Trans-Canada Trek: Vancouver BC to Vancouver WA

The Sea-to-Sky Highway – Route 99 – is the most spectacular and white-knuckle route between interior BC and Vancouver. Grades of 12%, hairpin turns, truck runaway lanes, sheer cliffs of the Fraser River Canyon, blue-green lakes created by logjams, the Whistler Mountain ski area, the Stawamus Chief, a cliff-hanging roadway along Howe Sound…the photos below are a small taste of our drive from Cache Creek BC to Vancouver. There was absolutely no stretch for driver inattention on this highway but the views were unparalleled. If you had a go-fast car and wanted to drive like a Grand Prix champion you could practice on this road.

Fraser River Canyon

Fraser River

Fraser River at Lillooet

Announcing a lane for runaway trucks - note

the little arrow signs ahead on the abrupt right curve

If you lose your brakes you can head up this steep road

covered with deep gravel.

You will stop.

Distances in km

Duffy Lake logjam

The Stawamus Chief is the second largest granite monolith in the world (a monolith is defined as a single great stone often in the form of an obelisk or column.) Climbers come from all over the world to scale this stone.

The Howe Sound

This part of the highway feels like it is hanging from the side of the mountain along the sound. It is.

Fireweed going to seed

We spent two nights in Vancouver BC and treated ourselves to a lovely hotel right downtown. We had a long list of potential sights to visit, starting with Stanley Park. We got so engaged as we wandered through the rain-forest paths and along the sea wall, through the water playground and by the Kid Dryer that we spent a whole morning there.

Stanley Park is a 1000-acre park right in the heart of downtown Vancouver

View of Vancouver from Stanley Park sea wall

Huge tree sculptures

It is hard to portray the size of these tree trunks

You can see planes, cranes and ships from the sea wall

This boat won't float again

Magnificant Leaves

This would be a perfect place for grandguys! Deven, you would LOVE it!

After you play in the water you walk through the Kid Dryer.

The Diva did not like it.

Sitting by a picturesque stump

View of Vancouver from Lost Lagoon

Lady in a Wet Suit, with seagull

These horses stopped to visit

Replica of the figurehead of the S.S. Empress of Japan

The Diva, resisting the urge to get that bird!

Leaves over bicycles

There is a display of totems in Stanley Park....

one of the best I've ever seen.

We walked the two+ miles back to our hotel through the downtown business district. The Diva was a diva. People always want to meet her and she leaves a fan whenever she takes time to get acquainted. It’s fun to take her through a hotel lobby and meet other travelers.

The Diva charming the "Woman on a Bench" as she searches for her glasses

Walking through Vancouver with a Diva

Giant "Pop Rock" bean bag chairs on Robson Street. You can take a rest on these!

We took a Rainbow-colored Aquabus Ferry to the Granville Island Market and shopped for a special dinner.

There was a vast selection of everything from fruit to flowers to fresh pasta...and dessert. We chose several things to take back to our cozy kitchenette for dinner and breakfast.

Vancouver from Granville Market

Late that night we walked along the waterfront, under the bridge and around the harbor. Vancouver is beautiful any time of day or night.

We have been staying in Vancouver, Washington for the last week. TL's brother and sister-in-law have lived here for twenty years and we have never visited...our loss! I can see why they like it.

They are great tour guides, too!

Multnomah Falls

It is difficult to photograph the falls with a still photo and capture the magic -- so my first attempt at a video!

You can hike to the top of the falls on a multi-switchback, steep trail. It is worth the effort.

The Columbia River divides Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington.

The Bonneville Dam, built between 1933 and 1937, is one of the dams along that river.

SRD is drawn to anything mechanical and there are many mechanical moving parts to a dam.

One of the turbines

Inside the dam

Insulators

One Beautiful Fish Ladder

Downstairs inside the visitor center there are windows cut into a wall. You can watch the fish swim through the ladder.

Seeing Mount St. Helens has been on my short list for years and we were lucky to have a clear day to visit. The road leads through the kind of old-growth forests that covered the mountain before the eruption so it is particularly startling to see the contrast between the undamaged areas and the devastation caused by the blast.

This forest makes you feel like you are walking back in time.

The first close view of the volcano

These three panels tell the highlights of the eruption in 1980

Spirit Lake is still covered by a mat of huge logs that moves around on the surface depending on the wind direction. The ranger we spoke with said that the whole mat can move from one end of the lake to the other in a day. The logs are slowly decaying and sinking to the bottom of the lake.

This 1972 Pontiac belonged to a couple who, with their nephew, were working on a mine claim about a mile from their car. They were killed in the blast of the eruption. The car has remained here, hurled 60 feet from where they parked it, slowly sinking into the ground.