Here's the next instalment for all you loyal stalkers hehe ;) xx Wednesday 10.04.13: Last night it was super windy & rainy so when we got up this morning & it was no better we decided to postpone our trip & stay in Bellingham for another night. We didn't really want to be driving in that horrible weather & since we have no fixed plans, what's the rush? So we took Toby down to Master Lube & got a quick oil change & check done. I mean quick - we were in & out in about 15-20mins. The staff were super nice & very efficient - I would highly recommend them. We needed new diff oil & a new radiator cap (as the old one wasn't releasing the pressure correctly) but otherwise Toby was all good - not bad for a 25yr old rig. Afterwards we had a drive through downtown Bellingham & found that it's actually really pretty. There are a lot of gorgeous old homes. We stopped at Fred Meyers for a look on the way home - it's an enormous department store. They sell everything from your groceries to TV's, furniture, books, plants, camping goods, homewares etc - it's a bit of a one stop shop like Walmart. Once we left there we had a bit of a drive around the neighbourhood our RV park was in and stumbled upon a bit of a "squatters camp"?! I'm not really sure what to call it... We were driving along merrily then came round a bend in the road & suddenly there were cars/trailers/people everywhere up ahead of a dead end. They all stopped and stared as we came rolling through so we did a quick u-turn & got out of there quick smart - it was pretty sketchy. I think coz we were in a motorhome they thought we were coming to join the camp hahaha. We always seem to stumble across the interesting places.... Thursday 11.04.13: Happy birthday Tash :) xxx Today was still rainy but nowhere near as blowy as yesterday so we hit the road to Puyallup around 9am. It was a reasonably good drive, except for heavy patches of rain along the way so we got to Walmart Puyallup around midday. We did some more shopping - gotta check out the specials at each Walmart ha - and then picked up our bikes. Yay finally! After fitting the bike carrier (agh what a job) and the bikes to the back we were on the road again by 4.30pm. Somehow we managed to nail the peak hour traffic both on the way down this morning & on the way back now - only we could do that. So traffic was horrendous, especially near Seattle but all we could do was crawl along with everyone else hey. We got to the Tulalip Casino around 6pm and much to my relief there were a heap of other RV's staying here. I was a bit apprehensive to begin with when Ben talked about 'camping' for free in the car park of a casino but I relaxed once we got there. The 'camping' section is actually a separate car park specifically for RV's staying the night. Once you arrive you have to notify security & receive your permit (you can stay for up to 7 days) to display on your windscreen so they don't tow your vehicle. Then you park up & relax. Because its separate from the casino parking, it just feels like you're staying in an RV park behind the casino - for free!! As soon as we pulled up the guy next door came over for a big chat too so it was pretty friendly. Plus security patrols the lot every half hour so it's a lot more secure than camping in a Walmart car park. We ate dinner in the all-you-can-eat buffet casino restaurant - there was soooo much variety to choose from - pretty much any food you could think of & it was all so yummy. As I was loading up my plate one of the guys behind the carvery said to me "Hey tell your boyfriend I like his shirt. He reminds me of Larry the Cable Guy. As soon as I saw him I thought, yep there goes a redneck hahaha... And I don't meant that in a bad way". Me: "Hahaha oh really? Sure I'll tell him. He'll like that" and after a laugh I continued back to our table. Before I could finish relaying the story to Ben, the guy came over for a quick chat - I think to make sure Ben wasn't offended lol. He was really nice and gave us a laugh - after all Ben was wearing his red check 'lumberjack'/favourite/Skype shirt... Make sure you google "Larry the cable guy" now haha. It's a nice casino but you're still allowed to smoke inside there so it just stinks and as soon as you step inside you smell like you've smoked all your life, it's pretty feral. We had a quick flutter on the pokies after dinner & then headed back to bed (after Ben took his bike for a few laps of the car park). Friday 12.04.13: Today we're off to Everett to the Future of Flight Aviation Centre & Boeing Factory Tour. It was only about a 25km trip but it rained heavily all the way & visibility was pretty poor so it felt longer. The factory tour was fantastic - it's so cool to see them actually assembling the planes. You're not allowed to take anything in with you so we don't have any photos which is a shame, but understandable on their part. The factory is the largest building by volume - roughly 98 acres apparently - bigger than Disneyland - so it's huge!! They make the 'twin aisle' planes here - the 747, 767, 777 & new 787 dreamliners. The rest of the fleet are built down at the factory in Renton. The tour only went for 90mins but I could have watched the assembly lines all day, very fascinating. We wandered around the aviation centre gallery for a while and didn't end up leaving till 1.30pm - we spent most of the day there! By then it had started raining & the day had turned freezing cold. In the same complex as the casino - the Tulalip Reservation - are the Seattle Premium Outlet shops so we thought we'd head up there to get out of the weather. Not really a great plan we realised upon arrival when we saw that the shops are an outdoor type mall like Harbour Town etc. Nevermind, we had some lunch & then braved the cold to wander the shops. I ended up getting a warm jacket and ugg boots & Benny got some jeans, all at bargain prices so the afternoon wasn't a loss. It was so cold we just drove back to the casino, parked up & stayed in that night. Earlier that morning the friendly guy next door came over for a chat & sold us his indoor heater so we gave that a workout. I feel a bit bad we never even got his name... Also we didn't get many pics of the casino as both phones, the iPad & the camera all went flat would you believe... Saturday 13.04.13: We didn't want a repeat of the horrible peak hour traffic saga the other day, so we were up and on the road this morning by 7.30am to head back to Vancouver. Fuel is so much cheaper in the US (around $1/L vs $1.40/L in Canada) so we made sure to fill up before getting to the border. We came through Peace Arch crossing