Canada - Vancouver & Kelowna

Lima, Perú 8.5.2015

We flew to Vancouver straight from San Francisco. We spent in Canada three weeks that went really fast. Roughly two weeks in Kelowna and one in Vancouver.

In Kelowna we stayed at Johannes' great aunt Raija and her family that kindly invited us. We had great time and sometimes it felt like being in Finland. Raija cooked for us wonderful home food that we had missed the last six months travelling. We relaxed and this was like a loading point, a true holiday from vacation. We are truly greatful and hope to come back soon.

In Kelowna we enjoyed nature and one day visited the Kettle Valley railway. Once hiking up we even got our share of snow on the ground. The view was beautiful and we were happy to see the blooming spring. We also met many other Canadian Finns and heard interesting stories about how the immigration went few decades back. People have always been leaving and moving around. We also visited the casinos where Johannes even won few dollars! Better to stop now while still winning.

We moved from and to Vancouver by bus that took around six hours one way. The view is awesome over the mountain roads  and we even spotted a black bear while returning to Vancouver! Monica noticed a black ball next to the road but it took a while before realizing that it was a bear. Happily also Johannes saw it.

In Vancouver we catched up with some friends and spotted places from Monica's exchange period from 2009. The city had changed a lot but it was still really nice. We met some friends from those days and it was wonderful to see how great people stay great, including Dee who invited us to stay at her place. This saved our Canada-budget and we managed to enjoy our stay even more. One of the biggest thing in Vancouver is sushi and after Monica being talking about Van's sushi for five years Johannes finally got to taste it too and was positively surprised. It's just so good. And we certainly made our best to support especially Kits Sushi in Kitsilano :D

One day we hiked the Grouse Mountain even the path was officially closed. Going up we also noticed that we both have gained some weight during our American visit.. The hike was tough but fun. We did it even Monica promised five years ago that she will never do it again.

Stanley Park is a huge park just next to downtown and we spent a whole day going around it and getting lost in it. It is so peaceful in the central parts and full of animals.We also met Dusty and Jess with whom we went out and tried the poutine! Traditional food with fries and gravy. It tasted too good to be healthy. One day we had a amazing apero in Granville Island at Dee's parents boat meeting more friends. Such a lovely meeting. It was funny to see how things change in five years! :)

Vancouver is one of the most livable cities in the world and we will meet again for sure.

Kelowna, BC

Family meeting!

One of our missions was completed in Kelowna flea market where we found two of the ugliest/funniest/best caps ever

Johannes trying baseball

Kettle Valley in Kelowna

Springtime in Kelowna

Kits Sushi @Kitsilano

Vancouver!

Spring in Vancouver

We hiked the Grouse Mountain and found snow up there!

Lions Gate Bridge

Totem park in Stanley Park

Stanley Park

Granville Island Port

NHL game: Vancouver Canucks vs Los Angeles Kings

Hostel life continues.. it is not always fun.

View of the Rocky Mountains and Vancouver

San Francisco

Lima, Perú 8.5.2015

We drove to San Francisco from San Jose in a hour or two. Once it was our last day with a car we decided to drive the Golden Gate bridge and see the Redwood forests in Muir Wood National Park.

Muir Wood was really impressive and the redwood trees so massive. The park was crowded near the entrance but as soon as getting on a higher path we met only few people. We did the 4-5 hours trail and saw many animals including hummingbirds, deers and lizards. The flowers were also beautiful. And the view of the ocean from far up.

In San Francisco we walked a lot and it is quite funny with all its up and downhills. The thing that hit us the most was the quantity of homeless people. San Francisco has the biggest number of homeless people compared to the number of SF citizens in US. And it shows.

We also visited Alcatraz which is good to reserve in advance because it was sold out for few days ahead. Alcatraz was really interesting and does not only cover its history as a prison but also as a American Indian activist history in 1970. Nowadays it is a important habitat for many animals as a national park area.

San Francisco city have a huge bay area with tens piers. Lot of sea lions were hanging out around pier 29. They are funny animals. We walked through Chinatown which was as walking some street in China since it is one of oldest and biggest Chinatown in the world. In the city there is also a Levi's museum and shop since it is founded in San Francisco. The museum is quite small but it is in the building where they used to make jeans and that is now their office. It was quite cool to see 100 years old jeans that looked as the ones one can buy nowadays.

