A day that went from damp to very wet to damp and back again but at least we got to see some majestic views of the mountains islands and inlets wreathed in cloud before it fully descended. Just awesome! The fog here in Whistler seems to be sitting at the snow line so no mountains really visible. Rain is due at 9.30pm tonight so we will see what the morning brings … apart from wet weather which is expected but more pleasant where we are headed which is Kamloops, a new destination for us. Slim picking for photos as the phone has been tucked away.

Some interesting facts: Elevation above sea level. 

Whistler Canada –653m

Mount Kosciusko Australia – 2,228m

Traralgon Australia (hometown) – 60m

Highest elevation on our travels today – 672m

Something I have never seen before which I spied on our way to breakfast this morning

The mist was descending rapidly as we stopped for a coffee at a cute little post called the OS - Outpost Station. The coffee was lovely and we loved the smell of the western red cedar in the build and garden. It reminded us of our house many years ago in Minniedale Road. Good memories.

And we were welcomed with beautiful flower beds at the hotel.

Down in the carpark we were wringing out the water from our socks!

The Whistler village is whimsical, and this is a walking or strolling street.

And more of the same.

Snow in the distance.

And again, over the top of a grass covered roof.

Last nights' accommodation:

English Bay Hotel.

A 2-star hotel for a big price but warm and handy to plenty of restaurant options. Looked scary but was okay. Bed was comfortable and sheets clean, but floor hadn't been vacuumed, you could say attention to detail wasn't their strong point. There was parking onsite, but we were directed to a public park on the opposite corner for twice the price. Not impressed. Could have self-catered with a full kitchen but weren’t interested in that. No pic.

A grey damp day with some rain as we headed for the Swartz Bay Ferry from Victoria to Vancouver. The ferry was a much more professional and user friendly one than we had on the way onto the island which was good and then we struck roadworks off the ferry which made for an interesting ride in then we were too early to get into our hotel so had to settle for an ale to cure whatever ailed us. Seemed to work. Very few pics.

 All ready to go but wondering where the riders of the vehicles in the corner are ....

 Smooth passage and lovely views from the ferry and also below.

The blue building is our hotel amongst a lot of variable architecture.

Some weird sculptures with a weird Australian making a face at them.

6 ships lined up I guess to unload tomorrow.

And along the waterfront and an interesting way to green your building ....

Last 2 nights' accommodation:

James Bay Inn.

A delightful period hotel complete with pub and Art Deco restaurant on site. No elevators or luggage trolley but lucky we were on the 2^nd floor (the 1^st one at home) and not the 6^th … not that there was a 6^th. Lovely comfortable bed and hot shower and all the staff are terrifically friendly. They do the hospitality thing well. A lovely feel all round. Well done!

A leisurely start to the day with the young’uns heading off to the Butchart Gardens and Norm and I rode around town for a bit looking at the specie architecture and gardens. I’m finding it hard to get my head around gardens we grew up with full of rhododendron trees and things I’ve identified as high-altitude gardens on the seashore. Feels very bizarre, beautiful but bizarre. Even more bizarre is seeing deer freely feeding on front lawns and the size of some of the driftwood along the shore many feet above high tide level speaks of some ferocious wave activity at some stage. Would be an awesome sight but I’m happy to miss it.

The pictures can tell the story.

The Legislature building X 3.

Mmm parked in restricted parking area which was empty and Norm stayed with the bikes while I walked to take photos and when I got back there were 3 Police vans around him. Trouble maker!!

It felt like a big day today with cold then wet weather for most of the day plus roadworks ad extra concentration required. Saw sooo much more beautiful conifer forest and awesome scenery, hard to take it all in and then a ferry ride across from the USA to Canada. The hotel was a welcome find and it was good to warm up and not have to leave.

The pictures tell as much of the story as we could manage.

Last nights' accommodation:

Travelodge.

