We were there at approx 3.30pm yesterday and it was very very busy. First impressions are everything (or so JOhn Stanley tells us). I loved the security guard on the entry door telling someone to get off their mobile phone (why I have no idea given there are phones all over the building). There are seven floors with escalators going up & down to each floor. A lot of the floor space is taken up with shelves, desks, and tables where you can access the Librarians who specialise in a particular subject area. There are lots of computers (however only those on the bottom floor are for visitors – of which I may say are few!), and the area is very busy – like the whole library. They even have their storage areas on the 6th + 5th floor in compactus.

However, I felt that there wasn’t enough space for people to sit in a comfy chair and relax – apart from the floor that the fiction area is on. The Children’s area also has hardly any space for kids to lounge about – apart from the nooks at the side.

Great building – but they really seem to lack space for the people and the collections- given that they have only been open 9 years I would be worried!

Well we’re back at the amazing public library. We went on an architectural tour of the library last night, it’s book spiral was especially amazing! We had dinner with some of the other people on the tour.

Helen is currently talking with one of the librarians. After this we hope to have lunch in the international district (i.e. China Town), visit the Seattle Art Museum, and take a ride on the waterfront trolley and then catch the Washington Dinner Train.

Yesterday, we also went to the Space Needle and Pioneer Place (their old downtown) and ran into an ex-South Australian selling cookies. It was good to hear our own accent, even though she has now picked up some of the Seattle/US mannerisms. As I set in this temple of a library, I can see through its latticed glass wall that the fog has cleared much early today! We were still foggy until well after lunch yesterday.

I’ve been… it’s large, imposing, fantastic structure, seats are comfortable, atmosphere is great. There are about 140+ computers for public to use – talk about a quite group of 130 people!!! They even have a card catalogue system still in addition to the on-line database! Approx 10,000 panes of glass… imagine all that cleaning – which I can tell you after going on a tour happens twice a year.

Children’s section is great, large, table and shelves are perfect for kids.

However,…. what is really sad, and I mean really sad is that the building cost $163US million (no it is not the cost that is bad), all over the damn library are signs created on Microsoft Word stuck on walls with blue tape. I am not joking, I am totally serious. When we can add pictures I will show you. All over the building you see signs that tell you what things are, and not to mention “Staff only”. The major signs are great – as they are incorporated into the building and the areas, however, the other directive signs are non-existent. You will be lucky to attempt to find the area you want unless you know where the location is or you have a map. The person who took the tour did not want to go into the sign issue much – although apparently there is a signage committee attempting to work on this issue. Sounds like something was forgotten in the planning.

I will add more later… when I have time. Currently, I’m standing using the computer in the hotel lobby.

HK :)

We’ve arrived in Seattle. We’ve come to the awesome library looking for comments, but appears as if everyone is asleep, or they find our blog boring! Sorry!

Portland public library was built at the turn of the century and is very elegant. Portland itself is exceptionally pretty and its Japanese Gardens and International Rose Garden is quite beautiful. For those public transit buffs amongst you the the Max light rail cars that trundle through downtown and then onto a highspeed subway are very impressive.

Mr Rann is basing his efforts around Oregon, in most cases there are things that we can learn. For those Sushi Train devotees we went to Todai in Portland a “all you can eat” Sushi Buffet. Truly dangerous territory.

We left Portland at around 7:00 and arrived in Seattle at about 10:30am. The I-5 was pretty free flowing most of the way we missed both peak hours (Portland and Seattle). We drove buy Mount St Helen, but couldn’t see a thing because of the persistent fog that the West Coast seems to be covered in. That was bit of a bummer, so like you we are watching it from TV.

We have contemplated particle masks, but we have been reliably advised, by the the hundreds of tv news bulletins, that that the wind will not be blowing our direction!