The city itself was nice and even more the people living there. It is an innovative city with a lot of young people. And great food :) This time we didn't visit Oakland and the other areas around, so we have to come back!

USA - Road Trip

New York 2.5.2015

Once in the United States we decided to explore a bit also the areas and cities on the West part of the USA. We rented a car for six days and drove from Los Angeles to San Diego, then up to Yucca Valley and Las Vegas, then back to the coast of California and drove the Pacific Highway to San Francisco.

Both of us only drive stardard cars but at the car rental they only had automatic cars. So we had to learn pretty quickly since no one came to show how it works. Happily it is really simple. We didn't book any accomodation beforehand and decided to stay in road motels when we find a nice one. In LA we bought a local prepaid number with unlimited data so we used our phone as navigator. Especially in cities it was vital. We also bought a road map and that was also useful because internet didn't work everywhere, for example in the desert.

Cities and sightseens

Already driving out from LA was an experience for us. Nine or more lanes all going the same direction and huge cars / suvs. It took about an hour to get out of the city. The trip to San Diego was only around two hours.

In San Diego we went to La Jolla to see sea lions amd pelicans and beautiful cliffs. We also drove to the Cabrillo National Monument where the Spanish landed first. The view was impressive and it continued all the way to Mexico.

The next day we drove to the Hoover Dam, Johannes' dam dream. He was so happy after this ex tempore road trip because he got to see this huge American attraction. I must admit also myself that it was quite impressive.

From the dam we drove to Las Vegas! What a place in the middle of nowhere. First we drove around the outer part of the city where we found also Paris, Venice and Rome. Later we met our friend Dave from Las Vegas who took us to the famous Fremont street. It was unbelievable. Only lights and screens and loud music with all kind of performers. All Michael Jackson, Elvis and nuns gathered on this unique street that is covered with large screens. At 8pm started a show on screen that that night was Bon Jovi's concert. It changes every day. This street never sleeps.

The day after we headed to Bakersfield where we met some friends. We saw another kind of US that is not exacly like tourists think about California. From there we drove to Ventura and through Santa Barbara. Both very nice looking cities. Santa Barbara was really fancy like from French Riviera. We stopped for longer time in Cambria, a little town off the coast. It was a really nice town that had old style little houses. We visited an antique shop that had three floors and was like a museum. Unfortunately nothing fit our backpacks.

We stayed night at Morro Bay that had a beautiful landscape. This time it was hard to find affordable accomodation because the US schools' springbreak had started! We didn't think about this so it slowed down a little our plans.

Fremont Street

We drove up the Pacific Highway and stopped many times to look at the views. And to see elephant seals! The road itself was at first okay but after a while it became really steep and narrow. Monica was afraid of heights so we had to change drivers at half way. Otherwise the road was in good condition and driving was easy.

Our last overnight stop before San Fransisco was in San Jose. We did not maybe see the best sides of the city, because next to out motel were just big it-office buidings and only restaurants were McDonald's and Denny's (another American restaurant chain with really greasy food). We also passed Silicon valley area, which meant more and more office buildings. The most exciting moment was spotting the area of NASA, in other words there was not so much to see at least next to the highway.

Landscapes

Talking about what was beside the road, landscapes kept us entertained during driving. From LA to San Diego and still one hour out of San Diego towads Las Vegas it was really constructed, lots of traffic and huge roads. Still almost all the time there were lots of space around and able to see far.

The first evening we crossed San Jacinto mountains. One moment in the dark we wondered very long what is this city in the distance with only flashing lights. Then we realized it was hundreds of windmills which all winked their sign lights simultaneously.

The majority of our drive were straight American roads in the middle of deserts. Still it continued to change from really dry with cactuses to greener mountains. Especially when we got closer to Bakersfield it turned to lots of agriculture. 

On the coast, from Ventura upwards it was full of wineries and beautiful green hills filled with fruit plantations. All the Pacific Coast Highway was stunning with its steep rocks and blue ocean. Once in a while the road continued off the shore and you could find yourself in the middle of a beautiful forest. Be aware that American National Parks cost.

We tried to avoid toll fees but ended up driving in some road which cost. Tolls are paid in internet and so we paid one but later we heard that the renting company covers all toll fees. Also the Golden Gate Bridge costs going North to South but not the other way.