Dated old accommodation with many maintenance issues unattended but handy to the Space Needle which was the purpose of the exercise, and the view is from the Space Needle. Surprisingly comfortable bed in the hotel, not the needle.

Felt like a big day today even though it wasn’t really. A fair bit of rural type roads and highways and some awesome bridges along the way including the longest bridge in North America so lots of beautiful conifer forests and the las hour or so neatly all freeway so felt stiff and sore by the time wee got in. Not a lot of stops for photos so have relied on the pillions again.

Below a couple of shots of a quirky bar where we had happy hour at last night on our way to dinner.

And a view from the Grill and the bar where we had a beautiful meal which was a generous size and good value. Well done Portland Grill.

Getting all the gear packed away before leaving the bike shopafter being greeted with ‘you guys are  legends around here’ a bit embarrassing, and a bit of fun. Thanks to all the team at:

Bob Lamphere’s Beaverton Motorcycles

10380 SW Cascade Avenue, Tigard OR 97223

0011 + 15003 684 6600

One from the bikes including one as we stopped at roadworks onto the longest bridge as above. Very opportune. On the road then into Seattle.

Last 2 nights accommodation:

Royal Sonesta.

Beautiful old building built in 1912 and maintained immaculately. A comfortable space to retreat to even if rooms were small, they felt luxurious. Gathered us in beautifully. Comfortable bed, heating good, shower hot and awesome sitting room. Shame there was no restaurant. Happy our bikes were at the bike shop because parking was $52.00USD per night.

Sleep in today followed by a haircut and a quiet day off recuperating. We found a delightful little boulangerie for our breakfast and lunch with delicious food and coffee and will return for breakfast tomorrow before we head off. We are off to the Portland City Grill for dinner on the 30^th floor of the US Bank building. Great view and hopefully great meal as well.

A lovely building not far from our breakfast spot this morning.

A very Portland street drinking fountain.

One of the lovely buildings as I was searching for a hairdresser this morning.

And another.

I have a bit of a thing for doors, and this reminded me of a previous trip which ended up somewhat a pilgrimage as we traced the Oregon Trail from St Louis to Portland City.

And a very intricate one at a bank building.

Back to the hotel and this is the entry. Magnificent leadlight and beveled glass doors.

And the sitting room.

And again.

And a view from the Portland City Grill. Not sure if we will get a nighttime view or not, if so, I will add it. You can see rain in the background which came and went throughout the day. Tomorrow is supposed to be much more dry ... we will see.

We were on a bit of a mission today to get to Portland early afternoon to cheek our bikes in for a service and to beat the rain coming in from the coast. We got the bikes in but missed out on beating the rain. We dropped our pillions off at the hotel but got drenched on the way back to the bike shop. Ah well, you get that. No pic stops today, only for fuel, coffee or a quick stretch which was a shame as we travelled through beautiful coastal country then forest and then heaps of intensive horticulture before we encountered suburbia.

A shot of the marina from Mal last night.

And again, a shot of Newport, a little quirky ...and there was a lot of quirky.

My view from our room, a reminder of why I love Portland which is a lovely leafy city and proud of all their parks which are open and welcoming to the public.

A shot of our room, even with all our stuff distributed it is a lovely room. Probably the nicest we have had.

And again.

Last nights' accommodation:

Newport Days Inn by Wyndham

Budget property but very nicely refurbished. Comes with parking and a light breakfast included. No restaurant but a short walk to dinner, literally next door to a Chinese restaurant which was delicious.

A bit bigger day today so left a bit earlier and kept pedaling and the surroundings were a feast for the senses sweeping between magnificent conifer forests then down onto blustery beaches either sandy or strewn with massive great rocks reaching for the skies and then back to forest. Really travelling on the wrong side of the road to get to scenic lookouts without running into other travelers so very few stops other than fuel food and stretching and that was in built up areas so not much to show for our efforts in the photo department, just our memories. Aaaahhh!

