Trains and Grizzly Bears, A Canadian Roadtrip - The Drive North

Friday, August 30 – Home to Redding, CA

It’s the start of Labor Day Weekend so we got up early and were on the road by 8:00 hoping to avoid the holiday traffic.  Our first stop on our trip north is Redding, CA, which is about a 450 mile drive for us so we had a long day ahead of us.

Most of the drive was on Interstate 5 and there wasn’t nearly as much traffic as we thought there would be.  Especially nice was it seemed the truck traffic was taking the holiday off.  We did have a few areas of moderate traffic near Sacramento, but for the most part it was an easy drive.  There was an accident on the southbound side of I-5 just south of Redding and traffic was backed up for miles; we were extremely glad that we were headed north.

We got into Redding around 4:00 and checked into the Sheraton Hotel which was very nice.  We cleaned up and rested for a bit and then went next door to the Mosaic Restaurant and had a nice dinner.  The hotel was adjacent to the Turtle Bay Exploration Park which is a very nice park on the Sacramento River that runs right through Redding.  After dinner, we walked over to the park and walked across the river on the footbridge.  It was a beautiful evening and we really enjoyed our walk.  We stayed around to watch the sunset, but then the bugs came out and we decided it was time to head back to the room and call it a day.

A beautiful sunset on the Sacramento River shot by Val's cell phone.

We have another long drive tomorrow to Vancouver, WA and hope to get an early start again.  Hopefully traffic will cooperate and once again we will have an easy drive.

Saturday, August 31 – Redding to Vancouver, WA

We had another 450 mile drive ahead of us so we were up early again and on the road by 8:00.  After leaving the hotel, we made a quick stop at a convenience store to get Val some tea and each of us a pastry for our breakfast and then it was back onto I-5 North.

Our drive wound through the Siskiyou Mountains with moderate traffic, but it was a little slow at times because of the truck traffic making the climb.  It’s a beautiful drive through that area with Shasta Lake and great views of Mount Shasta, but we were on a mission and had been through the area many times before, so it was full speed ahead.

We did have two minor but annoying car problems this morning that I had to figure out.  First off, the 12 volt power outlets (used to be called the cigarette lighter) weren’t working which meant we couldn’t charge our cell phones.  Normally a minor inconvenience, but with our reliance on Google Maps for keeping track of where we were and traffic problems ahead, it was important to not have our cell phones run out power.  We stopped for gas in Ashland, Oregon so I found where the fuse box was and checked the fuse and sure enough, it was blown.  There was an auto parts store nearby and they had fuses for our car so it was an easy problem to fix and we were on our way.

We did avert one possible disaster after we got gas.  In Oregon you are not allowed to pump your own gas so after the attendant filled our tank and we paid, we started to drive off when someone started to honk.  We couldn’t figure out what was going on, but when we looked out it turned out the attendant had not removed the gas nozzle from our tank and it pulled out when we started moving.  Luckily nothing broke and no gas leaked so it all ended well.  If they think it is safer to have your gas pumped by an attendant, they better train their attendants better.

Our second problem was also annoying and unfortunately one I can’t fix.  We listen to audio books on CD’s when we travel, which helps kill the time on long drives, but this morning when I put in a CD to start a new book, it wouldn’t play.  We had just finished listening to another book yesterday and it worked fine so I thought it must be a problem with the CD.  After trying the CD's we listened to yesterday and others we had with us, we had to face the fact that the CD player had stopped working and after trying everything I knew to fix it, I came to the conclusion that it had just gone bad.  I guess you can expect some problems when you’re driving an 11 year old car, but it least the car runs well.

The rest of the day was uneventful with mostly light traffic, but there were a few slow spots where traffic got heavier.  Our destination for the day was Vancouver, Washington, which is just across the Columbia River from Portland.  We arrived at the Homewood Suites Hotel just after 4:00 and settled in.  We had stayed here a few years ago when we on our way to Vancouver, BC for an Alaskan cruise/tour and really liked the location and decided to stay here again.  It is in a quiet neighborhood right on the Columbia River with a great river walk and a few nice restaurants nearby.