again and it was so quick this time. We arrived around 8.45am and only waited in line for 5-10mins before it was our turn. The same routine questions and then we're back through again. I still can't believe how much easier it is to cross a land border rather than by plane/boat. No paperwork or anything... Traffic was pretty good coming through Vancouver so we headed over to the camera shop & picked up the camera. It seems to be all fixed & working ok which is great so we headed back over to Capilano River RV Park again. There's really only 2 RV parks relatively close to downtown Vancouver - Capilano & one at Burnaby. We were going to stay at Burnaby for something different but it was double the price so back to Capilano we went... It was a cold overcast day so once we settled in we did some laundry and laps of the park on our bikes :) Sunday 14.04.13: This morning was overcast & cold but by 11am we were sick of sitting inside & figured we'd take the bikes for a spin at Stanley Park. Lucky we didn't sit around feeling sorry for ourselves because the sun came out later and it was a glorious day!! We had to cross the water by going over Lions Gate Bridge - wow what a long, steady climb - in the end I got off & pushed my bike half the way lol. Our bikes are cruisers (so no gears) and not really great for hill climbs - we kept getting overtaken by the hardcore lycra-clad cycling teams on their mountain bikes... We started the one-way 8km seawall loop of Stanley Park but Ben was having dramas with his pedal coming loose - they just didn't tighten it up properly when it was assembled. So we cycled half way round the loop to get to a bike repair shop downtown - with multiple pedal tightening stops along the way. Five minutes later he was fixed & we were back on the bike path. It was a beautiful day in the sun & surprisingly not too many people around - I was expecting huge crowds making the most of the sun. We were only here a few weeks ago but with all of the trees & flowers in bloom now it looks so different, it's just gorgeous. We stopped for lunch at Lumbermans Arch Cafe - again the food was great - and just soaked up the sunshine for a while. We headed off again and decided we weren't ready to go home yet so we'd do another loop. Next minute Ben suddenly pulls over - I thought he wanted to get a photo of something so I'm sitting behind him on my bike just looking around, waiting... Then he looks at me & I see a bird has got him *splat* right between the eyes - no idea how it got him there but we could both not stop laughing. It's good luck though right? :) On a more positive note while we were stopped we saw a seal playing in the waters just off shore. It was pretty cool to see and we would have been long gone & missed it if not for that bird haha. We did our second loop and by the time we headed home it was around 5.30pm. We were both pretty b*****ed & I worked out we'd cycled about 20kms so it was no wonder... We're going to hurt tomorrow haha.. We checked with Su & our mail hasn't turned up at the apartment yet which is frustrating. Could Canada Post really be as slow as Australia Post??? We headed over to White Spot restaurant for dinner and to make a plan for tomorrow. The food was good & they had $5.50 margaritas so what more could you want :) Monday 15.04.13: As much as we're both itching to hit the road we're trying not to stray too far as we'll have to come back to Vancouver to pick up our mail when it arrives. So today we've packed up camp & hit the road to Harrison Hot Springs. We basically just picked a place off the map that sounded good and decided to head out there for a few days. Su will be checking the mail at the apartment again on Thursday & I'm hoping our stuff has arrived by then, so we just need to kill a few more days... The weather is pretty good and it was a leisurely drive so it took us about 2hrs to get to Harrison. Wow it was not what we expected at all. I'm sure it's a beautiful place in the summer, but you get the vibe that everyone has packed up & left until then. It's hard to describe but you know the creepy feeling you get if you go to the mall when no-one's around? That's kind of how it felt driving through here, there's a few places open and people around but for the most part it feels derelict & deserted. There were a few RV parks there but seemed to be mostly full of long-termers. I'm a bit disappointed, I was looking forward to the hot springs... On the plus side we saw our first lake!! Our first of many I'm sure :) We kept driving around the lake to Sasquatch Provincial Park & checked out 2 open campgrounds there - Lakeside & Hicks Lake campsites. They were both just gorgeous and after seeing them we're both even more eager to stay in the provincial parks now (like national parks). We drove back through Harrison Hot Springs and it still didn't grab us upon second inspection so we drove to nearby Agassiz for lunch and to find somewhere else to stay. There were 2 RV parks back near the freeway so we decided to take a look & ended up booking in at Camperland RV Resort. It backs onto Bridal Veil Falls Provincial Park and its just lovely. Everything is lush, green & pretty, the sites are spacious & private and the mountains are right there - I can even see snow on top out of my window!! After we were done setting up a cloud came over, it got really cold and it started raining. At least I thought it was just rain till I noticed lumps of ice sticking to my jumper. I don't know if you classify that as snow/sleet/hail but I was pretty excited :) Tuesday 16.04.13: Today is a nice day and its lovely & warm in sunshine. Yes the sun's out!!! :) Since the RV park backs onto Bridal Veil Falls Provincial Park we decided to go for a walk up there & check it out. The park is lovely, so green, well kept and beautiful. The trail to the falls took about 15mins and it was well worth the walk. The falls are so pretty but wow did it get cold in the shady rainforest standing next to the cold flowing waterfalls. We stayed up there for ages though, it was so hypnotising to watch the water flow over the rocks. Everywhere you look here is just another photo opportunity. We wandered back the long way through the campgrounds for a stickybeak and got chatting to another lady staying here. We thought she waved us over for a chat just being friendly but a few things in conversation were a bit odd and then as we were leaving she says "Well if I'm ever in the Netherlands I'll look you up". Haha obviously she thought we were someone else, but it was a nice chat regardless :) Much love to you all & chat again soon :) xxxxxx