The setting sun over the Pacific Ocean as we returned from dinner last night.

Lunch in the attractive little seaside Village of Florence.

And the spot on the water where we enjoyed clam chowder and fish’n’chips.

And another fine example of so much of the infrastructure we love. This was the bridge to get to Florence.

We have loved lots of the awesome bridges we have seen today and this one at Newport is a fine example. Exactly 1km across! And there are many millions of dollars floating around in the Marina in the shadow of the bridge but that would have involved a 500m walk onto the bridge and 500m back so that wasn't happening. Impressive even if you aren’t into boats or sailing.

And a quirky little building on the waterfront. I am intrigued with a lot of the cladding options used.

Last nights' accommodation:

Gold Beach Inn

Dated budget property but starting refurbishment and the room was comfortable and included parking and a light breakfast. No restaurant but a short walk to dinner. A hot tub was available though no one took up the offer. Might have been something to do with the icy wind surrounding us. No pic.

A late start and short day today which was a lot easier on bikes and bodies than yesterday though we encountered strong winds again as we headed into Gold Beach. Will let the pictures tell the story even though they do not do justice to what we have seen.

Back to the Giant Redwoods typical of what we see with this random carparking. The tree in the middle behind had several strong trunks heading to the skies. We have noticed that many large ones have at least one shoot off and this seems to take over when the main one dies or falls. Ingenious.

Looking down the road just doesn’t express the grandeur. Some of the trees in this forest are 6 Storeys higher than the Statue of Liberty! Seriously! I am not making this up! 

Ferns are everywhere on the forest floor and clinging to any damp surface that has managed to accumulate a little bit of soil.

Truly an experience of travelling through a great Cathedral and progressing from one part of it to another. All that is missing is the smell of incense though the conifers make up for that.

We love how the Americans do ‘big infrastructure so well. This is an example on our way this morning. It just seems routine to keep the travelling streamlined.

And the view behind and already the ocean is getting a bit rough.

Our lunch spot at Crescent City where we had a delicious cup of clam chowder followed by fish’n’chips. Yummy.

We looked out over sunbaking sea lions to the Battery Point Lighthouse built in 1856.

And at the suggestion of a local we found the Crescent Bay overlook which was lovely. The ocean was rough, so mist and spray make it difficult to see the rim of the Harbor.

And in the opposite direction.

Last night's accommodation:

Days Inn by Wyndham.

Comfortable room with parking and a light breakfast included. No restaurant but a short walk to dinner and friendly helpful host. No pic.

We headed out on Highway # 1 which was an awesome ride but it became clear if we could only average the speed we were doing we would run out of daylight hours to get to our destination and headed for Highway # 101 which was also an awesome ride with lots of sweeping corners through awesome countryside including a lot of great Californian Redwoods along the way, not to mention heaps of circling eagles which have kept us company all through our trip thus far. Just loving seeing them circle above us everywhere.

 View over our shoulder as we headed for dinner last night.

Our breakfast spot wasn’t open when expected this morning so wine biccies and cheese was looking good across the road but no we ride .00 so we had to wait another hour. The store is pretty typical of lots in the local neighborhoods.

Norm, me and Graham and Lyn heading across the Golden Gate Bridge with most of the top of it still lost in sea mist.

And at the base of it once we were across.

The Chandelier drive through tree complete with annoying tourists who wouldn’t go away and were asking to be run over. Grrr.

A brief diversion to walk through the Avenue of the Giants. Awesome!

And a Fallen giant with Lyn to give perspective.

And again, but with 6 foot plus Graham.

Dinner tonight at a local Brewery and this is the quirky, somewhat freaky self-closing weight on the entrance door.

Last 2 nights' accommodation:

Columbus Inn.

Comfortable and spacious room. Lovely heating. Includes parking right in the heart of things like Fisherman’s Wharf, Cable cars, Lombard Street and more. Helpful friendly staff.