Primer día en Vancouver / First day in Vancouver

En nuestro primer día en Vancouver hemos vagueado un poco, nos hemos levantado más tarde (un poco más) en comparación con lo que llevamos haciendo durante todo el viaje y hemos visto un rato la tv, poniéndonos al día más que nada. Lo primero que hicimos al salir de "casa" fue ir al super y sacar algunos dólares canadienses del cajero.

The next day, we (slowly) awoke, and watched a little TV before starting the day (finally saw some football!). We then headed out to buy some basic groceries and to take out some Canadian dollars.

Billete transparente! / Transparent money!

Comimos en "casa" y nos fuímos a explorar un poco la ciudad.

We then had lunch at our new home, and went off to see downtown and explore a bit.

Reloj de vapor / Steam clock

Japadog!!! 

Con este post terminamos nuestro viaje a Vancouver y empezamos una nueva aventura. Este no será el último post que escribamos en este blog porque lo utilizaremos para contar otras anécdotas y viajes, aunque por ahora no hay ninguno a la vista. 

Gracias a todos por leernos y hacer comentarios, esperamos que os haya entretenido seguir el blog. Ha sido un viaje increíble que nunca olvidaremos! 

With this post, we conclude our journey to Vancouver, and we begin a new adventure here. This may not be the last post since we might include future trips here, but that won't be for a while.

Thanks everyone for reading and commenting, and we hope you had fun following the blog. We had a blast, and will definitely never forget our road trip!!!

Day 25 (Sept. 28): Vancouver!!!

We woke up at Moses Lake, WA, and were anxious to get started on the final leg of our journey. We had about 5 hours of driving until we reached the border, so we decided to stop to get some lunch on the way. We randomly chose a small town outside of Seattle to get some chinese food. The town was called North Bend, and we later found out that it was the town featured on Twin Peaks. Go figure! Neither one of us watched the show so we only found out by chance. We ended up skipping Seattle since it was pouring rain outside, and we wanted to cross the border fairly early since we figured we might be held up there awaiting paperwork.

Nos despertamos en Moses Lake (Wasinghton) ansiosos por empezar la última parte de nuestro viaje. El trayecto duraba cinco horas, así que decidimos parar a comer en un pueblo a las afueras de Seattle, North Bend. Pueblo que luego descubrimos había sido el escenario de la serie Twin Peaks, detalle sobre el que no teníamos ni idea porque ninguno de los dos ha visto esa serie. Decidimos no parar en Seattle porque no paraba de llover y no queríamos llegar muy tarde a Vancouver, además sabíamos que íbamos a estar un rato en la aduana por tema de papeles. 

By the time we were near the border, the rain had stopped, but the sun was setting. We had to wait about an hour and a half for our work permits, but everything was accepted and went smoothly, and they welcomed us into Canada! It was nighttime by the time we got out of customs, and we went straight to the guest house.

Cuando estábamos llegando a la frontera paró de llover y se veían unos rayitos de sol, parecía que nos estaban dando la bienvenida...jeje... Estuvimos en la aduana una hora y media más o menos hasta que arreglaron nuestros permisos de trabajo y he dicho bien, NUESTROS!!!! Pensábamos que para el mío íbamos a tener que esperar unos meses, pero no... así que ya puedo volver a la vida laboral, después de dos años sin poder hacerlo la verdad es que apetece; aunque hasta que no tengamos piso no creo que me ponga a buscar seriamente. 

The room at the guest house was really nice. It had a small kitchenette, and a very large bathroom. Plenty for a month's stay! We unpacked the car and went to sleep early since we were pretty exhausted.

La habitación en la que vamos a pasar los días hasta que encontremos piso es perfecta, tiene una cocina pequeña y un baño enorme. Además tiene una salita común, dos cocinas más grandes, comedor, un porche con un par de mesas y un gimnasio (bueno en realidad son tres máquinas, pero suficiente!). 

 

Day 24: (27 sept.) Despidiéndonos del Parque de los glaciares / Leaving Glacier behind

Hoy vamos a recorrer la carretera Going to the sun (carretera hacia el sol), parece que hoy el tiempo ha mejorado y podremos hacer parte de ella. Después de nuestro ratito de café y chimenea, nos pusimos en marcha; pararemos en los puntos más destacados. 

After seeing various parts on the east side of Glacier National Park yesterday, today we wanted to take the going to the sun road, the only road which crosses Glacier National Park. It is well known for its beauty, and although we woke up with some clouds, we were anxious to see what it had to offer.

Arroyo Avalanche / Avalanche creek

Martin en Avalanche con su ración doble de café / Me having breakfast at the creek

Esta carretera es la única que atraviesa el Parque y se empezó a construir en 1925 porque la gente empezó a demandar un acceso motorizado al parque; se terminó en 1932 y tiene una recorrido de 84 km. Esta carretera es Monumento Histórico Nacional y Monumento Histórico de ingenieria. Es una pasada pensar cómo la pudieron construir con la maquinaria de la época.  

The road is 53 miles long, but we could only take it about 30 miles, up to Logan's Pass since the rest of the way to St Mary's Pass is closed for the season due to construction. Not only does the road provide beautiful views, but it is also a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark. 