After resting a bit, we were getting hungry so we walked over to the river walk area and checked out the restaurants.  It was Saturday night on a holiday weekend and it was a very beautiful evening, so all the restaurants were packed.  We decided where we wanted to eat, but we had about a 25 minute wait so we walked along the river for a bit and then waited for our table.  One of the reasons for the wait was that we wanted to eat outside along the river and it turned out to be well worth the wait.  The evening was balmy, the view was great and so was the food and as we finished our dinner, we were treated to a beautiful sunset; a very wonderful evening.

Another nice sunset picture from Val's cell phone, this time while we ate dinner overlooking the Columbia River.

After dinner we walked back to the hotel and called it a night.  I did take the time to write my blog entry as I don’t want to fall behind, but other than that, it was just relaxing until bedtime as we have another early morning tomorrow.

Tomorrow will be our last day on the road before we catch the train.  It is a much shorter drive, but we have to cross the border into Canada and sometimes the lines are very long to get through Canadian Customs so I want to give us as much time as possible.  Hopefully, it all goes well.

Sunday, September 1 –Vancouver, WA to Vancouver, BC

Today is our final day on the road before we start our train trip.  We didn’t get on the road until 8:30 this morning, which was later than we intended, but we decided to have breakfast at the hotel and skip lunch as we were supposed to be in Vancouver before 3:00.  We are leaving the car at the Rocky Mountaineer train station for the duration of our train trip and we had to get there while somebody was there to check us in so there was a bit of pressure as we had over 300 miles to drive to get there.

There seemed to be more traffic today, but we made pretty good time until we reached the Tacoma, Seattle and Everett areas where there was a lot of slowing and even some stop and go.  Besides traffic, the other concern was the time it took to get across the border as that could severely delay us.  The border crossing at Blaine, WA can get very congested and cause long delays which is what happened to us the last time we drove into Canada.  There was an app where you could monitor the wait time and I grew concerned as it got longer and longer as the morning wore on and reached 45 minutes just before noon.

After we got through the city traffic, it was pretty much smooth sailing to the border.  We made one stop at a rest stop and one stop to fill up the gas tank, but otherwise we drove straight through.  Much to my relief as we got nearer the border, the wait time began to drop and by the time we got to customs, it was only ten minutes so we made it through relatively quickly.  From there it was about a 40 minute drive to the train station and we made it by 2:30, a little close, but plenty of time.

The station was all closed up, but there were a couple of security guards there who couldn’t have been more helpful.  The first one got us our parking permit and showed us where to park and the second one opened up the building so we could use the restroom, and while we did that, he called a taxi for us.  He waited around until the taxi arrived and couldn’t understand why we had been told to be there before 3:00 as security is there 24 hours a day.  This was our first encounter with the famous Rocky Mountaineer service and we couldn’t have more impressed as the security guards bent over backwards to help us out.

All lodging on the trip is top notch and the first night was no exception as we were booked at the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown Vancouver.  It was only about a ten minute taxi ride from the station to the hotel and we were checked in and in our room by 3:15.

A look at downtown Vancouver from our hotel room.

The drive today, coupled with the stress of getting our car squared away wore us both out a bit (the perils of getting old) so we just rested until we both started feeling the effect of not having lunch and decided to go out and find a place to have an early dinner.  Downtown was bustling with lots of tourists and locals alike, and wandering around wasn’t the best way to find a place to eat, but we finally found a place called Cafe Crepe which, as you can imagine, served all different types of crepes.  It was a bit of a hole in the wall, but the crepes were very, very good and certainly satisfied our hunger.  After eating we walked around a bit more, but soon returned to the hotel and started getting organized for the start of our trip tomorrow.

After getting ourselves organized, we had to meet with the Rocky Mountaineer staff at 6:30 that night and get the documents and instructions for the morning.  There was quite a crowd, but it went pretty quickly and we had a nice conversation with a couple from Michigan while we waited.  The one bad thing about this rail trip is the train leaves quite early every morning.  We have to be down in the hotel lobby by 6:30 AM which is very early for us.  Not only that, but the luggage is shipped separately and is picked up even earlier and has to be ready by 5:55 AM.  It’s nice not to have to handle the luggage, but it sure does make for an early morning.

We spent the rest of the evening relaxing, but it was an early bedtime for us tonight.  We are very much looking forward to our first day on the Rocky Mountaineer.