The Loop 

Foto hecha por una futura conciudadana ;) / Picture taken by a futur neighbor

Hicimos varias paradas hasta llegar a Logan Pass, no es el final de la carretera, pero ahora mismo están con obras y no dejan pasar más allá. A medida que íbamos subiendo hacía más frío, de hecho, había bastante nieve arriba aunque nada comparado con los 24 metros de nieve que puede haber durante el invierno.

Cascada Bird woman / Bird woman falls

We made several spots along the way to Logan's Pass. Each stop heading towards the top got colder and colder, with the very top of Logan's Pass having quite a bit of snow already at this time of year. Nothing compared to the 80 feet of snow which can pile up there during the winter.

Curva Oberlin / Oberlin Bend

Triple Arches

Logan Pass

Final del trayecto por obras / End of the road

Y después de llegar al final, vuelta por el mismo sitio. Al final no hicimos ninguna caminata porque el tiempo no acompañaba, así que salimos por la misma entrada por la que habíamos entrado al Parque y pusimos rumbo hacia Vancouver!!! Paramos a dormir en Moses lake en un hotel muy mono, el Inn at Moses Lake. 

Once we made it to Logan's Pass, we had to turn around and head back down. We ended up not doing any hikes or anything due to the weather, so we were able to leave fairly early from the park to get started on our final leg to Vancouver! We stopped to sleep at Moses Lake, WA, at the Inn. No welcome sign for Washington... Too dark and decided to not go back to give it another try (we learned our lesson from Arizona).

Day 23: (26 Sept.) Glacier National Park / Parque Nacional de los glaciares

Lake McDonald / Lago McDonald

We woke up without an alarm clock today! Except we woke up early anyway, but at least it was nice to not hear the alarm clock :-) We took things easy today, and slowly got up and showered. We then headed to the main lodge to grab some coffee and plan our day. It was cloudy in the area, and part of the going-to-the-sun road was closed due to weather (besides the construction closure from Logan's Pass to St. Mary's, it was closed from Big Bend to Logan's pass), so we were thinking of a plan B. We decided we would try to see what the east side of the park has to offer, even though it meant taking the long way around through the southern tip of the park. Our final destination was many glacier, where we hoped to see some wildlife, but we also had a few stops along the way. 




Hoy nos hemos levantado sin alarma, por fin! A pesar de que nos hemos seguido despertando temprano ha sido agradable hacerlo sin el dichoso sonido de la alarma :-) Nos tomamos un café en el salón principal y planeamos el día. Estaba bastante nublado y parte de la famosa carretera Going to the sun estaba cerrada por el mal tiempo, así que pensamos en un plan B: ver lo que la parte este del Parque nos podía ofrecer. Nuestro destino final será Many glacier donde esperamos ver animales como la cabra blanca, alces, osos, etc.

Our first stop was Goat lick, where we hoped to catch a glimpse of the mountain goat. No dice there, so we continued towards East Glacier, where we stopped at Two Medicine. We saw quite a bit of snow on the way, making for some beautiful views. Two medicine itself was very nice, although we didn't stay very long. 

Nuestra primera parada fue Goat lick, una zona donde nos dijeron que se podían ver las cabras blancas, pero no tuvimos suerte, así que continuamos nuestro camino hasta Two Medicine. 

Two Medicine

We then headed towards Many Glacier. We had a short stop at St. Mary valley, but the road was closed due to construction so there wasn't much to see there. Many Glacier was just incredible. The snow-capped mountains, the lake, everything was amazing. We even saw some mountain goats and big-horned sheep on the way in! They were pretty far away, up in the mountains, but we managed to snap a couple pictures.

Llegamos a Many Glacier, una zona preciosa de ríos y lagos, y de fondo las montañas cubiertas de nieve. Allí sí que tuvimos suerte y vimos varias cabras blancas; estaban bastante altas en las montañas, pero pudismo hacer alguna foto decente. 

 
                            

                       

We went all the way to campground, hoping we could maybe see a grizzly or some moose, but no such luck. We toured the area a bit, and finally headed back home. On the way back, we kept a watchful eye out for more wildlife. Just as we were exiting the park, Idoia saw, somehow, something moving way on the other side of the lake. We stopped, and with the help of the camera zoom we were able to see it was a bear! It looked like a grizzly, but we definitely aren't experts. In either case, we saw it on the shore, milling around, even playing a bit before disappearing into the forest. Just as it left, we saw a bird right overhead, circling us, only to realize it was a bald eagle! What luck! All in all, it was a well worth stop, as we got two beautiful animals for the price of one. 

Paseamos por el camping de la zona para ver si veíamos por casualidad un grizzly o algún alce, pero nada (casi que mejor... para mi). Cuando ya volvíamos a "casa" pude ver que algo se movía al otro lado del río, así que nos paramos y gracias al zoom de la cámara pudimos ver que era un oso!!! Creemos que era un oso grizzly, pero no somos expertos, así que... si hay alguno en la sala que se pronuncie! Justo en ese momento, pasaba por encima de nuestras cabezas un águila de cabeza blanca, la típica que aparece en un montón de cosas americanas, banderas, escudos, etc. Vamos que tuvimos dos animales al precio de uno! Realmente una casualidad increíble ver dos animales así en un mismo segundo!  

  

We then happily made our way back home, to eat some dinner in our cabin before heading to the main lodge to sit by the fire and relax.

Otra vez felices nos volvimos al hotel para cenar algo y relajarnos delante de la chimenea en el salón principal.